Anyone know what happened to Nate, was there Sat, he looked fine, just saw people wishing him well, did he go down?
And It was great seeing alot of you guys this weekend! Keep it safe!
Dennis Espinosa
CCS # 40
Race 3 I think, Unlimited Supersport, Nate went down on the right hand exit out of the chicane approaching the "wheelie hill". Couldn't find out too much at the track other than he hit his head hard. He took an ambulance ride to get checked out at the hospital........that's all I know.
Nate Kern was feeling uncomfortable with his neck, and last I heard was getting MRI's done. Really great down to earth guy, sucks to see him go down that hard, and the bike was pretty trashed too =/
he has a facebook page, may have updates there. Bummer to hear about crashes..
Yea I saw it happen. Highsided at the exit of the chicane. Was pretty nasty, he was launched into the air tumbled for a while. He gave a thumbs up as they loaded him into the ambulance.
Damn that's a shame. He was flying with that BMW during the GT race. Fun to watch from the stands.
Kind of cool to see the whole BMW team there. Looked very professional.
Got to talk to Nate and his crew chief on Saturday night. Great bunch of guys with lots of cool stories. Both had high praises for the track and CCS.
Get well soon Nate.
Hang in N8!
last we heard Nate had a bad headache ,he was to be released sunday night They were waiting for some test results.
Nate hope your feeling better praying for quick recovery.
From Nates facebook page
"Home now. Rung my bell good and have some blood or something stupid on the brain. More or less a severe concussion. No big deal. We figured out after horus of video, that massive bump exiting chicane (T4) finally caught up to our stock steering dampner. Oh well. 15 kartwheels later and totalled RR, should have had a dampner"
Now, where is the video?
Well he could have gone slower through there. Duh. Sheesh. Everybody in a big hurry.
Glad he's doing ok.
BTW Nate, you couldn't have had worse timing!! My mother, who has never come to a race, never wanted to, could barely get the courage to see her son in a single race. Showed up 10 secs before you decided to have a spectacular highside to the moon. My first thoughts were, shit i hope he's ok, then they were, shit i hope my mom is ok. I looked at her and she started to cry. lol damn it
LOL @ Drew
Heal up Nate.
Quote from: drew231506 on May 05, 2010, 05:19:03 PM
My first thoughts were, shit i hope he's ok, then they were, shit i hope my mom is ok. I looked at her and she started to cry. lol damn it
Lots of love to your mom for being there, even when it's scary. Don't forget to let her know how much you appreciate her ;). I absolutely LOVE the whole racing scene but I have to admit, it can be difficult watching the one you love out there. It was a very scary looking incident, the faster they are the more spectacular the crash. Thank goodness things turned out the way they did. One of the corner marshals who was more versed in working cars actually called me over to give her a break after the event. She was a little shaken as well... she asked me 'how do you get used to all the bodies flying around"?? Hopefully your mom got to see some 'crashes' that the guys up and walked away from which happens as well :).
Heal up soon Nate. Sucks about the bike also. That was a sweet ride.
Quote from: Rick Johnson 29 on May 07, 2010, 12:43:08 PM
Heal up soon Nate. Sucks about the bike also. That was a sweet ride.
Yo Rick, what's up man? I hit Nate up on Facebook yesterday, he said he's going back for a check up and all the blood should be cleared up by now. He's kinda pissed he didn't put an aftermarket damper on the bike.
QuoteHe's kinda pissed he didn't put an aftermarket damper on the bike.
You'd think with all of the high end mods that bike comes stock with it'd have a racing caliber damper on it. Sucks.
QuoteLots of love to your mom for being there, even when it's scary. Don't forget to let her know how much you appreciate her ;). I absolutely LOVE the whole racing scene but I have to admit, it can be difficult watching the one you love out there. It was a very scary looking incident, the faster they are the more spectacular the crash. Thank goodness things turned out the way they did. One of the corner marshals who was more versed in working cars actually called me over to give her a break after the event. She was a little shaken as well... she asked me 'how do you get used to all the bodies flying around"?? Hopefully your mom got to see some 'crashes' that the guys up and walked away from which happens as well :).
Yes lots of love to the mom. I never thought I'd ever see the day she'd come to the track. Even talking about racing with my family is taboo. After the crash she watched the races from the straightaway, it was a little easier on her.
Quote from: drew231506 on May 07, 2010, 01:03:38 PM
You'd think with all of the high end mods that bike comes stock with it'd have a racing caliber damper on it. Sucks.
Yes lots of love to the mom. I never thought I'd ever see the day she'd come to the track. Even talking about racing with my family is taboo. After the crash she watched the races from the straightaway, it was a little easier on her.
Yeah, I kind of look at stock steering dampers like stock suspension though. It's only good up to a certain point. My only real experience with a stock damper was on my CBR100RR, I thought that thing was garbage.
My parents came to a race my first season, in 2008. We were at Summit and right in front of where they were watching this guy highsides and flies into the airfence in turn 8. The guy walked away, but it scared the crap out of my mom. They did actually have a good time overall that weekend. It was kind of nice letting them see that the things we do are pretty calculated and we're not just crazy!
My dad gives me the same shit, calls me throughout the day to see if everything is ok everytime I go to the track. First time he ever came to the race track was sunday. First he sees Nate crash and get ambulanced away, and then I crash. Great first impression, he gives me enough shit about it as it is, haha. Then after I crash he's freaking out the whole time and I'm just trying to get the bike back together and yelling at him to leave me the hell alone. I don't think he'll be attending any more races...
He's fine,talked to him last night,got a new bike...left hand hurts a bit,was riding for the big wigs at NJMP Saturday.They had new car product out there,and wanted him to do a few laps for the Munich and N/A folks,said he Felt OK but only rode at 50%...the bike's a total.