Harry Stafford: From the world stage to retiring at 21

The history of motorcycle racing includes also several riders, who had to give up their career due to injuries. In this case, we are not talking about accidents that caused death or any kind of impairment, but about riders who were forced to stop racing due to their physical condition being affected by one or multiple serious injuries.

With this article, we are recalling the story of a young man, who left this sport after suffering multiple head injuries, to the point that doctors advised him to stop racing with 21 years of age to prevent brain damage.

This is the story of Harry Stafford.

How it began

Harry Stafford was born in 1993 in Leicester and began racing pocket bikes at a very young age. Over the years he started to make a name for himself: he achieved podiums and victories in various British series and he even finished second in the New Era Superclub 125cc championship in 2007.

Right at the end of 2007, Stafford took part in the selection for the 2008 season of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. There were many participants, and the level was extremely high, but Stafford demonstrated great skills and he managed to be among the riders selected for the following year. At not even 15, Stafford ended up racing in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and sharing the paddock with the riders of the MotoGP World Championship.

However, the first season in the Rookies Cup was very difficult. The British rider remained consistently at the back of the field and managed to score points only towards the end of the season, as he finished 13th at Sachsenring and 15th in Race 1 at Brno. The year still helped Stafford gain experience, and the staff of the KTM one-make series also saw potential in him. Therefore, Stafford had the opportunity to race in the Rookies Cup again in 2009.

The first head injury

The 2009 season looked more than promising for Stafford. The British rider improved significantly compared to the previous year and he proved that already at the first round of the season in Jerez, where he was even fighting for the podium in Race 1.

However, on the sixth out of 15 laps, his ambitions are cut short in one of the worst ways. Stafford crashed at Dry Sac corner after a highside and ended up on the racing line of Florian Marino, who couldn't do anything to avoid him and ended up hitting him on his head. In the impact, Stafford lost consciousness.

Terror and great concern for the British rider arose, as he was hospitalized in Cádiz in a coma. Fortunately, Stafford woke up from the coma, escaped with a broken collarbone and chest trauma, and he not only wasn't frightened by the accident, but he even wanted to race again as early as the next round at Mugello. This was obviously impossible, given the severity of his injury, but the important thing was that Stafford survived.

The British rider returned racing in the second half of the season at Sachsenring, where he performed well and achieved a ninth place, and he then scored points in the following races as well. He finished 15th with sixteen points, and he also ranked 18th in the British 125cc championship, despite competing in only half of the season because of his crash in Jerez.

The results themselves were disappointing, but taking into account the accident (and huge hit) experienced at the start of the season, Stafford was admitted to the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup again in 2010.

Growth toward the World Championship

For Harry Stafford, the 2010 campaign was as unusual as important for his career.

The rider from Loughborough experienced a third Rookies Cup season with several retirements due to crashes, but he still managed to achieve strong results on many occasions, and most notably two third-place finishes at Assen and Brno. In the end, he finished the season in seventh place, behind the Italian Kevin Calia and ahead of two other Italian riders: Niccolò Antonelli and Alessio Cappella. In the same year, he also raced in a few rounds of the British 125cc Championship, where he scored top-10 finishes at Silverstone and Oulton Park. Stafford fractured his left wrist after crashing at Cadwell Park, but the injury didn't affect too much his season, which remained overall a good one.

Despite everything, over these three years Stafford showed considerable potential and was taken into considerato by several teams in the 125cc World Championship. One of them was Mirko Cecchini’s CBC Corse team, which decided to sign him for the 2011 season (the last of the 125cc era before moving to the Moto3 category) and put him on one of its Aprilia RSW machines. Stafford raced under the outfit of Ongetta-Centro Seta team alongside Jakub Kornfeil. On the other hand, the team also fielded Jasper Iwema on a more upgraded Aprilia RSA machine and under the Ongetta-Abbink Metaal outfit.

A tough season

However, what was supposed to be the beginning of a good career ion the world stage, it turned out to be an extremely difficult year.

In the first part of the season, Harry Stafford remained at the back of the field in Qatar and Jerez (where he finished 25th and 18th respectively), and he then faced seven races in which he recorded a 25th-place finish at Assen, a NS at his home GP at Silverstone and five DNFs due to crashes and technical problems. In the second half of the season, he managed to make a step forward and scored points at Brno and Motegi, where he finished 13th and 14th respectively, but those were in fact the only other races he completed.
Stafford collected several DNFs, almost always due to accidents. This includes as well a crash shortly after the start at Misano and a heavy crash during the Qualifying session at Phillip Island, which ruled him out of the Australian Grand Prix.

The final outcome was the following:

• 28th place in the championship standings,
• 5 points,
• only two points-scoring finishes,
• only 5 races out of 17 completed,
• many retirements due to technical issues and especially crashes.

It was a very disappointing record, made even worse by the comparison against his teammate Jakub Kornfeil: with the same bike as Stafford, Kornfeil saw the chequered flag at every GP, scored points at almost every race and often reached the top 10. The Czech rider ended the season in 12th place with 72 points.

Back to Great Britain, but...

In 2012, Harry Stafford couldn't find any ride neither in the MotoGP paddock, nor in Great Britain, and he therefore remained without a seat. However, he managed to secure a place for the 2013 season, as he was signed by the Robinsons and Rochdale Team to race in the British National Superstock 1000 Championship. The Leicester native was given a MV Agusta machine and lined up alongside Tristan Palmer.

The season, however, lasted only until the third round of the year. During free practice at Oulton Park, Stafford was involved in a high-speed crash in which, once again, he suffered head injury and lost consciousness. Hospitalized in a coma in North Staffordshire, the British rider fortunately survived again, but his racing season ended there.

Ahead of the 2014 season, Harry Stafford was interviewed by Loughborough Echo and there he stated his intention to return racing, but not in Great Britain:

“I’ve had two years of virtually not riding whatsoever. Sponsors see that, and it feels like I’m having to start all over again. I’m certainly wanting to race this season, and I’m physically able to ride.

(...)

There’s not a lot of future riding in this country. There’s not the options to further a career, so I’m looking to ride in Europe."

Moreover, Stafford reacted to people telling him to hang his leather after that bad crash at Oulton Park:

“People have said I shouldn’t ride again, but look what’s happened to Michael... Should I not go skiing either?
You know there’s a risk, that’s riding. It’s a risk we take every time we go out.”

Anyway, his plan to race in Europe finally came true. Stafford was signed by the Racedays Honda Team, and was ready to make his debut in the Superstock 600 European Championship.

A new start, which turned into the end

Stafford returned to racing in an international series, hoping to rebuild his career. That hope, however, faded very quickly.

After finishing 28th at MotorLand Aragón and crashing at Assen, Stafford approached the third round of the season at the historical circuit of Imola. The British rider went into qualifying with the hope to start further up in the grid and get closer to the points, but midway through the session he crashed on the start–finish straight and hit the pit wall. Once again, therefore, Harry Stafford was involved in a serious accident, in which he sustained multiple fractures to his right arm and a facial trauma. Stafford was hospitalized in Bologna and, obviously, declared unfit for the race.

Stafford recovered from this accident as well. The difference, however, was that this crash represented the end. Not only for his season, but also for his racing career.

Withdraw

At the beginning of 2015, Harry Stafford shared a few tweets on Twitter (now X) to state the following:

“As it is now 2015, I thought I should tell you all that through the repeat head injuries doctors have advised that I retire from the sport. With risk of more brain damage it is the right thing to do. I'm very upset that my career has ended but I will stay involved somehow. Thank you all for the support over the years of my racing.”

The head injury he sustained in 2009 at Jerez, the one he suffered at Oulton Park in 2013, and the trauma suffered in Imola in 2014 played a heavy role for Harry Stafford, both in everyday life and in his career. At that point, the risk of brain damage was too high, and the British rider therefore had to retire from racing. At just 21 years old.

Harry Stafford, however, experienced a fresh start and began working in his family's business, which is specialized in keys and locks. He also got married, started a family, and even returned temporarily to motorcycle racing: he entered and managed a small team in the British Minibikes Championship.

Conclusion

This was the story of Harry Stafford, a promising rider who stood out from a very young age, but whose career was affected and ultimately cut short by numerous crashes and, above all, multiple huge accidents and head injuries. Stafford is now remembered as one of the biggest “what ifs” of British motorcycle racing in the last 15 or 20 years.