Crash Appeal


Name:	Rick Cramer
Number:	778
Date:	7/21/02
Track:	Buttonwillow
Turn:	1
Class:	250 Production

I was involved in the multiple bike pile-up just past turn 1 during the 250
production race at Buttonwillow on July 21, 2002.

Here's my version of events:

I remember seeing someone going off the course to my right and then someone was
suddenly on the track ahead and slightly to the right of me. The person on the
track may have been wearing blue leathers.

The rider ahead of me and to my right swerved to his left and braked to avoid
running over the downed rider but was unsuccessfull. As he ran over the downed
rider his rear tire kicked waaay up and hit me.

His tire hit me so hard that it knocked my bike about 30 degrees to my left and
started an impressive tank slapper (this may have been when my forks were bent).
Just as I was starting to think that I could save the bike someone clipped me on
my left side, breaking my handlebar off, and I was thrown from the bike towards
my right.

As I hit the ground I saw out of the corner of my eye that I was about to be
run over and then I felt something heavy hit me and then a motorcycle slid up
my back. The motorcycle came to a stop with me pinned underneath it.

When the owner of the motorcycle pulled his bike off of me I noticed two people
on the track behind me. One was obviously in alot of pain and the other was not
moving. The person that hit me on my left side apparently did not crash.

The people that were involved are:

  Sean Case #178
  Raghu Belur #922
  Dale Olstinske #930
  Rick Cramer #778
  Jerri Grindle #618

And the following people may have been involved:

  Marko Hrga #525
  Matthew Elke #701

These names are based on my personal knowledge or observations made by other
riders.

I believe that the rider I saw going down in the beginning and the rider I saw
on the course immediately after were probably the same person, Sean Case #178.
This is based on my vague recollections and Mike Norman's race report
(attached).

The first rider to come into contact with me was probably Dale Olstinske #930.
This is largely based on Raghu Belur's crash report (attached) as my own memory
isn't sufficient for me to identify him from photographs on Gary Rather's
website.

I did not see the rider that caused the collision on my left side that finally
knocked me off my bike. I have a vague recollection of a black bike and some
blue streaks were left on the left side of my bike. After hearing about Jerri
Grindle's contact with 5 motorcycles before escaping the melee I looked up
picture's of her on Gary's site and, afterwards, contacted her. We came to the
conclusion that she was, in all probability, the rider that took me out (see
attached).

I don't know whose bike ended up on top of me. We spoke briefly after he pulled
his bike off of me and I followed him into the pits, but I can't remember a
thing about him except that he was really nice and apologetic about squishing
me. It is my opinion that this rider crashed trying to avoid running over me
(which I really appreciate).

Based on information I gathered later the downed rider behind me that was not
moving was Raghu Belur who was knocked unconscious when Jerri Grindle hit him
and the rider who was in a great deal of pain was Dale Olstinske who still
doesn't recall anything about the accident at this time (best wishes to him and
his family!).

In summary, this crash was not my fault and there was nothing I could have done
to prevent it. Please don't penalize me for it!






  Rick Cramer #778
  P.O.Box 1607
  Santa Cruz, CA 95061
  (650) 356-2111
  rick@digitalpipe.com