MotoAmerica Superbike Crash At 186 mph:

Why Benjamin Smith Is Lucky To Be Alive

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

By Michael Gougis

MotoAmerica Superbike qualifying on Saturday, May 30th at Road America saw Benjamin Smith crash hard at the fastest point on the circuit, the run down into Turn Five, with his Warhorse HSBK Ducati Panigale V4 R slamming into the back of his head and leaving him with his second concussion in two races.

A 12-inch piece of solid metal used as a weight had flown out of the hollow rear axle on Jayson Uribe’s OrangeCat Racing BMW M 1000 RR. Uribe was just ahead of Smith when the piece came out of the axle, bounced, and lodged in Smith’s front wheel, locking the wheel instantly before coming loose and flying off the racetrack. The piece then hit and damaged a chain-link fence adjacent to the track. (A spectator retrieved the axle weight, gave it to the Warhorse Ducati team, and received a cash reward.)

“The data said my front wheel went from 186 mph to zero in less than a second,” Smith said afterwards. “I saw it come out, bounce once, and it went straight into my front wheel.”

The metal piece was being used as ballast in the rear axle by the OrangeCat team. Tuners sometimes will add weight to help fine-tune suspension behavior (specifically as it relates to chatter), and while the practice does add unsprung weight, the weight is not rotating and thus doesn’t add to the gyroscopic momentum of the wheel, nor does it add to the weight that the engine is trying to spin. (A variation of the practice is also used in Moto2, where teams sometimes use solid rear axles of differing weights.)

When adding ballast to a racing motorcycle, the MotoAmerica rulebook (and rulebooks from other series worldwide, including the Superbike World Championship and the IDM Superbike series in Germany) is specific about how it has to be done. In each of those cases, identical rulebook wording states that the ballast must be “firmly and securely connected either through an adapter or directly to the main frame or engine with a minimum of two (2) steel bolts (minimum 8mm diameter, 8.8 grade or over).” In cases where this is not possible, “other equivalent technical solutions must be submitted to the Technical Director for his approval,” the rulebook states.

According to MotoAmerica, the weight in question was “secured” inside the axle by epoxy. But as seen in photos taken after the crash, blue painters tape was wrapped around the weight in two places, leading to speculation that friction from the tape was also being counted on to hold the piece inside the axle. Looking at the photos, there was little visible signs of epoxy on the piece that was inserted into the axle; epoxy did not appear to have been applied to the entire length of the part.

Chuck Aksland, Chief Operating Officer for MotoAmerica, said that OrangeCat had submitted its ballast strategy to the series at the beginning of the season; the metal ballast was epoxied into the axle; and the system had worked until the incident at Road America. Aksland said that in the wake of the incident, OrangeCat had already approached the series with a different solution to adding ballast to the rear axle.

Roadracing World contacted Alpha Racing, the German company contracted by BMW to build and sell BMW racebikes, including the ones OrangeCat Racing runs in MotoAmerica Superbike. Asked if the company had made the axle insert and approved how it was held in place, a company representative said that the only ballast made and approved by Alpha was a homologated, solid weight bolted to the engine.

The situation did not go down well with Bobby Shekarabi, team principal for Warhorse HSBK Ducati, who saw his rider injured and a very expensive, six-figure Panigale V4 R built in the Ducati race shop in Italy destroyed. Even the engine was demolished as the motorcycle slid and tumbled, smashing Smith in the head as it spun.

“This was not the way to add weight to the axle or motorcycle,” Shekarabi said. “The FIM has very strict rules on how to add weight safely. There is nothing usable from Benjamin’s machine.”

Asked to comment, OrangeCat Racing Team Principal Jeff Conners sent an e-mail to Roadracing World that read, “Following up to your request for more information on the Road America incident. The incident is being reviewed by MotoAmerica and the AMA and (we) would prefer to wait until the issue is closed before we officially comment.

“This was a terrible crash caused by a component that fell from Jayson Uribe’s motorcycle during the session, and we apologize to both Benjamin and the Warhorse team for the incident. We hope for a fast recovery for Benjamin and look forward to competing with him on track soon.”

Smith said he posted about the incident on social media to clarify what happened in order to make sure that innocent parties were not blamed. The incident was not the result of a tire failure or wheel failure or other mechanical failure on the Ducati or of any of its components. Smith’s crash also wound up on YouTube, social media platforms worldwide, and in international photo services. The video of Smith’s crash is scary to watch as Smith reaches up to his head after he is struck by his bike.

Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.