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Longitudinal assessment of protective equipment in US professional motorcycle athletes
Marisa McDow1, Eric Martin Swanson2,3, Keeli Hanzelka2,4
1The University of Texas Dell Medical School, Austin, Texas, USA Marisa.a.mcdow@gmail.com.
Objectives:
In 2025, MotoAmerica expanded its requirement for protective airbag suits from only 'superbike' and 'supersport' racers to all racing classes. This study explored longitudinal changes in protective equipment use and crash-related injuries among MotoAmerica athletes following expansion of the airbag suit requirements.
Methods:
This retrospective, observational cohort study included all on-track crashes during the 2024 (pre-expansion) and 2025 (postexpansion) MotoAmerica seasons. Race officials and medical personnel recorded crash characteristics, airbag suit and rotation-protection helmet use, airbag deployment, observed injuries and medical care. We determined year-on-year changes in the prevalence of advanced protective equipment use, along with changes in injury rates and medical resource utilisation.
Results:
There were 498 crashes in 2024 and 379 in 2025. Airbag suit use increased from 60% in 2024 to 67% in 2025 (p=0.017) and rotation-protection helmet use rose from 6% to 9% (p=0.096). Despite more higher risk (collision or high-side) crashes in 2025 (26% vs 18%, p=0.007), crashes resulting in injury decreased (16% to 8%, p=0.001), as did crashes requiring ambulance transport (9% to 5%, p=0.045) and need for track medical facility treatment or hospital transfer (17% to 12%, p=0.019).
Conclusions:
Coinciding with the expansion of a policy requiring airbag suits for all classes of MotoAmerica racers, adoption of protective equipment increased with contemporaneous reductions in injuries and need for acute medical care. While causal inferences must be tempered by the descriptive nature of this analysis, these data lend support to the adoption of advanced protective equipment policies to increase professional motorcycle racing athletes' safety.
