[bradzdotcom]

i feel sorry for the kid, worse for the mom, but i have to ask:
"where were you mom?"
not just on the night of the accident, but during the years previous.
every year over 23,000 kids are racing throughout the country to qualify for a week long national motocross amateur event at Loretta Lynn's ranch.
they show up in motorhomes, pickup trucks, little cars pulling trailers. they motel it, or camp out. dads spin wrenches, moms run pit boards and create sandwiches, siblings stand at the fence to watch.

these families show up with INVOLVED parents, who have supported and been a part of the kid's lives while taking them to the races, many of them for years. it's like baseball/soccer/ball sport, except with an engine.
they're involved with their kids. they know their kids. and even though their kids race motocross, i'd guess that most aren't going to up and let the kid buy a strong, powerful bike, and then be astonished that it's a strong, powerful bike. "I didn't know" doesn't work as an excuse. try it when you don't pay your taxes...doesn't work.

i can completely understand being shocked by the incident, but i don't see how you could be shocked to find out how powerful the bike was...if you had been involved, payed attention, you would have KNOWN what he was buying, KNOWN he was in over his head, and maybe even know that since it was only "hours old", it might not be the best idea to let him out at midnight with friends to go ride the bike.

picking up one of his motorcycle magazines, doing a quick search on the web, seeing the ad from the manufacturer, even just LOOKING at the bike might have been enough to make one stop and do a little research on what the kid was getting into. was it a casual walk past the new bike in the garage and a "Yes, that's very pretty honey. You'll be careful, right?"
if the kid had been racing for six years as stated, and the mom was at the very least, semi-involved, i would hope she would have seen the alarms going off in her head when the sport bike showed up. take any teenager out of a VW bug and hand him a high performance car...what do you think is gonna happen?

when one of my teenagers came home with a paintball gun, i knew nothing about them. i did the research and though it was a weak, entry-level little popper, that kid wasn't allowed to use it until all the proper protective gear was worn, and in an approved paintball place. NOT the backyard in shorts and sandals, shooting it out with buddies (which was his initial idea).

again, sorry for the kid, feel bad for the mom, but i still think it's possible that situations like these can often be avoided if the parents were more involved (or at the least, knowledgeable) about what their kids are doing, along with who and what they're doing it with.