WSBK 1998 Laguna Seca - Race 1 - Start Line Pile-up

[laci0008]

nasty restart, I wouldnt put that all on Boz thou

[mille41]

nobody died, this was the restart after a horrible accident at the corkscrew where chandlers kwaka seized and barrelled into Yanagawa. Yanagawa was in a coma but made a full recovery

[rapid13]

@mille41 Actually, Chandler's right clip-on broke which caused him to be unable to slow, stop or steer. When he t-boned Akira it was ghastly!

I was hanging out by the bridge to watch the start and restart and re-restart for this race and this was painful to hear and watch. I thought for sure someone was dead, absolutely amazing that there were only injuries.

[WSBArchives]

@rapid13 For about 20 minutes after the accident there were rumours going round that James Randolph had been killed. These were swiftly dispelled when he appeared in the paddock with just a bandage on one finger!

[rapid13]

@WSBArchives The Yanagawa crash was the worst I'd ever seen live - I figured him for dead when I saw that one! Then this thing happened and my brain just stopped processing for about 10 minutes. Then to top it all off my all-time WSBK fav Aaron Slight was hurt. Still, I love Laguna and enjoyed every WSBK race they held there, never missed a year.

[mynameisadirtyman]

did any1 die?

[SBOWsteffan]

that looked like crash site horrible incident

[depkev]

che incidente di massa!

[WSBArchives]

Yeah, Slight went to British T0uring Cars after retiring from WSB in 2000. He also did some racing in ASCAR.

Bontempi went to World Supersports, then came back to WSB for the 2004 season.

Rich Oliver won the AMA 250cc series five times, from 2002 to 2006. He now runs an off-road racing school.

Fred Protat won the French Superbike series in 2000 and 2001. He currently races in the World Endurance Championship.

James Randolph continued to race in the AMA series.

[BikerBonno]

And Igor Jerman went on to become World Endurance Champion

[dragger512]

Thanks for unloading

[BikerBonno]

Riders involved: Aaron Slight, who goes down first, Igor Jerman then clips his bike, taking down his team-mate Piergiorgio Bontempi. Richie Oliver, on the blue Yamaha, then hits Jerman's bike, Frederic Protat is on the Ducati, which rides into the dustcloud. James Randolph is the rider who crashes into Slight's Honda at the end.

[WSBArchives]

Correct, you certainly know your stuff.