but their lives are not the only ones on the line. at the time, you think, oh, this is a great shot. you sort of lose the reality of a person here with a bike heading toward me. david smith is one of the many photographers spread out around the track to record every second of the fast-paced excitement. it was actually a quite bright day. i decided to put my coat over the viewfinder so that i could block out the sun. biker john kirkam and the rest of the riders get into position. the race begins a good start john kirkham i passed a few people. in the lead, kirkam second. i was sort of dropping back. something wasn t quite right. cameras capture kirkham now in forth place struggling. had a big moment, then i couldn t work out what the problem was. the bikers are on their ninth lap around the track when kirkham loses control.
if you re not crashing, you re not trying hard enough. but their lives are not the only ones on the line. at the time, you think, oh, this is a great shot. you sort of lose the reality of a person here with a bike heading toward me. david smith is one of the many photographers spread out around the track to record every second of the fast-paced excitement. it was actually a quite bright day. i decided to put my coat over the viewfinder so that i could block out the sun. biker john kirk ham and the rest of the riders get into position. the race begins a good start john kirkham i passed a few people. in the lady, kirkham second i was sort of dropping back. something wasn t quite right. cameras capture kirkham now in forth place struggling. had a big moment, then i couldn t work out what the problem was. the bikers are on their ninth lap around the track when
what s happened, is he okay, is he okay. i couldn t talk to anyone at the time so i just of nodding the camera, yeah, i m okay. thankfully, it seems the cameraman sensible ran, but he kept on filming smith records paramedics attending to an unconscious kirkham on the ground. the deceleration from 140 miles per hour to zero basically all your organs carry on going, and my brain, bridged the side of my skull. it bruised my brain. it s not until kirkham sees the video of the incident that he realizes the danger his vehicle put people in. he was brave to stay there that long. everybody said it was brave and lucky people. i think he was braver than me. the actual impact and the bike going over me and me getting out of the way is down to split seconds. the fear didn t come until afterwards and that night when you think, kriky, that was close. that s a quick one.
kirkham loses control. from my position, i could see them coming under a bridge just around a bend. oh! saw one bike slide and starts heading what i thought was to my left-hand side. it was kirkham he flies across the track and slid into the grass. i thought, this isn t too bad, i m not going to hit the barrier, i m going to slide across the grass and stop. i didn t miss the barrier. kirkham is knocked unconscious, but his 363-pound bike continues toward smith and his camera. there was no fehr time of the actual crash. no fear at the time of the actual crash. it all happened so fast. the bike moved so quickly and with such force, it s hard to tell how smith survives the impact. a closer look at the video shot from another camera across the track reveals what happens in the critical second of the accident.
all your organs carry on going, and my brain, bridged the side of my skull. it bruised my brain. it s not until kirkham sees the video of the incident that he realizes the danger his vehicle put people in. he was brave to stay there that long. everybody said it was brave and lucky people. i think he was braver than me. the actual impact and the bike going over me and me getting out of the way is down to split seconds. i think he was braver than me. the actual impact and the bike going over me and me getting out of the way is down to split seconds. the fear didn t come until afterwards and that night when you think, kriky, that was close. that s a quick one.