I've had some conversations about the length of time the on track paramedics took to get him transported to the local hospital. After seeing the extent of his injuries once he got his leathers off and all the blood he was loosing I told the paramedics that he needed to get to a hospital right away. They told me to sit tight and that they had another ambulace on the way to pick him up.
After another 15min wait? the other ambulance showed up and they basically did a transfer to the other ambulance and the new ambulance gave him a ride to the hospital.
My question is with internal & major external bleeding why did they wait for another ambulance to take him? What is the point in having an ambulance at the track then?
Once he got to the hospital they immediately determind that he needed to be air lift out to where he is now (University of Kansas Medical Center).
My evaluation on the whole thing is that they did a poor job of taking care of his needs at the track. Even when they pulled up to him on the track there was no rush whatsoever. I understand I was emotional at the time but they were just walking along doing their thing.
Then the race continued on for 1-2 laps while there was an ambulance parked on the track at the turn in point to turn 1 just after a blind hill before it was red flagged. Is a race so important that they need continue it for 2 laps to figure out that it is unsafe?
Some people at CCS & the race tracks we ride at need to take a serious evaluation on their roles at the track. Someone at CCS needs to stand up and tell the tracks that changes need to be made & what we require to make a safe racetrack.
I know the sport of motorcycle roadracing isn't safe in itself but we shouldn't make it worse than it has to be. We race in a controlled environment. Lets do our best to control safety much better than it is.
Either way if we would have run the track in new or old configuration it is still dangerous either way. The wall needs to be protected by air fence or removed completely.
The race tracks we ride on were built long ago and bikes were nowhere near as fast around corners as they are today. Our Lat G forces are way higher than they were years ago which pull us to the outside of turns much faster when we loose traction. But the tracks were designed with the runoffs & walls in mind of bike going half that speed we do now. New tracks being built today are much safer than the old tracks we run on. There are only a few tracks that made changes to accommodate for the extra speeds like Road America, etc..
If they can't or won't change the track to make it safer because it cost too much then we shouldn't run those tracks.
I'll be more than happy to join or start a safety committee for CCS.
More updates soon to follow as he should be done with surgery soon.
Quote from: J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp on April 28, 2008, 12:58:05 PM
I've had some conversations about the length of time the on track paramedics took to get him transported to the local hospital. After seeing the extent of his injuries once he got his leathers off and all the blood he was loosing I told the paramedics that he needed to get to a hospital right away. They told me to sit tight and that they had another ambulace on the way to pick him up.
After another 15min wait? the other ambulance showed up and they basically did a transfer to the other ambulance and the new ambulance gave him a ride to the hospital.
My question is with internal & major external bleeding why did they wait for another ambulance to take him? What is the point in having an ambulance at the track then?
Once he got to the hospital they immediately determind that he needed to be air lift out to where he is now (University of Kansas Medical Center).
My evaluation on the whole thing is that they did a poor job of taking care of his needs at the track. Even when they pulled up to him on the track there was no rush whatsoever. I understand I was emotional at the time but they were just walking along doing their thing.
Then the race continued on for 1-2 laps while there was an ambulance parked on the track at the turn in point to turn 1 just after a blind hill before it was red flagged. Is a race so important that they need continue it for 2 laps to figure out that it is unsafe?
Some people at CCS & the race tracks we ride at need to take a serious evaluation on their roles at the track. Someone at CCS needs to stand up and tell the tracks that changes need to be made & what we require to make a safe racetrack.
I know the sport of motorcycle roadracing isn't safe in itself but we shouldn't make it worse than it has to be. We race in a controlled environment. Lets do our best to control safety much better than it is.
Either way if we would have run the track in new or old configuration it is still dangerous either way. The wall needs to be protected by air fence or removed completely.
The race tracks we ride on were built long ago and bikes were nowhere near as fast around corners as they are today. Our Lat G forces are way higher than they were years ago which pull us to the outside of turns much faster when we loose traction. But the tracks were designed with the runoffs & walls in mind of bike going half that speed we do now. New tracks being built today are much safer than the old tracks we run on. There are only a few tracks that made changes to accommodate for the extra speeds like Road America, etc..
If they can't or won't change the track to make it safer because it cost too much then we shouldn't run those tracks.
I'll be more than happy to join or start a safety committee for CCS.
More updates soon to follow as he should be done with surgery soon.
Very well put. I was not trying to take away from the thoughts and prayers that go out to Brian in this thread but if it was it's own topic It would get overlooked. If HPT had some better safety measures Brian's injuries may have been less.
I seem to remember before the track was repaved that there was no wall there-anyone else remember that? I am very happy that the walls have been moved in many other places, but I agree-why put ourselves at unnecessary risk?
I know I have heard from a few people that "all tracks have walls so whats the big deal?" I think that is a total BS answer to any of the track safety stuff and we should be doing everything we can to make the tracks safer. Personally I think the entire turn alpha at HPT is a VERY unsafe design. Yeah its fun when you are just cruising around but when really pushing it, its extremely sketchy through there. If you got bumped to the right going up the hill and couldnt' make the turn that little section of airfence isn't going to do squat at 150 mph...
Just having come back from HPT myself, and having crashed there, IMHO the wall locations are very unsafe. It's clearly a car-track that's being used for bikes as well.
I also crashed in a race, highsiding coming out of Turn 7, near the end of it, so I was going about 90mph or so. I laid on the track for a lap or so, and the ambulance was on the track for two laps. The bike was off the track. Fortunately I was able to pick up the bike and finish the race after the shock wore off, since the bike wasn't too bad, but other riders said that they were surprised that the race wasn't red flagged at that time since both a rider and bike were on the track itself. Granted, I was off line, but another incident would have had a good chance of interacting with me or the ambulance.
There was also an accident in the chicane, and for a couple of laps the rider and bike were where someone else would have been had they overshot the chicane.
I know in the GT lights there was another incident where a rider hit the wall over alpha. They parked the ambulance and 2 other vehicles right in the impact zone for over 2 laps before it was red flagged. Last year they parked emergency vehicles in an impact zone coming out of 7 for the entire race. Maybe someone who knows could chime in on how long it takes to get a race red flagged?
A race can be red flagged immediately if need be. Corner worker calls over to control and control responds.
I think these questions need to be answered by those who were there, as speculation can be a dangerous thing.
However, in the future, if you are a rider with legitimate concerns, never hesitate to voice those concerns to the Race Director, as that is their role. If several riders feel there is an issue that needs to be addressed, then a review of that issue is in order. The only way things can change is if needs are identified and addressed.
Was the wall at Alpha as much of a concern of CCS as the walls at T3 when the decision was made to use the old T1/T2 instead of the new ones? I dont think braking is as aggressive over Alpha using the new T1/T2, at least not for me (but I'm slow). In my opinion, we should have used the new T1/T2 which would have taken care of at least some of the problem of the really hard chargers coming over alpha hard on the brakes.
I learned real quick while at HPT this weekend that when the ambulance flag was out you could expect to see two additional vehicles on the track other than the ambulance. I`m not sure WTF was going on but it quadrupled the possibility of someone hitting a safety vehicle in my opinion. They would line the cars and ambulance up three long on the track. Could have been ugly.....
I along with Brian & Mike are a little upset about Kevin Elliot not coming down to even see how things were. I asked Bill Ferhman to tell Kevin to come down to Brian's Pit which was just a short walking distance away from the scoring tower. He said he would go get him right way. After about 30 minutes I again asked another CCS official to get Kevin Elliot to come down and see the damage & blood in Brian's leathers. I wanted him to see for his own eyes the reprecussions of crashing in turn 1. He never showed up or called us yet. No call from nobody.
Then we see a press release with no mention of Brian whatsoever. Even on his 3rd place podium finish in the Superstock race. That is just plain old not cool. I recall a series called GLRRA of which I used to race where Eric Nanke the series director came out and talked with everone and he ran a great series. Why can't CCS be more appriciative of its racers? I mean were the ones as riders who make this series happen.
That's basically like saying one of your employees gets seriously injured at work because of a safety negligence by your own company and you don't even see how he's doing.
We have been stand up riders & team for CCS Midwest region and this is the treatment we get?
Something needs to change in this series or I can't see running it in the future. There needs to be an attitude adjustment about their jobs.
Many problems I have brought up in the past have been blown over. I guess this crash is the last straw for me. It's time for something to change.
I've seen too many ambulance close calls. Races that should have been red flagged. Combined races where they shouldn't be. Bad judgement calls by paramedics. There needs to be a procedure in place for when things like this happen. Maybe its attitude adjustment. Maybe they are just bored of their jobs. Maybe they have unqualified-untrained people working at the track. We have raced on unsafe tracks for too long. It's time to do something about it.
Just so you know. I hate it when people say we are crazy for racing motorcycles. I say were crazy for racing in dangerous environments not because we race motorcycles. Racing motorcycles can be much safer than it is, if the right people are running the show.
There will be more to come. I'm just getting started.
Maybe if the people in charge were sitting in the hospital with us they might have a different view on it all.
Just keep in mind that you're not exactly unbiased with your friend in the hospital either. It might be better to concentrate on him and leave this until you can think more objectively - your concerns will come across better that way.
I thought it was really wierd,not to mention,dangerous to see an Ambulance,crash truck right on the track on the outside of turn 9-10 on the far left of the track with the rider and bike up against the fricking wall on the right.Of coarse I saw the Flag,came on top of it and remember seeing the rider,not lookin' too good,thinking this is NOT a good spot to set this shit out here.I was running in second place mid-race,tired as hell thinking,good they will red flag this sucker for sure next time around the front straight and call it a race.Much to my suprise,we did 3 more laps with that sucker out there.I was suprised to say the least.
Last year at HPT there were 64 riders in the middleweight supersport race. The middleweight race is by far the most enterd race and it should not be combined. WEhat does it save 20 min. Saving 20 min is not worth having 64 bikes on a short unsafe track. For Kevin not to come and see you after you requested to him is not right. It' is a slap in the face. The severity of the incident at least is worth ten minutes of his time or any other CCS official at the track. As far as medical staff present at the track are those people capable of handling critical situations or are they there just there as transportation to the local hospital.
Quote from: jigs on April 28, 2008, 06:40:57 PM
I thought it was really wierd,not to mention,dangerous to see an Ambulance,crash truck right on the track on the outside of turn 9-10 on the far right of the track with the rider and bike up against the fricking wall on the right.Of coarse I saw the Flag,came on top of it and remember seeing the rider,not lookin' too good,thinking this is NOT a good spot to set this shit out here.I was running in second place mid-race,tired as hell thinking,good they will red flag this sucker for sure next time around the front straight and call it a race.Much to my suprise,we did 3 more laps with that sucker out there.I was suprised to say the least.
Jason, I understand your frustration but you are only stating your side of the story. You have to realize there are other things that all go into racing and dealing with situations like this one. I am sure that CCS tries to do the best that they can and make it safe for everyone but what one might think is safe someone else might not think so. CCS tries to make sure that the track is as safe as possible. I think if you have a concern you should take it up with Kevin or with Bill Fehrman. The forum is a great for general discussion, but to get results you need to go talk with BIll or Kevin one on one to see what is all involved when a situation like this occurs and get the first hand facts and see if there is possibly something different that they can do. Kevin and Bill are always willing to hear what you or anyone else has to say. You are only venting to people who read the forum which is fine, but it is not going to get to the people that can do anything about the situations. Everyone from CCS was concerned with Brian's condition and are all praying for a speedy and successful recovery. They do not want to see anyone get hurt more than the next person. People who work for CCS do care. They are not cold hearted. They do understand how emotional racing can be and understand when emotions run high.
Please do not take offense to this post. I just want to let you know that there are some things that go way beyond what you and I or anyone else thinks is correct or wrong. Since none of us run the organization we do not know what all goes into track politics and what not. Again, if you are concerned, upset, pissed off, or just want answers your best place to start would be Kevin or Bill as they are the only ones that can help with the situation.
Please also let Brian, Mike, and the rest of the Hall family to know they are in my thoughts and prayers.
Amy
Thanks for your response Amy. Please PM me Kevin and or Bill's contact information. Like cell phone #'s please if you have them.
I understand they are busy. I do not need to explain why I'm upset that they haven't called do I?
It would have taken Kevin a few minutes of his time after the race of which wasn't done.
I hope to hear from him soon or I will call him as soon as I get his info.
I know some people don't operate or understand my way of thinking. But I'm responsible for my actions and am not afraid to let myself be heard. :preachon: I am known for running a soap box.
It seems the only way to get things to happen.
Can't wait to get to the bottom of what needs to happen to get these dangerous tracks to be safer.
Quote from: Grashopr on April 28, 2008, 03:32:45 PM
Was the wall at Alpha as much of a concern of CCS as the walls at T3 when the decision was made to use the old T1/T2 instead of the new ones? I dont think braking is as aggressive over Alpha using the new T1/T2, at least not for me (but I'm slow). In my opinion, we should have used the new T1/T2 which would have taken care of at least some of the problem of the really hard chargers coming over alpha hard on the brakes.
Doesn't the new T1/2 have you headed at the wall outside of 2 a lot faster than the old 1/2 did? Seems like a choice of evils and whichever way you go sooner or later somebody's going to get hurt bad.
I like the layout of that track, but there's a lot of concrete.
Quote from: danch on April 28, 2008, 10:03:49 PM
Doesn't the new T1/2 have you headed at the wall outside of 2 a lot faster than the old 1/2 did? Seems like a choice of evils and whichever way you go sooner or later somebody's going to get hurt bad.
I like the layout of that track, but there's a lot of concrete.
From what I saw, the wall was removed from the outside of the New Turn 2 completely in the area that would be an impact zone from an overshoot all the way down to T3. I ASSume HPT did that in preparation for the Cyclefest, but I dont know that for sure. The rumors in the pits was that CCS was concerned about higher entrance speed on T3 coming off of T2 making the far wall off of the exit of T3 an issue, which made no sense to me. As T3 is so long, if you are going to mess up at the exit of T3 and end up near the wall, your entrance speed doesn't have much to do with it. But again.. I wasn't privy to the decision-making-conversation.. I'm just going off of the pit rumors, and you know what that gets ya.
The new owner of HPT is working as hard as he can getting the track safer for everyone. He is bringing people in who have raced in Europe to make HPT safer. Trust me, in the next year HPT will be a top notch facility... A track that anyone would feel safe racing on. It just takes time, and money...
I was told that the ground was too soft to remove the wall sections at the drag strip crossing at the exit of the new T1 so the choice was made to use the old T2 as the new T1/T2 config would have a higher speed pointed at the drag strip wall.
There was another kind of strange thing I'm wondering if anyone else noticed. Did anyone else notice that on Friday, in the corner station at the top of the main straight's hill, before T1, on the right hand side, near the crest, there was a corner worker wearing a jacket (because the temp was only up in the high 40's, so everyone was dressed warmly) that had a large rectangular yellow patch in the middle, I think on a dark blue background? The day was very windy, so at some times it looked like a waving yellow flag. The dark blue kind of blended in to the background, so the yellow stood out like a big yellow rectangle...kind of like a flag. The shade of yellow seemed almost identical to a yellow flag. The first time I saw it I thought that it was a waving yellow because it must have been moving due to the 25mph wind gusts that day, and having been burned by that at CMP (and since it was specifically mentioned in the Riders' Mtg) I used extreme caution - but then I didn't see any incident. The "flag" was gone on the next lap, and I only noticed a few laps later that it was likely a corner-worker's jacket when I went by, saw him standing side-ways, and noticed that the wind was making the jacket move a lot since it was loose on him.
I'm wondering if anyone else noticed this because I don't want to bother CCS or anyone with the feedback if I was the only one confused by this.
Quote from: YellowRacer on April 28, 2008, 11:15:21 PM
The new owner of HPT is working as hard as he can getting the track safer for everyone. He is bringing people in who have raced in Europe to make HPT safer. Trust me, in the next year HPT will be a top notch facility... A track that anyone would feel safe racing on. It just takes time, and money...
I call B.S. on this one. The new owner did a complete re-pave and facelift on the track, brought in CCS racer Mike Casey on staff and added concrete walls in impact areas. Now, I like the Irwins and Mike Casey, nothing against any of them directly. I also don't run a racetrack so I can't act like I know what I'm talking about either. But from a laymans point of view Mike knows about bike safety and I thought his presence on the staff would have made for a safer facility. Ray spent millions re-vamping the track and the concrete he put up cost more money than not putting it up. In my opinion the track was re-vamped specifically for the SCCA runoffs and caters to car events. That is where the money is. Again from a laymans point of view I don't understand why walls made more sense than euro style gravel traps. Yeah, they can be a bear to pull a car back out of, but I don't know that I ever heard of anyone getting killed by landing in a gravel trap, but walls kill riders and car drivers. Why take the liability risk???
Again, just a view from the cheap seats and only my opinion.
Quote from: LMsports on April 29, 2008, 01:01:45 AM
I call B.S. on this one. The new owner did a complete re-pave and facelift on the track, brought in CCS racer Mike Casey on staff and added concrete walls in impact areas. Now, I like the Irwins and Mike Casey, nothing against any of them directly. I also don't run a racetrack so I can't act like I know what I'm talking about either. But from a laymans point of view Mike knows about bike safety and I thought his presence on the staff would have made for a safer facility. Ray spent millions re-vamping the track and the concrete he put up cost more money than not putting it up. In my opinion the track was re-vamped specifically for the SCCA runoffs and caters to car events. That is where the money is. Again from a laymans point of view I don't understand why walls made more sense than euro style gravel traps. Yeah, they can be a bear to pull a car back out of, but I don't know that I ever heard of anyone getting killed by landing in a gravel trap, but walls kill riders and car drivers. Why take the liability risk???
Again, just a view from the cheap seats and only my opinion.
Rob you hit that one on the head. When I read the quoted post I went through the ceiling! It seems every change is aimed at cars and motorcycles are an afterthought. I love the layout but that place is F-ing dangerous and getting worse as tires and bikes become better. I have a short list of tracks I won`t race and it just got one track longer.
Quote from: amy-ccsstaff on April 28, 2008, 08:08:15 PM
I think if you have a concern you should take it up with Kevin or with Bill Fehrman.
Amy, it seems like Jason wanted to take it up with Kevin at the track and that Kevin did not make time for Jason. I was not there, so I have no idea why that happened. However, perhaps if Kevin had taken 10 minutes out of his schedule to address Jasons concerns, Jason may not have been so quick to post in a public forum.
We know that the CCS staff have people who have raced, have family and friends racing, so they are concerned about safety. As the sport evolves and changes, new challenges and issues arise and need to be addressed. Good communication is the best way to handle this. When it becomes difficult to communicate with those who can make things happen, racers are going to become frustrated.
Jason, I know you are really hurting and angry at this moment. I don't doubt that you want the best for everyone in the sport. Rather than posting here, I would suggest you write an email outlining the weekend as you saw it progress and the concerns that you feel need to be addressed. I know you have ideas on how things could have been done differently. Let another racer review the email for feedback, and then send it off to Kevin. That goes for other racers who feel things did not meet their expectations.
Again, I feel that if a racer sees something they feel is dangerous or an issue, it needs to be brought up to the race director and handled at the track appropriately. We as a community need to woek together to make this sport the best as it can be.
kevin.elliott@ccsracing.us
817-546-1127
Post here and write an e-mail. No reason to leave everyone in the dark about the situation. It might save someone from being injured by choosing not to race there. It also may save someone their gas money and time going there in the first place.
Bill Fehrman can be reached at 920-585-1265 - cell phone or 920-733-8256 - home phone. Hope that helps out some. I see that Jeff already posted the contact information for Kevin. If you need anything else let me know.
Amy
Thanks for the info everyone. I just got home & I have had a long day on the road. I have had many conversations with riders / teams / family members all throughout the day. I personally logged on over 9.5 hrs on my cell phone today just talking about the events about this past weekend. It's has been a long day for me personally and my last month has been probably the longest I've lived.
I really do feel a need to step up to the plate of safety concerns with this racing series. I have never been one to keep my mouth shut about safety issues in racing. I've been racing for 28 yrs in my life and I'm 32 yrs old now. I've got some expirience and I know better unlike new racers when to speak my mind about safety.
I'll make some calls tomorrow and hopefully we can make some forward progress on this situation.
I agree with Ben Clause in sending emails & also posting on this forum. I feel things get done when people are held accountable instead of keeping it in the dark.
This forum is on the internet to voice opinions about anything to do with CCS racing lets keep it that way.
By the way it wasn't me who fabricated the whole thing about CCS not calling Brian or his family. The first thing out of Mike and Brian & family when I went online to this site was "Did CCS say anything?" or "Did CCS call, text or send you an email?"
They were concerned that CCS hadn't called them. It wasn't me who was looking for a call to me. Brian who hit the wall was asking the questions.
Honestly if they would have called or contacted us in anyway or even talked to me at the track feelings would be much better than they are now. Just for future reference I'd take these feelings in consideration.
Later,
Jason
I've always been concerned about safety. Blackhawk has always freaked me out because of the trees, so I just don't push so hard and have a 1:18 best. Alpha, 13 and 14 have always made my butt pucker at HPT so I'm slow there too. Putnam, turn 10's the only one I'm cautious on and can run respectable 1:18's and pulled 1:16's a few times. I like Brian a lot. I have a shit load of respect for him, his dad, his talent, and his reputation in the CCS community. Hell, I bought two of his bikes (a lot of that had to do with Speed Tech's reputation) His insight and suggestions have been helpful to me on the track and helped me pick up a second or two at most of the tracks. I truly look up to him (and you Jason), so absolutely no disrespect here, but everyone has the right to take a lap and say "This is stupid. I'm not racing here."
Personally, I'm tickled to death to battle for second to last place. But when it comes to people that are at Brian's level, they're not thinking about walls and trees that are close to the track. They're thinking about the track, break points, lines, and the guy in front of them. In fact a really cool guy that I always see on the front straight with a stop watch, told me in his garage one night "You never think about wrecking. You think about how to go faster without wrecking." I think you'd agree with that.
Just a guess, but I think if there'd have been 10 more walls around the track, not one single person would have packed up and left. Not one. Damn, I'm a puss and I wouldn't have left. I quit smoking for 2 months until I did my first practice session at Gateway last year. That place is retarded and the nimrod that sat back and said "Yeah, lets put 20 motorcycles out there to race." needs dragged out and beat half to death. But I still did it and as freaked out as I'd be by it, I'd go there again. So arguing about something within our own personal control, after the fact, solves absolutely nothing and honestly makes us look bit childish and really downplays the true seriousness of the issue.
I totally agree that something needs to be done. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to make people or organizations act to save their own ass when they aren't will to save their supporter's ass. But for that to happen, it's going to require the top notch racers (like Brian and several others) to show up at the tracks and make it loudly known that they aren't racing unless particular things happen. But more than that, it's going to require that the majority agrees and follows that lead. And unless that happens, the money will continue to roll in and no organization will have the motivation to step up and do anything.
And why where there three air fences laying on the floor in the tech garage during the rider's meeting Saturday afternoon and did they ever make it out to the track??? Just curious.
Jason,
I had two people no show for the event and I was covering their positions, both video taping the ASRA races and announcing in Victory lane. By the time I was free, you had packed up and left. I had ever intention of coming to see you and Brian's family. (Contrary to what you heard, I was not in Scoring, I was on the course with a video camera on my shoulder when they asked me to come see you over the radio. I told them Id be there as soon as I got finished.) As far as contacting the family on behalf of ASRA/CCS, our MRO Chaplin, Luther Allen, was in contact with them and gave me an update at about 7:20pm on Sunday and promised to keep tabs on him for us.
Press releases are not the same as journalistic race reports. Roadracing World choose not to send anyone to cover that event since they were in CA with the AMA, and our PR man only sent out the bare minimum facts he had at the time. When the release was sent we had nothing but speculation about Brian's condition, and as we've been told over and over from our insurance company and attorneys, do not speculate, only report facts.
I can assure you that the track and CCS are very interested in track safety, that wall is there protecting a drainage ditch that destroyed several motorcycles and cars in the past and the track was/is looking at options to movie it. The angle of the wall (less than 30 degrees to the track) made it unsuitable for air-fence and all the soft barriers HPT had were in other positions that couldn't be left unprotected. We were told by several respected riders who had ridden the track that the configuration was much safer and we didn't need to bring our full compliment of air-fence. They were wrong. (The airfence in Tech Saturday afternoon was the MCRA's sections being repaired by Eric Kelcher for the up coming season, they were not able to be deployed.)
To run the "new" 1-2, speeds going into turn 3 would have increased by 30-40 mph without adequate runoff and I have to back the decision my Race Director and Director of Competition made to not use the new turn 2.
We are in a unique position in this industry, even though we sanction the most races at the largest number of tracks, we do not have the clout to get major changes made like AMA, World SuperBike or Moto GP. (Barber refused to act on our suggestions until AMA mandated the changes. Road America didn't care to make changes until they thought they were getting a World SuperBike event and had FIM assurances before they made changes for example.) If we refuse to run at say Blackhawk until they make a change, Blackhawk will just turn the dates over to either another car club or WERA. We can work with them and ask for changes, but we had better be prepared to ante up part, if not all, the money needed. Welcome to the business side of this sport.
We have always been open to input from riders regarding track safety, ask Jeff Kufauk, Alexa, Dave Rosno but someone needs to come to us with their concerns because if you don't we have no idea that something is bothering you or your rider.. The Race Director is always available, so is the Referee and they take great pride in trying to make things better. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if they do not listen to your concerns.
We are all concerned about Brian and his recovery here at the office Your updates are keeping us well informed on his progress and we are keeping Brian and his family in our thoughts and prayers.
If you wish to continue this discussion, please contact me directly