IN
THE
WIND
P32
DORNA RELEASES SALOM
CRASH FINDINGS
T
he accident that
claimed the life of
Spanish Grand Prix
winner Luis Salom has
pointed to rider error as
the likely cause, with Mo-
toGP rights holder Dorna
releasing its findings.
Salom lost control of
his SAG Team Kalex ma-
chine during Friday prac-
tice for the Catalan Grand
Prix on June 3 at the final
corner leading onto the
front straight, slamming
into the track barriers and
ultimately succumbing to
his injuries.
Salom's machine was
immediately impounded
and sealed with tamperproof
plastic seals and handed to
judicial expert Angle Calzada
Gomez to examine its hardware
and to dissect the telemetry that
ultimately led to the findings.
In a report issued by
MotoGP Technical Director
Danny Aldridge, Mr. Gomez no-
ticed the throttle tube was loose,
which was most likely a cause
of the impact of the machine
against the barrier. The rear
wheel was also heavily damaged
but found not to be faulty and
the tire pressure was within the
correct pressure range, accord-
ing to on-board telemetry.
"Confirming the initial analy-
sis Mr. Gomez reported that
[Salom's] data showed that at
the time of the accident, the
bike was 4km/h slower than
its fastest lap but at the time of
braking, the rider was seven
or eight meters closer to the
curve than on his fastest lap,"
the report says. "[Mr. Gomez]
confirmed that on the piece of
straight between the two final
curves, there was a partial
cut in the throttle. Mr. Gomez
speculated that the rider may
have looked back and when re-
turning to look forward misread
his position, or was a little off
line. This could have resulted in
higher than usual brake pres-
sure being applied, which was
indicated on the telemetry. As a
result of being off line and the
braking with the machine being
banked over the front wheel
lost traction, resulting in the
crash.
"Mr. Gomez confirmed that he
could not see anything unusual
that he felt was of any concern.
He also confirmed that there
was no evidence in the data that
raised issue with the track sur-
face including possible bumps."
Salom was the first rider to
lose his life at a MotoGP event
since Italian Marco Simoncelli
died during the 2011 Malaysian
Grand Prix. CN
Luis Salom's crash
has been ruled as
rider error.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
