analyse this?

[EastBayDave]

crash at Sears Point, 1984, Golden Gate Challenge (running 2nd behind Rich Oliver.) Turn 3A, got into a tankslapper & it pitched me off; still not sure why. Result was broken foot/hand, concussion & endoed/totaled bike. Also end of racing career due to financial issues resultant from crash ("what? you can't make it to work cuz of motorcycle crash??!?!? YOUR FIRED!!!!")

Only clue to the biggest bail of my racing career was a small 'slapper the previous lap same place (hmm....), & there was grease sweep on the outside of turn from a previous bail in the previous race. I have no clue & still wonder to this day; but the guy behind me said I got wide into the grease sweep & lost the rear mid-wheelie on the crest of 3A...

Note in pic ripped out the chest/coat zipper fighting the tankslapper.

Clues: Just set my fastest lap ever on previous lap. I was wacking it early trying to catch "little Rich" who was slowly pulling away. I had finally just passed 2nd place that had been holding me up the whole race, now only 2 laps left. Over exuberance?

Speculation?

 

[MrCrash]

Did your front end leave the ground or get really light in 3A? If it did and was set down at any sort of angle, that's generally enough to start off an oscillation, right? If you're still just slightly leaned over while finishing up the turn, you might still be placing some input on the bars as it gets light there, placing the wheel just out of line.

I sometimes get the shakes coming out of 8A at Infineon for that very reason. It's not much of a wheelie when I do it, but it's enough to get the bike to protest a little bit.

 

[Holeshot]

Mike's going where I'm going too, Dave. You were going faster and faster, correct? Perhaps the rebound dampening in the front end wasn't quite fast enough as you sped up...hanging the front wheel slightly?

 

[ChuckBecker]

...If it did and was set down at any sort of angle, that's generally enough to start off an oscillation...

And at high speed ... yeah ... this sounds most plausible to me.