Racer + Unprotected Wall = Hospital Stay AMA SuperSport racer Robert Tinagero was doing his job on Saturday morning, trying to get in a fast qualifying lap on a wet-but-drying Heartland Park Topeka, when it all went wrong in a fast, uphill left-hander. The price: Fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, a destroyed motorcycle and an overnight stay in the hospital. Tinagero took his Gano B Cycle Pro/Attack Performance.com Kawasaki ZX-6R out for qualifying on Saturday morning, after thundershowers had soaked down the racetrack on Friday evening. “The track was a little wet, so we decided to go out there and take it easy,” said Tinagero, 19, of Santa Rosa, California. “After a few laps, I found a dry line, and I was watching the timing board and I could see that some of the other guys were going fast, so I thought, I can get up to that speed. “So I went into Turn Four, hit a wet patch and stood the bike up. I thought, no problem, I’ll just go into the grass,” Tinagero said. “But when I went into the grass, it was still wet. I had the rear brake fully down, and I was dragging my front brake, but I wasn’t slowing down at all. I just jumped off and hoped for the best. The worst part was that I missed the Airfence part and went straight into the wall, at roughly about 80-ish.” Tinagero missed the inflatable barriers protecting some of the wall around the outside of the track and slammed directly into the concrete barrier. His point of impact was about 15 feet past where the inflatable barriers stopped, he said. Tinagero was lucky. He ended up with some fractured ribs and a pinhole puncture in his right lung that partially collapsed that lung. After an overnight stay, he was released and sent on his way back to California by ground transportation. “They said I couldn’t fly. That was the even worst part,” Tinagero said. Tinagero, who usually races with AFM and WERA West, says he hopes to be fit enough to ride in the WERA West series races scheduled for August 23 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. But he’ll be doing it on a different bike. Inflatable barriers not only help keep riders out of hospitals, but they help minimize the damage to motorcycles. Not only did Tinagero miss the inflatable barriers, so did his bike. “Totaled,” he said. “Cracked the frame, destroyed both rims, destroyed the subframe, put a hole in the motor. But the Attack bodywork’s fine. A little rash, that’s it.” When asked earlier this week why there were no inflatable barriers in front of the wall where Tinagero crashed, AMA officials said they had to investigate. After waiting two days for the results of that investigation, we decided not to delay posting this story any longer. This just in, via e-mail: First of all, let me clarify what Race Control and the corner marshals reported regarding Robert Tinagero’s (#34) crash. It happened in Turn 3, the 180 degree left-hander. He ran off on the exit of the turn and crashed in the grass well beyond where incidents normally occur. His bike hit the wall but a corner marshall reported that Robert impacted the last quarter of the last piece of Airfence. He was asked at least three times if he was okay or if he needed an ambulance. He declined, saying he would be sore the next day. He and his bike came in on the crash pick-up truck at the end of the session. He later went to infield medical and was transported to Stormont-Vail Hospital. AMA Pro Racing had four sections (over 112 linear feet) of inflatable Airfence in Turn Three and six sections (over 168 linear feet) in Turn Four, as well as SAFER brand foam barriers in Turn Four. Overall there were 54 pieces of inflatable Airfence in addition to all of the track’s foam barriers. There were no reports by corner marshals of any riders impacting unprotected walls during the event weekend. Bill Syfan Director of Road Racing AMA Pro Racing Daytona Beach, Florida