The mysterious nature of Michal Hernik’s death at the 2015 Dakar Rally->ke2159 has understandably dampened a lot of the excitement of the event. But now, it appears that we may have the answer behind his sudden passing. According to visordown, tests have revealed that Hernik died because of hyperthermia and dehydration.

There’s no official statement regarding the cause, but the environment surrounding the Dakar Rally, could’ve led to something like these two things happening. As many of you know, hyperthermia is a condition that occurs when a person has excessive body heat while dehydration is an effect of having insufficient water in the body. It’s possible that Hernik, while riding his 450 Rally Replica KTM, suffered from these two ailments, especially with the prolonged conditions of high temperatures and lack of water that he was presumably subjected to at the Dakar Rally.

It’s not clear how dehydrated Hernik was to force him to veer off course and remove his helmet before he died, but hopefully, more information arrives as we learn more about the specific circumstances behind his sudden and unfortunate passing.

Once again, our thoughts and prayers go out to Michal Hernik’s family and friends.

Click past the jump to read more about Michal Hernik's death.

Why it matters

Unfortunate as the circumstances are that led to his death, organizers of the Dakar Rally could learn a lot from Michal Hernik’s passing. Safety of the competitors should be the most important thing about these events, especially with the punishing conditions usually attributed to the Dakar Rally. It’s not considered one of the most dangerous racing events in the world for nothing.

If it is revealed that hyperthermia and dehydration were the causes of his death, organizers and teams need put systems in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. At the very least, they should be more vigilant in detecting whether riders are conditioned to participate in the event or not. This isn’t a matter of just asking if they’re good to go, but more on holding them back if they’re not, even if they protest and still try to make a run for it.

These sorts of deaths are completely avoidable if the proper measures are in place. It’s a shame that Michal Hernik’s death is the reason why we’re talking about this, but if it helps prevent a future episode from happening, then people in charge need to start getting their acts together to ensure that no more incidents like this happen again.