The boys and I were flipping around a few weeks back and happened upon a motorcycle speedway event.
Do you know about this sport? I’d never heard of it, and it’s been around most of a hundred years. Essentially it’s four riders on 500cc, methanol-fueled motorcycles with no brakes and a single gear, sliding around a short track in a series of four-lap heats.
(I figure the heat structure is necessary because if these guys ran long races, no one would ever have a speedway career and there wouldn’t be any fans, because everyone would die doing it.)
The slicing and dicing in the corners is really something to see. It’s almost balletic. The ways in which the bikes can move in and around each other are surprising (and unpredictable, to an inexperienced watcher like me).
Even though most heats end without a crash, part of me is still shocked when they do. (This heat does have one near the end, but it’s not bad.)
We saw it on Discovery HD Theater, so if you’re interested, watch for it there.
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