Yamamaha

Last Thursday my really good friend, and riding buddy Jon, met up with me after I got off work. So we decide to ride out like normally, taking some back roads and I end up leading us out to the highway where I was going to hit up the mall where I could get something to eat. Well, he wanted to take this really nice sweeping entrance ramp before going to the mall, so I let him lead and off we went. Well, about halfway into the ramp, I look at him….he's nicely into the curve, so I take my eyes off him and look a little past him, and at that moment, I hear this really bad scraping sound. When I look back to him, I see him sliding straight towards the guardrail. I have never felt so helpless at that moment than I ever have in my entire life. I watched as he was trying to pull back to the road behind him to stop himself, but there was nothing he could do. I couldn’t tell you how fast he was going before he went into the guardrail, but I asked him after he was conciouos this weekend, and he told me the last speed he recalled was at 75mph. I quickly stopped my bike next to his after he was just flung back into the middle of the road. I swear I thought I just watched him die right in front of me, but to my amazement, he was trying to stand up! I quickly ran to him telling him to lay back down, and I grabbed his helmet/neck to stabalize it,because you don’t know at that speed of impact what is broken, except for the obvious bones sticking out of his leg. Thank god the next person to arrive was only like 3 seconds after it happened, and they had already called 911 as soon as they seen the wreck. I didn’t have my phone on me, and when I grabbed for his, it was broken. So the ambulance came in about 10 minutes, and about 10 minutes after that, they dropped medflight right on the highway and loaded him up and flew him off to the hospital. Yesterday, only the 3rd day after the accident, hes already talking about getting another new gsxr from the last place he bought this one from and putting his exhaust on it, so I know hes doing ok (all morphined up at the moment) but at least hes keeping all his arms and legs, and isnt paralyzed. I don’t know about anyone else, but who do you know that can withstand an impact with the guardrail at almost 80mph and be able to live to tell about it. I have been on the bike since then, but I will say, I have totally re-evaluated my riding style. I just would like you guys to keep him in your thoughts and prayers for a fast recovery.

Chino

tell your buddy good luck with the recovery. ride safe out there!

snikwad

Does he know what he did wrong.
If he doesnt its only gonna happen again an dhe may not be that fortunate.

Del La Sol 1320

yea watching a friend crash sucks and is scary as hell... good that he still has a good attitude about riding

Yamamaha

i hope so....but im pretty sure, since i told him i believe he just outperformed his tire.

Naptime

Had something like this happen when I was riding w/ my boy brian. It takes courage to get back on a bike. Wish him the best of luck.

onepointone

DAMN... that sucks real bad. hes lucky hes alive.

similar thing happened to me at the track a couple weeks back. i was running a decently fast pace following a guy that i was pitted next to. real cool guy and very helpfull. we came off the straight going into turn 1. he starts to run wide and i didnt think anything of it, im getting back on the gas and he isnt there, i look to my side and his bike is WAY up in the air and hes diving to the ground.

its definitely a helpless feeling.

its reading stuff like this that makes me want to just keep the bike on the track and not even bother with the street anymore.

Yamamaha

What do you do when you are on the track and that happens? Do you just keep going and let the paramedics run over there, or do you try and stop to help. I mean, i would imagine, you just keep going, but I would feel like a real loser to leave them behind.

snikwad

i doubt thats what it is, unless they were cold.

could be numerous things, but id be willing to bet is a bad suspension setup coupled with bad form.

onepointone

thats exactly what you do. and its a REAL helpless feeling because you have to sort of look out for yourself and the people behind you. if someone stops on the track it creates a whole mess of problems. being that i was pitted next to this guy and talking with him and helping each other all day, seeing him go down like that was real shitty. the worst part is your told not to look because you will follow that person off the track. i looked for a split second and i started to run wide. just tell yourself not to look and keep going and just wait for the yellow flag. ive had guys wreck in front of me on the street, but never at speed.

was he atleast wearing some gear?