Racing 2 Save Lives

[rforsythe]

Sasha's bike didn't look like a total loss to me, though I didn't get that close to it. Was the frame bent? Just seemed like the usual fairing/brake reservoir type of stuff that almost always gets broken off in a crash. In any event Scott was a little sore last night but still stayed until almost 10pm when he got a lot sore, helping us load up. Donna loaded him up with Ibuprofen for his drive back to Park City where I'm glad he was staying for the night, instead of driving back.

We had 381 participants sign up this year (a record!) and despite fears that a few days of pent up aggression would turn Sunday (which had awesome weather) into a crash fest, people kept it in check and we only had something like 4-5 crashes in 4 days of non-stop riding. I was able to get out for a session (finally) and can say the full course rocks, as does the Daytona 675 that Chris Swallow from Utah Sportbike Rentals let me ride - if you are flying out in the future and need a bike for the track, he's the man to call!

I know I have almost 800 pictures, and we have many thousands from the photographers that were out. Pixels Photo actually ran a 4-day motorsports photography class at our event, so we had a small army of those folks running around clicking away, and from what I am told they got some great shots. I even took Neil from Pixels up in the plane and we got some aerial shots for half an hour, I'm still waiting to see how those turned out.

All in all, despite the weather we still had a great event and surpassed last year's charitable donations! I'm off to finish strapping bikes into the trailer and fly back with Donna, I'll post up pics later. Thanks to everyone from CSC who came out!!

[mtnairlover]

Congrats!!! On the record turnout and funds raised. You guys rock!

Sorry to hear about Scott and Sasha's bike. I know he was so very pumped to be riding with B. Bostrom. On the upside, glad you're ok, Scott...oh, and YOU GOT TO RIDE WITH BOSTROM! W00t!

[~Barn~]

Damn, that sucks. Hopefully you're all good Scott, and hopefully Sasha is "cool like that". I know you're gonna take care of it, but still... Drag.

Anybody catch how it happened? If they were riding the East course though, I'm gonna put my guess down on turn 4.

[Mel]

Yeah, scott, what happened? How are you feeling after the fact?

[Archangel]

I'll let RYBO tell what happened 1st hand...

No one else was rising the track a the time, other then the Bostoms, and their 2 students. The Celtic Racing Team and the Motocyzes (I completely f'up that spelling) were also on and off the track at the time.

[Sully]

All I can say is AMAZING !!! Yesterday we rode full course session from 1:00 - 6:30 ....... it made up for all of the cold and rain we had the previous days... Glad I was able to be a part of R2SL this year !

Thanks everyone

[CurtisRR]

I want to pass along a Thank You to all the R2SL organizers & volunteers.

Had a great time out at Miller even with the not so great weather.

And lastly nice to meet a few of you.

Hope to see some of you at VIR.

[rybo]

OK, so here it is, the official report on what happend.

First and foremost, all four days were amazing. I spent a lot of time with new riders both in the rain and in the dry. I spent a lot of time on the track and it really was fantastic. I was also able to take several volunteers for two up rides around the track. The other volunteers were amazing, some of them stood in the rain for hours at at time so that riders could go out. We had others that worked in registration and tech inspection tirelessly to make sure that the needs of our participants were met. An unbleiveable week.

Now the part you've all been waiting for: 1-on-1 with Ben Bostrom

This was clearly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Ben showed up and we had a quick introduction, made a game plan and headed out on the track. We did a warm-up lap and then he wanted to follow me around for a couple of laps to see what he could learn about my riding. We pulled into the pits and his first words were "Scott, you're a great rider, you have amazing corner speed, but your line is a touch off." He then was going to lead for a couple of laps and show me a better line than the one I had. As we went around the track I saw it in a new way, Ben talked a lot about thinking about the track in terms of tenths of a second. How can I go through here 1/10th faster? Miller is a really wide track, so there are multiple lines that work through a corner, but there is always the "fastest" line. We went around the first time at about 7/10ths my regular pace. The East track at Miller is more technically complex than the west course, and I was glad that we were riding there as I really appreciate technical courses. As we came around the final turn he tore down the front straight at more than my full pace. Sasha's R6 was running really well and I could hang as I twisted the throttle to the stop. Then he went into turn 1....the only words going through my mind at this point were "holy shit!" I probably even said it out loud in my helmet. He backed it in, let off the rear brake and then took off like he was shot from a cannon. This is one thing to watch from the stands, it's another to watch from 4 feet away when you're trying to keep up. At this point I was thinking that I had a lot to learn. The track then moves to two very fast sweeping corners that I typically do well in and Ben was gracious enough to slow down for me. Then the work really started, it was on me to use the new lines through the next 5 corners to effectively shave seconds from my lap times. Ben was a great teacher, he learned my pace quickly and for the next couple of laps he let at 105% of what I had been doing, he then waved me past and I led for several laps at the new pace. It was totally amazing and I had no idea that I could go so fast on a motorcycle. We then pulled in and we talked about hitting the same line every time. There is a section of track on the East course called "the attitudes" it is three corners in very short succession left, then right then left down a hill. It's an amazing section of track and I was capable of negotiating it at my old pace with ease, but the new line through turn 6 had me coming into the attitudes with about 30 mph more speed than I ever had before. I blew the line through there two laps in a row and when we pulled back into the pits I asked Ben to lead me through there at about 80% then 90% and then let me pass for the 100% attempt. I did one lap through and missed my enterance, but on the second attempt I nailed it. It was OFF THE HOOK, I sailed through there! We pulled off and Ben was like "you nailed it, that's exactly what we were talking about" At this point we were about 50 minutes into my 1 hour session with him and we agreed to just go ride, swapping out the lead. I led the first lap and Ben followed, the next lap we changed positions. I totally nailed my line and did my best ever lap at Miller, clicking off a high 1:43, which is a very respectable time.

It was on this lap that the accident happened. I nailed turns 1-4, and while Ben pulled me, it was no where near the whipping I took on our first lap. As I rolled into turn 5 (close barn!) I missed my apex by about 1 1/2 ft. I was trying hard to get back on my line, so I turned the bike in a little deeper. As I rolled closer to the edge of the rear tire I was also trying to pick up the throttle and maintain my drive off of the corner. This was rookie error #1, I was adding throttle as I was leaning over further. Then the rear wheel started to spin up. I had my knee on the ground, rear wheel spinning and the back was drifting out like a dirt track bike. At this point I was in over my head, I'd crossed the line for sure and had been spinning the rear wheel for about 50 feet (the skid mark was really impressive) Then I made rookie mistake #2....as hard as I tried I could not hold the throttle open. The rear end hooked back up and I went for a highside ride. In my mind it all happened in slow motion and as I was sailing above the earth looking down the words "this is going to end badly". Anyways I hit the ground, did the "ground, sky, ground, sky, ground, sky" routine and came to a rest. I counted to five after I thought I'd stopped to make sure it was true and then sat up. The bike was already off, so I didn't have to worry about getting it shut down. Then Ben came back and asked what happened. I told him and he said "we've got to go check out the skid mark, it will tell the whole story!" He was really excited about it and turned it totally into a teachable moment. It was amazing to watch him disect the crash and tell me how if I had been on my line it probably wouldn't have happened.

I got a ride back on the crash truck in front of an admiring audience and got the bike back to the garage.

Sasha has been incredibly cool about the whole thing. She is a good friend and we will work out the details of getting her bike back together. I'm hopeful that we can work it out in time for her Hastings race.

There are great riders, Ben is clearly one of them. On top of this he's a genuinely nice guy and an excellent teacher. I learned more about riding in an hour than I have in the past couple of years.

Pictures to come.

I'm sore for sure, the extent of my injuries is pretty minor considering the crash (about 80-90 mph highside, I flew about 30 feet between where the bike flipped and where I landed). I consciously pulled my arms in to avoid breaking my collar bone. I broke my left pinky finger, have bruised my glutes, left hip and left knee pretty good and re-agrivated a lower back injury that I got over the winter.

I can clearly say that it was worth it. I certainly wish I hadn't tossed Sasha's bike and would change that if I could. That being said it was my first big crash in 5 years.

Getting tired and heading off to bed, will type more tomorrow

[*GSXR~SNAIL*]

Glad you're o.k. Scott. You're explananation shows how good people really are in Sasha and Ben.

[mtnairlover]

Absolutely amazing...chance of a lifetime...what an experience...just speechless.

[Filo]

I have a short update from my R2SL experience. I spent all day (except 3 laps on the west track) working on the auction on Thursday, most of the day Friday (except 10 laps on the sumo track) working on the auction. Saturday I took Mike Smith's bike out on the west track, but only made 2 laps before the checker flew (thanks for the bike, Mike). The rest of the day I hid from the weather, talked to people, took pictures, and worked on the auction. Sunday came and I worked on the second silent auction (stuff that came in too late for the first one). Then, thanks to Chris Swallow at Utah Sport Bike Rental, I got to ride one session on the full track. Turns out I can't remember how to ride anymore! It was still a blast. I only made about 6 laps, but that is because a lap is more than 4 miles. Even given all that work, I had a good time. Scott unfortunately managed to have much worse of a time, but how many people can say they highsided trying to hold off Ben Bostrom?

Here is one of the three pictures I managed to take:

[DevilsTonic]

Glad to hear you're ok Scott, sounds like you had an amazing experience riding with Ben.

I can't wait to see the pics. Heal up!

[cdbouncer]

Wow - glad to hear you're ok. Sounds like all in all it was an amazing weekend!

so...can you ride with a broken pinky?

[rybo]

so...can you ride with a broken pinky?

Yup...

Here's what I can say about CSC'ers. Within 15 minutes of coming off the track with a borrowed bike that I had crashed 5 folks from here were offering up their bikes for me to ride.

In the same time frame another person asked if I would be willing to give them a 2 up ride....why anyone would want to get on the back of a bike I was driving at that point was really beyond me. I declined on the 2-up, but another person, who had worked her ass off all weekend and not gotten any track time (Shortcake with her snazzy new 636) wanted someone to show her the line around the track. T-Byrd let me borrow her Monster and off we went.

Shortcake had so many new things going on...she was on a track for the very first time, she was on a new bike and wearing one piece leathers for the first time too. Anyways we came out onto the track (Miller full course, a pretty epic first track experience) and motored around. We agreed that we would do one lap and then pull in and see how we both were doing. She went slowly, but did a great job of holding her line and looking through the turns! She decided that she wanted to go out again and we did. I led again and as we came around through the "attitudes" I looked back to see people passing her 4 wide (2 on each side of her) through the most techincal section of the track. She held her line and did a fantastic job! The pack passed and I looked back and signaled to ask if she wanted to pull into the pit or go for another lap. She said she wanted to go around again (at this point she became my hero, getting passed like that on your second ever lap has to be scary). We went down the front straight and I let her pass so that I could follow her for a lap. Miller full course has 23 turns, and in two short laps she had learned effective lines through about half of them, that is truly amazing and a much faster learning curve than I have for sure.

She pulled in and I took a couple of "hot" laps on the monster. It was freaking fantastic, and I hit every line that B-Boz and I had practiced earlier in the day. I can't wait to get healed up and back on the track at 100%

s

[~Barn~]

Shortcake is money.

I think if my first track day ever was at Miller, and I had just gotten passed full-zoot by 2-on-each-side through the mini corkscrew Attitudes, I would have parked it right there. That section is hard enough to nail, when you're by yourself!

[Archangel]

This was a video from the guy who was riding with the other Bostom with Scott on the track.

http://www.bwhip.com/images/EBozMMPEastR2SL.mpg

Here's the thread he started on the UtahSBA board.
http://www.utahsba.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6349

[pilot]

Epic story there Scott, epic. We'll have your superman cape back from repairs in no time at all. Glad you faired it out.

[konichd]

Shortcake for AMA 08!

[rybo]

Shortcake for AMA 08!

I second the motion.....all in favor?

[konichd]

Truley Scott, after your crash I have to give you a big thanks for taking her out there. She wanted to go out so bad but didn't trust anyone but you, and you put everything aside from the morning and didn't hesitate to take her out.

Big props man! As Barn would say "Well fuckin' played, well fuckin' played."

[Devaclis]

**cough bachelor of the year *cough cough

[konichd]

I'm going to have my spleen removed so I can be just like Scott!

[~Barn~]

I try not to cuss too much with Scott. He's a more urbane sort, than most of my cohorts.

[Slo]

Holy SH*T Scott, great story....one of the few where even reading it got me excited!!!!

Hehehe, I am already tucking money aside for next years auction!!!!