Motorcycle Racing – Talent or Luck – You Decide

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 5/16/2008

in Motorcycle Racing

A motorcycle racer, ... oh, never mind, just watch the video!

UPDATE: This video was loading slowly and causing a few page problems so just follow the link instead.

Thanks, Aaron!!

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{ 16 comments }

Sean May 16, 2008 at 11:20 pm: Un-frickin’-believable…
bulldawgr6 May 16, 2008 at 11:45 pm: Wow!
reddog May 17, 2008 at 1:47 am: That seems very unlikely. He was on some kind of dolly mounted prop bike.
hoyt May 17, 2008 at 2:19 am: I like the racer who weaved in between the running racer and his bike (even if it is not real)
hoyt May 17, 2008 at 2:30 am: oh man, that is funny
Sean May 17, 2008 at 6:07 am: I disagree reddog. The way the bike was moving, and the way it took off seemed nothing like a dolly-mounted propbike. I’d like to know how and why he came off, though.
jamesbowman May 17, 2008 at 10:37 am: Well it is very funny and I think real or at least not computer generated. I cracked up everytime I watched it, I do not know what made him slip offf but to have the presense of mind to run the bike down and continue is impressive.
lostinoz May 17, 2008 at 2:15 pm: I dont think he “fell off” it looks like he bailed it. Right before he falls/bails, it looks like the front wheel hit something judging from the shake of the camera. It might have just been enough for him to think he was going to lose it, so he bailed the bike rather than slide with it.
Its amazing to see the bike keep going, and the weaving of the bike itself is enough to see it wasnt dolly mounted, another point, he never would have made a turn with a dolly mounted bike.
stunt? possible, but I think the best part either way is that it only took a few seconds off his lap and he only lost 2 spots!
Phil Phartman May 17, 2008 at 2:36 pm: FAKE!!!
Tommy May 17, 2008 at 3:46 pm: Fake. My friends and I ran with a gps in our hands. The fastest anyone could run was 15mph. Therefore, the bike would have had to be going significantly slower in order for him to fall, get up, run to it and hop on.

I dont see anyway that bike would stay up that long at those speeds.

Also, my nerdy film friends pointed out a bunch of incorrect lighting stuff that leads them to believe there was some definite stuff going on in front of the bike.
kneeslider May 17, 2008 at 4:11 pm: The questionable part in my own opinion is the get off. As jamesbowman notes above, he seems to bail on his own rather than getting tossed which sets up the whole sequence. It would be interesting to get the real story behind the video, which, real or fake, still looks pretty cool.
Stomped May 17, 2008 at 5:58 pm: I don’t think any racer is dumb enough to run down the middle of the track.
MadScience May 17, 2008 at 7:04 pm: I agree it’s staged. The bail looks fishy, he lands very easily, and he turns to run after the bike before he can see it. The relative speed of the guy compared to the bikes is too close. And the 2 bikes splitting and weaving around him is gratuitous because they are entering a straight away.
pghcyclist May 17, 2008 at 7:24 pm: stunt or fortunate accident. Doesn’t matter to me. I still enjoy it.
Jammer97 May 18, 2008 at 11:39 pm: let the video be a lesson In motorcycle dynamics. The gyroscopic effect at either end of the bike kept it up. Its improper rider input or an outside source that makes a bike go down. Fake video or not could it be true?
Chris May 20, 2008 at 12:23 am: Totally staged. There is no way anyone can run fast enough to catch a runaway motorcycle coasting down from speed in *that* short of a distance and/or time. No Olympic sprinter has ever run faster than 23 MPH, and yet we’re supposed to believe this guy managed to achieve a sprint significantly faster than this wearing full racing leathers and a helmet immediately after falling off a motorcycle that was moving at several tens of miles per hour?

I don’t claim to know *how* it was staged, but I highly suspect the front end of that motorcycle was attached to something other than a standard motorcycle front wheel.

Jammer97: the gyroscopic effect is fairly powerful, yes, but not powerful enough to pick up and fully stabilise a bike that was leaned over that far and upset by the rider falling off of it.

Funny video, though

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