Cycle News

IN THE WIND P42 KURT CASELLI FOUNDATION AT WORK AT THE 24 HOUR T he Kurt Caselli Foundation was present at the recent 24 Hours of Glen Helen with its very own race team contesting the demanding endur- ance race aboard an FMF KTM. The team, which included riders Ivan Ramirez, Eric Yorba and Skyler Howes, had a good showing, winning the Business class and carding 10th overall, but speed was not the goal of the team. The goal, instead, was to conduct a research study, testing the ef- fects of rider fatigue throughout the 24-hour event. Quinn Cody and the Kurt Caselli Foundation board members sought out a research team work- ing with the Arena Football League in an effort to seek more information about head injuries in off-road racing. The study at the 24 Hour was focused on "head acceleration" or the amount of head movement (anything from a jarring bump to a crash), which was monitored throughout the race by accelerometers attached to the riders' helmets. This data captured was augmented by additional neurocognitive testing conducted by a team of doc- tors immediately before and after the race. "I was very pleased to be contacted by the Foundation," said researcher Greg Merril, who runs the concussion protocol for the Arena Foot- ball League. "We are measuring the acceleration and rotation and orientation of each rider's head [in relation to] their torso and the bike itself. We're going to be looking at the difference between the level of head acceleration versus the acceleration that's being experienced at the torso, with the bike itself. One of the things we're looking at is as this race progresses, does the difference between the head acceleration and the torso acceleration change? The theory being as you're more tired, you're not able to keep your head as stable." The purpose of the study, as Quinn Cody ex- plains, is to measure the potential for head injury while riding as opposed to during a crash. "No one's ever really done a study like this so we don't know the sub-concussive forces that guys go through when they're just riding as they fatigue," Cody said. "Not just a concussion, but the minor impacts that you get under normal con- ditions like possibly G-ing out in a ditch and just jarring and rattling and if that has an effect on your cognitive function. "We'll see if there's a difference from these guys riding around on the first lap versus riding around at two in the morning and hitting square-edge ditches." The research team admits they are merely at the beginning stages of conclusive research in the off- road field, but it's a field they already find fascinating. "It's really interesting, the athleticism that's re- quired for these events," said Merril who had never previously had any exposure to off-road racing. "Re- ally, we're asking these athletes to use their body as a shock absorber for long periods of time and they're using their legs and every muscle in their body to maintain stability as they ride the bikes. It's really impressive to see the level of skill out here." As Cody explained, the end goal is to determine a concussion sensor that can be fitted to a hel- met, but any such development could still be far in the future. Following the 24 Hour, the data will be compiled and presented to the Kurt Caselli Founda- tion. Depending on the findings, the Foundation will determine its next course of action toward the goal. Jean Turner Head injury research, not racing, was the goal of the Kurt Caselli Foundation at the Glen Helen 24 Hour. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEAN TURNER

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