I'm hard-pressed to understand people sometimes. I got one of those meatballs once. Saw it coming from the green flag as officials on both sides of the grid started jumping and dancing like it was 1999. Being the good guy that I am, I immediately pulled in at the end of that first lap. No one was there to greet me. (Shouldn't I have been a bit peeved)? I waited patiently for an official to show up. (Shouldn't I have started to get pissed)? I then waited patiently again as that official held me for what seemed like an unreasonable amount of time...it was not a stop-n-go. (I shoulda ripped him a new one, right)? In his defense, perhaps he thought I should wait until everyone finished blitzing the front straight, which they did. At any rate, I re-entered the race upon being released, no words spoken, gas tank slapping me in the face as I unleashed full power on my way out of the pits. HWT-national novice, in the rain, I won...finishing second overall behind Tray Batey. Patience...some people have it, most need to learn it. Funny how the tortoise beating the hare can manifest itself in real life. And who does the hare have to blame for their demise? Only themselves. I say fuck both them guys. The builder didn't kick dirt on the ump's shoes, he kicked it in the faces of all the players. And the other guy? Battery? Yeah, fuck you forever. Good-bye.
I have nothing more than I watched the post on facebook evolve and it eventually reversed course with the ban being reversed and the official's actions being called into question to some extent. Magically after that the post was locked to additional comments and the cone of silence was lowered
On the hat incident, unless you were there and know exactly what was said between the two parties, it is difficult to judge. Also what type of hat? One of those floppy cloth things that probably couldn't kill a fly or a big ol' Stetson with a heavy buckle on the front? With those floppy things, they probably hit you as hard in a strong wind as someone could hit you with it. The guy that crossed the hot track - yeah that is a whole other thing and no excuse for that unless it was someone having a heart attack / stroke in which case they should have been in the ambulance and the on track session red flagged.
The post on facebook where the penalty was rescinded seemed to be about a different incident the best i could tell.
Doesn't matter one bit to me the type of hat or the words used by either party. Taking things from verbal to physical at the track is never ever acceptable - no matter which side it's on.
I got meatballed once when all I was guilty of is getting an amazing start. Short version: Friend and former racer watched the start of the first two races. As I was putting on my helmet for race three he says, "Flagger is quick. Green is coming immediately as the 1 board turns." Roger that. I figured the worst case was a jumped start so I just launched a half count after the turn and sure enough, the moment the clutch engaged I saw the flag twitch. Ripped the hole shot from row 4 only to get the meatball from the lead. In that case the outcome was a lot of playful ribbing toward the official, the emergence of a gopro video from the row behind me showing a perfect launch, and the exchange of a 12-pack as reparations. All in all, no hard feelings, and to be honest stop and go penalties are fun, especially if you can work your way back up through the field. Seems a funny thing to get twisted about if its not taking food off your table. The individual in question is a bit volatile. We've had our differences on and off the track to put it mildly, but he's not a bad guy. The main thing he's guilty of is being singularly focused on racing motorcycles and perhaps placing an inordinate amount of meaning into what is essentially a hobby. Most people who know him would just chuckle and shake their head at this story. Kevin will deal with it however he sees fit and we'll move on to some other drama in about 11 minutes.
I don't understand, did you pull in at the end of your first lap or the first lap after you were given the meatball flag? If you pulled in on lap 1 just because you knew you were going to get the meatball flag you did it wrong. You should never pull in for a stop and go penalty until you have seen the penalty flag with your number on it.
Hey, I was a novice. Whaddya want? Yeah, I pulled in at the end of my first lap. The effed up thing, as far as I'm concerned, is that I jumped the start by launching with the experts. However, quickly realizing my mistake, I didn't travel too far and was able to get my bike back in the box before the novice green flew. It's not like I thought I was gonna get a meatball until I saw the officials go all disco on me. I made a mistake and thought I had corrected it before it would have been an actual transgression. Live and learn, no one to blame but myself. Had a good launch both times, tho'. <edit> Never bothered to find the official ruling for such an incident. Not the first time things happened that I thought were "off" that I didn't check on afterwards. I mean, who knows the rulebook by heart? Every passage, every rule? Pfft...please. I just endeavored to not have those things happen again.
It's club racing.......I don't think I could get that upset about nearly anything at this level. I'm not making money, it's costing me money to do this....And, I do it because it's fun. It's part of how I relax and forget the rest of the real world, even for just 10 laps. The ONLY thing that would probably upset me is of someone else's bonehead move, or my own bonehead move caused an incident and injuries. And all my interactions with WERA officials, EVEN @Mongo , have been friendly, helpful and cordial.
I'm the first one you see when you pull off the track at Loudon. I've had plenty of riders seeing red unload on me when they come in. Almost all of the time, they come back out within 20 minutes and apologize, so I let it slide. Sometimes I get a steak dinner out of it. The rider with the USCRA was chronic as far as poor machine preparation, stalling on the grid about 75% of the time, and screamed at me when I stopped pushing. Never an apology afterwards. Because of her, we adopted the rule, plus told riders they only get 3 tries max, then over to the wall. No matter, I haven't seen her at the track in years.
Only the one gate by the flag station. They should probably have an extra corner worker to man the other gate. But I'm sure they didn't expect an "adult" to pull a stunt like that Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Lol. I have a very short fuse but even I am smart enough to know that shouting at / assaulting an official does no good at all. People that do things like that are the same ones that shout at airline ticket agents and end up getting a shitty seat on a shitty flight the following day or post highly edited videos of themselves getting a very deserved hickory shampoo at the hands of law enforcement. Why is it so hard for some people to uderstand that a little bit of politeness goes a long way when dealing with people who have the ability to make your life miserable.
Especially when they are getting the big bucks like a track marshall So much incentive for them to tolerate asshats.
