ECTA in wilmington racer killed

prayers for him and family Motorcyclist dies during air park racing

[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]GARY HUFFENBERGER[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Staff Writer[/FONT]


[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]A motorcycle rider died Sunday during racing at the Wilmington Air Park, possibly caused by a medical emergency.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Seventy-three-year-old Gerald “Jerry” H. Deneau from Manassas, Va. was pronounced dead at the site by a Clinton County Coroner’s Office staffer after Deneau’s motorcycle at 9:11 a.m. Sunday traveled off the end of the runway and kept going.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]According to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office crash report about the incident, Deneau was timed at 170 mph during his East Coast Timing Association (ECTA) timed ride. After having reached the finish line and continuing on, Deaneau’s 2000 Kawasaki struck a guide wire to a guard rail, then went into a ditch, the report said.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]The motorcycle started flipping, said the crash report, and Deaneau landed against a chain link fence.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]The motorcycle flipped over the fence where it landed, added the report.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]On Monday, ECTA President Joe Timney said, “He had over a mile to stop the vehicle and nothing happened. People are kind of suspecting a medical emergency. We are hoping the autopsy can shed light on that.”[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]The motorcycle was impounded by local law enforcement for examination, said Timney.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Timney said Deneau on Saturday had met the progressively higher speed limits for an ECTA rookie — 125 mph and 150 mph. Deneau had reached those speeds during “several rides at both” speeds, said Timney.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Accordingly, by Sunday morning he had qualified to make a 175 mph run, the ECTA president said.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Timney said Deaneau “obviously was skilled” and had been in control of his motorcycle up to the point of the incident.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]“It shook us all up,” said Timney. “There were lots of long faces. This makes you question what you are doing.”[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]The racing was shut down for about 4 1/2 hours, during which many racers left, he said.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Racers For Christ chaplain Dave Britton of Huber Heights, Ohio was at the ECTA weekend event.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Following the death of Deneau, a mandatory meeting for racers plus a prayer service were held at the air park.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Britton on Monday said the gist of his prayer was: “We trust that Gerald is now in God’s hands. Father, help us understand, that we may never understand, why our fellow racer lost his life. We are a family and must lift each other up as a family.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]“Please protect us from further harm. Allow us to minister to Gerald’s family in this time of sorrow. Thank you for the first responders as they see to our emergency needs,” recalled Britton.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]A friend of the deceased, Cristiana Moss, wrote an online comment about the racing death on the News Journal website:[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]“Jerry, we will miss you so much. Your departure has left us stunned and speechless. Our only hope is to believe that you were doing something you loved so much, and that you left us on your terms. With love and appreciation of your friendship. John, Cristiana and Matthew”[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]Timney said Deneau was an avid street rider who liked high-performance vehicles.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]There were two fatal incidents or crashes in ECTA events at Maxton, N.C. where the organization held its land speed racing events from 1995 through 2011, said Timney.[/FONT]
[FONT=ARIAL, SANS SERIF]One of those prior fatalities was a medical situation, Timney said, and the other one was where “someone disregarded all of our requirements and went all out on a first run.”[/FONT]
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Very sad. My heartfelt condolences to the family.

 

Sorry to hear. Prayers to family and friends.

 

My condolences to family and friends.

 

My condolences to family and friends.We had a simular accident with a car off the end of Famoso few years back

 

Sad news indeed. My condolences to the family and friends.