To Novice racer #350 Yamaha 450

[Degsy]

Thanks a bunch for slamming into my buddy in turn 3 during the novice formula 40 on Sunday. His bike is extensively broken and his knee is the size of a softball. He is awaiting an MRI to check for ligament damage. It's a frigging miracle no-one was killed in your attempt to wow the racing world with your NOVICE FORMULA 40 win.

You were running 8 seconds a lap faster than him, yet you decided a 'hail Mary' pass on the inside of turn 3 was the appropriate move. You almost took out about 6 bikes!!. I told your buddies what a fool you were and that you should be ashamed of yourself. I hope they passed on the message, because they seemed to agree with me. It was the single worst pass attempt I have ever seen. A suicide attempt would have looked less deliberate.

Yeah, I'm talking to you Eric Shaw, Novice #350!

If you had any class you would contact Scott Merrill and send him a nice fat check to cover the damage YOU did to his brand new gixxer race bike.

Broken rear wheel
Broken frame sliders, both sides
Extensive bodywork damage both sides
Broken woodcraft clip-on
Broken woodcraft rearsets, both sides
Broken engine cases, both sides.

[OreoGaborio]

Wow.... This ain't no joke.


Degs, what can we do for Scott in the mean time? Wish I had some gsxr parts

[bostongixxer]

Guys...thanks. I didn't know that I'd been t-boned until I spoke with Degsy. I have two children...ages 6 and 9. My boys were at the race, and maybe that was a mistake because they had to see me hurt. I have been riding for a long time, mostly track days, and I always try to focus on riding safe while exploring my own limits. I decided to venture into racing to push those limits, but always take into consideration the safety aspect of riding/racing. I thought that I would be riding "safer"...for the sake of my children...sticking to Formula 40 where I expected the riders not to run like young guys out to prove something. Look...I understand it's racing and people ride aggressively. I accept that risk. But what happened yesterday shouldn't have happened.

Degsy is a seasoned racer and most people on this board know it. I'm brand new at the sport, so I'm not going to comment beyond what I've said here. Degsy and many others of you who I've met know far more than I do. All I'll say is I hope everyone learns something from this...especially the guy who ran into me.

[Degsy]

Well, Scott is at home recovering so that his knee swelling can go down. then he can have an MRI to check for ligament damage.

The bike will be going off to GMD for a check for straighness and for new spool holders to be welded on the swingarm, then it will probably come over to my garage for about $800 worth of Woodcraft stuff to be fitted (clip on, engine cases, rearsets etc).

It's a shame, because Scott has entered this race twice now. His first time was last race weekend, a crashed bike sent up some debris that pierced Scott's radiator, sending water/water wetter all over the front wheel and causing him to crash in 3. Then this weekend he gets t-boned in 3, while mid turn.

He only enters F40 as it's supposed to be a gentleman's class where the racing isn't so damn furious. At this rate, he may as well enter the meatgrinder class.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, mixing different types of bikes in the same race is a recipe for disaster. In order to pass on the corners, the 2 strokes and motards are forced to make more and more risky moves. The bikes take different lines and there end up being converging points. In this instance, there wasn't even a wheel shown, it was pure "I'm faster and I'm going through you" mentality. I could see it coming from the 1st cone in the turn 3 chute, he went past about 5 bikes under way too heavy, way too late braking and just assumed that everyone would check up for him, which they did. The only trouble was that Scott and one other guy were already in the corner. the other guy missed running over Scott's head by about an inch. The motard hit Scott's bike square on from the right and the two bikes slid with the motard on top for about 10 feet.

I have ridden them all, 2 strokes, motards and middleweights and they all take different approaches to passing due to specifics of geometry and power. Put the 3 together in a race and it's going to be a problem unless the people racing them are seasoned racers who know how to pass and when to pass. For Novice classes, they should keep the different types of bikes separate.

[Rice-rocket1]

Scott, hope your OK and its a quick recovery.

[1/2pint]

Wow.... This ain't no joke.


Degs, what can we do for Scott in the mean time? Wish I had some gsxr parts

can we steal DBCONZ bike for parts? oh wait he does not want chrome

[JohnnyV]

Very sorry to hear about this... I hope all is well with the recovery and the extent of the knee damage is not too serious.

[newgixxerchic]

sucks to hear... please degsy keep us updated on what we can do, someone give me a paypal address and I'll gladly pitch in what i can

[Jim]

can we steal DBCONZ bike for parts? oh wait he does not want chrome

[hammadown]

This just sucks. I mean lets face it, most of us are not going pro. Maybe Im a rookie, and know nothing, but my understanding is racing at this level is supposed to be fun with some healthy competition, be it the meatgrinder class, or formula 50. We aren't getting million dollar pay checks or huge sponsor deals, save for a few (and the ones who are getting the huge sponsor deals make the cleanest passes on the slowest riders). At the end of the day, what do you get if you cross the line a couple second faster, a piece of wood? Its just not worth anyone's health. Im not saying not to go out and fight hard for every spot, but I think theres a different between fighting hard and and being an ass. Thats my approach anyway, but Im just a rookie and probably know nothing.


Heal up quick!

[Crash Dummy Denno]

Hey Scotty,

Shitty situation - sucks about the bike, but that's fixable/ replaceable - I really just hope you're ok... when you break yourself it sucks far more than breaking the bike, believe me I know! I'm sure I'll be lending a hand in fixing up the gixxer

"if it weren't for bad luck you'd have no luck"

Denno

[R1]

I am sorry to hear about this, i hope you have a speedy recovery back to 100%

but if you need some stock replacement parts i would be willing to sneak them off alicias bike. just dont tell her i said that.

I know shes got some stuff lying around from last year, stock rear sets, i know there some plastics but not much. ill let her decide but i am sure she doesnt need to hold on to some of this stuff.

[eboos]

Was that why there was a red flag? I was just coming around turn 11 when a corner worker waved me into the pit lane.

Hope you recover well and soon Scott.

[Evil_Weasel]

damn, thats a shitty situation. hope you get well soon.

[Tricky Mike]

fuck fuck fuck
I'm really sorry, bud.
Tough start for Team Cialis, no?
get well soon and definitely lemme know if there's anything I can do to help.

[bostongixxer]

Mike...I'm sponsored by Levitra...not Cialis (LOL).

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and offers of help. I really appreciate it. I'll get the bike back soon. For now, I'm focusing on healing up. I saw an orthopedic surgeon today who said we have to wait a week for the swelling to go down...then an MRI to check for ligament damage. I'm hoping that comes back negative.

This chain shows me what a great community we have. I am really thankful for all of the support and kind words. I'll post up when I know more. A special thanks go out to Degsy and Denno for all of their help and support this season. Both are great guys...as most of you know.
Scott

[Manny]

I don't know anything about racing, but smashing into the side of someone else's bike in the middle of a corner sounds like a pretty dumb move.

Heal up quick Scott and any help we can give you please let us know....

[Kurlon]

To be fair, we don't know the other rider's view, he probably didn't plan to punt a rider to gain a spot.

[Punjistick]

I think hammadown said it best.

I hope you heal quick and the ligament damage comes back negative.

[Degsy]

To be fair, we don't know the other rider's view, he probably didn't plan to punt a rider to gain a spot.

We don't need his side. It was obvious to all what happened. Of course he didn't mean to hit anyone. He planned to do the classic "up the inside and make 'em brake for me when I show them my front wheel" move, which is dangerous enough in itself when there are only two riders involved. The fact is there were 4 or 5 other riders behind Scott who all had to brake on the turn in for 3 because of this guy.

If you're going to pass on the inside of 3, you had better have the skill to turn in quick enough and hard enough to be out of the way of the other rider, otherwise he has to check up. In this case, Scott didn't even see the guy to check up, he simply got T-boned while at full lean at the apex.

What I'm saying is that there's a difference between not meaning to hit someone and being negligent enough as to put someone else in danger. I'm the first to say "Well shit, that's racing" when someone has a crash or gets punted by someone else, it happens. this was just a very very extreme case of "get the fuck out of my way 'cos I'm coming through, like it or not".
There's a certain kudos amongst SOME motard riders that makes them some kinda hero if they beat a bunch of sportbikes in a race and you see risks taken all the time by the reckless few on glorified dirtbikes. I'm all for motard racing, I love it. i just don't think it belongs on the same track as a 600 superbike.

A rider capable of 1:22's on a 450 single motard in Novice? That says it all.

Oh and Scott, if I was you, I woulda decked him there and then. Aaron Yates style.

[Jim]

lesson learned: Dont piss off Degsy or his friends

[Degsy]

lesson learned: Dont piss off Degsy or his friends

It's not even that, it's the fact that I have seen too many friends end up in very bad situations, financially ruined and broken bodies, all because of some guy's ego. The one who caused everything always gets away with it and gets to slink off into the distance to do it again to someone else.

[Jim]

I was just trying to make some humor of the situation. if it were me, i'd go and kick some ass after healing up.

[smf]

this kind of incident keeps me up at night. very sorry to hear. heal up quick and get back out there

[s a x m a n]

sounds like how I got put into the turn 3 wall last year ... the nice part was the guy came to find me to appologize ... and aparently stopped to pull me out of the wall as well.