Big Thanks to EX#331 at VIR on 6/21!

[naya the dingo]

Hey Paul, it was nice to meet you last weekend.  You seem like a cool cat.

[cyclecareracing]

Hey Lory , nice meeting u too , thanks again for giving way to me after i overshot that turn , that was really cool of ya ...smile

[Hollywood]

Not gonna say it............

God, it's a good thing when I take my happy pills early in the morning!

I would prefer you say it. Take your happy pills a few hours later. You are a respected and long standing member of this community. What do you think?

[Burt Munro]

Sorry Chris, I guess I confused you. 

My comment wasn't about your situation - it was directed toward a comment posted here by someone I'm acquainted with.

As far as your situation, I think your handling it as appropriately as you can under the circumstances.  The best action now is for the people that Antoine trusts and respects to help him learn proper track/race conduct before he badly injures someone else or himself.

Sounds like he's been lucky up til now maintaining his 'video game' approach.  Gotta get thru to him before he crashes and burns and suddenly realizes you can't just hit the restart button on the keyboard - this isn't a game where you get to start over without consequences .

Good luck!

Oh, one more thing.......  You might want to get with the Race Director the next time your at a track with Antoine.   They can help in getting additional input from respected riders and the Corner Workers verifying unsafe riding and then take reasonable action.

[Team Spalding]

Hollywood, yes that is racing. What happened could happen again. Could come from a very experienced expert next time too. Did you watch the AMA Road America races when Josh Hayes took out a privateer racer. He was not even close to making it and ended the day for both of them and who should know better than Josh Hayes. When you are pushing hard and trying new things sometimes mistakes happens. Sorry it happened and he could of handled it different but if you are gonna keep cryin and bitchen about something like this maybe you should go do trackdays.

[tug296]

I was hit in the same manner once, no room on the inside of a fast left corner.
Then a blur and the breath knocked out of me, luckily didn't crash, but broke 3 ribs when his fairing impacted my left side.
Never an apology.

Tried to forgive, forget and move along, but it's a difficult concept when it changes the way you take a breath.
In the end, it is racing, sometimes there are wild idiots out there.

If I recall correctly, a certain rider was banned for a while from AMACCS back in the early 80's, for dangerous and over aggressive riding, he later went Pro with AMA where he was banned for a year.

[MELK-MAN]

Hollywood, yes that is racing. What happened could happen again. Could come from a very experienced expert next time too. Did you watch the AMA Road America races when Josh Hayes took out a privateer racer. He was not even close to making it and ended the day for both of them and who should know better than Josh Hayes. When you are pushing hard and trying new things sometimes mistakes happens. Sorry it happened and he could of handled it different but if you are gonna keep cryin and bitchen about something like this maybe you should go do trackdays.

Your missing one HUGE ingredient of the "pro" and "club racer" equation. JOSH HAYES GETS A BIG FRIGGIN PAYCHECK to ride his bike as fast as he can. He has a bunch of eager beavers back in the pits and a tractor/trailer of spare shit that can fix the bike if he crashes! We all have to go to our "day job" on monday. This analogy is a poor example of "well it was racing". There is riding hard and riding above your head. Does a pro make a mistake from time to time? obviously. I would also say that if you watch Josh Hayes week in and week out he makes thousands of GOOD calculations about where and when to pass all the while on the very edge as fast as a bike can be ridden. I have had the pleasure of riding with and talking with Josh H. and i would bet that if it was his fault that the crash occured and he knew someone got dinged up he would say "sorry" to them personally.

[Hollywood]

Sorry it happened and he could of handled it different but if you are gonna keep cryin and bitchen about something like this maybe you should go do trackdays.

I wasn't trying to come across as crying and bitching Joel, people that know me know that's not my style. And why would you apologize? You didn't hit me, he did. You are right about one thing though, he could have handled it differently and so far up to this point he has chosen not to.

[Gixxerblade]

I am glad you are okay Hollywood.

[cyclecareracing]

well said Greg !!

[Team Spalding]

I guess what I am saying is that what happened to you can happen to anyone anytime. So why get on the boards? Every time you and someone come together and it is not your fault or the guy does not say sorry it is time to start a forum and call the guy out in front of everyone. Are you so upset you did not get an apology? If he would have said sorry would you have said anything here?

I guess I am responding because I caused a crash like that once. Do not think I was riding over my head but just made a bad decision when I went to pass. Told the guy how sorry I was because his weekend was over. Could not help him w/ parts because we were on totally different bikes. I felt bad but was also happy both of us were not hurt. I learned from that incident and grew as a racer because of it.

Hopefully he will learn and grow from your incident as well Chris. This is why I do not agree when racers crash and post up calling someone out about it.

Greg it is racing and can happen at any time. It is club racing which means there is even more of a chance that something like this could happen. Did you guys not notice all the red flags that weekend. When you go racing crashes happen. Do you actually think that because you have to go to work on Monday that there will be no crashes or that no one is pushing hard or that they will be extra careful around you. Do you also think that every crash will end with both guys hugging each other. Please.

[MELK-MAN]

i feel where your coming from Joel. Help me out though with what you meant "i wasn't riding over my head but i made a bad decision" .. and took a guy out? One difference of your situation and what has been discussed in this thread is you found the rider and to say sorry. Often that mends things and both riders go away feeling a tad better. Yes, it is racing and crashes happen every race weekend. Sometimes lots of em. I get the feeling that if Antoine would have been a bit more sincere with an appology..or even recognized he made a bone head move and said so, i don't think we would have seen this thread. It's like the drug addict, the 1st step to recovery is admitting they have a problem..

I will say this. There are a number of national riders and up-n-comers that have the skills to chase manufacturer money. This can mean thousands of dollars at certain race events. I assure you riders like Jensen,Wood,Stokes,Lynn will make thier way to the front and not say "excuse me" while doing it. However.. have you noticed they make good passes ? I don't hear many tales or see these riders punting people off the track. They have the skill AND the racecraft to get er' done.