DaveInDaytona
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posted October 19, 2001 08:16 PM
Sad news from Daytona International Speedway Today
Tough day today at DIS.
Motorcycle racer dies at Speedway
By GODWIN KELLY (godwin.kelly@news-jrnl.com)
Motorsports Editor
DAYTONA BEACH -- A motorcycle racer with an expert license rating died at Daytona International Speedway after a single-bike accident on pit road today.
Stuart Stratton, 35, crashed on pit road during a warm-up lap before the start of the GTO Expert race. He was immediately transported to Halifax Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Virgil Davis, a pit road official, was also injured in the accident. Davis suffered a broken leg and arm. The 71 year old Davis, from Charlotte, N.C., was listed in stable condition at Halifax.
""It's a tragic and unfortunate accident,'' said a Speedway official.
Stratton, Royal Oaks, Calif., was starting on the last row of the GTO race. The accident happened about 100 yards west of the photo tower on pit road.
Officials from the Championship Cup Series, which is sanctioning the races at Fall Cycle Scene this weekend, did not have any backround information about Stratton.
CCS had no comment about Stratton's racing experience or his death other than an investigation into the accident is ""ongoing.'' Stratton became the 33rd racing fatality at the Speedway since the track opened in 1959.
Three competitors have lost their life at Daytona this year.
Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt died on Feb. 18 after crashing on the last lap of the Daytona 500.
Earnhardt crashed into the outside wall of Turn 4 and died instantly from head injuries.
Dirk Piz, a pro racer from Colorado, was killed on the fourth lap of the March 11 Buell Pro Thunder motorcycle race during Cycle Week. Piz crashed hard into the chicane at the end of Daytona's back straightaway.
Stratton became the eighth motorcycle racer to die at Daytona and fourth since 1997.
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