Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

by **sneakypete** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:38 am

found this to be interesting...pinched off another forum...

FWIW with regards to West's off-track excursion at Laguna Seca.

Have been reading a few forums and found an interesting comment from someone who claims to have been working the flags at the corner where West ran off the track (his quote below). In fairness he initially got the turn wrong but was corrected by another poster who also claims to have been at that point.

Originally Posted by
So I'm watching the race at T-11 when an little brown paper bag drifted ontrack, right by the apex. In the 10 seconds it took to contemplate whether or not anyones going to see it, poor Westy comes barrelling in, sees the paper bag, stands the bike up and off into the kitty litter he went!

If anyone from Team Green reads this forum, not his fault!!

Originally Posted by
assume you mean you watched this happen on the big screen you could see from where you were at T11?
I ask because I was working T6 which is the turn where this rouge bag was, a long way from T11.

As a funny bit of info, this bag came was very clearly one of the brown paper bags that we track workers get our lunches delivered in. This bag blew from turn 5 up under the bridge and settled onto the apex of 6 just as he came at it. I watched the thing as it traveled up the track from turn 5 wishing I could run out and grab it because if I was doing 140mph (one of the officials on our turn brought a radar gun and clocked them at 140 between 5 and 6) and I saw a brown bulky object in the apex of a 100 mph turn in the half second I had to make a decision I'd have stood the bike up too... sure enough a moment later West went into the gravel.

So.. whoever was working 5 and didn't put something heavy on their sandwich bag / throw it away, West is looking for you