Mark Drew is arguably Australia’s leading Nitro Harley rider, holding the national record for v-twins and a former national champion in Top Bike.
After a few events in the tune up wilderness, Drew came back in a big way at the recent WA Drag Racing Championships at Perth Motorplex where he clocked a 6.41/222mph – but there was plenty more excitement to come after that.
The big bike was not keen to pull up and Drew was forced to abandon ship as it went into the sand, tumbling end for end. Though he cleared himself from the bike and what could have been severe injury, Drew was still left a little worse for wear after the crash.
“I carried the front wheel over the finish line,” he said. “I got on to the brakes a bit late, running the bike out the back door. The motor never turned straight off and it boiled the brake fluid when getting on the brakes hard. I released them for as long as I could for them to cool but it made very little difference.
“I rolled off the bike at the sand to try and avoid getting tangled up with it – a big chance of being crushed and not being able to run 6.2 in a couple of months. I was still doing over 160kph I reckon when I got to the sand.”
The injury list was a fairly extensive one for Drew, who is also a former champion speedway sidecar rider.
“I had a dislocated shoulder, punctured lung, cracked a few ribs and put a hole to the bone on my knee about the of a 50c coin, that they operated on and closed up.”
He might be battered and bruised, but Drew was released from hospital four days after his accident.
“I’ll have a look at the bike in the next few days. I don’t know whether I will be at the Motorplex for the meeting on December 1 but I will be trying. Big thanks to Bruce Avery Transport, Perth Harley Davidson, Brajkovich Demolition, In the Middle Hotel North Hampton, and Mad Cats Tattoos for your support.”
Check out the wild videos below.
Scroll through to about 2:20 in the video below.
