Sttars 2013 Round Two Action!

[Brakelate]

I have heard bits and pieces regarding some of the action, drama and carnage that occurred at the Second Round of Sttars 2013.

I am busting at the seams to hear the inside word, as it sound like some folks were hurt, and there was some issues with Tim (the new owner of my KTM 525 SMR) which may have him with a broken motor and landing in the hospital with some serious injuries after a nasty get off in the Novice Main.

Hopefully The1904Kid or some others that were there in person can give us accurate play by play of the racing action and injuries and hopefully, good news regarding recovery.

Standing by...

[jhwalker]

Plus 1

[Norman Perez]

The 2nd. round of STTARS has come and gone.

There were crashes, elbow rubbing, and most importantly...FUN.

Here's my story. I had a full load of work. Monday all the way to Saturday was scheduled to work. Come Saturday night. I was asked to stay in Santa Barbara until Sunday. Sunday being race day. I thought I wouldn't make it. Come 10am I rode my bike from SB to Burbank. Race prep'ed the bike. Threw it on the back of the 'Yota and made my way to Perris. Around 12:45 I got to Apex. Began to unload the bike when the call for the Novice class was given. I managed to throw on my gear and jump on the bike but. Alas I missed my heat race. So Santa Barbara to Perris in a matter of hours just for a race. So I got ready for my SECOND class. Beginner.

The next disappointment was Dave "TheKid" Nguyen sitting in a chair with an ice pack and a sling on his left shoulder. Dave always wondered if the the tire wall at Apex was soft enough to nap on. Well, he found out. I consider Dave to be my friendly track rival. Mike Radner is my not so friendly street rival

In both classes there were big attendance numbers. 20 in Beginner and 24 in Novice! As you can Imagine. The first turn was a big concern for me. Anybody that races or watches AMA Dirt Bike races can attest to the carnage. The Beginner heat race was good. I got 7th I believe. Novice I finished 18th out of 28th I think. But mind you the scoring was completely off for some reason. In actuality I don't mind the botched scoring. It's the experience Im after. I've been getting progressively faster each race out. I've also been saving for some 450 race bits. Im on the hunt for a brake kit and a SM appropriate set of triple clamps.

I will miss round 3 due to work and the fact that I owe the government a good chunk a change this year. But, I will be at Grange for round 4. Waiting for a certain DRZ to come out of retirement.

By the way. Tim Clarke is healing up after a massive endo' on a cursed CRF450 after his cursed KTM went Kat'Boom. Broken ribs, collar bone, and a collapsed lung. It would appear that the "fast" guys all seem to sample asphalt on the "horse shoe" section of the course. The slight elevation change compresses the rear on the face then rebounds on the down slope. Unfortunately, these guys are going so fast into the 180 turn that the breaking point is just at the peak of elevation change. Causing the rebounding suspension to send the rear in the air. Hai Pham also had his share. Crashing in the hair pin after the starting grid straight away section. He was unscathed but did not participate the rest of the day. On the Novice main just prior to the green flag David Wada issued me a challenge. To beat his 85 mini SM. Luckily the other mini in the race took him out as they battled each other just in front of me. It was a rather vicious battle as elbows and pegs were rubbing. Mini's don't f@wk around! Wada almost took my front on the first turn when he saw my Yami' was pulling on hiw Yami'. In the beginner main. I almost took out my main competitor, Nathan Church. I was lining Nathan up for a pass on turn one when he went into a false neutral. I locked the front then the rear and was at one point sliding both wheels. I got within a few inches of his rear but managed to keep it on two. As far as the racing. Being aggressive early is the only way to get any passes on my Superscooter. But that leads to some buthole puckering moments.

By the way. Dave is really starting to pick up speed. I use to be able to keep with him for a few laps but now with that fancy full-on race bike of his. He's only behind me on the starts where my bike seems to love pulling away from all the big bores in the class. In literally the only guy on a 250 in Novice. But that way I have an excuse hehehe.

[Brakelate]

Doesn't Tiger #250 ride a very tricked out Honda 250?

Sounds crazy! I can't imagine where all these people are coming from. Last few years, we were lucky to get four or five guys on any grid, sometimes even combining classes.

Next round at Horse Thief Mile?

[Norman Perez]

Yes next round is Horse Thief. I won't be able to attend. I was really looking forward to it. It seems like it would suit my knee down style.

[Brakelate]

True. Plus it has a real dirt section. Hard pack, sand / silt pit, and a nice jump up and down the hill which really slows down the road race only types.

[Tetge]

I see that the carnage continued as usual. I bet that the rate of injury and crashing for kart track supermoto is high compared to some other forms of racing since people are constantly crashing and saying that they will be back after they mend. It could be tough if a person relied on working for a living and got banged up too badly to work. But, then again, I am scared of dirt and street riding, let alone any form of racing.

[the1904kid]

Norman covered it pretty good...for ONLY BEING THERE FOR HALF OF THE RACE! But let's rewind a bit to the Saturday practice before the race...

I pulled up early and there was already a good group at the track. There were going to be a bunch of people camping including me, Tim Clarke (the new owner of Brakelates KaTooM), Tyler (Screwtape) and a bunch of other racers. Practice was fun, and I was starting to pick up speed. Sidenote, the previous practice at Apex, I had a few guys following me all day and giving me pointers on where I was slow. During that practice I was able to shed at least 3-5 seconds off of my lap times, and the novice guys there weren't able to pass me anymore.

Anyways, back to the current practice during the second session, I was starting to pick up some speed like I said and went in way to hot for the quick higher speed left-right after the tight horseshoe Norman described. I made the left, but not the right. I remember clipping the curb and then ended up in the tires. Jacked up my knee, AC Joint shoulder separation, destroyed helmet and ripped my leathers open. I was in 3rd gear so I had some speed going in the corner. The bike was okay, which is important for the rest of the story.

Now I am depressed and pissed that I couldnt ride. My plan was to rest and hopefully be able to race the next day. I switched from water to beer and just watched the rest of the hoonigans practice. Sometime after lunch though..Tim Clarke was pushing his bike back from the track. If others can remember, I mentioned awhile back that Tim recently had to do a brand new top end due to buying junk from Brakelate. He forked out $800, and had 1 break in track day previously. This was his second day riding and it died on him on the track. His KTM mechanic Roy was down the street at the dirt flat track and stopped over to say that the bottom end is now done. He was assuming the KTM threw a rod. Tim is now super pissed and doesn't know what to do. He was planning on having his wife and mother-in-law come out to watch him race for the first time. He didn't want to break it to his wife that he broke his bike again.

So Sunday rolls around and I am waking up. Just putting on my sweatshirt almost made me throw up and cry in pain. Racing was out of the question. I walk over to Tim's camp and convinced him to stay and race the Honda. At least one of us was going to have fun that day, and he looked so bummed about his bike that he really needed to ride. Now putting on the Race Team owner, I started finishing race prep to get ready for tech!

So the first Novice heat rolls around, and like Norman said...23 were gridded up! Turn 1 was INSANE. Tyler got punted in turn 2 and many others had problems. There was a rider Jeff Ortberg that came out of the woods. He apparently used to race a lot back in the day and was making a comeback. Man he was sketchy with questionable lines and punting people off track inadvertently. Anyways, while Jeff was punting everyone off track, Tim was able to go from last place to somewhere in the top 10!

Then the white flag comes out...I am anxiously waiting for Tim to cross the finish. but he never does. Wada caught the incident on his GoPro, but I don't think the vid is on the internet yet. Basically Tim did a stoppie over the rise before the right horseshoe turn...his rear landed sideways and he highsided off the bike. Aftermath: broken clavicle, broken hand, two broken back ribs, shattered shoulder (required reconstruction surgery, which was a success!), bruise lung, pierced lung, concussion and probably some other stuff. I believe he is just now leaving the hospital that he checked into.

The bike had some bent handguard mounts and the remote brake fluid reservoir got ripped off. Some scratched up plastics and a rashed up lever summed up the worst of it. There are some other minor problems for the bike which I am just now dealing with, for instance the remote reservoir connector is actually broken too.

In the end, it was a great turnout for bikes. There were a lot more incidents that I would like to say. I was able to put on a jacket and ride yesterday but the shoulder is still really tender. I am hoping to be back at the track this weekend.

I am going to miss Round 3 of STTARS at HTM, in order to make the Stateline race the following weekend.

EDIT: I have renamed the Honda race bike to, "The Widowmaker"

[the1904kid]

Also, funny side story...that Jeff Ortberg guy pulls up next to our super pit and squeezes his truck in. He then walks around saying, "where the hell is Norman Perez?". I start laughing and say that he should be there any minute (which he wasn't). The guy then goes, "crap, I forgot my ramp" and couldn't get his bike off the truck. I loaned him my ramp and mentioned I would check to see where Norman was. he then says, "tell him that he is a pussy!", thinking that Jeff knows Norman really well.

Apparently, they had never met before.

The guy then starts filling up his Husky with gas...he says, "want to know when I know it's full?"...we wait...then gas starts dumping all over his rear tire and almost a gallon of fuel is lost. He then says, "now I know it's full!". This guy was hilarious...he almost crashed out gridding up to a race, since he was too busy waving to his wife off track.

[Brakelate]

Holy Crap!

I had crazy hopes of hitting the HTM round with you nuts, but I just got back from the Doc myself, and apparently I am due for another surgery to correct an issue from long ago that has been nagging me for the last year or so. So much for 2013 being the incident / incision / recovery period free year.