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During F-USA 106 hp qualifying, Thorvald was riding
the wheels off the Mototune R6. There was a tremendous tailwind on the
back straight that added at least 15 mph to his top speed, making
it extremely difficult to judge the braking distance. Suddenly...things got a little crazy...
Thorvald led the entire pack
of riders around the west banking as he went for a repeat of the pole position he earned last year.
While braking ULTRA HARD for Daytona's famous
chicane, his front tire locked at 150 mph. In an instant the
front tire tucked under and he crashed, pinning him under the bike as
it continued to fly down the abrasive track at MACH SPEED.
As the leather of his gloves wore through, his
left palm became his brake pad....OUCH !! Finally he was able to
kick the bike away just as they hit the grass run-off area. Still
travelling at triple digit speeds, the R6 hit the grass,
dug in and LAUNCHED itself up over 15 feet in the air, flipping and
smashing the bike to bits.
"I've never seen a bike FLIP so
F#$%@n' A Bubba high up in the air as that one did "
said Thorvald.
Amazingly enough, the only injury he
sustained was the burnt and hamburgered left hand, which is still pretty
serious. Tough as nails Thorvald promised he'd be back for the next day's race...if we
could get the bike ready.
The bike looked totalled!! The
gas tank was smashed, the subframe broke, the pipe looked like a crushed
beer can, broken footpegs, handlebars....
the whole thing looked kinda
cadywompus...
CADY - WOMP - US.
("IT MEANS REAL
MESSED UP")
In an excellent display of sportsmanship one of Thorvald's on track
competitors, Ritchie Alexander helped us out with some much needed
replacement parts for the bike !! Thanks Ritchie !!
It took the entire Norwegian and
American Mototuneusa.com crew and friends many hours to repair the damages on
the bike. Stay tuned for more on this story !!
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