Saved! Mark Fitzgerald
By Michael Gougis
“I’m most likely alive due to you guys.”
That’s how Mark Fitzgerald opened the dialog when he known as me again. He is probably not exaggerating.
Fitzgerald, 44, of New Boston, New Hampshire, was racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Might when he crashed his Kawasaki ZX-10R right into a concrete Ok-rail so arduous that he knocked it over. Simply as an instance how massive that hit was, a 10-foot part of Ok-rail weighs roughly two tons. It’s the kind of concrete barrier that’s craned into place on road automobile racing circuits like on the Acura Grand Prix of Lengthy Seashore to assist hold automobiles from flying into the stands and the gang.
What saved Fitzgerald was the truth that in entrance of that part of Ok-rail was an inflatable Alpina delicate barrier, bought by the Roadracing World Motion Fund with donations from NEMRR, and deployed at New Hampshire Motor Speedway by NEMRR. (Alpina and Airfence are two separate corporations that make related inflatable delicate boundaries designed to soak up power and homologated by the FIM.)
“The very last thing I bear in mind was being on the brakes and the bike wasn’t slowing down. The entrance wheel was nonetheless within the air once I received into the braking zone. I had the presence of thoughts to get off the brakes, however by that time I used to be effectively into the filth. I went into the Airfence at effectively over 100 mph,” he mentioned.
Fitzgerald’s Alpinestars airbag swimsuit deployed and his Arai helmet hit the barrier so arduous that the shell cracked because it absorbed power, as designed. It was an enormous, big hit.
And 25 minutes later, Fitzgerald was aware and arguing with the ambulance attendants who wished to chop him out of his swimsuit.
“I used to be within the ambulance and so they had been on the brink of carry me to Harmony Hospital as a Class Two trauma. They wished to chop off my boots and swimsuit and I used to be fairly upset by that. Towards their recommendation, I stood up within the ambulance and took my boots and my swimsuit off,” he says.
His accidents included third-degree burns on his again and left ankle the place the Kawasaki landed on prime of him. A damaged vertebra, two damaged bones in his proper ankle, 17 damaged ribs, a Class Two (average) concussion, and ruptured blood vessels in his left eye.
Earlier than the racing for the day was accomplished, Fitzgerald was again on the observe, watching his buddies race.
“I’m unsure I’d be right here if it wasn’t for you guys and your Airfence. I haven’t ever had an accident like this earlier than. It simply occurred so quick. I’m simply lucky that I’m right here to speak about it. The truth that I used to be capable of go to work at 6:30 on Monday morning is a testomony to the engineering of the Airfence. I’m extremely lucky and grateful.”
Concerning the Roadracing World Motion Fund
The Roadracing World Motion Fund – a 501 (c) (3) non-profit group – started again in 2001 as a grassroots motion to enhance racetrack security for motorbike racers and riders. On the time, haybales or stacks of tires had been typically positioned in entrance of concrete partitions for rider safety in case of a crash. A much better resolution for rider security existed – FIM-homologated inflatable delicate boundaries which soak up the power of a crash. Tender boundaries–made by Airfence or Alpina and bought the Roadracing World Motion Fund utilizing donations and fund raisers–assist enhance the possibilities that racers can stroll away from a crash which prior to now might need prompted catastrophic harm, and even dying.
The Roadracing World Motion Fund gained the help of the motorbike group, as racers, riders, household and buddies, motorbike companies, racing organizations and racetracks helped make use of soppy boundaries the usual, moderately than the exception, for motorbike races and observe days throughout the nation. Now, from Laguna Seca to Daytona, Motorsports Ranch to VIR, Street Atlanta to Street America, and plenty of extra, delicate boundaries are deployed extra incessantly and in better portions than ever earlier than, because the Roadracing World Motion Fund continues its mission of serving to forestall racetrack accidents by means of motorbike street racing security training, and by organizing donations and funding to buy and deploy FIM-homologated delicate boundaries.
The submit SAVED! Mark Fitzgerald Makes Good Use Of Tender Obstacles appeared first on Roadracing World Journal | Motorbike Driving, Racing & Tech Information.
