SOUTH MISSISSIPPI SPORTBIKE RIDERS
CRASH HALL OF FAME
Last Update: March 17, 2002
(Click here to hear the crash sound clip again)

In Order of Most Recent Crash....

curt

Curt Wicker

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Oct 5, 2001
Curt was heading home on a Friday night and as he turned off of Hwy 49 onto O'Neal Rd. his bike suddenly slid out from under him. Luckily he was ok, but his Gixxer 1000 has suffered lotsa road rash to it's right side. Curt was in such disbelief that it happened, that he immediately checked out the area where his slid and low and behold, some car (a Cruisin the Coast car???) or something had leaked this large oil puddle out onto the road. Insurance will take care of his bike, he says and the cops have the oil slick on their report, so all is well.Have you checked the oil in your car lately???


fz1

Harry Giarruuso

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Sept 23, 2001
It's with heavy heart to report on Harry's crash on the Neely-Avera Rd. during his very first ride with us. Swinging wide on a curve on the way home after a fine day of riding with 7 others, Harry swung wide on a sharp left hander and hit a stump, a fence post and a small tree which resulted in him requiring an ambulance and his bike is a loss. Harry has been hurt pretty bad by this accident and during the Christmas holidays of 2001, his left foot had to be amputated . Let us all reflect our riding habits and take inventory of what our individual limits are - and then apply a conviction to ride as safe as possible within those limits. In some way, Harry's crash will not be a total loss if it causes the rest of us take a second look at what limitations we as individual should be setting for ourselves. This situtation also opens the subject of new riders to the group, and what must we take into consideration when they are riding with us. For now, let us wish Harry well and a speedy recovery and our heartfelt thoughts at this time are of him.


Muddy zrx

David Graham

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Sept 23, 2001
Oh the humanity! Well, enough melodrama...
Here it is in David's own words: Yep, I was "comin in too hot" as they say, on the Neely-Avera Rd. I have been on that road 20 times and I know those curves pretty good. I was feeling on top of my game and decided to catch up to a guy who had just passed me. I was pouring on the coals as I came into a 90 degree left-handed raker at about 80 to 85 mph. By the time I realized my lean angle wasn't deep enough, it was too late...I had not set-up for the curve. The bike tracked to the outside of the curve (OH NO!), then onto the gravel shoulder (OH CRAP!), then on the grass (OH HELL!) then slid down into a deep ditch and all hell broke loose. This muddy ditch felt like a suicide lane for about 40 yards as I fought to maintain control...the mud was so thick that the bike suddenly dug-in and she threw me like a raging bull. I went over the handlebars into the ditch, my face shield cracked away and I ended up face down in the ditch. Caked in mud, I got up and realized I wasn't hurt (thank God). Two buddies zoomed in and we pulled her onto the pavement. We scraped all the mud away, inspected for damage and I limped her home. As I rode home, my wrist and ankle starting aching, my face was roadrashed and without a faceshield, love-bugs were slapping into my face as I rode the 50 miles back home alone. No one followed me home cause another rider in our group had crashed at the same time as me. It was Harry on his new Fazer and I rode home thankful I was ok and I wondered about Harry. When I got home, I heard he had to be ambulanced to the nearest hospital with broken bones and his Fazer was totalled. Yep, I was damned lucky today...real lucky. Message here is "Get off the top step of that stepladder, son...you might fall off!" My answer is an emphatic "Yes, sir!"


Joe

Joe Mitchell

Crashes: 2
Date of most recent crash: May 20, 2001
Joe's crash info is scanty, but here is a post of some basic facts. He was doing the "Red Bluffs" and washed out in one of the sharp twisties up there. He had on-board video going at the time and so we have a record (just amazing how he got the tape out intact...the camera was totalled!). Joe unfortunately sustained a minor fracture of the shoulder. His bike received some minor damage...mainly plastic...his leathers got scuffed pretty good. (Many thanks to Mark and Suzanne for helping that day!)


Caleb

Caleb Harvey

Crashes: 2.5
Date of most recent crash: May 2, 2001
Caleb, one of the most friendly of all of us, seems to have somebody "up there" who doesn't like him. He has the most crashes to date of anybody in the group. On the most recent crash, he didn't have both feet on the pegs (he was practicing a trick) and his bike drifted in the curve which put him in a deep ditch. This occurred in Woolmarket while riding with Dave and Curt. His bike is a mess...front forks bent into the radiator and stuff like that. Caleb suffered a broken heel bone and lotsa sore places but luckily, nothing worse than this (a broken heel is certainly bad enough!). In spite of it all, he says he will be back up and running soon.
He also "lost it" while wheelie-ing on Hwy 90 on March 23. He and Dave were at the light on Teagarten Rd. The light changed to green and both riders wheelied...Caleb brought his front-end up in 2nd gear and began winding out as the bike balanced with a great looking wheelie...except something went wrong and his bike began to tip backwards, pavement hitting the tip of his exhaust pipe. The angle was so high that Caleb slid off the seat and hit the pavement while the TT600 (thanks to the exhaust pipe) was forced to fall on it's left side sliding 50 or 60 feet. Caleb was ok...relatively speaking, thanks to his armored jacket and gear. His bike got lotsa road rash too. The "half-a-crash" occurred the next week on March 31 when he left the road in a tight curve on the Grand Bear Rd. No damage to either rider or bike...but he did fall off so that does count as one-half of a crash, we suppose. Caleb does become a better rider as he learns from these crashes and he'll out-ride us all one day.


Jeff

Jeff App

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Mar. 4, 2001
Jeff is a super-consciensous and usually a conservative rider so it was a drag to hear about his crash. It really isn't a bad one but it does qualify as an entry in the Crash Hall of Fame. Jeff simply came up onto a turn and his front wheel lost traction as he made his turn-off. The "loose gravel syndrome" strikes again! The bike lowsided out from underneath him at very low speed and that's the whole story. Jeff wasn't hurt at all (except the usual battered pride and shaking of self-confidence) and his bike has the typical plastic scrapes and scruffs...and as we all know...plastic damage is expensive. Lesson here is: Most turn-offs have a pile of loose gravel in the center of them - do all of your braking in advance then try to stay clear of the gravel as you make your turn, keeping your lean and turn angles nice and shallow.


Jim Jackson

Jim "Scarface" Jackson

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Feb. 2001
Not only was it nightime just after a rain, but it was so foggy you couldn't see 50' in front of you. While heading up through Woolmarket to "Bike Night" in Hattiesburg with Ralph, Jim encountered a fork in the road (or was it a spoon?). Anyways, Jim wasn't familiar with the road and he was further confused by approaching headlights on the main road and the fact that Ralph's tailight seemed to be leaving the road. Jim wasn't sure what to do, then at the moment he realizes that Ralph is not crashing, but in fact, making a turn - it's too late and due to wet pavement, Jim's attempts to correct the situation result in a lowside with a long slide through loose gravel. Jim jumps up and practically catches up to his bike to try to stop it from being damaged any more than it is. Luckily, his frame-sliders really help out (the slider worked a while and then busted off). We paced-off about 70' of "sliding action" scars on the pavement 2 days later. Jim was scuffed just a tiny bit and his bike...well...it's kinda rashed here and there in a minor way - unbelievable considering it slid so far. Needless to say, they didn't make it to Hattiesburg that night!. Lesson? It's better to stay off the roads when it's foggy and wet!


pat

Dick Sirginson

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Jan. 6, 2001
Here is what happened on a trip to Red Bluff in Dick's own words:
"I was going down Oilwell Road with a group of 11 riders riding in the right hand track. I noticed that the front end was bouncing profusely because of the condition of the road. I was looking down at the front fender trying to figure out what I should do when the front tire got grabbed by a snakelike gouge in the road. I went into a tank slapper so I added throttle to pull it out. I almost had it straighten out when the road turned to washboard and the front-end started bouncing again and the tank slapper came back. This time, I straighten it out, BUT the bike lurched to the right and I ended up on the gravel shoulder. Judging from the marks on the shoulder, the back tire tried to pass the front tire and I got low sided. Bike was a loss, left hand and right elbow had nice deep holes in them. At the emergency room they stitched up the holes. I found out a few weeks later from the ER doctor at the VA hospital where I work that deep holes have to heal from the inside out, so the ER doc opened them up again. They healed nicely after that. The doc said that she had seen enough of those holes to know. Her brother is a biker. Lesson learned: On a tar and chip road like Oilwell, ride the left hand track!"
This crash has a happy ending...the nurse who help Dick recover developed a particular liking to him! They are married now!


Suz

Suzanne Bailey

Crashes: 1
Date of most recent crash: Oct. 2000
Suz was on her former bike (Ducati 900SS) during one of the infamous Red Bluffs TT trips. There are some very tight curves up there and she misjudged one of them and ran off the road into a small "gully". No telling what was going through her mind as she was looking past her handlebars at nothing but air. Her Ducati, although rideable, was determined by insurance as "totalled" and Suz herself was left with a hellaciously bruised-up derriere. In the end (hehehe), she triumphed (ooops, I mean, "honda-ed") and exchanged her pummelled Ducati for a brand-new Honda 929. Stay outta them gullies, Suzanne!!!



Remember ya'll:

"SPARE THE BIKE..THE BODY WILL HEAL"


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This personal page created by David Graham, Biloxi, MS.