Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing Road Race Manager Ron Barrick said he was never told that Steve Rapp’s bike hit a section of bare, unpadded concrete wall, at the base of the esses, during Superbike qualifying at Road Atlanta on Friday, May 16.

That’s why, Barrick said, no protective, soft barriers were put up after Rapp’s crash, leaving the same section of concrete wall still unpadded and exposed when Woody Deatherage hit it two days later, breaking his back.

Barrick made his comments at Pikes Peak on June 1, after being asked why no soft barriers were deployed after Rapp’s bike hit the unpadded wall on Friday. Rapp himself bailed out early and did not hit the wall.

According to Barrick, cornerworkers who called in Rapp’s crash made no mention of the fact that the bike had hit the wall. It was an unfortunate case of miscommunication, Barrick said.

But Roadracingworld.com has learned that any failure to communicate existed not only between cornerworkers, race control and Barrick, but also between AMA Pro Racing Tech and Barrick.

According to Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki Logistics Coordinator Kelly Collopy, AMA technical inspector Terrie Siegfried knew that Rapp’s bike had hit the unpadded wall, soon after the incident occured.

In a Wednesday, June 11 phone interview, Collopy said, “Generally, any crash that involves flame and fire, the AMA wants to see what caused it. When they came back with Rapp’s bike on the crash truck, Terrie (Siegfried) was waiting for us.

“Terry took a look at it (the bike), before it was unloaded,” continued Collopy. “And saw the fuel line was ruptured and said, ‘Oh that’s what did it, the fuel line severed.’ While Terrie was inspecting the (fuel) line I was inspecting the tank and I noticed a big crack in it. I pointed out to Terrie that the tank must have hit the wall and the impact must have cracked the tank open and caused the loss of the fuel load. He just looked at it (the tank) and said, ‘Ah, that might have contributed to it.'”

Crashes into the wall where Deatherage and Rapp’s bike hit were not a common problem until a chicane was installed to keep riders farther away from the wall outside what the track terms turn four.

The new chicane changes the approach to what Road Atlanta’s turn-designation-system calls the “esses,” (a series of turns between “turn four” and “turn five”), making it more of a straight shot, raising speeds, and making it easier for crashed motorcycle and its rider to hit the wall on the rider’s right after a front-end slide.