I-500's day of calamity began with first turn on first lap

The accidents at yesterday's I-500 race in Soo Michigan began with the first lap of the first race.

By the time the red flag went up during lap 173, seven people had received significant injuries in four separate crashes.

The worst case was that of Alynn Burke, a 24-year-old youth co-ordinator at Enterprise Centre Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario).

Shortly after her arrival at Sault Memorial Hospital, Burke was pronounced dead from injuries sustained when a racing snowmobile shot over a snowbank and slammed into onlookers at the popular race, considered one of North America's premier snowmobiling events.

Burke (shown) was one of three onlookers rushed to War Memorial Hospital after sled 86 lost control coming out of the northwest turn, described by some locals as treacherous after a similar fatal accident at almost the same spot last year.

A news release issued last night by Captain Tony Lightfoot of Michigan Soo City Police described Burke and the three others as "spectators," but the Sunday edition of the Marquette Mining Journal quotes I-500 press director John Kenn as saying that Burke was a pit crew member.

She was observing the racers from a snow berm that separated the pit area from the oval track.

Four accidents in one day

Today's edition of the Soo Evening News reports that three other accidents occurred on the track earlier Saturday, resulting in serious injuries to a total of seven people during the first 173 miles of the popular 500-mile event.

In one of the earlier cases, it took half an hour for emergency workers to separate the snowmobile track from the man's leg, which was reported to have been almost severed from his body.

The race was cancelled only after War Memorial Hospital advised race organizers that it was unable to handle any further trauma cases, the newspaper says.

Watching her boyfriend compete

Alynn Burke was watching her boyfriend compete in the race, said Stephanie Gosselin, co-ordinator of the City's Youth Opportunities Task Force and a director of the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp., which oversees the Enterprise Centre.

According to the I-500's official website, sled 86 was an Arctic Cat owned by Henry Sabourin, who, SooToday.com has been advised, was not dating Burke but was one of four competitors from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

The police news release (see below) didn't indicate who was driving the errant sled at the time of the accident, but the Evening News is quoting officials as saying it wasn't Sabourin.

The other Ontario Sault racers were George Wilson, Terry Wright, and Kraig Karalash.

Fatal accident last year

Last year, Michael J. Kolbus Jr., 31, of Munising, Michigan was pronounced dead at War Memorial Hospital about one hour after an accident about 40 miles into the 500-mile endurance race.

Kolbus was thrown from his machine as he was emerging from the north turn, not quite as far down the straightaway as sled 86 was when it crashed today.

A third fatality at the I-500 occurred in 1985.

I-500 organizers cancelled the remainder of the race on Saturday night, declaring John Hoos of Ossineke, Michigan winner based on his standing at the time of the red flag. The top finisher from Sault, Ontario was Kraig Karalash, who finished 11th.

War Memorial Hospital refuses further trauma cases

"For the good of the community, we cannot handle any more trauma today," War Memorial Hospital spokesman Henry Oklat told the Evening News.

With two general surgeons and an orthopedic surgeon working on one driver and one spectator, Oklat said that emergency surgery was expected to continue until at least midnight and possibly later.

All told, three spectators and an equal number of race competitors were treated at the hospital on Saturday.

There was one other spectator hurt during some horseplay in a snowbank in the spectator area, Oklat told the Evening New's Jack Storey.

Evening News reporter Scott Brand says that the two onlookers who were struck by the same sled that hit Alynn Burke were from downstate Michigan.

SooToday.com readers outraged by I-500 website

The Marquette Mining Journal says that War Memorial Hospital advised race officials yesterday that if anyone else was injured at the I-500 track they would be taken to Canada.

Some SooToday.com readers who visited the I-500 website Saturday night expressed outrage that it indicated the race was cut short "due to conditions" but made no mention of the death of a young Saultite from Ontario.

To visit the website, please click here.

Meanwhile, Sunday's Soo Evening News contains further information about the earlier accidents on the I-500 oval on Saturday.

The other injuries

The accidents began on the first turn of the first lap, the newspaper said, with pole-sitter Troy Dewald being thrown from his Polaris in front of a full field of pursuing snow machines.

Dewald was hit by another sled and was treated at hospital for an injured hamstring.

Then, another driver, Nathan Dzurka, was badly hurt during the 133rd lap.

"Dzurka frantically tried to wave a seemingly endless stream of speeding sleds from his location before the track fell under full caution," the Evening News said.

It took emergency workers more than 30 minutes to free Dzurka, who nearly lost his leg in the accident.

The official announcement

The following is the full text of the news release issued Saturday night by City Police in Sault Michigan:

********************** SAULT STE. MARIE, MICHIGAN POLICE REPORT AN ACCIDENT DURING THE RUNNING OF THE 1-500 SNOWMOBILE RACE RESULTED IN ONE FATALITY AND TWO OTHER PERSONS BEING INJURED.

CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT STATED THAT AT APPROXIMATELY 1340, IN THE 173RD LAP OF THE RACE, SLED 86 LOST CONTROL AFTER COMING OUT OF THE NORTHWEST TURN.

THE SLED THEN WENT OVER THE BANK IN THE PIT AREA OF THE 1-500 TRACK STRIKING 3 SPECTATORS WATCHING THE RACE FROM THAT LOCATION.

ALL THREE SUBJECTS WERE TRANSPORTED TO WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL WHERE TWO OF THE SUBJECTS WERE TREATED FOR NON-LIFE THREATENING INJURIES.

THE THIRD SUBJECT, ALYNN BURKE AGE 24 OF SAULT STE. MARIE, ONT. WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVAL AT WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.

CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT FURTHER STATED THAT THE ACCIDENT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION AT THIS TIME.

***************************** Additional coverage

Soo Evening News #1 Soo Evening News #2 Marquette Mining Journal