Day One at the Bonneville Salt Flats
Update from our Krew on the Salt -
FROM LAURA -
The krew arrived safely to the hotel in Wendover Utah about 2 a.m. on Sunday morning ... Slept for a few hours, and were up and at 'em ready to get the pit area setup, get the bikes inspected and all the technical things out of the way so they could race!
They report that the salt is in excellent condition and while it was pretty windy in the early hours Sunday a.m., the wind died down and it was a nice day. Everyone passed tech inspection, so Michelle, Tiadra, Chris, Erika and Karlee got in line about 1 p.m. They were each able to make 1 pass today, and all report very successful shakedown runs. A couple of them are riding for the first time (Tiadra and Chris) and others on new bikes (Karlee)..so they used the first pass of the trip to make sure everything was working great.
Laura hasn't run yet because she is working on a fun project with Bushtec trailers...watch for more on this! BUT Tex of TexEfx and his wife Melissa flew to salt lake and met the krew on the salt to get the Bushtec trailer pinstriped to match Laura's victory vision. Pin striping live and a motorcycle trailer are both things that you don't really see out on the salt, so it drew some attention. Laura reports that she enjoyed watching her daughters and the rest of KW krew do a pass and will be ready to take her first run right away tomorrow.
The krew also reports feeling very blessed by the help of our sponsors...the pit area looks GREAT thanks to Interstate batteries and if you stop by to see them they have Shogun energy drink to share with you too!
The new paint on 5 of the bikes made quite an impression!
"It was great to see friends from the salt that we get to see here once a year, and we met some great new friends today also!", reports Brian. "I couldn't be more proud of our krew. The team back home taking care of business and the team out here representing Klock Werks and our sponsors in a professional manner. They're also having fun, which is good to see."
"What a way to start out on Monday morning? Watching the sun rise on the Bonneville salt flats and preparing to go as fast as we can!" Laura shared this Sunday night while heading to bed. The alarm is going to go off early Monday and the team is ready to race!
More to come....Laura Klock
FROM BRIAN -
Day one and I am humbled and so proud. I am blessed and amazed and overwhelmingly filled with a pride that comes from camaraderie, family, and the many successes of Team Klock Werks and our talented crew.
A few customers pulled up on baggers this morning, one of them was rockin an 8.5" Flare on his batwing, cool in its own way. I watched as so many friends stopped by to say "good morning" to the Klock Werks girls. I ran into Jeff Koons and his wife Tonjia at tech inspection. Jeff and I met in Daytona 2008 at the Nascar 500 race, again over the same Flare windshield born right here at Bonneville. He works for Joe Gibbs Racing, another much more famous team blessed by the sponsorship of Norm Miller and the team at Interstate Batteries.
Our own Vic Briggs, enjoying his first day ever on the Salt, asked me this morning what day my anniversary was as Laura blessed me with a family and two beautiful daughters by taking my hand in marriage on September 2nd, 2007 right here on this legendary natural wonder and race track to the world.
Meanwhile Noah Ahrens, another fellow employee and first timer to the Salt commented "This is one of the coolest and wildest places I have ever been", I smiled and assured him I get that.
We later ran into the same fellows on the morning baggers, and they were from Pittsburgh. They shared that they had stopped at the shop in Mitchell and Makel took 20 minutes to show them around, they were impressed, I was Proud - again.
Our bikes in their official new team colors looked amazing thanks to Brad Smith's efforts. The Shogun was on ice, Pirelli's coated w Salt and smiles all around the team. I think you can see the trend here. We looked fun in our green Interstate hats and black Klock Werks Logo T's. All of our sponsors have been so amazing!!
From 13-year-old Tiadra and Chris Degen making their first passes, Karlee piloting a bike transformed in 6 days and powered by a ProCharger, to Erika and Michelle on a Buell and a Yamaha Warrior with fresh looks they all made a safe and initial pass, bugs and butterflies are done ready for tomorrow. Dave Sietsma is knocking the trigger off his camera and documenting yet another historic outing overseen by the faithful leadership of Randy Rothlisberger, Dan Cheeseman, and Joe Mielke. Sense any pride there...
We have Laura's new Bushtec Entourage trailer here and the infamous Tex of TexEfx and his beautiful wife Melissa have joined us to match the incredible pin striping he laid down on Laura's Vision during Sturgis two weeks ago to the new tow toy! Quite a site to see raw talent live being laid down on her custom personal Victory.
Laura met salt legend, Warner Riley. We are pitted next to Roger Goldammer, renowned custom bike builder and friend, ran into Jeff Decker of Hippodrome Studios and some of his rare collectibles being photographed by our friend Horst Rosler of Germany. Friendly faces like Ronnie Schmitz from Minneapolis, Drew Gatewood, photographer Scooter Grub, AMA Ken, Santa Claus Tom Anderson of Buell Brothers, Oliver Shokuh of Glendale HD,Jay Allen from the Broken Spoke, the NHRS team, T-Man Reiser and his 215 HP 98 Inch bagger, Darin from MTI and his kids, all the faithful volunteers, the guys from Prescott, some new friends from Canada, sensing family, friends, any pride and all this from just day one!!
I sign this tonight as a man who has been blessed with a family, an amazing staff and team whom I love like family, and someone who has been given a chance to give back to the motorcycle industry with the Flare windshield product line, yes I am humbled and proud. Thanks be to God and all of you. It's another great day...Brian Klock
Today, Monday, August 30, the Krew reported that the salt is closed this morning because of the rain last night. Stay tuned for updates from Day two on the Salt!!