Brett Downey Safety Foundation at World Mini

 

Dear Fellow racers, parents and friends,

 Hello, my name is Larry Morton, and most people know me from our 5 Magics Motocross School (and the Gary Semics MX School West) that we have run for the past 11 years. I recently received a call from the Brett Downey Safety Foundation to see if I might have an interest in helping with their mission to help bring motocross safety back to the forefront of our sport. To keep a short story short, before I knew it I was on my way to the World Mini’s just a few day’s later to train and learn about my role at the Brett Downey Safety Foundation.

When I arrived at the track in Vegas, Barb gave me a quick job description and before I could say “Erv Braun”, I was up in the booth talking to him. After my little interview on what the Brett Downey Safety Foundation is all about, and after being re introduced to Ron, Lance and Kurt, I was down on the infield to get started. First I had to go to each flagger and let them know I was there to help support them, plus help train them, help keep them safe (there are no flag stands), and help them with downed riders and keeping the EMS staff safe while they were on the track.
 I also assured Kurt who took care of all the track issues that I would only serve as “another set of eyes” for him, and was not there to tell him or anyone from NMA how to run their race, after all, they have been doing this for a very long time.
 I myself have built many tracks, including Oakhill and the GNC Finals in 2005 and 2006, plus Lake Whitney Spring Classic with Guy Cooper a few years ago, so I know the pressure of making a safe track, a fun track, and a good track to race on. How do you please every racer from a 4-6 year old pee wee racer, to a 450 seasoned pro? You really can’t, but you do the best you can under the circumstances you have before you.
 The track in Vegas is probably the most challenging track of all the amateur nationals for many reasons. Because it is in the desert it has extreme temperature changes, a lot of wind and less than desirable dirt, plus the fact that there are so many entries and laps ran, this is impossible odds for the track workers. Many people feel the track is dangerous, and I can agree to a small extent, it does have high speeds, but the overall layout and long straights are due to the fact that they need to make it easy to get A LOT of water on it, and all day. And the square edge bumps that are infamous at this track are from this; when the track is built, each obstacle is watered constantly for days to form a hard crust on them so they will stay firm. This dirt wouldn’t pack together if each obstacle was rebuilt each day, it would be much worse. So what happens over the course of the event is that with so many bikes landing on the same spots, they finally wear through the crust, into the soft dirt underneath, and this comes out rather fast and easy, so you get some serious holes. It’s just the nature of the beast.

Talking with the riders after they came off the track, many more of them were positive and had good things to say about the overall track than those who felt negatively about it. I was out there for days, and it wasn’t for a lack of effort that the track got gnarly, I think track builders and maintenance personnel, along with flaggers are our motocross scapegoats, and rarely get the recognition they deserve.
 For example, if your restaurant is failing, do you fire the dishwasher? Of course not, you have to start at the top, and all things must be considered. And as far as motocross safety, we have to look at all things, starting with the factories and industry at the top, with contingency, factory rides, and money all at stake, this adds to the pressures to win at great risks. Then with the parents who many are far in over their heads, no very little about the sport from all perspectives, maybe have never ridden let alone raced a national, and some pushing their kids to hard and basically take the fun out of it. Then there are the riders and their responsibilities. If they go out and ride over their heads or make a bad decision and crash, should they blame someone else? Remember, this IS a dangerous sport and we can’t lose sight of that. And of course we have the promoters, who with out them there wouldn’t even be racing as we know it, so be careful here. Positive suggestions and helping do something to make the race event better can go a long way.   A restaurants number one reason for failure is because when people go away unhappy, if they simply walk out and don’t tell the manager why they were unhappy, then the restaurant just keeps going down the wrong path because they don’t know what’s wrong hearing from their unhappy guests. 
And there are many more factors, but I just want you to think of the flaggers out there who sit in the heat, cold, wind and many over time hours and aren’t exactly making a lucrative living. We need to do a better job of making them our BEST friends at the races instead of our worst. For 5 straight days a flagger can save several lives and prevent many injuries risking their own health, but if they make just one mistake, every one lets him or her have it. They are human just like us, and most of us don’t even know they are there until one does make a mistake, which is totally unfair, besides they aren’t the one who crashed in the first place. So one of our jobs at the BDSF is to help educate and make them better, but I can assure you our task is bigger than that!
 Many thanks to all who attended the World Mini’s, thank you to the promoter and their staff, thank you to the industry and all your support, and thank you to all the racers and parents who come out to make these races as great as they are, united we will stand!
 Please understand one thing that I do know about safety, it isn’t going to come from just the Brett Downey Safety Foundation, a track builder or promoter, a rider or flagger, each and every one of us is in this together. We have some work to do.

Respectfully,
Larry Morton
5 Magics Motocross School
Brett Downey National Safety Advisor