Get Your Motor Running

Executive Report by John Reblin

It’s the start of a new year full of goals and promises. Along with the bright start of the New Year, it is also dark by 5 pm and the sun is struggling to show up by 7 am. Throw in the temperature in some 20’s when you wake up and peaking out at 40 degrees, makes for not a lot of time to enjoy motorcycles like you do in the summer time with Bike Nights along with car shows, warm weather with the sun shining down and, if you’re getting up in the years, a hat to protect the head from burning. Maybe, it is just getting out and riding the scenic roads in Wisconsin, seeing the groups of bikes at a brat fry, burger hut, or tavern, looking for a familiar bike, or just stopping to meet with like-minded folks that I miss.

So, what do you do in these colder days? Well, we at ABATE of Wisconsin are thinking the same thing and came up with a solution that, hopefully, will give you something to do whiling away the time until spring. ABATE of Wisconsin is again supporting the efforts of Eric Schulke, better known as “Sideways Shakes” racing, his bike plated as 9x. The first race of the year was December 3^rd at the Fiserv Forum at Flat Out Friday – part of the Mama Tried extravaganza held over the weekend.

Consider catching up with Sideways and show him some ABATE of Wisconsin support and love and get a copy of his schedule. When finalized it will be in the newsletter or on Facebook. These races all year are fairly relaxed, with access to other areas of the track, with a lot of people there to meet and make new friends.

I, Steve and Jen, along with a few others that I know, made it down to Flat Out Friday and were able to see some motorcycle racing inside the Fiserv Forum. I find it pretty amazing how they can take a venue, remove the flooring and create different uses for the Fiserv to generate income. It could be a world class music act rocking the house or a championship rodeo, all working around the Milwaukee Bucks and their home basketball schedule. But we, and a few thousand people, saw motorcycle racing on the concrete with a coating of Dr. Pepper syrup providing traction. It was great seeing people young and old, along with people that I knew, enjoying the racing. I was there in 2019 and planned on going in 2020 but Covid fears canceled the event, and it came back stronger than ever this year. Of course, they had food and beverages along with the normal swag of t-shirts and things, but I was there to see the racing.

It was an exciting night of racing with different classes, female, small kids, a fun goofy race along with the Hooligan races. Hooligan races is what I was there for. For you that don’t know what this class is I got this from an old Thunder Press article. “It harkens back to a time when any American could strip down a street bike in the barn or a backyard shed, ride it to the track, race at a local track, and, if fortunate, ride it home again.” “The rules are simple: basically, any street bike with a 750cc or larger engine, a stock frame, 19-inch wheels for dirt track tires, and no front brakes. (The bike’s geometry cannot be altered; you can’t change steering-head angle or triple trees to get sharper steering.” Now that you know what it is, ABATE of Wisconsin is sponsoring Sideway Shakes riding 9X in this class and I was there to support him. He did well in his heat but on this first trip out on the track he did not place high enough to get into the finals. However, he has a busy schedule in front of him this year racing and with time to get the bike dialed in and support, he will move up in the standings. As the schedule finalizes, we will be sharing it with the regions so you will be able to get out and see some motorcycle races and cheer “Shakes” on.

Officer’s Training is right around the corner, and I look forward for some really good discussion on how to improve how we work and keep making progress as the premier motorcycle rights organization in the United States. We have all been working hard to make this one as successful as the ones in the past with some improvements and fun things to do. Hopefully, we will see you there.

One other event that I want to promote is one that is near and dear to me, the Randy and Janine Memorial Fisheree taking place on January 15^th at Nuckleheadz Bar and Grill in West Bend on Little Cedar Lake. This is the 11^th Annual Fisheree and was started after a right-of-way crash took the lives of Randy and Janine. This was a case that ABATE of Wisconsin followed closely in Washington County. Randy enjoyed ice fishing and it made him really happy when he could share this love with the younger generation. Ralph Schneider and Tim Sutter got the event going with the help of Michelle Schommer, “Ernie,” and many others 11 years ago. Ralph, Michelle with the help of others are still involved today, donating all the money raised to ABATE of Wisconsin in order to promote motorcycle awareness. Over the years they have raised $31,809.45 and ALL of those profits came to us. So, stop out, have some food, buy a raffle ticket, do some fishing, or stop and say hi, have a beverage and show these guys some support for what they are doing to help raise motorcycle awareness.

Ride Your Own Ride.

John