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Crashed At Nashville Super Speedway 4/11/2011


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Posted

I went down at about 80mph in a corner. I did a very stupid thing: I touched my brakes in a fast corner at lean. The bike went down instantly and I knew my left shoulder was broken. Fortunately, nobody ran my stupid butt over!

 

The staff at Sportbike Track Time were truly great. They got me and my bike off the track in a very orderly fashion. They spoke to my wife, Mary and told her that they would be there until 7pm if she needed help getting things packed and loaded up. They even sent a followup e-mail to Mary the next day asking about my condition.

 

They x-rayed everything on my left side. My left clavicle is broken and my left lung had a very small area that was collapsed. There was an air pocket in my chest cavity behind my heart. No other broken bones. I was admitted into the hospital for observation of the lung. The next day they did a chest x-ray and it showed that my lung had reinflated. The orthopedic doctor suggested I have a plate put in my left shoulder for the fractured clavicle. After I found out I wouldn't be able to use my left arm for several weeks I decided the best route was to get the plate. After the surgery, the doc came out and told my wife and parents that there was more damage to the bone than what the x-rays showed. He was very happy that we decided to go with the plate. My shoulder would have been pretty jacked up. As it stands, I am expected to make a full recovery.

 

 

Good news is I have all the broken bits of the engine casing, so it can probably be welded back together. The part of the casing that is broken is not important structurally, it just keeps the oil in.

 

The tank, rear fairing, left fairing, upper cowl, upper fairing stay, left rearset, left clipon, left frame slder, clutch lever, left turn signal and stator cover were all damaged or broken. That's all I can tell without taking it apart, which won't be happening anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

So, as far as the bike goes I have a few options.

 

Sell it as is.

Fix it and weld up the engine casing.

Use my other 954 block, bore it 1mm and replate for 980cc.

Part it out.

 

I won't be doing any of that any time soon. I need to heal up before I can start turning wrenches.

 

I have all the parts to my GoPro HD camera except the black latch for the clear housing. The camera is scuffed up a bit and it still works. I don't know who did the cleanup after the crash but they did a hell of a good job! I looked at the memory card and there is a file on it from the third session in which I crashed. The fill cannot be opened. I suspect the files wasn't closed properly because the battery came out during the crash. I am going to see if I can do something with that file. I want to see it!

 

The guys at STT were great. They came over and talked to Mary (my wife) and helped her find me.

 

Mary and I talked about riding again I we agreed that I would not ride until the clavicle was fully healed.

 

My leather suit was cut off of me, so it's toast. The helmet is toast too. I haven't looked at my gloves and boots yet.

 

Here is a Youtube link of a friend tailing me on the track. I hit 150mph on the front stretch.

This video was taken two sessions prior to the crash. The purpose was to check out my body position. After this session I mounted my GoPro HD to the tail of my bike. I haven't uploaded the "butt cam" video yet.

 

 

Question: How do you embed a video?

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Posted

Never mind about you, Smiley, look at your poor bike! Just kidding. :D I'm glad the doctors were able to bolt you back together. You may be in for a bit of struggle for awhile. When I fell down going 45-50, it took about a month for the pain to ease up, and that's without breaking anything.

 

For the bike, I just know it's hard to sell a bike that won't run. If it is broken, you are selling parts. If it is fixed, you are selling a perfectly good track bike. Tell them it has already been "blessed."

 

I hope you feel better soon.

Posted

Thanks Crash.

 

I figure I can spend about $2000 fixing it and still be to the good. I don't think I can get enough out of it + $2000 to replace it with something else.

 

I went to the doc today for x-rays and all is well. The incision is healing nicely. I think the surgeon did a good job. I go back in 3 more weeks. At least I can work, which is the big thing. I use my left arm, I just done raise my elbow above my shoulder or lift over a couple of pounds.

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