plus 4, Ruscombmanor Township racer fastest man on two wheels - Reading Eagle

Ruscombmanor Township racer fastest man on two wheels - Reading Eagle
Auto show's big focus: small, green, efficient cars - canada.com
Motocross racers brave elements - Kuam News 8
Higbee Tests Yamaha YZF-R6 At Auto Club Speedway, Hoping To Race Buell ... - RoadracingWorld.com
Paralyzed for 18 years, he hopes to inspire others - Providence Journal

Ruscombmanor Township racer fastest man on two wheels - Reading Eagle

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 09:07 PM PST

Chris Carr is once again the fastest motorcyclist on the planet.

Carr, who lives in the Breezy Corners section of Ruscombmanor Township, rode, or more accurately, piloted the BUB Enterprises Streamliner on an 11-mile Bonneville Salt Flats track at 367-plus miles per hour.

"That's basically doing a mile in under 10 seconds," Carr said.

The 42-year-old actually recaptured the "fastest man on two wheels" title he won in 2007 when he went nearly 351 miles per hour to make the Guinness World Records.

"In 2008 my record was broken by Rocky Robinson, who went about 360 miles per hour," Carr said.

Carr, who moved to Berks County a few years ago with his wife, Pat, who is from Oley, said breaking the land speed motorcycle record isn't exactly a steady income producer. Competitions are once a year.

He races motorcycles full time and already is in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame as one of flat-track racing's winningest racers. That's what got BUB Enterprises interested in having him race its streamliner.

Carr said he's looking forward to competing in two races scheduled for the first week of March during Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The BUB Enterprises streamliner that Carr piloted is the project of BUB Enterprises, a Grass Valley, Calif., maker of high-performance motorcycle exhaust systems. It rides on two wheels and has a motorcycle engine, but it's there that similarities to a typical motorcycle end.

He steers the bike with two joy sticks designed for F4 Phantom fighter jets. The bike also has foot pedals. Combined they control everything from speed, pitch and yaw to parachutes and an emergency brake.

Race preparation includes monitoring the weather and wind speeds.

"It's pretty difficult to run with a 4- to 5-mile-per-hour crosswind," Carr said - like trying to carry a sheet of plywood in a 10- to 20-mph wind.

Though the Bonneville course is 11 miles long, the record run is timed only on the mile between mile markers 5.5 and 6.5. The rest of the distance is for speeding up and slowing down the rocket-shaped cycle.

The bike is held upright by crew and towed to speed when Carr hits a button to release the tow cable.

"After that it's flat out through the gears," Carr said. "There are only a few RPMs to spare.

"It's like drag racing, only not as violent."

After the timed mile, he hits the brakes and releases a first, then a second parachute to slow the cycle.

Carr said he has his sights set on crossing another threshold.

"It's a bigger thing in Europe, of course, but I went the equivalent of 591 kilometers per hour, so we're very close to breaking the 600 kph mark," he said.

In Kelly's Korner, Dan Kelly writes about the people and personalities who make Berks County special. Contact him 610-371-5040 or dkelly@ readingeagle.com.

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Auto show's big focus: small, green, efficient cars - canada.com

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 08:24 PM PST

DETROIT -- Resembling a massive construction site, the main floor of Detroit's Cobo Center was the centre of auto show preparation on the weekend as crews were busy assembling displays before the two-day press preview, which starts Monday.

While many of the vehicles starring in the 2010 North American International Auto Show were literally under wraps, the green theme was prevalent throughout the main floor.

Detroit Three automakers will be asserting their place in a vehicle segment long occupied by foreign competitors such as Honda, Toyota and Hyundai, said Doug Fox, NAIAS chairman.

"What we're seeing is a strong directional shift from our hometown manufacturers that had been heavily reliant on pickup truck and sport utilities and crossovers to the small, fuel-efficient, energy-saving, environmentally friendly, low-emission vehicles," Fox said.

"A strong push in that direction is coming from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, and this is a segment they've somewhat let other foreign manufacturers have over the last decade. They've made it very clear that they're entering the segment in a very strong, powerful way."

As part of its partnership with Italy's Fiat SpA, Chrysler will unveil an electric Fiat 500 minicar, Fox said.

Ford will use the show to stage the global launch of the 2011 Focus subcompact, Fox said.

"It's my understanding there will be several renditions of the Focus, everything from fuel cell, hybrid to electric."

General Motors will unveil its Chevy Spark minicar as well as the final production version of the electric Volt.

"We've been waiting five years to see that," Fox said.

When it comes to environmentally friendly vehicles, consumers, especially Canadians, are moving quickly into that segment, said auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers.

"We started the decade with only 34.6 per cent of consumers buying a small fuel-efficient vehicle. We finished the decade with 50.8 per cent buying a small, fuel-efficient vehicle."

DesRosiers said green is also the theme of small, nascent automotive players, like Spokane, Wash.-based Commuter Cars, which produces the electric two-seater Tango.

President and founder, Rick Woodbury, talked enthusiastically of a vehicle he invented with the help of his son Bryan.

"We consider it, unequivocally, the world's fastest car, probably the world's safest car," Woodbury said.

"You'll think that's crazy because it looks so small. But, the doors have four times more steel in them than the largest SUV.

"This is a full NASCAR-style roll cage. It's certified for racing at 200 miles an hour, so it's a complete cage just like a race car."

Featuring tandem seating for two, the Tango is eight feet, five inches long, 39 inches wide, and weighs 3,000 pounds. It can accelerate from zero to 60 m.p.h. in about four seconds and can manoeuvre through traffic like a motorcycle. In jurisdictions like California, where lane-splitting is permitted, the Tango can travel along the white line between the separate lanes.

Though the price tag of more than $100,000 a vehicle is prohibitive, Woodbury hopes exposure attained from premiere auto shows will generate the kind of buzz that could lead to big-time investors interested in mass producing the car. Mass production would bring the car's price tag down to about $20,000, said Woodbury.

For the first time, Magna International will stage an exhibit highlighting green car technologies, as well as introducing its "E-Car Systems," which focus on electrification capabilities, said Don Walker, co-CEO of Magna International.

"The exhibit coincides with Magna's strategy to strengthen its position as a leader in hybrid and electric vehicle development and products," he said.

"The global trends towards CO2 reduction and improved fuel economy are important drivers of future growth in hybrid and electric vehicles," Walker said. "We have been enhancing our capability in this area by developing systems such as electric motors and motor control units, chargers, electric pumps, electric drivetrain and lithium ion battery packs."

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Motocross racers brave elements - Kuam News 8

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 09:14 PM PST

by Bob Bucek for KUAM Sports

With the weather just on the side of being a monsoon a few hardy motocross racers lined up to challenge each other, the weather, and the swamp like course conditions during a scheduled warm up motocross event that happened this past Sunday. The scheduled warm up motocross race event was to allow riders some race experience time in anticipation of the upcoming 6 round 2010 Guam Motocross Championships which is set to kick off on Sunday January 24^th at the GIR.

Gates were opened at the Guam International Raceway at 9am that morning to allow competitors for some practice on the motocross layout before the start of the scheduled 1pm Warm Up event. At the time practice was being held the motocross course was in prefect condition for the competitors with many of the open class motocross bikes taking full advantage of the ideal conditions. Former Guam motocross champion Michael Limtiaco joined his brother Lawrence Limtiaco also a past Guam motocross champion on the course for some orientation laps. Both Limtiaco brothers aboard the green Kawasaki race bikes looked fast as they joined current Guam champion Jesse Clokey who was aboard his RPM Yamaha Yfz250 on the course. Also putting in fast lap times on the big machines out on the course was rookie racer Antonio Cabe his older brother Quirino Cabe both riding the RPM Yamaha supported Yzf machines and reigning Vet champion Tom Tarnate aboard his own Kawasaki Kxf250. With what was looking to be a strong field of open class competitors the clouds moved in along with the wind and the rain. After a short and wet rider's meeting several classes elected to postpone their heats until the rain stopped. These classes included the open motorcycle and atv classes. The kids classes how ever found the wet dismal monsoon like conditions to their liking perfect for having fun and for challenging each other with some racing.

The first class to kick off the 2010 racing season were the Kids Atv class. Female motocross racer Raven Girgan took her Tsunami Motorsports Polaris to an early lead and had quickly put some distance between herself and her fellow competitors. Running in second place at the half way point was rookie racer Aubrey Taimanglo aboard a yellow DRX and behind her was Jonathan Rose also on a DRX. Up front in the second half of the race it was looking to be an easy win for Girgan but as the rain began to fall even heavier she suddenly was flagged in for some repairs. It appears that Girgans machine had a bolt that had worked itself loose and her pit support made up of Tsunami Motorsports and her father recognized the problem and quickly made the required repair to get Girgan quickly back into the race. Meanwhile Aubrey Taimanglo who had been running a strong second began to have mechanical issues with her DRX and was flagged by her pit crew to come in for repairs. After a short time Taimanglo reentered the race but eventually was forced to retire due to mechanical issues. With both Girgan and Taimanglo having mechanical problems Jonathan Rose moved himself up and into the lead. Rose was looking strong getting faster it appeared after every lap completed. Now with just one lap left it looked as if Rose was going to take the very first win of 2010 but again what appeared to be was not to be as with just one turn left and 30 yards from the checkered flag Rose's DRX machine came to fluttering halt. Unfortunately for Rose his pit crew made up of his father Jim Rose who had graciously volunteered to help as track safety was all the way at the other side of the motocross course and was unable to help his son refire the DRX before Girgan on her Tsunami Motorsports Polaris snatched back the lead she had once held. Girgan took the win with Rose eventually restarting his machine to take second with Taimanglo taking the third place finish.

The 85cc minibke class was the next and final class to take advantage of the scheduled Warm Up event. Last year's rookie Suzuki mounted Frank Vawters jr. was joined by first time racers Robit Cabe also aboard a Suzuki and Ethan Cabe aboard a Yamaha. The two Cabe boys who have riding experience and had spent time late last year practicing on the motocross track located at the Guam International Raceway in anticipation of the 2010 motocross season looked fast they both launched off the line at the start. With elbows out and with great riding posture Robit Cabe also known as Casper took the lead. Casper showed the crowd on hand that he was fearless as regardless of the conditions he held the throttle wide open and cleared several of the large double jumps and tore his way through the gnarly whoop section. Casper was impressive in his debut race and proved that he will be a serious title contender for this years 85cc Guam Motocross Championship. Ethan Cabe aboard the Yamaha was also putting in impressive lap time as he held off Frank Vawters for the second place position. The three up front riders put on a great race with Robit Cabe taking first, Ethan Cabe second, and Frank Vawters jr. third.

The next scheduled event will be the kick off this year's highly anticipated 2010 Guam Motocross Championships with round 1 on Sunday January 24^th. The championship round will be held at the Guam International Raceway's Jose and Hermenia Calvo Memorial Off Road Park in Yigo. Racing starts at 1pm and will be free to all to come out to watch and support. The Raceway's Jose and Hermenia Calvo Memorial Off Road Park will be open this coming Sunday January 17^th for riding and practice. For information on the requirements needed to ride and race at the park visit www.AtvMotocrossGuam.com or contact GRF PIO Robert Bucek at 727-5381

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Higbee Tests Yamaha YZF-R6 At Auto Club Speedway, Hoping To Race Buell ... - RoadracingWorld.com

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 06:15 PM PST

From a press release issued by Higbee Racing:
With the recent shutdown of Buell Motorcycle Company, Shawn Higbee of Higbee Racing has decided to race multiple brands for its 2010 program. For this year's West Coast Race Series, Wheels In Motion, Trump Motors, and SoCal DucWorx have come together to provide a competitive Yamaha R6.
"As a rider, I've been associated with Buell for the last 10 years, however the R6 is proving to be rather competitive. It definitely has its differences, but I feel good about the flickability and tirewear. It's a great bike. I think I must have stared at the fuel injection system for a solid two hours when I first got it," laughed Higbee.
Bazazz Performance, Chicken Hawk Racing and Galfer Brakes were recently added to Higbee's current list of sponsors. "With the present state of the economy, sponsorship packages have been more difficult to obtain in the racing circuit, so you can imagine the importance of acquiring such brands as these," Higbee said. "Going privateer in 2009 had its ups and downs, but sponsorship is what makes it all happen. Luckily, on the R6, parts are more readily available than were on the Buell. This fact has definitely made it easier."
Higbee Racing is currently seeking sponsorship to race the Buell 1125R in the Daytona 200. "The 1125R has always done particularly well for me at Daytona," said Shawn Higbee, who rode his privateer Buell to 5th place in the 2009 Daytona 200 race. "I've learned this season [switching bikes] that although you can teach an old dog new tricks, I'd still like to climb back on it one more time for the 200," smiles Higbee. "The Buell will always have a place in my heart."

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Paralyzed for 18 years, he hopes to inspire others - Providence Journal

Posted: 10 Jan 2010 05:25 PM PST

Guy Waterman, paralyzed from the chest down, believes that he could help injured servicemen.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

COVENTRY –– As he grips the edge of his wheelchair, Guy Waterman's mind drifts back to the life-changing day 18 years ago when a motorcycle crash turned his world upside down.

Yes, he says softly, people would sometimes say he drove too fast. But that particular spring day, he was tooling along Route 3 no faster than 40 mph when he came over a hill and saw a driver ready to come out of Pilgrim Avenue.

"She was looking directly at me," he says. "She pulled out in front of me anyway."

Because of guardrails and walls on either side, Waterman says he had no choice but to hit the car broadside. The impact sent him hurtling 150 feet; his body slammed against a wooden sign that said "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You."

It would be two months before Waterman would come out of a coma and find himself hooked to a respirator at Rhode Island Hospital with a collapsed lung, his back broken and jaw wired shut. He soon discovered he was paralyzed from the chest down.

"When I realized I couldn't make love anymore or run around doing all the things I had been doing for 20 years, I started looking for ways to kill myself," says Waterman, now 44. "I didn't want to live like this."

But these days, after a lifetime of ups and downs, Waterman thinks he can be a source of inspiration to others.

"There are a lot of guys in Iraq and Afghanistan. When they come home, some of them will be hurt and have the same kind of injuries. I know what they're going to go through. They need someone like me to show them they still have something to look forward to.

"Seeing is believing. I think I can show them you can still have fun and a happy life even without your legs."

Waterman draws his faith from years of going to church — Catholic, Baptist and Lutheran — and trying to "cover all the bases from Jehovah to Ra." He sums it up in a few words: "If you get through the long suffering, you will be able to have the peace that people have been promised for years."

He has also gotten a lift from the return into his life of his 24-year-old son, Timothy, a strapping young man, whom he used to see only rarely after he and the boy's mother separated at the time of the accident.

It's uncanny how much they are alike, he says. "I'm concerned because he even rides the same motorcycle I was almost killed on."

Waterman admits that he isn't perfect, that he needs to get rid of that "hard Swamp Yankee" attitude that sometimes causes him to talk harshly.

Though some recent back pain has slowed him a bit, he has always enjoyed going to nightclubs, where women still flirt with him and seem drawn to him.

One favorite haunt is the Mardi Gras Multi Club in Cranston, where, because of his regular patronage, managers allow him to slip in through a back door.

"He knows the people that own it and he gets first-class treatment," says Dave Savage, who lives up the road from Waterman's mother in Exeter and who has known him for six years. "I have to admire his determination. A lot of people in his situation would have given up a long time ago."

Savage's girlfriend, Jennifer Knerr, has known Waterman for about nine years, and says they take him out fishing and to clubs.

"He knows how to meet people, and get out there and live life," Knerr says.

On one Friday night visit to the Mardi Gras in late summer, pounding music filled the crowded room. Waterman worked his way to the dance floor and raised his arms in triumph, then twirled his wheelchair around and back and forth, in his own impromptu dance

"I can't even dance that good," marveled Dawn DeStefano, who says the first time she met Waterman she knew she wanted to be with him. "He's so smart and intelligent. And no matter where we are, he's the happiest man in the room."

While Waterman says he enjoys attention from flirtatious women, he's now focusing on a deepening relationship with DeStefano. Since he met her in the summer, she's been a regular visitor to his apartment at Woodland Manor, coming "just about every day" to help him with his laundry, to organize and to talk.

"We've been up and down, but we manage to forgive each other and get back together," he said recently. "I just have to accept and appreciate that she really wants to help me out."

Waterman lists other blessings, too. He still has wheels, a 1988 Monte Carlo "racing machine" which has been specially equipped so he can drive without using his legs, though he is looking forward to the day when he'll be driving around in a much newer van equipped with hand-controls and a ramp for a motorized wheelchair.

And while injuries suffered in a fall in July have made it more difficult, Waterman not long ago demonstrated how he could still slide himself into the car and, using his right arm for balance, take the wheelchair apart with his left and throw it into the back seat.

Guy Waterman wonders today what his life would be like if not for another tragic accident that occurred when he was 3. It was then that his father, an ex-Green Beret, was killed in a tractor-trailer accident in New Jersey. If his father had not died, Waterman says, he probably would have made sure his son finished school, thereby setting the teen on an entirely different path.

As a student at Metcalf Middle School, in Exeter, Waterman won all sorts of track and field awards, "beating every school in the state."

But his time at North Kingstown High didn't go so well. Kicked out because of too many fights, he drifted through a number of jobs, including work as a painter and a sandblaster for Electric Boat. He had a few girlfriends, including the one who bore his son.

The motorcycle accident changed everything. After he came out of his coma and discovered he was paralyzed, he was terrified at first of having to go through life depending on others. He panicked because he didn't think his respirator was giving him enough air. "But I couldn't tell anyone because my jaw was wired shut."

He began having dreams of taking his own life, which led to one of his most bizarre experiences. While placed on a suicide watch at Rhode Island Hospital, he caught the attention of a nurse who developed such a liking for him that she wheeled him out of the hospital without telling anyone and took him to her apartment. He stayed four months.

It ended when Waterman phoned his mother to tell her what happened and then persuaded the nurse to take him to her home in Exeter. (When the hospital learned what happened, the nurse was fired.)

Another unusual episode came 15 years ago after Waterman moved into Woodland Manor, a housing complex for senior citizens and people with disabilities, and had a run-in with a certified nurse who had been hired as his caregiver. Waterman says she, too, was emotionally attached to him and became angry that he was more interested in his car. One day in the complex's parking lot, she knocked over Waterman in his wheelchair with her car and was later charged by Coventry police with domestic assault and leaving the scene of an accident. The case was later filed.

It wasn't the last time that Waterman would have problems with caregivers. Over the years, he deemed others who were sent to his apartment unacceptable for one reason or another.

But then three years ago, the visits stopped after the social worker who was in charge of his case retired. State human-services workers later explained that Waterman had opted for a new program in which he would find the caregivers and then send the state the paperwork to allow payment. The trouble was that Waterman never found someone he considered suitable who also had the right credentials.

During this time without home care, Waterman ran into another crisis in November 2008, when the elevator in the Woodland Manor complex broke down and was not repaired for four months. The breakdown inconvenienced many of the building's 150 residents, but Waterman says it was worse for him — making him a virtual prisoner in his apartment since he could not go up or down the stairs without someone carrying him.

In the meantime, his mother, who has her own health problems, and his sister, came to his rescue — not only helping with household chores, but completely redecorating his apartment.

More recently he's had help from DeStefano, who works as a fraud investigator for Blue Cross. She says she'll help him find a job.

Recently she helped him — and his wheelchair — into her new car and took him out for dinner at Café Noir in Providence, where her 20-year-old daughter works.

"I love him dearly," she says. "Sometimes you lose sight of the dream, and for a time I think that's what happened with Guy. But I feel he's getting it back. God knows what he's doing. He brings people into your life to inspire. I think I'm helping to inspire Guy and he inspires me."

But as the new year approached, Waterman was expressing frustration — he's weak from the painful deterioration of some discs in his spine and he can't seem to get his van equipped.

The used minivan that his sister gave him more than a year ago has been parked at a local repair shop, he says, because the insurance company has not yet authorized the installation of the hand controls and wheelchair ramp.

"I don't understand why it should be taking this long," he says, explaining that he's too weak right now to get his wheelchair into the Monte Carlo. He says he wants to get out and visit injured veterans.

But he is grateful for the small things.

On Christmas Day, Waterman's son, Timothy, called to wish him a Merry Christmas. "It's surprising what one phone call can do."

rdujardi@projo.com

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