Word around is that Kawasaki is seriously considering drafting in Akira Yanagawa (at almost 40 years old) to replace Chris Vermeulen for the rest of the season. What is it with the teams hiring these old guys?
Anyway, Akira may not be the best of choices given his sometime propensity for “binning it”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDsXZ9PwfB0&feature=related[/youtube]
This was one of the most spectacular get-off’s I think I can remember witnessing, at the WSBK round in 1998.
Of course, Akira also featured in another horrifying accident at Laguna Seca in the same year, although this time he was the innocent party.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrovrcd5MU[/youtube]
If you look closely at the 2:59 mark you will see, as the slo-mo pans by, the left clip-on of Doug Chandler’s bike parting company with the bike. The loose clip-on was what caused him to lose control and crash. At the time, team boss, Bob Muzzy, knowing how sensitive the Japanese manufacturers are to criticism of their product, didn’t attribute the accident to mechanical failure. Actually, it probably wasn’t mechanical failure anyway. It was more than likely the fault of one of Bob’s mechanics who failed to secure it properly.
I remember watching this race on TV and I was sure that Akira had been killed. As it was, the worst of his injuries was that he lost most of his front teeth.
sanoptic says
That 2nd vid made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up ,poor bugger getting taken out like that ,not Chandlers fault of coarse.
Akira was lucky he didn’t end up with a broken neck by the the way his head hit the ground.
Phil Hall says
Yeah, he hit that rumble strip pretty hard, didn’t he? I did think that he was going to be a goner.