BRACE YOURSELF
Ignored? Lost relevance? Or more crucial than ever with crashes and injuries coming fast in MXGP? We asked a selection of both past and current athletes to have used neck protection to find out why there aren’t more braces in the Grand Prix start gate. We also then quizzed the FIM about the chances of the hardware joining the homologated list of racing gear and finally sought the inventor of the concept, Dr Chris Leatt, for his own views.
BECOMING SCEPTICAL
Ben Watson, Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha, MX2: Racing motocross, you are always thinking about protection and how to compete in the fastest and safest way, and I’m interested in new protection or technology to do that. But nothing has really opened my eyes or been put in front of me to test or to change my race gear.
Tony Cairoli, Red Bull KTM, MXGP: In the beginning there were some riders using neck braces and me also, but there were a lot of different opinions about it so we decided to skip it. It’s been ten years now. I don’t know exactly what is the best.
Justin Barcia, Monster Energy Yamaha, AMA 450SX/MX: I started with one pretty much right away and I have, unfortunately, taken some really hard hits and that’s never fun. I believe in having as much protection as you can get and you hear people say that neck braces are not proven but I feel that I’ve proven it many times! Just watch some of my crashes and you’ll believe it. When it comes to protection I think you should wear as much as possible. Riders always want to feel like they are wearing nothing, but also want the protection. It is a fine line. I’m quite an animated rider I’d say but I’m still able to move around in all my stuff.
Clement Desalle, Monster Energy Kawasaki, MXGP: I was happy with it and I was feeling comfortable in the past but when I had my crash at the end of ’17 that situation changed for me. I would not rule it out again if I could find one that fitted me well.
When the neck brace first came out and it was a big thing I
