Miguel seriously injured

[ibppjr]

Link to article:
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Aug/07080817u.htm

A fine guy in our sport.  My prayers go out to him and his family.

[DogBoy]

Ugh. Thats terrible. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Bunbun]

Aw man, that sucks  I've always liked duhamel and of all the racers, he's one of my favorites.  Not everyone can be a professional athlete at 40+.  I halfway hope he'll retire and go have some fun, spend his considerable earnings and enjoy himself.  Another part of me wants to see him continue to race, have some fun, make considerable earnings and enjoy himself.

Bun

[Gaolee]

It is terrible when something like that happens, especially when it happens to somebody like him.

[bizarro]

Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap. Well, he's a tough old bird. Still....

[highside]

Thats terrible, I hope he gets better. Makes one think that the FIM standards arent such a bad idea. Walls and motorcycle racing dont mix.

[jerome_oneil]

This is a huge bag of bad news.  I love Miguel!   Watching him teach Jake Zemke how to race a few years ago was some of the most entertaining racing I've ever seen.

[FiremanBob]

Duhamel is a class act, and I second best wishes for a full recovery.  Sounds like with the right care he'll be back to 100%, although it could take a few months.

[FiremanBob]

Duhamel is a class act, and I second best wishes for a full recovery.  Sounds like with the right care he'll be back to 100%, although it could take a few months.

[tigertim955]

  A classy racer from a classy racing family. ( his dad,Yvon, still races in vintage events ) Hopfully a complete recovery and return to racing.

[bomber]

oh, man -- I've been enjoying the family's great work for quite some time -- I'll add my wishes for a complete recovery . . .

and, +1 on the safety standard at tracks -- an air fence likely woulda avoided, or minimized, the injuries

[JamesG]

Turn 12 at RA is nasty scary. Downhill right hander with a 20' tall concrete wall just off the track. There was airfence there, probably the reason he wasn't killed outright.

He's a tough old bird. He'll probably be back racing before the end of the season.

[scott-sts]

Too bad, Duhamel is the man.  I have a feeling there will soon be an open seat on a factory CBR1000 Superbike.  Wonder if they'll give me the job?

[marc11]

Too bad, Duhamel is the man.  I have a feeling there will soon be an open seat on a factory CBR1000 Superbike.  Wonder if they'll give me the job?

You're prolly better than Jake....heal well number 17!

[Scratch33]

"DuHamel's Honda CBR1000RR was destroyed in the crash which took place on a very hot day in Georgia. Thermometers were cranking all the way to 106 degrees at the track today."

Amazing.  

Hope he heals up.

[DogBoy]

Too bad, Duhamel is the man.  I have a feeling there will soon be an open seat on a factory CBR1000 Superbike.  Wonder if they'll give me the job?

Only if your last name begins with H.

(Hodgson, Hayes)

[Mr Sunshine]

Thats terrible, I hope he gets better. Makes one think that the FIM standards arent such a bad idea. Walls and motorcycle racing dont mix.

Well there are bits of the FIM standard that is annoying I found out but as far as physical track layout...definatly!

[scott-sts]

You know what really sucks?  With just a few exceptions, the new "Safe" racetracks suck.  I've read racers opinions of various new tracks and they don't have nice things to say.  Road Atlanta is cool, especially turn 12.
I heard they can't do much to expand run-off at Road Atlanta because of urban sprawl.  I fear there won't be too much pro racing at that track in the near future.  

[jed]

The wera board had a couple of posts about this with some knowledge of the incident.  His bike hit the airfence but he slid beneath it.  

Turn 12 would be hard to fix unless you flattened out a hill and moved a parking lot.  As for sprawl it's pretty far from Atlanta as it stands but I don't know how close the track boarders other property.  It's pretty rural up there.

Now Barber is on a big enough piece of land to lengthen the back straight another 1000 feet if they wanted to make it GP friendly.

[Mookie]

That sucks.  Hopefully he'll heal up relatively quickly without any permanent damage  

[LicketySplat]

Sending good thoughts his way.




On a closely related note... I am SO glad there was no BS on this board about the conditions at Mid-Ohio - although the spectator banners pictured on 'Soup were disappointing.

[scott-sts]

The wera board had a couple of posts about this with some knowledge of the incident.  His bike hit the airfence but he slid beneath it.  

Turn 12 would be hard to fix unless you flattened out a hill and moved a parking lot.  As for sprawl it's pretty far from Atlanta as it stands but I don't know how close the track boarders other property.  It's pretty rural up there.

Now Barber is on a big enough piece of land to lengthen the back straight another 1000 feet if they wanted to make it GP friendly.

I read the problem with Road Atlanta is that it does indeed border other property.
Barber would suck for a MotoGP race.  Who wants to watch MotoGP bikes circulating in 2nd gear all day?

[JamesG]

Road Atlanta is cool, especially turn 12.

Its not cool when you are going down the hill with your back tire stepping out or a some jackass is running you out wide towards that wall of concrete.  Personal experiance talking here...

I heard they can't do much to expand run-off at Road Atlanta because of urban sprawl.  I fear there won't be too much pro racing at that track in the near future.  

RA is in Brasselton, not downtown ATL. They don't have the noise complaint problems that some other tracks like Leguna Seca, or Jennings have had.  It was designed when bikes (and cars) went half as fast as they do today. The track was designed firstly as a car track. I am suprised tha the owner, Panoz, ever does anything to make it safer for bikes.  

The track could be made alot safer if they just took some of the turns (3-4 and 12) vertical concrete walls out and made sloping ones of concrete, or preferably loose soil/grass.  They wouldn't require as much room as level run off or gravel traps, but would still be safer than walls.  But RA won't do that because its not car org.(SCCA GP, etc) acceptable.  

[stromgal]

Damn Damn Damn. Oh, how awful.    He and his father are class acts, I had the pleasure of meeting them at Mid-Ohio a few years back.  

[jed]

I read the problem with Road Atlanta is that it does indeed border other property.
Barber would suck for a MotoGP race.  Who wants to watch MotoGP bikes circulating in 2nd gear all day?

Yeah that's the kicker.  But they do have room to expand the track if they decided to.  At least they have the option to reconfigure there and George has the money to do it too.

[LicketySplat]

Like Turn 10 at Mid-O, RA is somewhat limited because they built the track too d*mn close to the road. Stupid. But there's room to add *some* runoff, if they wanted. map Certainly it's no bigger a job than adding runoff to the front straight at Laguna. All it would take is money and the desire to do it.

::and here's another prayer for Miguel.

[Jeff N]

Ahh shit.  

Miggy is one of the good guys.

Get well, Mr. D.

[keystonejenks]

This stinks.

[Mookie]

From Roadracing world:

Duhamel Injured In Crash Into Turn 12 Wall At Road Atlanta AMA Superbike Test

Aug 09, 2007

Copyright 2007 Roadracing World Publishing, Inc. (This original, copyrighted material may not be copied, cut and pasted, published or otherwise reproduced in any way in any medium, which means, don’t post this on another website or BBS. If you want somebody else to see this, send them a link or post a link to this page.)

Miguel Duhamel, the all-time winningest rider in AMA road racing history, is lying in a hospital in Georgia today and may be out for the season after crashing into a wall at high speed during an unofficial AMA team test at Road Atlanta.

Duhamel was one of many riders taking part in the two-day (August 7-8), multi-team test at the newly-repaved, 2.5-mile, 12-turn road course at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia. For most riders it was their first time seeing the new racing surface, which resulted in lap times at the test being as much as two seconds faster than during the 2006 AMA Superbike races.

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Duhamel was evaluating new Dunlop tires on his American Honda CBR1000RR Superbike as he approached Turn 12 (the most dangerous turn in AMA road racing – if not the world – in the opinion of some racers) at 120-130 mph. Duhamel encountered a problem early in the corner that resulted in the rear end of his motorcycle coming around and throwing the French-Canadian off.

“You ever play with those lawn darts when you were a kid? You throw them underhand real fast about three feet off the ground. That’s what it looked like,” said Al Ludington, Duhamel’s long-time Crew Chief, who witnessed the accident. “He drilled straight in. He didn’t hit the ground before he went in.”

According to Ludington, Duhamel’s CBR led him into the miniscule run-off area and hit and displaced the Airfence, resulting in Duhamel heavily impacting hay bales and a tire wall.

“He had just bent it in,” continued Ludington, “just went to the throttle and it came unglued at the back. It went right off the racetrack without bouncing. It was pretty horrific to watch.”

Ludington was one of the first at the scene. He said Duhamel never lost consciousness and was aware of what happened and what was going on. After reporting that he could feel all of his fingers and toes, Duhamel said he was having trouble breathing and his neck hurt. He was transported by ambulance to North Georgia Medical Center, in Gainesville, Georgia, where he immediately underwent X-rays and CT scans.

“I came back to the track,” said Ludington, who followed the ambulance to the hospital. “They called when they got the CT scans back. He broke a couple of ribs on the back side, which collapsed a lung. The other lung is bruised. He’s got a 5 cm laceration in his liver. He’s got a really badly sprained ankle, which is badly swollen. And he is sore all over, which is about what you would expect for going straight into the Turn 12 wall.

“He’ll be there for a few days. They said two to three days for observation. I just had a niece that went through a lacerated liver. She was in the hospital for four or five days, and then they said no exerting yourself for three to four months. So I would be really surprised if we see Miguel back on a bike this season, but that’s just me guessing.”

No other riders were known to have crashed during the test.

[LicketySplat]

Update: good news http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Aug/070712a.htm

[bizarro]

Sounds like he's raring to get back on a bike. That's great he's going to be alright.  

[Doug Just Doug]

Didn't he come back and win Daytona the last time he got busted up good?  IIRC, he could barely walk and had to be helped on and off his bike...and won anyway.

[maddjack]

I like Miguel DuHamel  and am glad hes on the mend,you gotta say he has stone for all the times he went out half busted up and not only raced but won,the Daytona thing wasn't the only time he ran well hurt

[stromgal]

Latest from Soup:

 American Honda's Miguel Duhamel has been released from a Georgia hospital and is currently recuperating in Montreal after suffering injuries during a testing crash at Road Atlanta last week. Duhamel, who was third in points for the 2007 AMA Superbike championship at the time of his crash, suffered a broken rib, punctured right lung, collapsed left lung, a lacerated liver and sprains to both ankles and knees. He is currently getting around on crutches, and plans to see specialists and begin physical therapy as soon as possible.

"The impact was extremely hard," said Duhamel, who crashed into the turn 12 wall after losing the back end of his CBR1000RR Superbike. "I went into the wall feet first, then hit my side. I went through the first three rows of hay bales, and then hit the tire wall. I came to an abrupt halt. I thought for sure I broke my sternum because I couldn't breathe. I have one broken rib, but they all hurt. From where I crashed and hit the asphalt to the wall is a short distance?maybe 25 feet or so. From hitting the ground to hitting the wall seemed like it took barely a second. I saw the bike go into the wall and take out the air fence. I remember going through the hay bales, just blowing them up like they were mini shredded wheats. I don't think I had the benefit of hitting the air fence. Mat Mladin and Kevin Schwantz placed extra hay bales there earlier in the day, exactly where I hit, so a big thanks to those guys."

[scott-sts]

Mat Mladin and Kevin Schwantz placed extra hay bales there earlier in the day, exactly where I hit, so a big thanks to those guys."


This kind of sums up why AMA racing will always be amatuer hour as far as i'm concerned.

[Gaolee]

Mat Mladin and Kevin Schwantz placed extra hay bales there earlier in the day, exactly where I hit, so a big thanks to those guys."


This kind of sums up why AMA racing will always be amatuer hour as far as i'm concerned.

Typical Miguel- thanking guys even though he didn't necessarily have to.

[Mookie]

Mat Mladin and Kevin Schwantz placed extra hay bales there earlier in the day, exactly where I hit, so a big thanks to those guys."


This kind of sums up why AMA racing will always be amatuer hour as far as i'm concerned.

Pretty much.

[scott-sts]

Miguel was the calalyst that got the AMA to stop racing at Loudon, NH.  Seems like a guy of his caliber has to almost die before the AMA insists that changes be made.  
I was at an AMA race at Loudon one year and rain started falling on the warm up lap.  The entire field held up their hands and refused to move from their grid positions.  The race was eventually cancelled and run on Monday.
About a month earlier, I was gridded up in my fist ever expert heavy weight supertwins race and it started raining just as we took off for the warm up lap.  By the time we made it back to the starting line, it was freaking pouring down rain.  I was gridded on the third row and 4 bikes pulled in on the warm up lap because they were on slicks.  I'm thinking, "Are they really gonna run this race?"  The flag drops... question answered.
I ended up taking a 4th place which was pretty cool but a month later, watching the AMA cancel the superbike race, I couldn't help but think that their life was somehow worth more than mine in some folks minds.  

[Scoop]

I've been watching this for a bit.  Miguel is definitely one of my favorites.  I had a great time chatting with both of his parents in Brainerd a bunch of years ago (I speak some French, so they were very receptive!).  Great people, and Miquel is an incredible rider.  I hope he heals fast.  I wonder if this is a career ending crash though?

[LicketySplat]

I wonder if this is a career ending crash though?

Only if he wants it to be. And somehow, I doubt that. It was the '95 crash that should've  been career ending, and we all know how that turned out. The injuries he has this time are ones that people routinely come back from. With his fan base, not to mention the fact that he's still Honda's "A" rider, he'll have a contract next year if he wants it.

[tomek]

Time to quit ,nothing left to prove and he is way past his peak to win another superbike championship,let the younger guys bang thier bones.

[Scoop]

This is true.  His dad is still running hard, and has probably busted most of his bones once already.  Miquel is in great shape and should recover well.  I did think that the leg injury might have done it for him, but he did "bounce" back from that.  
But, if I were him, I would stay home more with Linea!!

[LicketySplat]

if I were him, I would stay home more with Linea!!

They broke up earlier this year. Maybe you *can* spend some time with her?

[sammyseaman]

This kind of sums up why AMA racing will always be amatuer hour as far as i'm concerned.

Amen brother. They need to get the feck out of racing.  

[Scoop]

They broke up earlier this year. Maybe you *can* spend some time with her?

Jeez, I didn't know that.  Well then, Miquel can go back to racing and I will call her up and see what she's doing!