Motorcycle rider Daniel Alexander almost struck an ambulance that was crossing a hot track at Georgia’s Roebling Road Raceway during a race on Sunday, March 19. Alexander caught the near-miss on his forward-facing camera; he was forced to take evasive action by leaving the track, which resulted in a crash. Dwayne A. Brown, another rider following Alexander, wasn’t quite so lucky; he clipped the rear of the ambulance. Both riders were thankfully able to walk away from the crash, but it’s still unclear why an ambulance was allowed to enter the active track in the first place.
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Footage of Alexander’s incident was posted to YouTube by fellow rider Moto Mutt International:
This crash took place during a WERA National Challenge race for Open Superstock Expert and Novice riders. The clip from Alexander’s camera failed to capture the complexity of the full incident, but fellow rider Aaron Dearborn also took to YouTube to speak about what he saw. Dearborn was not competing in the race in question; he was spectating and filming. After witnessing what happened, he immediately spoke to his camera about what transpired:
“I saw the ambulance getting ready to go out,” Dearborn says, noting that the race had not been red flagged but was instead under a yellow after one of Dearborn’s friends crashed in Turn 1. “I turned and heard… a bike hit something.
“I turn back around and see pieces of debris flying down the track. The ambulance is now on track, pulling forward.”
Dearborn was unclear what had happened and opted against competing in his race that afternoon for fear of a similar incident unfolding.
WERA Motorcycle Roadracing issued the following statement regarding the event:
On March 19th in the Open Superstock race at Roebling Road Raceway, there was an incident on the front straight involving an ambulance and two riders. The ambulance was leaving the track to transport an injured rider from an earlier incident. Due to a miscommunication between the ambulance driver and race officials the ambulance crossed in front of two motorcycles. Both riders did fall but walked away from the crash. WERA is investigating what led to this incident and will be instituting any necessary changes to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.
Additionally, Roadracing World reports that Alexander was uninjured “but was unable to speak on the phone.” The publication also writes that Brown declined an opportunity to speak “until he’s had a chance to acquire legal representation.” Brown posted on Facebook that he didn’t suffer any major injuries but did go to a local hospital with some pain.
Jalopnik has reached out to Roebling Road Raceway for comment via both phone and email; at the time of publication, we have not heard back from track organizers. We will update this article with any response we receive.