Elite Motorcycle Racing: Crash Types and Injury Patterns in the MotoGP Class

Crashes are a small but regular feature of elite motorcycle racing. These crashes provide a novel opportunity to benchmark and analyze motorcycle crash mechanics, crash types, and associated injuries at high speeds in a cohort of riders who are well protected and in a controlled environment. The purpose was to benchmark the prevalence of injuries, categorize crash subtypes, and determine associated injury patterns. This was an institutional review board–approved, prospective observational cohort study of MotoGP riders for 1 racing season in 3 venues. Accident type was determined by race-marshal report and visual analysis of race footage for each crash. Accident types were defined as lowside (falling toward the inside of the turn), highside (falling over and toward the outside of the turn), and topside (going over the handlebars of the motorcycle). Specific injuries and hospital admission data were collected using a standardized data collection form. Basic descriptive statistics were performed on all categorical variables. We used the exact binomial test examine the association between accident type and retirement from race, transport to medical building, transport to hospital, and injuries sustained. Crash prevalence was 9.7 per hundred rider hours. There were 78 crashes: 58 lowsides, 13 highsides, 2 topsides, and 5 indeterminate. In the lowside group (n = 58), 19 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.21-0.46) riders retired, 0 required emergent transportation to the track facility or to the hospital, and 1 (95% CI,