Springfield Pro Singles Last Lap Crash

• Larry Lawrence

It was all on the line for Brad Baker and James Rispoli at the Springfield Short Track Pro Singles final. Rispoli, 10 points down in the championship, knew he had to finish in front of Baker to have a realistic shot at winning the title in Pomona next month. So Rispoli did what he needed to do and tried to make a desperate inside pass on Baker in the final turn. The result was a hard contact. Hit from behind, Baker’s head jerked from the impact, but he held on to his Honda and guided it to victory. For Rispoli it was the agony of defeat as he crashed giving it everything he could. The innocent bystander of the red-hot battle was third place Jeffrey Carver, who had nowhere to go, hit Rispoli’s bike and joined him on the deck.

10 thoughts on “Springfield Pro Singles Last Lap Crash”

  1. Great sequence Larry. James describes it a little different to his sponsors but you surely understood exactly what was on the line. James left nothing to the imagination for the fans; it was “win it or bin it.” It was unfortunate that Carver was collected unintentionally by the incident, however that’s exactly how the season started for James when he had no where to go at the first Daytona race when JD Beach went down in front of him that put him 23 points in the hole at the start of the season. That’s racing….. Thanks for the professional pix and overview.

    Philip Rispoli

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  2. Philip

    I think James had an honest chance to pass Brad. From my perspective he almost was alongside when the rear end of James’ bike stepped out causing the impact. I think it was a great effort and he almost pulled it off. I don’t think Brad was upset about it. In fact he said on the podium he wished James and Jeffrey could have joined him on the podium.

    How is James? He looked like he was limping afer the crash.

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  3. Larry

    James is fine..He is not known by his fellow racers as a dirty rider and he of course never felt for one minute the move he did was dirty. Agressive, yes. Some pro’s told him after the race he needed to go in even harder to make a move like that work. It’s funny, because James tells the story that he saw the move well in advance of him actually going for it. That at the end Brad got it turned and instead of looking around the corner toward the finish line to finish off the move, James looked at Brad’s number plate for a split second and he knew he blew it at that instance. Anyway, James has a few bruises, a stiff shoulder from the impact but he is good and ready to race again this weekend. It made for a long trip home, with a lot of conversation about the year and all that was accomplished between road racing, dirt track and of course the landspeed record. I felt the pro series exceeded the expectations that was set for it all season long. I do want to see the media do more in reporting on their racing and not just give them a line or two in a publication like Cycle News who knows better. These are the future stars and they deserve that recognition as they put their life on the line as much as their expert counter parts week in and week out trying to make it to the top of the heap. Thanks you for all you have done this season for dirt track and especially for the exposure you gave the young guns; you’re one of the good guys of the sport and it doesn’t go unnoticed…

    Philip

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  6. I had no doubt Brad would win the Championship no matter what anyone did, and to James “THE ROCKET” Rispoli Quote: you were going as fast as you ever had BUT YA FELL OFF. “Big Fauss and Little Halsey” end Quote

    Unfortunately Jeffery Carver got the worst end of the deal.

    Larry Larry Larry what ya doing with that much lens on a ST? 🙂

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  7. Jim,

    Believe or not I was shooting from one of the turns 3-4 temporary stands on the outside. It was a perfect angle for getting riders in a group entering turn 3. The 300mm has the added bonus of compressing the action and making the bikes look even closer together.

    Thanks
    Larry

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  8. Actually I was shooting with a 135-300 but I was a little farther away, this Sigma 135-300 is a great lens but heavy and I havent really given it much service but with the tri pod the pictures seemed a lot more steady, will give it another shot tomorrow at Richwood on the manfroto pod.

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