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A rider makes his way through a turn during a Daytona supercross event in March of last year. By Joe Donatelli Occasionally a motocross rider will rocket 30 feet into the air and -- hey, these things happen -- forget to bring his bike down to Earth with him. Snap! The shinbone's connected to the nothing-bone. Or more precisely, open tibia fibula fracture. This is how pro rider Shae Bentley ended his season in August. But for the first time in American Motocross Association history, an official tour doctor was on hand to coordinate Bentley's treatment. That physician: Steve Augustine, DO '94. "When it came to my career, I just wanted to do the two things I was most passionate about, sports medicine and motorcycling," Augustine says. Although he rode competitively during his youth, Augustine drifted away from the sport after graduating from Brecksville High School in 1986. He reconnected after medical school.     Steve Augustine, DO '94, is the tour doctor for the American Motocross Association. "I started off-road racing again, and there was never a doctor for the riders," Augustine explains. "I wanted to fill that much-needed position." For four years Augustine lobbied the AMA brass to create a permanent position. For four years all he heard was no. Money and liability issues greeted his every turn. But his persistence paid off when Augustine was named the AMA Outdoor National Motocross Championships' medical director for the 2001 season, which ran from May to September. Augustine also will be staffing several events during the Indoor Supercross Series, which begins in January and continues through May in cities nationwide.   Besides freak bone breaks, Augustine battles rider dehydration, shoulder dislocations, fractures, bruises, sprains, strains and lacerations. An assistant professor of orthopedics at the University of Florida's Jacksonville campus, Augustine sees a wider role in being able to educate the public and medical community about the sport. "These racers are true athletes. I've played every sport there is, and this is by far the most physically exhausting," says Augustine, who played club lacrosse at Ohio University. "You're no more likely to get hurt riding than you are playing high school football."       A rider loses his bike during a jump at the Daytona Supercross. Augustine volunteers his time and is sponsored by the nonprofit organization Road 2 Recovery, whose fund-raisers cover his travel costs as well as medical supplies used to treat injured riders, including some surgery. With the help of Road 2 Recovery and the AMA, Augustine is working now to raise money for a mobile medical unit he can use at the races. "They love it," Augustine says of riders' reaction to having a doc at the track. "They think it's incredible to finally have a doctor of their own." Joe Donatelli, BSJ '98, is a reporter with Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C.