Maybe that's a thumb and he was just looking for a ride back to the pits? I've crashed there before, that hill back to the pits is a bitch in leathers.
As the Captain of Turn 5 during this incident I would like to make a couple of comments.. 1) I requested the stopage because I was not privy to the conversation that Mr. Patterson was having with my pick-up corner worker. I was making my way to the incident and when I saw Mr. Patterson approach the track I whistled and attemped to yell that bikes were coming. As he stepped out onto the track I was not sure if he was disoriented due to the low-side or could have possibly been heat related. All I know is I had someone walking out onto a hot track. When I learned of the REAL reason for his actions I passed that along to race control over the net and both myself and my pick-up wrote detailed accounts of what we observed and passed that along to CCS. 2) I decided not to confront Mr. Patterson after the race because I knew he had already been delt with my the Race Director and there wasn't much I could say that would have mattered to Mr. Patterson. After talking with a couple other workers after the day was over it sounded like they approached him and he was less than apologetic. 3) MARRC corner workers are there for the racers. We are an ALL VOLUNTEER organization that lives,eats,drinks and breathes motorcycle road racing. When someone pulls such a self-centered, arrogant and irresponsible stunt like this I get very upset. Upset because it puts the other racers and the corner workers in unneccesary dangerous situations that just don't need to happen. This is CLUB LEVEL RACING PEOPLE...Mr. Patterson, I hope that you don't go down again in my turn...I'll still pick up and put you back on the track but I'll be doing it with one hand behind my back and cursing you under my breath. Just because you were unprofessional, I won't lower myself to your level. thanks for letting me get that off my chest.. Will Astle
Seems Mr. Patterson done f@cked up but good. It's time for damage control on his part and I'd suggest he start with MARRC corner workers and go from there. I'd also suggest he start yesterday. Or he could just ignore it and hope it all goes away. Eh, he'll probably just come on here and swear at and yell at me for not minding my own business which is just fine with me.
I witnessed this first hand from the Turn five grandstand. :down: It could only have been worse if he had pulled the NASCAR throw the helmet at the passing motorcycle stunt. There is absolutely no excuse for this.
The more I read about this the angrier I get. Thank you cornerworkers for doing what you do. In the 18 years I have been involved in this sport I have seen cornerworkers do some amazing things just so us crapheads can ride on a racetrack. You folks don't deserve that crap.
I'm sure we have all gotten pissed off and done or said stupid things in the heat of the moment, so even though that isn't an excuse for running onto the track, it could at least be partially understood if he simply apologized his ass off and acted embarrassed by his actions. But the way he acted after the fact (based on what observers are saying) is inexcusable, no matter how many people come on here and say how good a guy he usually is. :down:
I don't see the point in bombing him via email or facebook. That will just piss him off and not really do any good. I'm sure somehow he's seen this thread by now.
If someone wants to PM me his email....that would work too... maybe now that it's over and he's had a chance to think about it he might respond differently to a diplomatic email... but I don't think he's seen this thread without making some kind of comment or statement... Im kind of suprised there isn't a thread on the CCS forum..maybe no one wants to be "that guy" and post the inital post...
This is one of those rare times in someone's life when being on crack might actually constitute a valid excuse and open a path towards redemption.
CCS Forum isn't as active as the WERA forum. I have sold more tons of stuff on WERA and 0 parts on CCS Forum.
As a corner marshall myself and racer. Thats the only way it should be. Maybe you should have tackeled him and put him in a head lock as you drug his ass off track. Makes our job really hard when things like this happen and it puts us in more danger than we need to be in. We already put ourselves out there to insure the fastest, safest cleanup we can and last thing we need is someone acting like an idiot.