Thanks to all the dedicated volunteers :bow: and to all the friendly racers :devil: for another good year! I'm already looking forward to next year... maybe with a newer and faster bike I almost made it through the year without incident; however, in my last race of the season my engine seized up and I went down fairly hard I got various minor but painful injuries up and down my right side including a separated shoulder (that, and being in the hospital, is why I wasn't around to help tear down the track). So, in addition to the above thankyous, I'd like to thank Dave Urquhart for dropping what he was doing and going to the track to tear down my pit for me. I'd also like to thank Richard and Bob Maurice who had my bike and stuff packed in their trailer to take back to the Okanagan for me (but I got out of the hospital earlier than expected and so the three of them moved the stuff into my own van and trailer). Dave stayed late and made sure I was good to go, and he even offered to put me up at his place... but I declined as I was anxious to get home to Penticton. I should have accepted, though, as I felt suddenly tired later and parked in a parking lot for the night. It was a night of chills and sweats, then I passed out the next morning while I was getting dressed. My wife ended up coming down to drive me home Anyway, I guess that's part of the racing experience that most guys have to deal with at one time or another... but that stuff is sure a lot easier to deal with when you have such great people around you! A big thanks again to all
It was a pleasure racing against you Norm. I'm really sorry to hear how your season ended, hope you're feeling better real soon! we'll see you out there next year..
When the hell did this happen norm? It was nice getting know you/race with you this year,and kudo's to dave,and richard for helping out.
Happened during the Int/Exp 600 on Sunday, when we undernumbered diehard Intermediates were invited to join the Experts on the grid (there weren't enough Intermediates for a legal race, so we bolstered up the Expert grid). You missed all the fun, Lu Ironically, I was thinking of skipping for the same reason a lot of others did... there was no more possibility of gaining points and my bike and tires (and myself) were in good condition, so why take the risk of crashing in the tricky conditions? Well, I'd done every race in my classes for the year, so why not finish what I'd started I'd held back a wee bit most of the weekend to make sure I'd finish all my races and at least get some points, but this last race was a chance to let loose a little and try and keep up with some of the Experts. Now you all know my bike's a bit old, so I've been upshifting about a thousand RPM before redline to help preserve the engine, and I've been downshifting carefully one shift at a time (no double or triple-drops). Anyway, I don't really know what happened going from T2 to T3 as it all happened so fast. Maybe I over-revved. I recall being surprised at hearing a long howl from the back tire just before T2 because I don't remember having done more than just back off the throttle at that point. My first thought was that I'd inadvertently pressed on the back brake and jammed it, but it wasn't that... then suddenly I highsided. So much for all my thinking about how to handle different situations, lol
Update... I was healing up well except that my ribs were hurting more and more. I recently had my ribs x-rayed and found that two of them had been broken clean through and were not healing up as they should have been. The broken ribs should have been caught when I first went to the hospital in Mission, and it could have led to pneumonia if not dealt with properly. The rehabilitation exercises that I was doing for my shoulder were aggravating my ribs. So, just a word of caution to others that any time there is significant chest pain you should INSIST on chest x-rays.
