CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
P88
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
A
few years ago, when
Dorna first started prop-
erly collating crash
statistics, I wrote pointing out
the funny side of this long list of
riders who found the limit the
hard way, sometimes more than
once a day. For surely, among all
the screws, plates and physio-
therapy that are inseparable from
motorbike racing, there must be
a funny side?
To my dismay, it elicited angry
letters. "No respect" was the
charge.
Ummmm. If you have just
watched a brain-out teenager
tumble through the gravel for the
umpteenth time simply because
he can't stop himself from trying
too hard, "respect" isn't neces-
sarily the last word that comes to
mind, but it's not the first.
Pretty much all motorcyclists
I've ever met like talking about
the times they crashed. Presum-
ing they were able to. One is
fully aware it can go the other
way.
Racers are no different. There
are exceptions. One of my all-
time favorite quotes comes from
the marvelously matter-of-fact
Mick Doohan. Asked what hap-
pened in a particular crash, he
replied: "I went one way, and the
bike went the other."
Quite so.
More of the time you get all
CRASH HAPPENS
