Swedish teen dies in motocross crash
A 15-year-old boy was killed in during a motocross competition in Sweden on Sunday afternoon in Västerås in central Sweden.
It's the fourth motor sport fatality in Sweden within the past year, a development which confounds officials within the Sweden's motorcycle and snowmobile association, Svenska motorcykel- och snöskoterförbundet (Svemo).
The accident that killed the 15-year-old occurred during the second heat in the MX2-class competition, known previously as the 125-class.
“Shortly after the start, there was a spill and a few riders fell off,” Peter Isberg, coordinator for motocross at Svemo and an eyewitness to the accident, told the TT news agency.
Despite quick action by doctors and the fact that the 15-year-old was taken to hospital in Västerås, he was unable to recover from his injuries.
Following the accident, race officials decided to stop the rest of the competition, which was the fourth of six qualifying events for the Swedish motocross championships.
“Now what will happen is that Svemo will launch in investigation, that's common procedure following a bad accident,” said Isberg.
The fatal accident in Västerås is the fourth within Swedish motor sports within the last year, and the third within motocross.
Not since 2007 have there been so many deadly motor sport accidents in Sweden.
Per Westling, secretary general of Svemo, said the trend is extremely frustrating, and despite the association's best efforts, no common factor has been found linking the accidents.
“We can't see what has happened, there's no pattern for the accidents other than that they are all accidents,” he told TT.
Using the investigations' findings as a basis, the association plans to redouble its efforts to search for possible changes that could be made to reduce the risk of future accidents, such as the size of the bikes, the shape of the tracks, current regulations, as well as medical care are some of the aspects to be examined.
In addition, the physique of the drivers themselves may also play a role in accidnets.
“It's one of the many theories we're looking into, and if that's the case, we want to have it confirmed and then look at what we can do about it,” said Westling.
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It's the fourth motor sport fatality in Sweden within the past year, a development which confounds officials within the Sweden's motorcycle and snowmobile association, Svenska motorcykel- och snöskoterförbundet (Svemo).
The accident that killed the 15-year-old occurred during the second heat in the MX2-class competition, known previously as the 125-class.
“Shortly after the start, there was a spill and a few riders fell off,” Peter Isberg, coordinator for motocross at Svemo and an eyewitness to the accident, told the TT news agency.
Despite quick action by doctors and the fact that the 15-year-old was taken to hospital in Västerås, he was unable to recover from his injuries.
Following the accident, race officials decided to stop the rest of the competition, which was the fourth of six qualifying events for the Swedish motocross championships.
“Now what will happen is that Svemo will launch in investigation, that's common procedure following a bad accident,” said Isberg.
The fatal accident in Västerås is the fourth within Swedish motor sports within the last year, and the third within motocross.
Not since 2007 have there been so many deadly motor sport accidents in Sweden.
Per Westling, secretary general of Svemo, said the trend is extremely frustrating, and despite the association's best efforts, no common factor has been found linking the accidents.
“We can't see what has happened, there's no pattern for the accidents other than that they are all accidents,” he told TT.
Using the investigations' findings as a basis, the association plans to redouble its efforts to search for possible changes that could be made to reduce the risk of future accidents, such as the size of the bikes, the shape of the tracks, current regulations, as well as medical care are some of the aspects to be examined.
In addition, the physique of the drivers themselves may also play a role in accidnets.
“It's one of the many theories we're looking into, and if that's the case, we want to have it confirmed and then look at what we can do about it,” said Westling.
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