PD Editorial: Why were the races allowed to continue after the deadly crashes at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds?

The death of one young person during a motorcycle race at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds is a tragedy. The death of two in separate incidents on the same day - amid growing concerns about track conditions - is an outrage, one that demands investigation on many levels.

Making the situation more outrageous is that neither of the deaths apparently warranted more than a brief interruption to the races themselves. The AMA Pro Racing event continued on through to completion Sunday afternoon. How many more deaths needed to occur before authorities were willing to shut this down?

Yes, 20-year-old Charlotte Kainz of West Allis, Wisconsin knew the risks when she got on her Harley-Davidson 750 to complete in a heat in the AMA Pro Racing Flat Track 2016 season finale before some 4,500 people at the fairgrounds horse-racing track on Sunday. She was not a stranger to the fact that riders regularly hit speeds of up to 120 mph on the straightaways and 80 mph on the corners.

All the same, she and other racers operate under the assumption that the track would be as safe as possible. As Staff Writer Julie Johnson reported, some racers had their doubts. “In my opinion, there shouldn’t even have been a race on that track at all,” said racer Jake Mataya of Minnesota.

Kainz reportedly crashed after another rider went down and, according to one witness, “she had nowhere to go.” Paramedics responded and applied chest compressions before taking her to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. “There were pretty grim expressions on the faces of officials around the track, but the race just continued on as business as normal,” said Michael Carnacchi of Sebastopol, who was in the stands. Kainz was pronounced dead that afternoon.

After Kainz crashed, Mataya said he decided to sit out his next race, and he encouraged 17-year-old Kyle McGrane of Gap, Pennsylvania to do the same. “I just basically told him that the track’s unsafe,” Mataya said.

But McGrane competed anyway and around 2 p.m. he crashed on the final lap of his race. He, too, was taken to Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead the following evening.

After Sunday’s race, professional rider Cory Texter of Pennsylvania and three other racers on the AMA Pro Rider advisory board sent a harsh letter to sponsors concerning the Santa Rosa track. “It’s just not a track we should race at in the future,” he wrote. He said the conditions were treacherous with fine, sandy dirt that hindered visibility and made it difficult to maneuver.

“It’s a tragic loss and there’s nothing else that can be said about it,” said Terry Otton of Napa’s Ramspur Winery, the sponsor of the event. We agree nothing can be done to bring these young racers back. But much more can, and should, be said about it.

These deaths demand a thorough investigation, although it’s unclear who will do it. Local law enforcement officials say it concerns a privately organized event and is outside their jurisdiction. At the least, we trust the Sonoma County coroner will offer a thorough analysis of these deaths and that the Sonoma County Fairgrounds board will demand a complete investigation from AMA Pro Racing.

We’re not persuaded the county should ever host this event again, but if it does, the board needs to raise the bar on racer safety as well demand new protocols for when tragedies like this strike. The races should have been stopped.