Stopping on a racetrack.

[chickenfunkstar]

Just wondering what the correct thing to do when someone in front of you crashes on a track day / race / similar situation.

At Pukekohe last friday, someone crashed about 150m in front of me under braking at the end of the straight. Obviously I slowed down, but I wasn't really sure if I should stop or not. A few seconds later the rider who had crashed got up and walked over to check her bike. I then decided to carry on back to the pits and tell the marshalls that there was an accident.

I was going to stop and help her but wasn't sure if this was a big nono on the track. E.g. someone who's new to the track might think that they're doing fasted riders behind a favour by 'getting out of their way' but thats actually a dangerous thing to do.

[Marmoot]

raise one hand up, slow down gradually, check back while going straight as much as possible, and stop at the track side. That is if you want to stop.

I guess?

[myvice]

Try not to run them over, it hurts!

[madboy]

At the trackdays I've attended we've always been under strict instructions to proceed back to the pits and stop. Under no circumstances were we to stop on the track.

From experience, what I have seen happening is that the rider behind will usually stop (assuming they can) and make sure the rider down is okay. Since I haven't been the "first on scene" I've never been in that position. It seems to me to be a fairly sensible thing to do to stop and see that they're okay. But in saying that, stopping on a racetrack is a bloody dangerous thing to do!! It'd be safer to follow the instructions and go back to the pits. Leave it to the pros.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

When a rider went down in front of me at the first KB track day it was at the hairpin. So the speeds were slow. I managed to stop but was close to hitting the downed bike. As I had come to a stand still I put the bike on the stand and went to stop other bikes running the rider over. Other bikes went around us and back to the pits. I think it could be different in the fast part of the track but I am sure if I was first there I would put the bike off the race line and stop to help. Just what feels right and if I was down it would be good to get some help ASAP if there was a danger of getting run over and increasing the damage.
I note some riders do not look at the flags. We had a two bike crash at the buckets 3 or so months ago. I put the red flag out but some bikes did not respond to it till they had just about passed it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The crash was only 20m passed that point. That is why I don't think the red flag should be used to clear the track of riders at the end of a race. They become casual and do not always see the importance of it. Just my 2cnts worth and I have no training in these matters.

[Drunken Monkey]

On an organised bike track day (like the KB or Vic club ones) or race day, you are normally instructed to NOT stop = it's the marshal's job to check the status of the rider.
The Puke' open days are a bit different, to tell the truth quite slack safety-wise, and not a good place for track day noobs to be running about. I have stopped before to assist a downed rider; as above, lift your hand to indicate you are stopping then pull right off the track (to the left, just like a normal road).