Cycle News

this way so the caustic chemical reaction is nullified before it's used. It seems counter- intuitive to use lime that's one-quarter water when you're trying to dry out dirt, but hydrat- ed lime is commonly used to stabilize soil for construction applications, meaning it's used to take soft or muddy soil and stiffen it up without any of the caustic side effects. But, ultimately, with the amount of rain that fell, trying to chemically dry it was, as it turned out, not a good idea. After the race, pictures flooded social media of racers showing off their burns on their skin, and their motorcycles look- ing completely destroyed by the corrosive chemicals in the water. The Tuesday after the race, Feld re- leased a statement regarding the issue: On Saturday, February 2nd at Petco Park in San Diego, Ca., Supercross riders were affected by a drying agent applied to the dirt track, which may have caused skin irritation and damage to their bikes. The wellbeing of our riders, their teams and our crew is always a top priority for us at all Supercross events. Given last week's forecast of rain for Saturday's event in San Diego, the track crew took normal precautions to ensure a safe and raceable track. Prior to the qualifying rounds and main events, they removed the protective tarp and applied a drying agent, a lime and sand mixture, to treat two areas on the track to try and remove moisture from the dirt. This process has been used safely for decades at Super- cross to dry dirt and thereby reduce the risk of accidents for the riders. It appears that the unprecedented amount of rain on Saturday prevented the lime from mix- ing with the soil as usual. This resulted in splashing of the riders and their bikes, which may have caused skin irritation to some riders and damage to their bikes. We are currently reaching out to each rider who participated in Saturday's race to as- sess the extent of the impact, ensure their welfare and get them back on their bikes racing. We are also reviewing our existing processes to deal with excessive water on the track to prevent a recurrence. Feld's Dave Prater later updated what they're doing about the situation prior to the start of the Minneapolis Supercross. "The safety of our athletes and our patrons is our top priority at all supercross events," Prater said. "The situation that resulted from the use of a lime/sand mixture to help dry out the dirt in San Diego this past weekend was completely unexpected and we're truly sorry about it. Once we started hearing from riders about the damage to their motorcycle, as well as some of the skin irritation that they were experiencing, we immediately took action. Our goal is to be as transparent and accurate about this situation as possible with our athletes and their teams. "We have reached out to every rider that competed on Saturday [in San Diego] and explained to them the situation, talked to them about their experiences, and also ensured them that we're doing everything in our power to make sure this doesn't happen again," Prater said. "The riders have been extremely positive; very appreciative of everything we're doing. We're also going to give each independent racer $5000 to help with any expenses they may have incurred due to this. We're also going to suspend the use of lime starting here at Minneapolis, and we're going to consult some outside experts on our current procedures as well as any alternative means that we could use to deal with track moisture. We remain com- mitted to designing and building the safest racetracks possible for our athletes." Steve Cox VOL. 56 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 12, 2019 P41 Feld Motorsports has apologized for causing burns and damaging motorcycles due to the drying agent— lime—used on the San Diego Supercross track.

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