| Author | Message | ||
     Indy_bueller |
This evening at the Moto-ST race in Des Moines Iowa, Shawn Higbee struck the wall. The information I have is that the bike caught fire after hitting the wall. I don't know if this means that he hit hard enough to rupture the frame, but apparently so. Shawn was life-flighted out, and I'm told that right now it doesn't look good. Please pray for Shawn, the consumate Buell racer. If anyone has more information, please provide it. | ||
| Bads1 |
Pete, Thanks for up dating. Damn I hope he's going to be ok. He's a great person. My prayer's are with him and his family. Damn it. | ||
| Bads1 |
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=29617 | ||
| Doerman |
That is such a shame. I certainly hope Shawn Higbee recovers. My prayers and thoughts are with him. See this related article. http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=29603 Seems it was pretty obvious that this track is dangerous for a motorcycle race. | ||
| Rex |
shawn. just said a prayer for you. god speed. hang in there. rex | ||
| Steve_mackay |
This sucks royally, right after he got his groove back on. Got on the podium at RA last week in supertwins and such. Lets all hope and pray it's not as serious as it sounds. Tatoodnscrewd is good friends with Bilansky, Higbee's MotoST team mate. He's going to call Danny tomorrow and try and get and update. Too bad they DIDN'T boycott this track. Maybe MotoST should seriously look at *NOT* racing at this track in the future. | ||
| Daves |
Hope Shawn is ok | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
It saddens me that the safety wasnt up to snuff. No bails or barrier? I met Shawn at a race in Mid Ohio. Hell of a nice guy. Took time out of a busy schedule to talk to a shlepp like me. Shawn, you are in my families prayers and thoughts. Best wishes. | ||
| Diablobrian |
I swear Shawn has the worst luck on the track. I hope he recovers quickly and completely. | ||
| M1combat |
I hope he makes it through. In my prayers as well. | ||
| Crusty |
I'm praying for him as well. | ||
| Jlnance |
According to the article, Shawn was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and wasn't on the bike when he hit the wall. Brian Kcraget crashed trying to avoid Shawn, and was the one helicoptered out.  | ||
| Crusty |
Here's the quote from the Moto ST site: The race was called on lap 166 with about 30 minutes remaining after an accident involving Higbee, of Oconomowoc, Wis., and the No. 87 SpeedWerks.com Suzuki SV650 of Brian Kcraget, of Danville, Va. Higbee was entering Turn 2 when he crashed into the outside retaining wall. His motorcycle continued further down the race track after the impact and burst into flames and the bike was later hit by Kcraget's bike. The race was immediately red flagged and later declared complete. According to attending Iowa Speedway staff medical physician D.O. Lenard Kerr, Higbee is in serious condition and has been transported by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, and Kcraget is in critical condition and has been transported by air flight to the same hospital. Higbee was leading the GST class at the time by more than a lap, and he and Bilansky were awarded the victory. Kcraget was running second in the ST class at the time of the accident and he and Scott Ryan finished in that position. | ||
| Court |
My thoughts and prayers are with Shawn, truly one of the nicest folks to ever ride a Buell. This was terrible news to wake up to. | ||
| Tunes |
All prayers are being said for Shawn. A speedy recovery, please. | ||
| Slaughter |
Wasn't this EXACTLY the place that Brian Parriott said on Friday that there WOULD be an accident when he said that San Jose BMW would pull out of the race? It's easy for me to be critical after the fact but it really hurts on a personal level to hear that people like Higbee and Kcraget went down in EXACTLY the place that was questioned when Parriott was trying to organize a boycott of the race this weekend. Terrible shame - a terrible thing. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Man, that's an awful way to start out your Sunday morning. My prayers are with Shawn and his family. | ||
| Gearhead |
Of course, my thoughts are with Shawn and his family but I MUST clarify a few things before this thread spirals out of control. First of all, I was there, working in the James Gang Racing pits. We were in the middle of a green flag pit just prior to the incident but we saw the aftermath moments after it happened. I'm puzzled by the Iowa Speedway press release, Shawn and the other rider bumped into each other near turn two, yes, but they weren't near the wall. The bikes ended up near the wall and the third guy collided with the bikes after the initial crash. If you watch the Rolex car races you can see that no one runs close to the wall in turn one and two and the team(s) that didn't want to race were trying to flex their political muscle and obviously had another agenda which fortunately didn't pan out. With outstanding riders like Paul James and Jeff Johnson confident in racing there and legends like Jay Springten out there I'm convinced there was little value in the much publicized boycott. | ||
| Coolice |
this is Rocco posting via Coolice's laptop. We just left the track here in Iowa. First of all it was a race incident. The track was not at fault. It's one of those things that can happen at any track. Yes. The walls add risk, but it's a calculated risk that some ridres and willing to take and some are not. The Track is a beautiful. The staff at the track is second to none. They put on a great show that did nothing more than promote something we all love. Motorcycles. The talk of boycott is, in my opinion, uncalled for. We are adults and have the choice to ride or sit it out. Shawn made a personally choice. Moto-ST is trying very hard NOT to be the next AMA. I can't blame them either. Without getting into the specifics of the accident, I'll let those that feel the need for everyone to know what exactly happened to release the info. As far as Shawn is doing, he is stable, coherant, and will be transported back to Wisconsin later this week. There's no doubt in my mind that when he's back to his old self, he'll be back at the Track doing what he loves doing. | ||
| Bads1 |
Good to hear Rocco. Anyone hear how the flighted out rider is doing?? | ||
| Coolice |
Also, this Track treated the riders like other all racers. Not second class bike riders. They picked up all the riders in a tram and took them to an autograph session. There were so many fans that they ran out of posters and items to sign. Still had people in line when time ran out. The bike were the feture race. Under the lights. After a concert put on for the fans be the Country band lonestar. We, the crew, were given hours to set up the pits. Not like some tracks that give you minutes. They introduced the riders on a stage center of the grandstands and it was nice to see and hear the fans cheer for the guys. All in all, minus the accident, it was a well run, well recieved, well attended and a great promotion for Motorcycle racers and riders. As far as Parriott in concerned. He has the right to his opinion. BUT does not have the right to try and stuff it down everyone throat. Rocketsprink. | ||
| Coolice |
We spoke with Jay Springsteen tis morning and last he heard was the rider was awake and yelling at his mechanic. No solid info on that. But if it's true, it's a great thing considering it didn't sound too good as of last night. | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
Thanks, Rocco. I guess I bought into the media hype about the barriers and bails. Glad to have you clear me up on that. Please let us know how things progress if you can. Shawn and the other racers have my prayers. | ||
| José_quiñones |
Get well soon wishes for both Shawn and Brian.   More photos at moto-st.com | ||
| Indy_bueller |
Thanks Ralph and Rocco, for the update. | ||
| Gearhead |
One other cool detail that Coolice shared with me was that there were way more people in the stands at Iowa than at the Daytona 200!! I'm proud of all my Iowa neighbors for supporting motorcycle racing here!! I can't wait to ride the same track in CCS competition in September. | ||
| Hughlysses |
You can send Shawn an "E-card" via the hospital at this address: https://store.mercydesmoines.org/giftShop/MeCard.a sp | ||
| Crusty |
E-card sent. | ||
| Steve_mackay |
+1 on the E-card. | ||
| Buellerthanyou |
Done. HBJ |
