Photo: James Lissimore

Zach Bell made his professional SX debut at round one of the 250SX Eastern Region at the Dallas SX, and he has been the focal point of every bench racing session since. Zach didn’t win or even finish the main event at round one, but his 14 laps of professional racing–4 in the heat race, 4 in the LCQ & 6 in the main event–were packed full of incredible speed, yellow flags, red-cross flags and even a red flag. The kid holeshotted his first-ever Supercross heat race and checked out, but while leading on lap four, it all went terribly wrong. Zach caught his right foot on the face of a triple, and the next he knew, he and everyone watching was praying that he would survive. He was ejected off his GEICO/Honda and thrown 80 feet through the air to the blue-grooved Texas hard-pack where he lay motionless. The only way I can describe Zach’s crash is to compare it to a human cannonball with the Texas hard-park substituting for a net.

Most everyone, including myself, thought they had just witnessed the quickest beginning and end to a promising moto career in history. The way his body and, then, his head hit the ground was just too much to get up from. Chad Reed’s Milleville crash was similar, but Chad landed on the soft downside of a jump. Where Zach landed, though, was closer to concrete. While Zach lay motionless, they brought out the red-flag, and fans held their collective breath. Miraculously, though, the limp body laying on the track began to move and was soon on his feet. Zach made his way, under his own power, to the back of the Asterisk Medic Mule and was driven back to get checked out. And that was the end of his night, right? Nope.

When the 250SX LCQ came to the line, the #167 was behind the gate. Nobody could believe what they were seeing, and the mixed reactions ranged from “Holy shit, that kid’s a badass” to “Holy shit, who is letting this kid race.” In the LCQ, Zach got a decent start and, after making a couple of passes, raced his way into the first professional main event of his infant career. After the LCQ, Erin Bates interviewed a very emotional Bell who made it clear how much this race meant to him and how happy he was to be okay after he fell from the sky in the heat race.

You can view Bell’s crash and impression of the “Greatest American Hero” in the video below.

When the gate fell for the main event, the normally great starter got a mediocre start from the last gate pick. Zach was running ninth, though, and looked well on his way to a decent top ten debut. The next thing we knew, yellow flags were flying in two different spots on the track–one for Cole Thompson and one for Zach. Zach had over-jumped an on-off section and had lawn-darted his head into the Texas soil once again. Again, Zach looked visibly shaken, and his night was ended with a DNF 18th. This is where the controversy begins. Did his first hit to his head lead to the second, and should Zach have even been allowed to line up?

The permanent dangers of concussions and the fact that you are done for the night if you get concussed has been highly publicized lately, and in Zach’s heat race crash, it looked obvious to almost everyone in attendance and watching on TV that Zach was knocked unconscious. You can clearly see on the video that Zach hit his head with incredible force and was motionless on the track for quite some time after that. To me, there is only one reason you lay that still and go that limp: you are asleep. From my extensive 20+ years of experience with crashing–and I crashed a lot–that is the only time I laid motionless.

The tweets below show what Zach had to say about why he raced and why he laid motionless.

 

First thing I want to say is, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Dr. Bodnar and the Asterisk Medic crew. They are a very qualified and incredibly dedicated group of doctors who have changed this sport for the better in every way possible. Most of them are full time doctors who do this job purely for the love of the game, and they would never, I repeat never, send a rider out to race if they thought he had a brain injury. They have a concussion baseline test that they do before the season and a protocol of tests they perform on riders after they crash to diagnose concussions. They did these tests on Zach after his crash, and it is my understanding that Zach scored high enough to pass.

That being said, there is nothing anyone can say to make me believe Zach didn’t take a nap on the Texas soil. Zach said he remembered the whole crash, and I believe him. I also believe that he passed the test. I have taken many a dirt nap—so many that my memory is truly effected by it today at 41 years of age—and I remembered every crash up to the point that I was unconscious. Back in my day, there was no testing protocol, and at the 1986 World Mini, I knocked myself out in morning for over 2-3 minutes and raced later that day. I am not pumped about it, but I’ve had more than ten concussions worth of experience and each one was different. After some, I felt mentally shaky for more than a day, and after others, I woke and felt ce immediately. I think Zach’s experience was more the latter.

Zach laid motionless for at least a minute before we saw any movement. Photo: James Lissimore
Zach laid motionless for at least a minute before we saw any movement. Photo: James Lissimore

So if Zach felt okay and he passed the test, where’s the controversy? Well, a lot of people, including Chad Reed, Jason Thomas, Kyle Chisholm and former 125 SX Champion Denny Stevenson, to name a few, think he still should have been parked for the night. There are also two or three ten-page threads over at VitalMX of fans that feel the same way. (Here’s the most debated thread on VitalMX) All of them, like myself, think that the video of the crash clearly shows Zach was briefly asleep on the job, and many think the testing is flawed. Kyle Chisholm—who voiced his opinion against letting Zach race on Twitter—was recently parked for the Dallas SX because he get KO’ed in a crash at San Diego.

Below are a few of the tweets discussing their opinions with Steve Matthes on Twitter. @PulpMX tweets are from Matthes, @CRtwotwo is Reed, and the others are obvious. To see the rest of what they said, click on their Twitter names in the tweets below.

 

 

 

 

When Zach was on two wheels he was impressive. Expect to see a lot of these holeshots by the #167 in the near future. Photo: James Lissimore
When Zach was on two wheels, he was impressive. Expect to see a lot of these holeshots by the #167 in the near future. Photo: James Lissimore

To be fair, I agree with every tweet I posted. I don’t want to sound like a kiss-ass here, but I believe that Zach possibly thinks he was awake the whole time, and I agree with Matthes that the doctors did their job. I also agree with the riders who think more needs to be done. There’s no conspiracy here, folks. To clarify, the doctors do not have the final say on who races; that is left up to FELD, the FIM and the AMA, but note that they make their decision based on doctors recommendations. It is my opinion that after a crash like this one, concussion or not, more needs to be done before a rider gets back on the line. First, I don’t think the concussion test is 100% reliable, and when someone flies 80 feet and falls out of the sky in the real world, they are put into a C-collar and taken to a hospital for a full evaluation to see what’s going on inside. I think the same precautions and care should be taken and given here. While Zach may have been okay mentally, who the hell knows what’s going on inside his body after an impact like that. I know what you might be thinking here: how do we determine which crashes are bad enough to require that kind of precaution? I don’t make enough money to make those decisions, but in my mind, Zach’s crash would definitely be one of those special circumstances.

Tonight, you should check out the PulpMXShow over on PulpMX.com at 6pm (PST)/9pm (EST). Dr. Bodnar from the Asterisk Medic crew will be on the show to explain their testing for concussions and, I’m sure, answer a ton of questions. Zach Bell will also be on the show to talk about his incredible debut in Dallas. Definitely do not miss this show.

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.