WSMC in January

[Monsterdood]

A quick note on the racing. Conditions were okay, a little chilly i the morn and breezy in the afternoon. I felt like I rode really hard to do the times I did and it might have something to do with my recently rebuilt forks. I think there might be too much oil in them since I only got about 60mm of total travel out of them (or an additional 35mm beyond the 25mm of sag).

in 550 SBK, I popped a big wheelie and then two smaller ones off the start but still got the holeshot. I gapped the field a little and Pancho reeled me back in and actually passed me as we took the white flag. I passed him under the brakes into turn 1 and held him off for the win. He didn't race in F-Twins LW and I won by 19 seconds so pretty uneventful.

So Drew sold his SV and racing WERA on a 600 and Palmer will be making limited appearances. The classes are not being sponsored and the F-Twin turnout was kinda low although I talked to a couple folks who planned on being in the class soon. Pancho's bike goes well and he does pretty well himself so maybe I can have some good battles with him this year.

A key person missing from the races was Joey Toth. He crashed on the 2nd lap in practice and had a pretty bad concussion and will be staying in the AV hospital for a couple of days as a result. I'll spare the details, but I think he could use some thoughts, prayers and/or wishes. I wish him a speedy recovery and will try to get an update from his wife.

[Slaughter]

Chris - you done GOOD!

Thanks for the "wave" as you passed me going from 7/8 - had me laughing in my helmet!

Funny thing about Pancho - we both had heard each other's names announced for a couple months before we made contact... turns out that yes, he IS the Pancho Spain that I remembered and I am the Steve Slaughter that he remembered from FREAKING 8th Grade!!! We hadn't seen each other since 1968!!! How cool is that - meeting at the race track after 40+ years!!??

Hope Joey got taken care of at AV. At least for brain injury, AV is pretty good... stay away from their ortho... another story - sorry we couldn't help get his vehicle to him - still had race 7 and 9... keep us posted if you hear anything. That was pretty ugly seeing the dust rise and then "somebody" not getting up.

[Kurt'sSV]

Saw that you won with some slow times. You might be a little rusty, but not having faster people out there to chase makes it hard to go fast.

The SV classes at Willow eb and flow. In 2003 the guys at the front were super fast. In 04 they were "pretty" fast. In 05 and 06 we weren't fast at all. In 07 people were getting faster and last year you guys hauled ass. Now it looks like it's back to a slower pace unless you can start dragging these people with you into the '29s real quick.

[rwalterk]

A little off-topic, but what do you guys think will happen w/ the SV classes now? Are people gonna start racing the Gladius or will they turn into the Ninja 650/ER-6N classes?

[Monsterdood]

I think Pancho will get there this year. I need to get the forks sorted so I can get back down there. I didn't feel rusty, I just couldn't hold the line in turns 2 or 9. I won't mention publicly the reason I slowed down a little extra in the second race, but I went more than fast enough to win. Raff is planning on doing a few races on the big track and Palmer will probably race one or two just to put the rest of us in our place.

Off topic, I think they are still making the SV650S so I don't see why people wouldn't just keep racing that. If the Gladius ends up lighter or faster, then I am sure people will race it.

And finally, a quick update on Joey. His wife said he has woken up from his induced sleep. He is in ICU at AV hospital, and is still being combative and exhibiting memory loss. He had some bleeding in the brain and he needs rest and attention to help him recover.

[Slaughter]

Sheeeittt about Joey

I had a 8mm deep subdural hematoma about the size of your hand... they were about an hour from cutting the top of my skull off before it started getting re-absorbed. At least they have good neuro in ICU... until you are forced to get the local "care"

I can STRONGLY recommend a good neurologist in the UCLA area if Joey doesn't have their own doc working the case yet - please PM me if you have their contact info or email me directly at

steve dott slaughter att LMCO dawt kom

or

qedqed at verizon dottttt com

Hopefully it gets reabsorbed. Took almost a full 48 hours before I got stabilized and a week to get out of ICU

[Monsterdood]

Thanks Steve. Email sent.

Also, Joey was able to text me back and even left a message on my voicemail so that is good. He is just wondering what the heck happened understandbly so.

[Slaughter]

Just emailed out the contact information.

Dr Gross is well known in the UCLA/Santa Monica area. He'll very likely tell him the same things he told me chiefly - that people doing adrenaline-type sports that get brain injuries are very much like a computer that is switched off during disk access - you are operating in RAM - and the data may not have gone to memory... so he said that I shouldn't try too hard to recall what happened.

I talked to a few of the guys who followed me into T1 and to Johnny Lowery who hit me after I high-sided... and got kind of a picture of what happened but now 3 years later - I still have no memory after pulling on my gloves and starting the engine. Can't remember leaving the pits, can't remeber the warmup lap, gridding or the green flag. Next memory was coming to inside the ambulance apparently ALREADY talking to the attendants - but not making any sense of where/when/what was happening - and that was when they started asking me my name, if I knew where I was, what day it was or what happened.

Memory loss is weird but sometimes you just have to roll with it.

Tell him we're thinking of him... and crashing sucks.

At least Zoran isn't calling him in the ICU to give him shit!!!!

I'm very glad to hear that he's texting. Took a while for me to get functioning between morphine and them needing to keep me awake for a day and a half.

[Angel]

So no racing BOTT Middleweight for you? Isn't that the only sponsored class that we're legal in now? I gotta get out there while you're still having issues so I can have a chance at keeping you in my sights and learning something from ya. Looks like you're the favorite for taking some class championships this year.

[Monsterdood]

I enjoyed only racing 2 classes last year, but if they are not sponsored, I think I might race BOTT MW again. With only 2 classes, you get to leave early once in a while and that is really nice.

My plan was to race WERA West and maybe some AFM too and llimited WSMC. Still not sure if I will try to make all the weekends. I think Pancho or Joey could win the championship if they are committed to racing (same for you if you get back out there).