Be Careful on the Trackdays you Pick! (this is a must read!) - Lapdance Hooters Event

DEPO · 07-28-2006, 10:03 PM

First of all..... Everyone of the .org members is back from this event unhurt and in good spirits. Red Rider, Myself, and Dan you joined us for the .org event.

Lapdance Hooters Event:

I will set this up with.... last night It Rained and Rained and washed the track green, the morning was damp in the air and no sun. Bad morning track conditions.

Bike Tech: They look at my bike.... not checking it or teching it, looked at it, teched me through not even squeezing a brake lever.

Trackwalk: Everybody climbed in the bed of a pickup truck, went around the course at 25 mph and never onced stop to talk about the track.

Morning Talk: NO and I mean NO comments on standard riding practices and etc...

Now this is where it gets interesting.....

6 riders went down today with maybe 30 riders tops at the event...... I was one of them.

I went down in the Bus Stop.... 100% my fault. We did no parade laps, and they did three yellow flag laps, I go down in the next lap, mid corner, moisture, cold tire, etc.... bike is barely touched, I am in great spirits nice easy low side.... My Sato frame slider saved the day.

Next session.... Guy hits the grass, coming up to the straight, tries to swerve really hard, hits the peg on the pavement, highsides.... knocks himself out, takes him to the hospital, shattered his shoulder, broke his collar bone, might have done damage to his pelvis and his knee. Has an air bubble in his blood stream they need to keep an eye on.

Next couple of sessions, guy goes down in the bowl, it is one of the instructors.... all the other "Instructors" on MO-Retards turn around on the track, even before they red-flag the session.

Pete (Red Rider) gets in trouble.... I will let him explain.....

Last Session, Dan is out and he is one of the faster guys out in the combined Int. and Adv. session. No comments on whether they are using Int. Rules or Adv. Rules.

The Event Planner....... Tries to stuff two guys, Dan being one of them in the left hander of the Ss. He eats it and crashes ...... when the bike slides, it was with in a foot of taking out Dan. Pete and I are watching this, because we were commenting on how fast Dan was, so we were watching him through the back side of the track. Just as I was saying, what the hell is this guy doing... this all goes down. Dan confronts him and puts the blame on him and the guy behind them... stating, I am sorry if I spooked you, I knew I should not have combined us with the slower riders. Dan was a nice guy unlike how I would have been.

Then they misrepresented themselves.... I am glad I donated 100 dollars to a great cause, my great aunt is dying of breast cancer so I can not complain, but when you read

"Lunch will be served by Hooters of Lansing, with prizes for the awards for most improved rider, ugliest bike and biggest donation to be awarded in the afternoon."

You believe you are being served lunch by Hooters.... as in food from Hooters... No that is not the case, it was crappy hot dogs and hamburgers he grilled himself. They had three Hooter girls there (their D squad.... ugly and fat) and were present for maybe 30 minutes tops. I never heard of prizes being announced.

I loved hanging out with Pete and Dan..... and in no way was I bummed about lowsiding, because I did very little damage. It actually made me a little cocky... like "that was not too bad....." Mind you I know better.

I hope Matt can catch these comments.... great cause, good idea, horrible execution. I hope he knows that a lot of people were very unpleased with how this day went down, not only us from .org, but several other riders.

sheepofblue · 07-28-2006, 10:36 PM

Hope they raised some cash cause it is a good cause.

Why did you y'all not walk

in such an out of control environment you could have been seriously hurt. Control riders that stop then turn around on the track

Control riders binning, no rules announced

Glad you, Dan and RR are OK but consider packing up in such and environment next

nhfirefighter13 · 07-28-2006, 11:05 PM

So you had fun, huh?

CBRVFR · 07-28-2006, 11:24 PM

Dan as in Heavy-Dee?

DEPO - I'm glad you're OK. There was something about that event that put me off.

Monday is an Apex 2 Apex event.. They're pretty new at this, trying to fill in for trackoholics. I hope they get it right.

DEPO · 07-28-2006, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

Dan as in Heavy-Dee?

No as in Dan Pedersen....

bwhip · 07-29-2006, 12:42 AM

With all of the news lately about riders dying at trackdays, this is really disgusting, and I'm certainly glad it wasn't any worse based on how poorly it was run. Good advice to be carefuly to pick trackdays that are well organized and run safely and professionally.

I've had friends that wanted to go to a trackday because it was "cheap", but with no tech, no riders meeting, no corner workers, no ambulance, etc. NO THANKS.

I'll pay $50 more for safety, thank you.

Red Rider · 07-29-2006, 8:51 AM

Well, DEPO pretty much summed it up. I didn't get a good feeling about this event when I went through tech and the guy never even put a hand on my bike!

I knew my bike was good, but I started to wonder about the other bikes that I saw pass tech...license plates still on, brake light still connected, etc.

The day turned into a clusterphuck. I've never seen more bikes go down in one event. It made STT look like an MSF class! The only thing worse than Control Riders crashing are Control Riders who turn around on a hot track.

I had already called it quits for the day when we watched Matt Blom, the event organizer, miss taking out Dan by inches.

Quote:

Pete (Red Rider) gets in trouble.... I will let him explain.....

Really didn't get into trouble, more like a

. With only 3 riders in the advanced group I decided to run with the intermediates so I could ride with DEPO and Dan for a few laps. I guess my late breaking move (a la`abtech!) caught the attention of Howdie who said

.

As for lunch, I didn't mind them not serving buffalo wings, but when the first guy in line stuck his hand down into the pickle jar up to his elbow, I lost my appetite.

I think the premise of the event is certainly for a good cause, but the organizers have to remember that rider safety is more important than

. And to cap the day off, I left my beacon at the track.

Needless to say, I won't be back next year...

DEPO · 07-29-2006, 10:36 AM

about my lowside.....

I really was a dummy.... because I looked at my lap timer after the get-off and saw I was running a faster pace then I should have.

I was at the third warm up lap almost sub 1:40.... which on a damp and cold tires was stupid.

I came in the bus-stop tight, my normal line and felt the rear starting to really let go.... That is when in slow motion, everything goes through your head..... try to recover and tuck the front and launch yourself off the bike... or just go with it.

I had enough time to think, just go with it man..... felt my ride side make contact with the ground, go over on to my back..... watched my bike slide away from me..... and rode the ride. Touched the ground to make sure I was stopped (thank you all for those reminders several times through the years) stood up and ran out of the slide zone. Just then Pete came by and I gave him the thumbs up.... cause I could see how he was looking over.. he was concerned (If you ever get to hang out with Red Rider, great person....). They red flagged the track... corner workers came over and got the bike up.... I fired the bike up and rode it back to the pits.... Nothing else.

sheepofblue · 07-29-2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEPO

about my lowside.....

I really was a dummy.... because I looked at my lap timer after the get-off and saw I was running a faster pace then I should have.

I was at the third warm up lap almost sub 1:40.... which on a damp and cold tires was stupid.

I came in the bus-stop tight, my normal line and felt the rear starting to really let go.... That is when in slow motion, everything goes through your head..... try to recover and tuck the front and launch yourself off the bike... or just go with it.

I had enough time to think, just go with it man..... felt my ride side make contact with the ground, go over on to my back..... watched my bike slide away from me..... and rode the ride. Touched the ground to make sure I was stopped (thank you all for those reminders several times through the years) stood up and ran out of the slide zone. Just then Pete came by and I gave him the thumbs up.... cause I could see how he was looking over.. he was concerned (If you ever get to hang out with Red Rider, great person....). They red flagged the track... corner workers came over and got the bike up.... I fired the bike up and rode it back to the pits.... Nothing else.

If you had NinerPilots magic knee pucks you would have made it

RC51Mike · 07-29-2006, 6:30 PM

Glad everyone is ok but what were you thinking? "Lapdance Hooters Event"?!!!! Did you need to go through a nonexistent tech and counter riding control riders to figure out this was a bad idea? The name of the event alone should be enough to scare normal people away. Hooters is a magnet for all that is wrong with society (in this case squidly behavior) and a bellwhether of the decline of civilization.

I've said before and I'll say it again. I have nothing against gratuitous sex. Just don't use it to try to get me to buy mediocre food and bad beer.

CBR929RE · 07-29-2006, 7:40 PM

glad you guys weren't hurt in what sounds like a terrible event.

I'll take a plate of regular wings and be done with it. I've been to 2 different Hooters (once each) and the girls weren't great, some OK ones but nothing all that special. I don't see it as any better than any other plain old chain restaraunt.

sheepofblue · 07-29-2006, 7:42 PM

... the Indy Hooters girls ARE hot...

Hammer · 07-29-2006, 9:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheepofblue

... the Indy Hooters girls ARE hot...

Actually you are talking about Greenwood Indiana.

sheepofblue · 07-29-2006, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hammer

Actually you are talking about Greenwood Indiana.

Nope I was talking about the fine Hooters girls there

KF810 · 07-30-2006, 3:35 AM

I was there too. Also misled with the Hooters food thing. Gardenburgers are nasty... It must have been who teched your bike maybe, cause they went over mine but they did do kind of a half ass job now that I think about it. I'm kind of confused about your paragraph about 'The Event Planner', cause I was following Matt ('T.E.P.') from before the jump hump and saw everything, and I know I didn't cause any of that.

KF810 · 07-30-2006, 3:46 AM

CBRVFR, I was at the first Apex day in June, and they seemed fairly well organized, a real trackwalk, rules, etc. etc. Rich Schurfeld did a good job in my opinion. Lunch was boiled hot dogs, so you might want to bring your own. I think I might bring my grill. I'll be there. #810

DEPO · 07-30-2006, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kf806

I was there too. Also misled with the Hooters food thing. Gardenburgers are nasty... It must have been who teched your bike maybe, cause they went over mine but they did do kind of a half ass job now that I think about it. I'm kind of confused about your paragraph about 'The Event Planner', cause I was following Matt ('T.E.P.') from before the jump hump and saw everything, and I know I didn't cause any of that.

No you or nobody had anything to do with the crash, but Matt. Matt trying to "showboat" and show everyone how "fast" he was almost collected two riders, because he took a really bad pass in the Ss on the last session. Pete and I watched the whole thing. We were in the Paddock looking right at the Ss from where we had set up. Matt stuffed one guy and was on the verge of stuffing Dan when he ran out of space and ate it. I am glad he is o.k., but it was classless.

sheepofblue · 07-30-2006, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEPO

No you or nobody had anything to do with the crash, but Matt. Matt trying to "showboat" and show everyone how "fast" he was almost collected two riders, because he took a really bad pass in the Ss on the last session. Pete and I watched the whole thing. We were in the Paddock looking right at the Ss from where we had set up. Matt stuffed one guy and was on the verge of stuffing Dan when he ran out of space and ate it. I am glad he is o.k., but it was classless.

... and against every rule I have ever heard for intermediates...

Red Rider · 07-30-2006, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheepofblue

... and against every rule I have ever heard for intermediates...

Which is why I was so surprised he attempted it. KF806, we watched the freight train you guys were in come through T4 and into T5...right up to the point where Matt thought he could make a pass through T6. Not the best place to pass in ANY group.

KF810 · 07-30-2006, 3:59 PM

Yeah, I didn't think passing in the esses was safely possible.

Well, I just wanted to get your opinion straight on the whole debacle.

Just for some peace of mind, ya know. Last thing I would want to do is take someone else out. I almost skipped the "Free For All" session, but I had been cuttin some good lap times (for me) and kind of wanted to keep the momentum going, I guess.