Coffman Absent, Little Snaps ACL -
Saturday, March 21st; Maize, Kansas: The first of 8 Area Qualifiers for the North-Central Region Monster Energy AMA Amateur Motocross National Championship Series took place was held this weekend at Bar2Bar MX in Maize, KS, (part of the Kansas International Dragway facility), near Wichita.
While 2OG Racing’s Mark Coffman was not scheduled to compete, Bill Little and his wife Beth decided to make the 7-hour drive, in the hope of an early qualifying and to get the “first race back after 25-years” jitters out of the way.
With the intended +50 Vet Masters Class qualifying on Sunday, Little had intended to make the drive 3 days early to catch the daylong practice on Friday, then race a non-qualifying local +25 Vet Open race on Saturday to get the “first race back in 25 years” jitters out of the way, before the qualifying race on Sunday.
Following a string of bad luck, (an ignored omen, perhaps?), the two weren’t able to leave their home at Valley View Ranch until 1:30PM on Friday, arriving at the track just before the 11PM gate close, where they spent the night in the, “first-sweltering hot/then freezing cold,” 2OG Toy Hauler Camper (without a working generator) and more bad luck caused Bill to miss the morning sight lap practice, leaving him to line-up on a track that he’d never seen before.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Little trackside, just before the start of his first moto. “We play each of life’s moments with the cards we’re dealt. Since today’s race doesn’t matter, I’ll just get the best start that I can to get a gauge for my current abilities, then intentionally back off to last place and ride the first moto as my own little 12 minute-plus one lap practice. I can then turn it on for the second moto and be ready for Sunday’s racing.”
Little did just that, pulling a decent start from the far-inside gate, putting him in third position into the first turn, then backed off to last place where he single-jumped the obstacles to get a feel for the track layout.
It was then that the biggest stroke of bad luck for the weekend occurred …
While singling and looking at lines through a third-gear rhythm section, about halfway around the track, Little landed cross-rutted between the jumps.
“I was in third [gear], but intentionally not pinned, because I wanted to single those jumps and land between. The sandy soil ruts were already about 8” deep across the jump faces and in the troughs between jumps, so I was checking out the lines.
”I landed cross-rutted between - I think it was the fifth and sixth jumps - and, even though I was carrying some speed, I wasn’t in the meat of the power. So, when I landed and the bike got squirrelly, I tried to grab throttle to lighten the front end, but it wasn’t happening. I just got thrown from the bike and plowed the dirt at 20MPH or whatever it was. 😔 I’ve got a ton of dirt packed into one of my new, Just1 helmets and covering a set of Answer gear to tell the tale for me!
“While I hit the ground like a drunk Superman, head and right shoulder first, my right leg caught something mid-air — I don’t know if it was the mounded dirt atop one of the ruts, or my bike — and twisted or hyperextended that knee. I’m still not sure which. I could feel the ACL snap — that much I do remember — and it was the same sensation as when I broke my left knee back in ‘99. I think I knew before I hit the ground that I wasn’t going to be walking for awhile.”
Little was able to get himself standing on his left leg and muscle the bike back up, riding with his right leg dangling off of the footpeg to finish the lap and exit the track. He rode with the leg extended out back to the pits and, as soon as he put pressure on the leg, the knee gave out.
“There’s zero stability. It wants to fold to the inside, outside, backwards … I just can’t bed it the way it’s supposed to bend.”
With Beth standing in the trailer to help “catch” if he needed, Little road his Beta RX450 up the open rear door ramp and tied the bike down. Rather than tying up the trackside EMTs, or risking being stuck in a Wichita hospital, he decided to make the 7-hour drive back home.
“I’ve got a pair of 30 year old crutches in the garage, so I’ll message my doctor and get a referral going for Mercy Clinic Sports Medicine and get this thing fixed,” he said before hobbling to the truck.
“I can pit for Mark and get healed up as quickly as possible. With some speed and some luck, I think I can still make a couple of the later Loretta’s qualifiers and hit most of the Missouri State Series rounds.”
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