This came in my email today:

Looks a little strange, but I do wonder what happened.

"Australian
Top Bike drag racing Champion, Chris Matheson has been fortunate to get away
with some minor foot fractures after a frightful get off at the Nitro Champs in
Sydney over the weekend.


A representative of Matheson’s Nitro Voodoo team confirmed to Speedcafe.com
today that – after speaking with the Brisbane racer – aside from a few bumps
and bruises, scans have shown he has multiple fractures in his foot.

It is miraculous that he did not suffer anything more serious in the high speed
incident. It appeared to be a difficult run from the time Matheson left the
startline aboard the Nitro Voodoo machine.

Matheson is still in hospital in Sydney for observation, however has been in
regular contact with his team members and is in a stable condition despite the
incident.

The same cannot be said for the Nitro Voodoo McBride Special which set the
fastest ever drag racing motorcycle pass in Australia over the Easter weekend
and holds the world record of 5.8 seconds, set with its previous owner in
America.

After Matheson alighted at 371kph when crossing the line at the Eastern Creek
venue, he rolled along the track, whilst the bike continued – its speed
unabated.

The American-built bike went through the end of the bitumen section of the
racetrack, over the gravel trap, through the catch netting, eventually slamming
into the tyres at the deep end of the venue. Reports from the scene were that
it sustained a significant amount of damage.

This isn’t Brisbane-based racer’s first argument with Sydney Dragway, in 2009,
he stepped off after a mechanical failure. Whilst that step off was perhaps not
as visually spectacular as this past weekend’s, the injuries were considerably
more severe.

The next round of the 2013 Top Bike Championship will be conducted on the
second weekend of June as part of the Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank
Raceway outside Ipswich."

Thanks Ned...that was scary!

RickG...someone said that he stuck his head up and was pushed off the bike. Does that sound feasible?

Thats exactly what I saw. He shut it down and then sat back and up a bit and the windstream just lifted him of the bike

Yes, I guess. My skydiving experience (200km/h in free fall) tells me that if the wind catches any part of your body it will toss you around like a ragdoll. Likely one has time to correct as the fall is around 45 seconds.

He seem to have taken his left hand off momentarily and that twisted him off the bike that looked like he dismounted intentionally .

I am a little amazed that someone with his experience can get into trouble like that ... sh*t happens, I guess

When I was dragracing I had a similar bike at one stage but not as quick considering it was 30years ago and if I got as out of shape as he did at the start I would just shut it down and call it quits to the run.
Drag racers are like pilots there are old ones and bold ones but very few old and bold.
I think the biggest problem he had was that he relaxed at the end of the run and then when he realized he was comming off he pushed himself away from the bike which was a good move.