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| >Interviews
with guys that wiped out during the Highland Extreme |
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The 2002 Highland Extreme
was damn exciting. With a load of streetlugers, skateboarders,
and gravity bike racers all hell bent on hoisting a trophy,
the racing was intense and the speeds were BIG.
Predictably there were a
lot of wipeouts and we caught up with some of the guys that
wiped out to find out what happened. Here's what they had
to say...
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Douglas "Bales" Elder: "Today
I had four wipeouts, three on the Gun Barrel
and one on the Juice Box when I was overtaking
someone."
"At one point the luge just disappeared
and I few into the hay bales. I only had one
where I though I should have hurt myself there!"
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| Mark
Warrender (aka "Mr. Cool"):
"I was coming into the Gun Barrel and I was
last. I saw Todd running quite wide and I thought
oh that's all right I'll just zip on the inside
to pass, then he cut right in and I though Uhhhh…
there's nothing I can do here. So I whammed him
in the shoulder and then he waved 'sorry, sorry'
and moved over and we were side by side. Then
I scorched this other guy to the right, then I
saw the underside of Todd's luge, complete with
all the wheels about an inch off the floor disappearing
to the right - just like a spitfire peeling off
on a bombing raid." |
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| Todd
O'Neill (editor of DoctorDanger): "Ya,
I was experimenting with this 'extreme hang-off'
thing Pete Love suggested for the new luge. It
was starting to work, and the luge started to
carve a bit but then all of a sudden it just went
shoooo and way oversteered and that's when we
collided. Then the luge was just wallowing and
tank slapping all over the place at a decent speed,
then I was sliding it on its side for a bit before
it completed a 180 and I exited the Gun Barrel
backwards." |
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| Todd
met with Tim immediately after he had a
huge wipeout in the Juice Box section of the course… |
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Todd: "So Tim, cripes you look
a mess are you all right?"
Tim: "Ya. Augh… I just come off.
I ran out of road on the corner coming out of
the Juice Box and uh.. just couldn't hold it.
I think I'm OK I landed on my shoulder. Oh…augh...
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Todd looks at the huge impact scrape
on Tim's full-face helmet: "Are you sure
your shoulders OK?"
Tim: "I don't know. Augh, I think
I'm all right. My neck…"
Todd: "You had better go and get
checked out!"
Tim: "I've always got a bad neck
anyway, but every time I crash it affects my
neck."
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Todd: "Hmm… looks like you had
a big off!"
Tim: "Ya. I lost it on the left-hander
of the juice box. It started wobbling and that
was it I was gone. I was trying to slow down
and I was weaving and I was trying to get on
line but it was just too fast. I'm glad I've
got a decent helmet."
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| The paramedics were immediately
on the scene and after checking Tim's condition set
him to hospital. He spent most of the day there as they
checked for injuries to his head, shoulder, ribs, back...
Tim was released in the evening and joined us in the
bar later that night! Good man! |
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Tom Haas : "Yes, I had a bit of
an accident. I was sliding on my stomach like
Superman worrshhh… "
Neil Farrow: "Were you racing stand-up?"
Todd: "No he was on his buttboard…
I took him out. Ya sorry about that Tom, it
looks like I owe you a beer."
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Neil Farrow: "Ha, what happened?"
Todd: "Oh… I was on the buttboard
running wide midway through the Gun Barrel.
I had lost it completely and was heading for
the hay bales. I didn't know Tom was on my right,
but as I drifted out we collided."
Tom: "I think you had chose a different
line. You had gone from the inside out, and
I had gone from the outside in and that's where
we met."
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Todd: "So when I hit you did it
just send you into the bales?"
Tom: "No, I thought I could still
make it but when I came into the dirt I hit
the hay bales then suddenly I was on my front
and sliding down the street."
Todd: "Cripes. There was a good
impact when I hit you. My buttboard popped up
off the ground and my hand flew off the deck.
Unfortunately I ran over my own fingers when
we landed, and it was all a bit hairy trying
to stay on the thing, but I got away with it,
just…"
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We met Jim
immediately after a his high-speed wipeout. Lots of
people were saying that there was loads of smoke coming
off his leathers as he slid down the road!
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Jim Ewen: "I was racing behind
this guy when I saw a gap in the Juice Box,
and I though 'I'm not braking' and I went though
it and passed him and I though 'Wooow, this
is GREAT!'
Then I got a speed wobble, and then la-la-la-lauughhhh,
and it lasted so long before it threw me off.
I went bouncing down the road and I eventually
found my luge in a tree somewhere!"
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| This is Jim's first season racing
streetluge... and he's 44 years old! It reminds me of
that saying... "there are old pilots and there
are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots"...
hmmm... |
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Simon Bognor: "I staked it big
style in the Juice Box. There was a wind pushing
from behind, and it was too fast for me, I hit
a bump, started to get a wobble on and just
couldn't control it. I nailed the bales and
started flying. I was a bit like a rag doll,
and smacked my head pretty hard on the road,
and got some big style whiplash.
The hospital gave me some painkillers and a
neck brace but I was too embarrassed to wear
it around here.
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| Here's
a weird wipeout which took place mid way around
the Gun Barrel. It happened when a couple of the
buttboard guys joined in on a practice session
for the gravity bikers. |
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Todd: "So Neil, tell us what happened…"
Neil: "You on that damn buttboard
screwed up and pushed me off the track."
Todd: "Ah… sorry, but shit happens."
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Neil: "Ya, it was good fun though.
I lost the front and the bike low sided. I slid
into the dirt, something caught and it spat
me over the front, then I head butted the ground
and rolled around."
Todd: "Sorry Neil, it looks like
I owe you a beer as well!"
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Getting
started
