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Thread: Hallet's Desert Adventures (Mike Hallett)

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Crest California
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    3,014
    Do you still have that 185, or just pictures of it?
    LED obsessed
    2015 Yamaha FJ-09

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    El Cajon, CA
    --
    32
    No....I put that trike out to pasture in 1983. Its probably yard art in Ukiah.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    El Cajon, CA
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    32
    86 Parker 400
    After a solid ’85 season with Allen Fox and John Tomson, our sponsor, we had high hopes for ’86. Parker kicked off the season. On our way to Parker, 5 days prior to the race, we were traveling on 95 north through Quartzsite. A news report came over the radio that the space shuttle Challenger blew up on lift off. I’ll always remember that moment. It may have been an omen of things to come. Our team base was in a camp ground,_ on the Colorado River. 3 or 4 days of pre-running went smooth. Mark Weixeldorfer of Team Honda got hurt on the California loop (Parker 400 was one 100 mile loop in California and one 100 mile loop in Arizona. 3-wheelers didn’t go 3 laps in Arizona. Score wanted to keep trikes and cars from co-mingling too much. Weixeldorfer cased a rock with his skidpan and either broke/severely bruised his tailbone. He was out of commission before the race. The day prior to the race, about midday, I decided to run the 1st ten miles of my Arizona loop that would be the most dangerous part of my section due to dust conditions after the restart on the Arizona loop. John’s son Scott would follow me on a 250R to get some seat time. My plan was to go 10 or so miles, hit a crossover road for 5, and do the last 10 to the finish. My brother Tom dropped us off at the start-finish and waited. 2 miles out I noticed a trail veering left off the course. My curiosity told me to check it out, so I followed it ¼ mile or so and it intersected a better road. It paralleled the course. I thought, “This might be an awesome alternative if the course gets choked with dust.”
    About the time I hit 5th gear, all hell broke loose. A class 5 (unlimited Baja Bug) appeared coming head on, he and I traveling 50-60 mph. He was 50 feet from me. The overhanging Mesquite trees made it impossible to see him coming around a turn. All I had time to do was jump straight up and hope my feet would clear the bars. The jump and flight was awesome. I saw the exhaust stinger go right under me. At that moment I recall the sound of my 250R grenading into say, 8 or 10 manageable pieces. Feeling good that I avoided body vs. car contact, I neglected to prepare for the inevitable contact with Mother Earth. It was the only time I lawn darted head first. I couldn’t get my shoulder tucked under to roll. I skidded and bounced headfirst from 50 mph to a stop. After I stopped I felt fortunate to be conscious. One problem though-I was blind, just darkness. I crawled off the trail into brush.
    Now the reality of being blind set in. “Oh no, my parents will be crushed.” My throat started hurting so I decided to get my helmet off. I started looking for the buckle. It wasn’t under my chin. Wtf? I found it under my left ear. I undid it and realized my visor was sticking out behind my left ear.My damn helmet had spun almost half way around. So I torque my helmet back around. I wasn’t blind anymore. Right on. I was looking into the back of my helmet. As my goggles came over my eyes, it was such an awesome feeling to see.
    Blood exploded into my goggles. I thought, “Okay, this doesn’t seem to be your average bleeder. This is a buttload of blood.” I could hear voices. It was the guys in the car, coming to my aid. They got to me as I removed my helmet. The look on one of the guys’ faces was priceless. He’d never seen a guy who had his face dunked in ketchup before; he almost passed out. Luckily the other guy ripped his dirty shirt off and stuffed it onto my face. He didn’t know where the blood was coming from so he pressed it on my entire face. After a few seconds he lifted the shirt and could see the split from the bridge of my nose halfway around my right eye. When the helmet spun on my head, the bone of my eye socket punched through the skin.
    My right shoulder ached but didn’t seem broken. All in all a successful wipeout, considering a head on with a car, with a closing rate of 100 mph. I asked the guys why they were going backwards on the course. They informed me that I was the one going backwards. What I didn’t know was that the start and finish of the loop was only 400 feet apart, separated only by a hedgerow of desert brush. After 2 or 3 minutes, I got to my feet. The two guys in the car and I walked back to the impact sight. Holy crap, there were parts spread everywhere. The car had a broken spindle and bent trailing arms. I guess my front tire slid by his right front. His right front shaved everything off the right side of the trike: brake pedal, peg, then axle. It ripped the axle out of the swing arm and ripped the swing arm loose of the frame. Something we never figured out was how it flipped up and hit the passenger side A-post on the car. Bent it in 8”. The co-driver thought I was dead. He thought I had hit the A-post with my body. He probably closed his eyes on impact.
    Another pre-runner in a 2 seat buggy pulled up, saw the carnage and stopped. He offered me a ride to the start/finish line. His co-rider got out and I got in. I found John and he toted me off to Parker hospital. All the while, Scott made my designed loop and found the crash site. Bloody goggles, helmet parts everywhere. The guys in the car told him I was okay, so he stayed put with the bike parts and riding gear until someone returned, 4 hours or so later. Meanwhile, at the hospital, they wouldn’t let me get undressed. They cut my jersey and riding pants off. When they got to my boots I called bullshit! I forced my way up and unbuckled them and kicked them to the floor. I thought, “Hell, I just got those things broken in.”
    I told them my right shoulder was sore. They x-rayed me head to toe. After the doctor reviewed the x-rays, he determined my left shoulder needed attention…but it was the right one that hurt. Old injury I guess; I had neither worked on. I got my face stitched up. John hauled me back to camp. In the meantime, my brother had gone out and picked up all the pieces of my pre-runner (and Scott). When they rolled up, John asked Tom where the bike was. He said its back there, not visible over the side rails of the truck bed. John stuck his head over the side. There she lay. The only thing usable was forks, front tire and wheel, and the motor, which had to be gone through due to induced seizure. Can’t recall if it was broken or not.
    Now 12 hours before the race, a decision had to be made. I had asked the doctor if riding the next day would make the stitches bleed. He didn’t think so, but recommended I not ride, of course. I told John & Al I was good to race. They asked Dean Sundahl if he would fill in if I couldn’t ride. He agreed. He was going to solo on a Kawi. The next morning I awoke to a right eye swollen shut-just a sliver of light getting in. Sundahl was in, and I would watch.
    The race had Allen and Marty Hart even at 100 miles. But Marty in the move from CA to AZ, we had 1 hour or so to get from the end of the CA loop to the start of the AZ loop. Marty missed his start time due to yakking up breakfast . The race finished with Fox & Sundahl overalling. But Honda attempted an underhanded deal to give Marty the 3 minutes he missed at the start line. They were unsuccessful,due to John Tomson not letting Wes Mccoy pull a fast one on SCORE.
    All in all it was a good race. Our team won the thing, I was alive, I could see, and there was only one destroyed pre-runner,and a hefty hospital bill.
    Curiosity damn near killed this cat.


  4. #34
    250rAL is offline Just Too Addicted Arm chair racerJust too addicted
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Sabula,IA
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    618
    Wow, what a story! It's a good thing you're a good jumper. You would have at least lost a leg, if not your life.
    __________________
    '85 ATC250R
    .030 Over Wiseco
    FMF Pipe/Answer silencer
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    Three Wheelin' Since '84

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Santa Barbara, California
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    1,161
    Damn that's crazy! Awesome story and glad you made it out ok
    1985 Honda 200x
    1986 Honda TRX350D - Gone but not forgotten 1982 Honda 185s*sold* 1985 200x*sold* 1983 200x*sold* 1985 ATC70*sold* 2002 Honda 400EX*sold*

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Crest California
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    3,014
    Daamn, that's nuts. Awesome story, glad it turned out for the best.
    LED obsessed
    2015 Yamaha FJ-09

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Lauderdale County, Alabama
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    2,029
    For some reason, it's legends like that that make me want to run it myself. Not to get injured, but the sheer.......heroism of it all. Thats just amazing.
    This is my trike. There are many like it but this one is mine. My trike is my best friend, and it is my life. I must master it as I must master myself. My trike without me is useless. Without my trike, I am useless. I must ride my trike true. My trike and I know that what counts is not the amount of miles we ride, but the time we ride together. My trike is human in it's own ways, therefore I will learn it as my brother. I will learn it's weaknesses, it's strengths, it's parts, and it's soul.

  8. #38
    Billy Golightly's Avatar
    Billy Golightly is offline Always finding new and exciting ways to not give a hoot in hell Catch me if you can
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Live Oak, FL
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    15,066
    Blog Entries
    14
    Mike that is an amazing story. It sounds like you are truly lucky to be a live after that incident. The way the carrier ripped out of the back of that swingarm is just freaking ridiculous, wow!

  9. #39
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    conesus lake NY
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    11,894
    Blog Entries
    1
    awesome,, I was in middle school ..when that all went down! with my 3/4wheeler action...

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    El Cajon, CA
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    32
    Thought you guys might like a little desert action.

    http://exposureroom.com/members/Race...8c0e679946287/

  11. #41
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    OK
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    5,450
    That video is awesome.. Desert racing at it's best or worse depending on how you look at it.
    Rides:
    1986 ATC250R (sectional pipe and Klemm Research silencer)
    1986 ATC250R (Desert Bike, WAX-ON seat, Dual Cibie lights, Steering Stabilizer)
    1979 ATC110 (Bandito frame and forks, Turbo wheels, disc braked)
    1982 ATC70 (Lifan manual 125)
    1987 LT80 (piped, widened)


    My feedback thread
    http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...ack-for-dcreel

    RIP Trace.. Godspeed.

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    El Cajon, CA
    --
    32
    I could smell the burning clutches thru my monitor.The rocky section was 140 miles into that race,some of those guys were whooped.

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Crest California
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    3,014
    When was that race??
    LED obsessed
    2015 Yamaha FJ-09

  14. #44
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    El Cajon, CA
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    32
    The king of the desert was march 6 at Superstition.There is a race this weekend april 3 plaster city west.

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Crest California
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    3,014
    Hmm. I was at Superstition Feb 1st and 2nd, and remember watching something like that. I thought the name Todd Barnhill and the number 1M sounded familiar...
    LED obsessed
    2015 Yamaha FJ-09

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