Guy airlifted from summit on 7/16

[LAG]

Forgive me if this has already been posted, but I wanted to find out about the guy that was airlifted from summit on Saturday.  Does anyone know how he is doing?  

LAR (formerly LAG) :)

[r6_philly]

I was the other guy who was in that incident. (lucky me) He appeared to be hurting really bad at the scene (5 feet from me under or around my bike).

He was airlifted because he was unconcious for over 5 - 10 minutes, and was having trouble breathing. They took him for precautionary reasons. He was diagnosed of having a broken collarbone and concussion, no other injuries as far as I know. He was released from Hospital on Sunday and went home.

We crashed seperately, I had to jump off my bike to not hit the wall on the bike, and he crashed behind me, but unfortunately probably slid into my bike and the wall.

I am not quite sure what happened in the incident. It seemed that he was trying to pass a slower guy while I was trying to lap both of them. He changed his line over the crest after 3, and took away the lane I had to pass both of them. I braked really really hard to try to stay behind them until after 4, but the closing speed was too high. As I realized that I can't slow down enough to stay behind them, I turned to the left and went into the grass.

Now this part I am not quite sure. He was either running off track or was coming to the edge of the track. He bumped into the side of my bike, toward the rear, I think his right handle bar hit my leg, as I was going off to the left. I kept control of my bike until the wall came up real fast, and I lowsided the bike and jumped off to save myself. As I roll into the tire wall and came to a rest, I heard a crash behind me, and look up to see him laying under my bike. I don't know how he crashed. He wouldn't have slid that far if he had crashed after we bumped, I think he went off track too and didn't jump off as I did. And my crash causes a cloud of dust, so no one really saw what happened to him.

I hope he makes a speedy recovery. His bike faired better than mine (well mine was destroyed). I really wish this did not happen, because he got hurt, I lost my bike, and I don't particularly like sitting by the tirewall in turn 4, if you know what I mean, after almost getting airlifted myself 6 weeks ago at the same spot.

I was told by officials that they were the slowest guys on the track, I was running 1.20-1.22 while they were in the 1.50 range. I swear I had 50 feet to brake as hard as I could and still couldn't slow down enough to not pass them. I remembering coming over the blind crest in turn 3, and saw the 2 of them, as I move over to pass I decided to brake, and still couldn't slow down enough.

I didn't get injured at all, which I am really thankful. I was thinking the whole time that I am going to rebreak my pelvis and arm...

Closing speed... I am now officially scared to go in another amatuer race.

[LAG]

Thanks for your reply...I was worried about both of you, but seeing the chopper at the track is never something you want to see.  I saw your bike, and you're right, it didn't fair too well; but bikes are replaceable, humans are not.  

Amateur races are definitely a different breed of race, because all of us out there are "newbies" to some degree (otherwise we'd be experts), and some think they are miguel duhamel's while others are just out to have fun.  It's important that all of us newbies remember that racing is for fun, and that being one or two places ahead isn't worth getting into an accident over...ESPECIALLY in turn 4 at summit.

Don't get discouraged about doing another amateur race, just keep your wits about you and really watch out for other riders...closing speeds can be very different and if means waiting a few turns to make a safer pass, it is better off doing that than crashing.  But I understand what you mean about not having enough track to stop...you did the smart thing by low siding your bike...You could have been very seriously hurt there and I'm glad to hear that you weren't. Turn 4 is not a turn to f*** with.

I'll get off my soap box now...when it comes down to it, I'm a racer, but I'm also a girl, so I don't have that testosterone running through me like you guys do. ;)

Stay safe out there and don't get discouraged.

Laura

[r6_philly]

see girls have cool heads :D

I was told by all my expert buddies to move to expert now. Turn 4 has claimed me twice in 2 weekends now, and the only races left on my schedule are all summits, so I don't know, that seem to be a good option. And now my Daytona motor is not mounting, I may just do that.

What bike/number were you? I would have noticed a girl racer more I thought  :P

I am considering options about my bike, somethings gotta happen. It's only been 4 days and its killing me that I don't have a race bike now. I may have to take my street bike to a track day tomorrow just to kill the urge.

[clutch]

TURN 4 NEEDS 1 or all of the following.  Airfence, stacks of haybails everywhere or I would at least like to see a damn gravel trap...WTF is wrong with not putting somthing there.  Obviously the track and officials can see guys..and girls are getting hurt there..enough to bring in the chopper..it seems to me like an easy fix that could be done during the week..hell, they have all the damn equipment on site from the Shanendoah.

[LAG]

see girls have cool heads :D

I was told by all my expert buddies to move to expert now. Turn 4 has claimed me twice in 2 weekends now, and the only races left on my schedule are all summits, so I don't know, that seem to be a good option. And now my Daytona motor is not mounting, I may just do that.

What bike/number were you? I would have noticed a girl racer more I thought  :P

I am considering options about my bike, somethings gotta happen. It's only been 4 days and its killing me that I don't have a race bike now. I may have to take my street bike to a track day tomorrow just to kill the urge.

Yes, us gals definitely do have cool heads!  I actually haven't been racing much this year because we sold my aprilia (I was number 869) and I got an NSR...My husband is putting it back together so I can start racing it again.  We took a break from racing because he had an "incident" with the cork screw and his TZ250 at VIR south last year that ended him up with an 8" plate and screws in his arm...so we decided to take it easy before the wedding...but now that we're married, we're ready to ride again.

I know what you mean about that itch to get back on that bike...I'm jonezing BIG TIME to get back out there.

:)

Laura

[LAG]

TURN 4 NEEDS 1 or all of the following.  Airfence, stacks of haybails everywhere or I would at least like to see a damn gravel trap...WTF is wrong with not putting somthing there.  Obviously the track and officials can see guys..and girls are getting hurt there..enough to bring in the chopper..it seems to me like an easy fix that could be done during the week..hell, they have all the damn equipment on site from the Shanendoah.

Yea, turn 4 has been a bitch (pardon my french) for a long time.  The racers donated money, along with BSR, to get the wall moved back farther, but it still isn't doing the job.  Unfortunately, it's not an easy fix...it's a very expensive one to have it moved farther back because of all of the blasting that has to be done because of all of the major rocks.

Hay bales and airfence definitely help, but also expensive options and ones that take a large amount of effort.  That is where us racers need to get involved and help out.  We pay to race, we need to help pay for our safety.

Unfortunately, ever turn is dangerous.  We had a friend killed on the front stretch a few years back in a place nobody ever crashes, and another friend paralyzed in turn 3 at summit last year...all race tracks are dangerous, but if we all take our own safety into account and start to help with the changes that need to be done, we can help make our race experience as safe as possible.

Laura

[FullMoonRacing]

I didn't get out to Summit this past weekend, but "Spencer Heiden" was pitted with the guys I'm usually with.  Spencer suffered a concussion, broken collarbone and broken toe.  To my knowledge, (as of Tues info) he's more or less OK.  

[Hmmm]

Hi Laura,
Thanks for your post. This is the first time I've been here. I've raced at SP many times b4. I was airlifted out Sat. and am pretty much ok. However, the post from R6_philly has me thinking he is talking about a different crash  :-/  
In any event it would appear we are both fine physically (at least as much as we were before) and that we will be spending some quality time with our bikes.
My sincerest thanks and gratitude go out to every worker at Summit Point. the corner workers, concession, officials, medical personal, maintainence without whom we (racers) could not do what we love.
Thanks to all of my friends that got me and the pieces home.
R6 I hope you heal well and quickly and see you out on the track again soon.
Again a VERY big thank you to all at Summit Point.
J. Spencer

[Hmmm]

Hi, who's that from FM Racing? Mike??????

[castle228]

J. Spencer, glad to hear you're doing better. We (EVERYONE) always worry when "the bird" has to be called in to transport a rider. Turn 4 is a nasty one...it doesn't get alot of incidents, but when it does, they tend to be bad ones. I was working in Turn 6 at the time of your incident and was wishing you the best, as we all were.

Hope to see you back out there soon! You could always come flag a turn if ya can't race!  ;D ;D

[FullMoonRacing]

Hi, who's that from FM Racing? Mike??????

Hmmmm/JSH,
Steve here.  I was going to email you that this thread had been started but realized I don't have email addy on you anymore.  Hope you and 600RR get back to 100%.  Couldn't make this past weekend, was in Maine.