2010 WERA Motorcycle Racing at the Nashville Superspeedway

Everyone who watches motorcycle roadracing has heard of AMA Pro Roadracing, MotoGP, and World Superbike but unfortunately many of us have not heard of WERA .  It's unfortunate because WERA is one of the older sanctioning bodies having been formed in 1974.  According to their web site they currently have 3,000 members with competition licenses.

I have to admit that I had "Heard" of them, primarily from their vintage motorcycle races, but I wasn't at all familiar with them.  When I read that they were holding an event here in Nashville I decided that it was something I had to rectify.  The event was a 2-day "Sportsman Series" event held September 25 & 26 at the Nashville Superspeedway.  I was only able to go on Saturday, and I couldn't even stay for the whole venue that day.  They ran 11 races beginning at noon and I had to leave after the tenth race.  Even so it was GREAT!  The organizers were great people.  I talked to several and they were all helpful and informative and just great people to talk to.  I could also hear the race coordinator over the corner marshal's radio and everything about the event was professionally run and carefully coordinated for safety.  All in all, a great day at the race track.

The races began at noon but before that each class had a practice session.  The practice sessions began at 8:00 and ran until 11:00 when there was a lunch break.  I got there about 10:15 so I got to see the last two or three groups practice.

The last four photographs are of a couple of the WERA "Minis".  There were three of them in the race to come but only two of them chose to use the practice session.

Having never been inside the Nashville Superspeedway I decided to roam around and take a few photographs during the lunch break.

I started making my back to the infield where I planned to watch the races a few minutes before noon.  Promptly at 12:00 the race coordinator began getting things underway.

Race 1A - WERA Minis

Race 1 - V5, V3

This was the only "Getoff" that I actually saw.  According to what I heard on the radio there were a couple of others during the day but this is the only one I actually saw.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, the first photo shows the rider going into the corner normally.  I guess he got it a little too far over and jacked the rear wheel off the ground or the front end stepped-out or something.  The next thing I saw he was coming unglued from his bike in a classic lowside fall.

Look closely though.  In a highside fall, when the rider gets flipped over the bike, the important thing to do is get away from the bike because as the rider is sliding the bike is sliding right behind him.  When he stops sliding the bike doesn't and it piles into him.

This was a classic "Lowside" where the rider is following the bike as he slides, but everything started spinning and he wound up on the wrong side of the bike.  Instinct tells a rider to get the hell away from the bike in cases like this since, as in a highside, the bike is fixing to pile into him.  This rider had the presence of mind to hang onto the bike because that yellow #33 was coming right around the outside.  He used the leverage of the bike to yank his feet and legs up against the bike and probably saved himself from getting run over by the other bike.  Very well done!

These things happen fast!  From the first photograph of him going into the corner normally to the last one showing the #33 in front of his bike three seconds elapsed (check the EXIF data in the photographs!).  By the time the corner worker got there (and he was running!) the rider had already gotten his bike up and pushed off the track.  He got it refired, the corner worker helped him get it turned around in the gravel, and he rejoined and finished his race.

His day wasn't over either; if you look at some of the photos in the other races below you'll see him back out there.  I have to admire people like that.  I had my share of getoffs when I was a kid and I didn't enjoy them at all.  My hat is off to him.  These things happen and he handled it well.

Race 2 & 3 - Mediumweight Novice Solo and Mediumweight Expert Solo

Race 4 - V2, 500 GP, 250 GP

Race 5 - Lightweight Expert & Novice Solo

Race 6 - Formula 500, V1, 350 GP

Race 7 & 8 - Heavyweight Novice Solo / Heavyweight Expert Solo

And the winner is .....

Race 9 - V6 LW, Formula 2-Stroke, V4

I love the face shield reflection on this one!