PURSUING SAFETY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

That's not a ‘flat’ track!
Riders didn’t enjoy the bumpy 
New Hampshire circuit.
In the Main,
Dalton Winkler got slammed to the

ground coming out of turn two.
He got up after the red flag,
shook it off and made the restart.
You could see by his aggressiveness after, 

that hitting the ground didn't faze him.
Being tougher than a two dollar steak is 

part of our flat track racer DNA.
Unfortunately, he got spit off coming out of two again, 

this time he wasn't so lucky. Winkler

tried to stand up but fell back to

his knees and rolled onto his back. 

You could tell he was hurting bad.
The ambulance headed out onto the
track to scoop up the injured racer.
But before he could be loaded onto the stretcher,

 another official took charge over 
the ambulance crew. I watched him
thoroughly check out the rider. I could

not tell if he was a doctor or not.
Had AFT stepped up with better medical personnel on site?

Dalton Winkler

I asked Michael Lock after the race.

Turns out AFT had a motorsports EMT at this event.
Michael told me they want to have a 

trauma doctor at all events next year.
Lock smiled when I mentioned that 

'word around the pits was air suits are 

going to be mandatory soon.'
I personally was impressed when AFT 

announced at the end-of-season banquet last year, 

a program, open to ALL racers, 

to buy top-shelf Dainese leathers at 

an extremely discounted price.
This move showed that they cared 

and were concerned too.
Michael Lock stated 'American Flat Track 

is aggressively pursuing rider safety.'

He mentioned how AFT had

increased air fences and hay bales.
Also, he spoke of how AFT studied all the 

crashes over the year and have determined 

a stricter licensing system is needed.
That AFT must protect the racers if the 

show is to go on. I walked away from our 

conversation feeling very positive about 

the coming seasons.

Via Facebook Dalton Winkler confirmed 

he ‘shattered his collarbone, broke three ribs, 

fractured his neck, partially collapsed a lung 

and the lung ripped off his rib cage’ . 

I can’t help wonder what his injuries would 

be like if he had an air suit on during this crash?

   **Photos by MRSJJFIVE**