Riders who crashed in the oil included Robertino Pietri, who got up and ran to a nearby flag station as Shane Narbonne also crashed and slid into haybales in front of an Armco barrier; at the flag station, Pietri demanded that the red flag be thrown. Cornerworkers refused to act without instructions from Race Control. Pietri then grabbed the red flag and put it out just as Dean Mizdal crashed. Race control then called for a red flag. The incident happened in one of the corners with the least amount of available run-off room, the exit of Thunder Valley. No Airfence or other soft barriers were deployed at the crash location; instead, haybales were used, and Pietri’s crash displaced many haybales before the other riders slid into the barrier. Crashers included Pietri, Narbonne and Mizdal. Narbonne was transported by ambulance to the track medical center, and a helicopter was called in to transport him to a Level One Trauma Center in Columbus. Mizdal was treated and released from Mid-Ohio’s at-track medical center. Multiple sources earlier reported that Mizdal had been transported to a local hospital via ambulance. Miguel Duhamel and Keith Marshall had crashed earlier, on other parts of the track. The riders were on the eighth lap of the race and Mat Mladin was leading Jamie Hacking and Ben Spies in close order. Hodgson was running fourth when his bike broke. “I was fourth gear wide open, and the next thing I know I was making a T with my bike,” said Pietri. “The bike was just across the track instead of going forward. It was so quick I couldn’t do anything. Then I turned around and Shane Narbonne crashed behind me, then Dean Mizdal [crashed]. At that point there was no red flag out. I was the one who took the red flag from the cornerworker and put it out. Those people are just a mess. “This place is always a mess with the cornerworkers, man. Two years ago, I was going into Turn One and it was raining and nobody had a red flag out. Same thing. There was oil all over the track and [Neil Hodgson] oiled the track and nobody put a red flag out. I really think they need to review the cornerworker deal here, because I don’t think they are doing a good job at all.” “Neil [Hodgson] blew up,” said Roger Hayden. “I was just far enough behind to where I couldn’t really see the smoke at first. It looked like Tommy [Hayden] and Eric [Bostrom] went to the inside. I got to swapping ends there and had to go to the left side of the turn because he was still on the track. All of us was trying to wave to the officials to get the red flag out. I know I was. I was pretty much stopped.” “I saw Rog get sideways,” said Jason DiSalvo. “Then a second later I was sideways. Then we both stood it up and went straight to the inside of Turn 11 and then came back on in Turn 12. There was just oil everywhere. It was scary. Not the best situation to have happen when you have two walls on either side of you.” Running order displayed by AMA Timing & Scoring monitors after seven laps: 1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), -0.275 second 3. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), -0.746 second 4. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), -9.692 seconds 5. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), -10.488 6. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), -11.470 7. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), -12.729 8. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), -15.400 9. Matt Lynn (Hon CBR1000RR), -15.893 10. Chris Peris (Suz GSX-R1000), -17.026 11. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), -21.323 12. Kenny Noyes (Suz GSX-R1000), – 21.549 13. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), -24.510 14. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000), -25.549 15. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), -25.950 16. Ryan Elleby (Suz GSX-R1000) 17. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000) 18. Robertino Pietri (Suz GSX-R1000) 19. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000) 20. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000) 21. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000) 22. Scotty Van Hawk (Suz GSX-R1000) 23. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1) 24. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), out, crash 25. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), out, mechanical 26. Keith Marshall (Suz GSX-R1000), out, crash