In the 1990 season of World Motorcycle Racing Eddie Lawson was one of the favorite in the run of the 500cc title. He won the title in 1988 with Yamaha, then he signed with Honda in 1989 and won again. In 1990 he signed again with Yamaha to try win his 3rd 500 title in a row.
The championship did not start very well for him, in the first race of the season, in Japan, he crashed in the 4th lap. The next was his home race, in Laguna Seca, California. He won there in 1988 and got a 3rd place in 1989, so that was his chance to make a good race. But things went different. During the free practice, just at the start of the session, his brakes failed, causing a terrible crash at 260 Kmh (160 mph), resulting in Eddie breaking his right heel and his left ankle and preventing him to join the next 5 races and eliminating the chance to win the title.
While debriefing the crash, his team realized the brake failure was due to a human mistake: while assembling the brakes, his mechanic forgot to put on the split pins, causing the loss of the brake pads and the terrible accident.
While in the hospital Eddie called his team manager who assumed he wanted to fire that mechanic. Instead Eddie asked to be him to fix his brakes since that moment on, because he was sure that mistake would never happen again.
Eddie in the next year joined Cagiva, where he ended his career at the end of the season 1992. He never won a world title again, but in his last year he accomplished an historical result, winning the first Cagiva race in their 15 years long history in moto racing.
Motorcycle rider
American football player
DIY enthusiast
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