Kade Walker out of san diego hospital! recovering in his home country, canada - shame on beaner roger norman!
OFFICIAL Kade Walker RECOVERY SITE CLICK HERE
Baja Racing News Readers SHAME SCORE/Roger Norman
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BajaRacingNews@LIVE.com
Editor:
"Americans have the US Coast Guard fly and land down in Baja all the time.
One example, an american woman (name withheld for now) told the USCG her mother needed a ride (guised as a medical evac) in the middle of the night, from the middle of Baja.
"No problemo", they said, they sent a chopper from San Diego and flew down and picked up her mom and flew her to her favorite hospital in the great United States.
A $75,000 life-flight, for an American citizen vacationing in mexico, 'no-charge' for the recipient."
Anyone who says there aren't other possibilities, solutions or resources, just doesn't give-a-s***.
Like everyone is repeating today, every team must have their own emergency plan.
You're asking for disaster if you don't have an iron-clad medical emergency plan.
Road2Recovery Update:
"$32,520, currently donated to the cause.
"Not one phone call and zero financial assistance from the megalomaniacs, the owners of score."
score megalomania- a delusional mental illness that's marked by feelings of organizational/personal omnipotence and grandeur
Chavo_Dakar_Bolivia:
"I have a honest question that I don't quite understand: How can a professional rider that lives from racing full time and professional team like SLR Honda not have accident insurance to cover these kinds of incidents? Is this normal in USA?
The SLR team had a Bell Jet Ranger chopper flying over them pretty much all day, and that is a huge expense, so I don't see a budget issue for not having accident insurance. I might understand (but not justify) a eventual bucket list rider in ironman not having accident insurance. This is something as a race organizer [or race dis-organizer like SCORE] that I would also require everybody to have and show proof of. Accident insurance.
Now that I can say I have 4 years of experience racing in Baja and 8 years racing Dakar Rally, I can say this race [SCORE race] is way more of a death race both for riders and teams (support crews included).
There's nothing like it. Racing at day and night, with no stop on the clock. Comparing the "Dangers" of both races, Dakar is way more dangerous because you don't know whats coming and way higher average speeds."
New member:
"The complete lack of safety and extraction provided by SCORE/Roger Norman is the reason that no real top tier motorcycle teams really compete....SLR was the last real race team still participating and I'd think based on Mark Samuels comments afterward they are now done.
Those of you saying "this is Baja, nothing can be done, SCORE does fine", must know better than 7 time Baja 1000 winner Mark Samuels cause he is pretty pissed about the situation and thought the response....sorry I mean complete lack of response....from SCORE/Roger Norman was unacceptable.
Baja is B-level [or F-level for FAIL /SCORE International/Roger Norman] racing at this point, has been for quite a few years really, there are only a handful of dudes in the Pro class down there that could get a top 5 in the A class at a Hare & Hound.
I also have to laugh at whoever said "SCORE/Roger Norman racing is for grassroots racers, not million dollar race teams" yeah....that's why SCORE completely and totally caters to the Trophy Truck and Car Teams, they are so grassroots out there in $2 million dollar race rigs."
Stan V:
"Not surprised, just crickets from the balance of the 'baja racing community', the blood suckers- they should be ashamed! How many dead are now plastered on their altar to their "sport". Death Races, Indeed."
Ferals5:
"Very interesting to see how SAR and aeromedical flights are managed elsewhere in the world, down under we have a few 24/7 SAR helo’s in every state, aeromedical flights rock over my house at all hours of the night to land at our regional hospital. Winching paramedics in at night happens here. (in a past life remote firefighting I was trained to hang off a winch rope so I know all the risks involved and yes I’ve hot refueled a jet ranger from a 44 gallon drum with a petrol powered pump) Yes it costs a lot… but if a place like Oz can do it…"
Miax said:
"I get that its remote but for a professional event, one of the largest, this response time is unforgivable in my opinion. Look at Dakar...there's a helicopter anywhere within 10 minutes maximum. They should talk to those safety and security teams to learn. I get that they are under different economic circumstances but its also a smaller event."
"Bob (RIP) owned PCI radios in Signal Hill. Bob sold a lot of radios to race teams and was instrumental in keeping the teams radios programmed to separate channels so everyone didn't walk all over each other (see a list of frequencies below from 2010). After Bob passed away, his son, Scott took over. The radios & frequencies used are all commercial frequencies in the VHF High Band range from 150 to 174 mz. Two things that most people don't know about team radios is that you are supposed to have a license to use those frequencies in the USA (yes technically everyone on the team) and use of any amature or commercial radios like the teams use are illegal in Mexico, but it is pretty much ignored. Because of the "legal" issues using frequencies that we racers aren't supposed to be using, SCORE has nothing to do with controlling radio usage. Bob tried to keep who was using what frequency from the other teams but that was pretty much impossible as many of us were involved with numerous different teams and had friends on other teams. SCORE had two channels "Comp Comm" at 152.795 and "SCORE OPS" at 151.875. Being able to get through to either of the SCORE channels was always pretty sketchy as it was similar to getting any range out of a chase truck's radio.Back from start through the 80's if you were a small independent team, it was really difficult to communicate with your team spread out all over Baja. PCI would program your radios with a frequency that other teams didn't use. If you had a car and were running BFG tires & signed up for BFG Pits, you could use what is called BFG relay on 151.715. BFG relay was able to pass information from one pit to another up and down Baja. BFG had a different frequency just for Pit comms on 154.980. Bob started his Weatherman comms on 151.625 which was a really big help to the smaller teams trying to communicate. The problem was back in around in the mid 80's the Weatherman became problematic with all of the "Richard Craniums" all on the same frequency. Weatherman was never part of SCORE, it was a total freebee from Bob he wrote off as marketing. In many of the Baja 1000 races you would find yourself sitting in a chase truck in the middle of nowhere waiting for hours, in the dark & cold, listening to the Weatherman for entertainment. The Weatherman got so worthless that PCI had a unique frequency the called PCI Customer Relay on 154.515.The PPI Toyota team (Ivan Stewart) used to helicopter in repeaters to mountain tops. The Venable Ford Rough Riders (Rob Mac) used a fixed wing Aero Commander that loitered at 10,000 ft and could send and receive comms from both sides of Baja in many places. Back when Honda and Kawasaki were making full blown Factory efforts they both had their own frequencies and relay setups."
"The lack of attention Cade got from SCORE is unconscionable and inexcusable. He was unconscious 20 minutes with no one there. The team got there and they had to drive him out a gnarly 4x4 trail. But it literally took 8 hrs to get him out and he was unconscious the whole time. The McMillins flew him in their jet home. It was nearing dark so no flying but there should have been some calls there are literally 20 chase helicopters that could have been diverted to pick him up regardless of the time. There will more to this. I pray he will come out of this. If you would like to see the sad report from Mark Samuels here it is."
Big Tall Bastard said:
"The top moto teams in Baja are now privateers, there is no factory involvement and I don't think any of them have helicopters. two comments over by people involved in the aviation industry explaining the difficulty of helicopter use and flying at night in Baja. Its not that easy. Racing in Baja is a little like racing the TT, everyone involved knows the risks and should take those risks seriously. This from Zambo, a pilot and long time baja racer, "Mexico doesn't "ground all flights" at night." They don't allow VFR flying at night, which means you can't just take off without clearance and fly willy-nilly wherever you want simply using your eyeballs for deconfliction. You have to be on a flight plan with an instrument rating and air traffic control. Night VFR, contrary to what is posted here by some, is only allowed in a few places in the world, the US being one of those places. Flying a helo at night anywhere close to the ground, especially in mountainous terrain like Baja, is INCREDIBLY dangerous and risky. People think that landing a helo at night in the desert is some simple thing....not even remotely. The risk of hitting power lines, trees, setting the bird down on an uneven patch of ground or a rock or getting in a 'white out' due to kicking up dust/silt...those are very real and not easily countered risks. That sort of thing requires the kind of specialized training and equipment usually reserved for military and trained lifeflight crews, the kind which are going to be in very short supply in a place like Baja.
From Tapeworm, "Flying helicopters at night is way different than most people think." It’s not like driving a car. You don't have lights to see out in front of you. You might think, “you’re up in the sky with nothing to hit, what is so hard about it?” But in all reality flying a helicopter is inherently more risky than racing the Baja 1000. At night, flying VFR, something as simple as a balloon is enough to kill you because you can’t see it in the dark. You can’t see any other aircraft at night unless they are going the same direction as you because they don’t have headlights, and you also can’t just land in the dark, even with ground lighting, because the dust will eliminate all visual reference once the rotor wash hits the deck. Helicopters are very fragile aircraft and I’ve seen a drying towel for a car ground an aircraft and cause over $1,000,000 worth of damage just from coming in contact with the tail rotor when a helicopter was coming in to land for a show and tell at a college. This towel got sucked up from about 100 yards away from the LZ too, so it wasn’t negligence on the flight crews part. I understand the want and desire to extricate an injured and dying rider, but how many lives are we really willing to put at a higher risk of mortality to rescue one life? Is the moto riders life more valuable than the flight crew? Just to put it into perspective, most American helicopters flying at night have a flight crew of at least 3 individuals all on goggles (NVG). Add rescue to that and you have increased it to 6 members now in a minimum of a type 2 helicopter (a Huey, for reference.) Most night rescue helicopters in California are now type 1 helicopters (blackhawks) and no medical helicopter will land anywhere but a lit up (lights) FAA registered helipad 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise. Helicopters don’t just land on the ground at night, that’s considered a crash in the aviation world. I know Mexico is a different rule set, but the change is simply more than just getting the government to agree to a law exemption. Just for reference, to have a helicopter with hoist, crew, and night flying capabilities would probably be in the price range of $20,000-$30,000 an hour for standby. More if it actually flew a mission."
Continued:
"I just know that there (used) to be a long standing relationship with the PCI Race Radios business and SCORE (at contingency/tech) and that the "weatherman" service was a bonus/voluntary offshoot of that... that continued for some years after the commercial co-operation ceased between the two."
Troy Carpente said:
"Flying chopper support for motorsport events in the desert is no joke. We used helicopter support on the Australian Safari, for filming and e-vac air support to the moto elite for over 20 years - during daylight. That is the reason that the FIM rallies only allow (in the schedule) for any competition stages to be ran in daylight. Yes it happens that people running late end up in darkness... but no pointy end racing is scheduled to occur after dark. Low level flying over the desert is frought with peril... It is a constant job for the pilot flying to monitor and assess the risk management/obstacles at all times. The dust and sand created from propeller wash makes picking landing/take off spots difficult - sure... but that is only a small part of the equation - as you alluded to. My father knows too well - he was on board the Safari orga Jetranger in 2002 when it got hit by a dust devil - while low level filming during a rally stage... fortunately they went down in (relatively) forgiving sand dune/scrub terrain... and "only" knocked the tail rotor off. It was fortunate that all on board walked away - thank's largely to the intuitive reaction of the pilot (one of Oz's most decorated rescue/care flight chopper pilots) when the whirl wind came out from nowhere, and he knew that they were going in. Anyway... as you said the reason for the "grounded" aircraft/helicopters at night in Baja - is not just the regulations from the authorities. There very good practical reasons for why it is not applicable, as you spelt out 100%. So the fact is, that there was not more that SCORE (or anyone else in proximity for that matter) could have done perhaps, with the helicopters that were in attendance at the race - in any case - given the encoaching twilight circumstances.
From my perspective... it is not merely the fact that they (SCORE) could not provide chopper e-vac or air support as the night approached that was the problem. I followed along for many years (since moving to Europe) listening to the weatherman relays over the internet stream, and on the other forum chats that "chase" the Baja 500 and B1K each year. A similar thing occurs almost every time an "emergency" accident call goes out over the wire. (i.e. all hell breaks loose). You got the weatherman barking out "clear the channel", over the UHF frequency... meantime several other (seemingly well intentioned) radio equipped parties jump in on the act to ask/see how they can help? On a number of occasions there is some other hero, who jumps on the airwaves and is gonna' drive into the course to to save the day... meanwhile in the heat of the moment, other people jump on the wire and start passing on messages - getting stff ass-backwards :deal like "was that car #501 at RM 450... or car #450 at RM 501" sort of caper. All of it with the very best of intentions... but often very counter productive to the task at hand. In the meantime you have SCORE (who do have a contingency plan of sorts) and poor old Bob up on the moutain, trying to co-ordinate the whole show, and keep some semblance of snity about it. Now, it is not so much a criticism - as much as a caustic observation... but other that the "on again off again" tracker system that SCORE use to monitor the racers progress on the course (since about a decade ago), the "weatherman" repeater radio communications sytem that covers the Baja race events - has not really changed much since the 90's...or has it? (that is a bona fide question that I am asking). I've heard the rumour (for years now) that there is a whole other PCI Race radio's/SCORE feud somewhere in the background noise from years ago - to boot... I am sure the weatherman concept was valid when it was created all those years back. But in this age of satellite comm's - isn't there a better more effective way? The fact is - to a casual observer - the search/rescue and support contingency plans for the B1K in 2023... are not a whole lot different to those of 20... or 30... or even 40 years ago. SCORE used to race back in the 70's under same conditions - and rode accordingly. Thing is, that the pressure, pace and the risk vs reward factor has gotten much higher since back then. It is indeed sad, but racing in Baja is dangerous and everyone entered knows it. Desert racing is dangerous - yes.
I also believe that many believe (or assume) that the organizer (SCORE) has an established risk contingency and action plan in place for this race. [Huge fallacy]
But after this most recent event, and the similarities to the chain of events that happened when KC#66 ended up in an almost identical set of circumstances - 10 years ago... I would like to think, that SCORE will sit down and give this stuff some serious investigation."
Anonymous:
"This entire situation is by intention by Roger Norman. He's owned score for many years and he's the richest guy doing this racing, gringo racing in mexico.
He only wants racers inscription money and to see racers to die! More publicity for his splashy 'Dangerous race series'".
Beaner Roger Norman - Cartel Stooge, Insurance Fraudster, Etc. Origin Oct. 25, 2023 CLICK HERE
Origin Reporting November 27, 2023
Jose Salas II, Publisher. Ensenada, BC.
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