Saturday was the 3rd round in the Carolina Extreme Winter series. So we headed up to Asheboro to Zoo City MX for the race. The track was frozen but had been tilled up. It looked great from a distance but when the bikes went by they didn't even move the dirt. It was like hard packed gravel and rough. The 85 practice came and Jesse did great, he was clearing just about every jump on the track and flying. I was waiting on the side with his 65 so he could switch to it for the 65 practice. The 85's got flagged off the track and Jesse jumped on his 65, I went to take the 85 back to the trailer to make some adjustments, he had suggested to me. I had been back about 5 min. when one of Jesse's friends ( another rider) came running into the trailer and said, "Jesse crashed, its bad, it was real bad, I mean bad crash you gotta go" . So I ran out to the track and Elizabeth and paramedics were already working on him. He was hurt bad. He had gone unconscious from the crash. He came around but was hurting bad in his knee and thigh. We put him on the Backboard and had the 4 wheeler carry him to the truck. He was coherent but in pain. We checked him out further and his knee was turning blue and swelling up. I asked if he could make it back to Durham and he said yes. We loaded up in a hurry and headed straight to the Duke ER. Upon arrival they took him back immediately and started checking him out. After numerous test, X-rays, CT scans they came to the conclusion he had suffered a Concussion, and soft tissue damage (tendons and ligaments) and fluid on his knee. We got out of there late in the day and he has a knee immobilizer and crutches. He is getting around pretty good on his crutches. They prescribed him motrin. On Sunday his whole body was hurting, even getting the motrin.
The Dr's said things could have been a lot worse if he had not been wearing the best protective gear available. He hit the ground so hard he dented the back of his Scorpion helmet. This helmet was made of Advanced Polycarbonate Composite and did exactly what it was designed to do, protect, but compress to slow down the force of the impact. The Dr's actually examined his helmet to get a better understanding of the crash.