While they aren’t the quickest nor the fastest things on two wheels in the sport of drag racing, there is perhaps no form of motorcycle in the sport more ‘hairy’ than a Pro Street-style bike, which are typically sans wheelie bars and run well into the 7-second zone — and even the sixes — at over 200 mph. With upwards and in excess of 600 horsepower on tap via boost or nitrous oxide and nothing more than an extended wheelbase chassis and expert throttle control standing between a good, clean run and a seat on the pavement, even the best of them have to battle these macho-man motorcycles run after run to get them through the finish line in one piece.

Last weekend, European Super Street Bike competitor Jemma Venables illustrated not only how difficult these bikes can be to ride, but how quickly things can go terribly wrong with so much horsepower and no safety net (wheelie bar) when she took a wild, somersaulting backflip during the third session of FIM Super Street Bike Cup qualifying at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in England.

Venables, who has been in the mid-sevens at over 190 mph on her Suzuki GSX-R, was making a single run aboard her bike when, right at the 60-foot mark, the power began to ramp in and took the nose skyward. While not an uncommon ordeal for a Pro Street/Super Street rider to hang the front wheel and have to ‘pedal’ to get the nose down, Jemma already had enough momentum going that she was little more than a passenger as she went up and over and sailed out to 300-foot mark.

While uninjured in the tumble, Venables lay face-down on the race track in sheer disgust and embarrassment, later being checked out by medical staff and released with nothing more than the expected bumps and bruises.