Defeat hurts, but this looks pretty bad too: while celebrating a win in an FIM Motocross of Nations race on Sunday, the bike of a lapped rider came flying toward Jason Anderson and smacked him in the head. Video of the incident looks brutal, but Anderson’s race team later reported that he is OK.
According to Fox Sports, witnesses said Anderson was alert after the collision and went to the medical center at the venue. Anderson, whose win came in a race that combined the Open and MX2 classes and put the U.S. in the lead for the event, did not compete in the third and final race of the day. TransWorld Motocross tweeted that Anderson went to a local hospital for a mandatory concussion check, but had no injuries otherwise.
The incident occurs at around 2:20 in the highlight video below.
Anderson’s team, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, later put out a press release in which Anderson confirmed that he was OK following the crash. Getting slammed by another bike wasn’t even Anderson’s first injury of the weekend. From the release:
Jason Anderson: “I was really excited coming to this race to represent the US. After posting the fastest time in free practice I had a bit of bad luck in qualifying. I got hit from behind in the first turn and ended up hurting my leg. I decided to race on Sunday despite this injury. My first race went pretty well from the get go. I got the holeshot and started pulling away from the field. Midway through the race Herlings caught up and we had a pretty good battle for a couple of laps before he went down. After that I was just coasting to the finish to get the win. I was really excited to cross the line first but right after that I felt another bike landing on me. We’ve got everything checked out and I’m going to be OK. It’s just a bit of a bummer I couldn’t get out there in the last moto to help Team USA battle for the win.”
In the Motocross of Nations, Fox Sports reports that France took the overall win.