Inaugural Carolinas White Lightning Cross Country

[BlueRidgePathfinder]

Howdy folks,
 
I just wanted to let you know that I will be staying at the Hampton Inn at Simpsonville, SC for this weekend's Inaugural White Lightning Cross Country Classic at Thunder Valley Motocross Park, near Fountain Inn, SC.
 
I did hear back from the folks with Marriott's Special Event Management, but their Courtyard by Marriott GSP Airport  and Fairfield Inn by Marriott GSP Airport are just too far away from the race site for my taste.  Also, they are just about sold out for this weekend.
 
Again, the contact information for the Hampton Inn at Simpsonville, SC
is:
 
Hampton Inn - //www.hamptoninnsimpsonville.com - (864) 963-9292
 
I hope to see you a bunch of your at our event this weekend.
 
Happy trails,
 
Al
 
C. Al Roof
Riders Association of Triumph:  1082482
American Motorcyclist Association: 696745
American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association:  3843
Founder & President - The Blue Ridge Pathfinders Motorcycle Club, Inc.
Founder - The Suzuki Kawasaki of Gastonia Riders' Club
Office Manager- Barnes Suzuki, Inc. dba Suzuki Kawasaki of Gastonia

[BlueRidgePathfinder]

On Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:03:54 -0000 "ducracer21" <ducracer21@yahoo.com> writes:
> My son and I are coming to the cross country this weekend. If I
> bring his dirtbike, is there somewhere he and I can ride after the > races?
 
 
Dear ducracer21,
 
In our planning meeting this past weekend Greg Holder said he would be putting together a rules sheet for the event.  I do know that he said specifically:
 
1. No riding on the motocross track;
 
2. No riding on the dirt track;
 
3. Only slow and cautious riding through and around the park grounds.
 
So I don't know that there will be anywhere for your son to ride after the races.
 
I am forwarding your inquiry to Greg, in hopes that he will expound on what I have written here.  However, since Greg doesn't quite have the hang of e-mail on his new I-Phone, so you may want to just give him a call at (864) 320-9796.
 
Thanks for planning to attend our event.
 
Al Roof

[BlueRidgePathfinder]

Howdy folks,

I'm writing you from the warm, dry lobby of the Hampton Inn, Simpsonville, SC.

I am wet, chilled to the bone, and dead tired, but with a belly full of ribs from Arizona
Steakhouse, so please understand this narrative will have no literary flow, and is short
and to the point for now.

As Referee at today's Inaugural Carolina White Lightning Cross Country Classic, I only
had to penalize one rider for apparent course cutting based on absolutely impossible lap
times.

There were several vintage bikes here that I should have penalized for excessive rear
suspension travel, but gave the benefit of the doubt primarily due to their lack of
competition.

Wendall Phillips of the Team Lillian Swamp Boys suffered the only serious injury on the
course this morning with an apparent hyper extended knee.

However, Corky Root gave us quite a scare back at event headquarters, following his post
vintage race on a 1985 KDX 200, when he appeared to be having a heart attack!

For those of you who may not know, Corky is a tough bird! In 2005 he quite literally died
as the result of a Sudden Death Episode while waiting for his heat at Monster Mountain in
Alabama.  At that time Teddy Landers wrote "After he keeled over, the EMTs were
about 100 ft away and they hit him with the paddles three times to no avail. No heart, no
breathing. They did artificial respiration on him for a while and then gave up - he was
gone. Patti was holding his hand and shouting at him to not leave her. After about 8
minutes he gasped and then came back. The hospital credited the fast response of the EMTs
hitting him with the paddles for his recovery."

Today Corky presented the acute chest pain and Grey complexion I know far to well having
seen my father suffer several myocardial infarctions between his first at age 43 and his
death in 1983 at age 59.  Wife Patti kept her composer an administer aspirin as I called
911 and one of our riders rode out to meet the ambulance at the park gate, which is
easily overlooked from the main road.  Once off the phone with 911 dispatch, we covered
Corky with anything we could find to keep him warm in the frigid, wet conditions,
continuously monitoring his pain level and keeping him alert.

As luck, albeit bad, would have it, the two ambulances required during the race had
already been cleared to leave the premises, and were long gone.  The unbelievably slick,
mucky condition of the wet clay roads and and parking lot made it impossible for the unit
that ran the call on Corky to reach our locations, so a local volunteer fireman with
impressive skill in driving and drifting his Ford F250 4WD, drove in, scooped up Corky
and Patti and sped them away to the awaiting ambulance.

About thirty minutes later, just as David Lamberth called out Corky's trophy winning
score, the VFD fellow's truck came slogging back to us, returning his precious cargo, who
insisted he was fine, refusing transport.  This feat earned a tumultuous round of
applause!

Regardless, I know what I saw, and saw what I know, so I ask you to raise Corky up in
your prayers tonight, asking that God let us keep him around, in good health, for one
more time.

Please keep Wendall Phillips in your thoughts and prayers as well.

Wesley Simmons was tallied the best overall vintage score today, and will be receiving
not only his plaquard for winning his class, but also one of my, Greg and Thomas' special
White Lightning Gallon Jugs for his achievement.  

The Kewl Bike Award for the day went to a gorgeous 1975 CZ 400 Falta, who's owner will
hopefully forgive me for not being able to recall his name at the moment.  

Neither can I remember the name of the rider of a gorgeous Husky who won the Post Vintage
Overall, earning the other special White Lightning Gallon Jug for the day, barely edging
out Rokon mounted Mike Murphy.

Short of Divine intervention bringing miraculous drying of the ground, I doubt there will
be any riding of our course tomorrow.  Greg and I are thankful to have Dave Lamberth here
to make the call.

Folks, Greg had a WONDERFUL course, that I had the pleasure to pre-ride on Friday, but
our apparently frigid monsoon has put a damper on this weekend.

We worked very hard to put on an epic event, but will have to ask you all to give us
another chance next year.

Wet, cold and tired near Fountain Inn, South Carolina, ace reporter Al Roof signing off.

[BlueRidgePathfinder]

First of all, let me say that Greg and I are truly humbled, yet extremely proud by the turn out and support of our event by our friends and fellow motorcycle addicts. You folks, both those who came and those who were there in spirit, are wonderful!

Especially after this weekend, I am going to adopt Dave Mungenast Sr.'s prophetic words of wisdom as my personal mantra. When speaking at the Awards Banquet at the 7th Annual Leroy Winters ISDT Reunion Ride in the Berkshires, Dave said:

"I always say that the motorcycle riders are the greatest fraternity that I've ever seen, because no matter who you are, whether you're Malcolm Forbes, or whether you're Malcolm Smith, or Malcolm the trash hauler, when you throw your leg over that motorcycle we're all the same, we're all bonded together....."

As most of you know, it began raining Friday night, and never let up much all weekend. Saturday, following the Vintage (Pre-1975) race, AHRMA officials (and the riders) cancelled the Novice (both Vintage & Post-Vintage combined) out of concern for the riders' safety, but went on with the Post Vintage race.

After that, what had been a marvelous course on Friday was toast. Then
it rained, and rained, and rained, and rained, all Saturday night into
Sunday, so we were not able to run on Sunday. Instead everyone was frantically, yet carefully, working just to get all of cars, trucks, and motor homes out of the park, which by then was a muddy quagmire. The luxurious land yacht belonging to John ?, the nice gentleman from California (most definitely manly man who rode the Yellow 1974 Yamaha SC 500 in Saturday's event) is still sitting in the upper lot. He figured it would be at least today before he would be able to get that thing out of there without tearing it up with tow trucks.

Due to conditions and consequences caused by the torrential rains, it
will be a real struggle for Greg and me to cover our expenses and commitments related to hosting the event. Whatever profits we can glean from the sale of our event T-shirts and commemorative decals will be our saving grace.

Therefore, I have put together a promotional flyer with prices and
ordering details for these items.

UNFORTUNATELY, I don't possess the gumption to post that flyer here on this fourum.

SO, IF ANY OF YOUR FINE FOLKS HERE ON THE PENTON OWNERS GROUP FORUM WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE OUR White Lightning Event T-Shirt & Commemorative Sticker Sales Poster, please e-mail me directly at al.roof.for.nc.trails@juno.com , and I will reply to you with a .pdf file containing the poster containing all of the pertinent information for ordering our shirts and decals.

I have uploaded our White Lightning T-Shirt & Sticker Sales Poster to the various and sundry Yahoo! Group Sites, and hopefully the Liles have a way to post a link to our promotional flyer on the AHRMA website as well.

Any and all help you can give us in moving these items, to generate some much needed cash flow, will be greatly appreciated!

Ernie, please keep me updated on Wendell's condition, and send me his UPS shipping address (off-list) so that Greg and I may send him a special gift.

Happy trails,

Al Roof