I had a get-off in T-7 of Road Atlanta, the last turn before the long straight, at the apex of the turn. I went down onto my right shoulder and have an AC separation of the shoulder. The hospital says I need it operated on ASAP, I am not done with bikes, but I am not optimistic about getting back on the track any time this year, not sure if I am going to keep or sell my track bike after this.
That top bone is supposed to be attached to my shoulder, as you can see its pretty far away, meaning all the ligaments and such are torn.
My views are only from my Point of view, and thats the only way I can describe it. The medical staff said they saw the entire thing happen, they were at me within 30 seconds of me hitting the ground, and I applaud them, they did a great job. They also said they saw what happened and told me what happened from their view, verifying what I had already concluded.
I was out there just having fun, was not worried about lap times, my trans was having trouble shifting from 4th to 5th, so I was just cruising. Charles was riding alot harder and I just let him and his group go ahead, it was hot and I knew it was going to be a long day and I figured I would just work on a few corners and such. I was riding about 4 seconds slower than his pace.
From what I can tell from what i remember and from looking at the video, I was coming out of 5 I was behind a slower rider, he would brake really hard for a turn and I was not comfortably passing him in a turn because he had decent corner speed and I would have to push really hard to get around him. I decided waiting for a good spot (braking before 6) would be a good idea. Coming out of 5 you want to set up for 6 on the left part, but I went to the left, and he did the same, so I went to the inside and stuck the turn, by this point I was ahead of him, but since I was carrying low corner speed, I stayed to the right part of the track until It was time for 7, which I pushed out to about half track to apex 7 and get a good drive for the back straight. As I turned into 7 I heard a noise, felt a large jolt, then a bike (a different one) had tried to pass me on the inside me on 7, I must of closed the door on him, and he was carrying too much speed and hit me first on my muffler, then again in my leg area, and I went down, seeing a red bike riding across in front of me.
So watch the video and you will see what I am talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag-LYVcLoFU
Here is were the day starting getting even more strange. I had to wait an hour for my g/f to pick me up, since I was not in critical need of a doctor, I was going to let Charles and Bobby stay and have fun. My wreck was right before lunch, during lunch I got my arm stabilized and was released. During lunch someone had told Charles and Bobby that I, in fact, had hit the STT Southern Division Director, in the rear of his bike. The same guy just 3 hours before this had said, this is not a race, do not look over your shoulder, it is the responsibility of the person behind you, doing the passing, to do it safely. I was shocked by this and went and talked to a few people there, and they all agreed that I had hit him in the rear of his bike. I was appalled by this accusation and even laughed about it a few times, thinking, are they serious?
So I waited for about 1.5 hrs, no one from STT to checked up on me (I was walking around, and then in my pits), or even him just to come seek me out, and say "sorry we had some contact, stuff happens, hope you are ok" instead of that, he made up a story of how I hit the back of his bike and had told everyone I knew there before I got out of the care center. After I left he inquired about my video, and said, again, that I hit him, and if my wreck was caused by someone hitting me, it must of been a different guy.
There is alot of he-said she-said stuff on here, I know, I never directly talked to the guy the entire time (was kinda in pain), but Charles and Bobby both did .... like I said, I can only give my accounts of the events. My main issue with this entire day is not the damage to my bike (very little), my torn leathers, ruined helmet, medical bills, or even the wreck itself (all of this goes along with what we are doing, it happens), but with the actions taken by the person who hit, me after the incident.
This same post was put up on my local motorcycle board, so I will see what everyone says.
Please no dumb comments like, sue the guy, or whatever.
