Roll Call - Mosport Next Week

I got caught in the corner one mess as well on Wednesday and crashed. Bike is pretty beat up and so is my gear. I walked away with a few bumps and bruises but nothing bad at all thankfully. Gear did its job. There were at least 5 riders that crashed. I heard that there were 7 of us but that might include the rider with the blown engine. What I don't understand is why it took so long for the marshals to stop the session. I came onto the front straight with no bikes in sight in front of me. I believe I was the 4th bike that crashed. I saw at least three bikes down in the hay bales in front of me as I slide face first on my belly. Luge anyone? Or is it Skelton? I don't think the guys in front of me went down together as a group, so they had some gaps between them as well. There was at least one bike that crashed behind me and I had a gap on him as well. Why was the marshal on the outside of 10 not waving any flag? Was there a marshal on the outside of 10? There was a significant gap between me and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th riders that crashed. I was heading into corner one and there was a marshal on the inside pit wall (after the bridge) waiving his arms at me to slow down. Way, way too late. I heard from a few spectators that they were yelling at the marshals to throw up the flags. I understand that this all happened very fast, but I wonder why it appears to have taken them so long to stop the session.
 
Well, I wasn't there, but I have been a corner marshal.

It takes a finite amount of time for each of these steps to happen:
- Corner worker at the station recognizes that there has been "an incident" nevermind oil on the track. Initially they're just likely to see someone go off track and/or crash.
- That corner worker might not necessarily be the one at the flag stand, so the message has to be relayed to the flag stand by hand signals.
- Then the flagger at that corner has to get out the flag and wave it.
- The radio operator at that corner has to call in to race control that there has been an incident.
- Race control has to call for the corner ahead of the incident to display a flag - who might not know that anything has happened, especially at Mosport, which is big and doesn't have good sight lines.
- All this while, the workers where the incident took place have to assess the situation and realize that there is debris/oil on track. It may take a finite amount of time. It MAY take until someone else crashes in it. Oil on track is not always visible the moment it happens.
- After the corner workers at the incident realize that there is oil on track, they have to display another flag - note that at this moment, the flagger has his hands full displaying both the waving yellow AND the debris flag. This is why the radio operator is a separate person from the flagger.
- The radio operator has to call in to race control.
- Race control then has to make a decision whether to have the corner ahead display another debris flag or to red-flag the session. Snap decisions to display a red flag are NOT made. It is NOT up to the corner workers - they can request it from race control but race control has to call for it so that ALL corners go red-flag at the same time. Corner workers have the authority to go yellow and/or debris based on an incident in THEIR corner but anything else has to come from race control - and it has to be that way, because otherwise the outcome will be chaotic.

All of this takes a certain amount of time. And yes, a number of bikes can get through before it all happens.
 
I believe one of ours was 4th, he said he saw a flag and rolled off but "not that much. Touched front brakes and washed".

Any chance you missed it?
 
Thank you for the insight Brian. I really do appreciate what the marshals and paramedics do for all of us out there. I understand that it's not easy, that it's happening at lightning speed and decisions have to be made. I'm not complaining but just looking for some more insight into what happened. In all accident's time seems to slow down and you always look back to see what coulda, shoulda, woulda. Just a shame that so many riders crashed one after the other in the same spot. I think everyone escaped with minor injuries and I'm thankful for that. I suspect I was doing about 170km/hr when I went down. Topped out in third gear on my 600. Pretty amazing that we can get up and walk away virtually unscathed from such high speed incidents. Lesson for everyone: buy good gear! Pretty sure my chest protector spared me a few broken ribs too. Landed, then slide on my chest and had the wind knocked out of me.
 
meme said:
I believe one of ours was 4th, he said he saw a flag and rolled off but "not that much. Touched front brakes and washed".

Any chance you missed it?
Click to expand...
I could have missed the flag in 10 absolutely but I don't think so. Probably one of the easier flag stations to see at Mosport. Right in your line of sight. Did he see the flag at 10 or 1? I didn't at 1 and even if I did it would have been too late. I did see the marshal on pit wall after the bridge but it was too late. Like your friend, I just touched the front brake and it was gone. Fast and hard onto my chest. Suspect my tires were covered in oil because it was on the race line all the way down the straight. Wish I had my camera mounted on the bike.
 
Anyone happen to have the info for the photographer doing pictures on Thursday? I never ended up grabbing a card from him. Thanks.
 
I'm trying to get insurance on the new RF so I can ride it up for the races on Sunday.
 
Gawd, I love Mosport. Hadn't been there since my "incident" two years ago, and had an absolute blast. Track seemed way shorter (especially the back straight!) than it had the previous times I had been there.

One day I'll 'get' Mosses Corner right!

Can't wait to see the photographer's pics. I'm usually the one behind the camera, so this will be a treat. :)

Who's going next week? I'm going to try my best to go again.
 
I was there on Monday (first time) and heading back next Thursday. I still have SMP to try but it's currently my favorite track.
 
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