RDF Raffle & Auction

[Dirtbikindad393]

Hello Everybody,

I want to make you all aware of a RiderDown Foundation Raffle & Auction that I will be hosting later this year.

When:

Saturday, September 6th 2008 at 7:00pm

Where:

Red Mountain riding area near Ridgecrest, Calif.

I have many signed jerseys and other items. Some of the Signature Items are donated by Offroad & Dakar Star Chris Blais, 2007 ISDE E-3 class Champion Kurt Casselli, Baja 1000 winner Kendall Norman, Offroad star and former AMA National Hare & Hound Champion Destry Abbott, 2007 AMA National Hare & Hound Champion David Pearson, Former AMA National Hare & Hound Champion Russ Pearson, Worcs and Big 6 Star Mark Tilley and AMA Superstars such as James Stewart, Chad Reed, Ryan Villipoto amoung others.

I am currently trying to gather up items for the raffle such as gloves, oils, gift certificates, and other items such as chain restaurant gift certificates. Anything that I can put in the raffle bags would help. If you know of a person or company that would be able to help please contact me and lets try to get a donation.

This raffle will take place on Saturday night of a two day District 37 racing event. I expect a large crowd and hope to have a big time turn out for the raffle. If you are a So Cal local RDF volunteer and would like to help in anyway contact me and lets talk.

Thank you for your time.

Dane

[Walker Sky Ranch]

Dane
Awesome.. I look forward to it.. I will see what I can round up for your raffle over the summer..
Les

[Tatonka]

Most Excellent! :thumb

Thank you Dane for all the work you have put in already to organize and promote this event. I'll work on procuring some additional items as well. D37 is a very important group for this sport, seems like you guys always have something going on!

Great job - keep us updated!!

[Dirtbikindad393]

Dane
Awesome.. I look forward to it.. I will see what I can round up for your raffle over the summer..
Les


Les Thank you!

One of the items donated by Chris Blais is his actual 2005 Dakar Jersey signed. I also forgot to mention a signed Kurt Casselli Jersey also.

[Tatonka]

Those are two highly prized items!! :thumb

[Tatonka]

Dane has a report from this event, from what I've been told it went very, very well! :thumb Hopefully we can get a detailed review up soon....

[Dirtbikindad393]

Saturday night, September 6th was a great evening for RiderDown.org. We held a raffle at the Lost Coyotes Desert race up in Red Mountain, CA. It was a hot weekend with many riders doing races both days on two different courses. We set up our ticket booth under the Amsoil tent right next to the crowd at signups and sat there from 7:30 am until the raffle started at 7:00pm. We had a FANTASTIC response and ticket sales were pretty consistent throughout the day.

When it came time to hold the raffle, Lipert Racing was kind enough to let us use the back of their box van with lighting and producing somewhat of a stage so that everyone in the crowd could see & hear. Last minute ticket sales held up the start of the raffle. It was then that we realized exactly how much booty we had to raffle off. We also were able to auction off some prized autographed jerseys and gear.

We were very honored to have Chris Blais and his wife Patty in attendance. They brought some really cool KTM bling to add to the mix. One of the items we auctioned off was Chris’s 2005 Dakar jersey signed and it brought in $275.00. We also auctioned off a jersey signed by almost every major SX star that was in attendance at Anaheim I earlier this year including Ricky Carmicheal. There was also a signed helmet by James Stewart donated by Kawasaki as well as many other nice items.

Because we had so much stuff, the entire raffle took just over two hours and raised over $4,100.00. Chris Blais brought a bunch of his posters and sat taking pictures & autographing them for at least a half hour after the raffle ended.

Special thanks to Chris & Patty Blais, Paul Lipert, JW Simons of Sharpshooters Photography, Heather & Ashley Gongora, the Lost Coyotes for hosting our raffle and many more I am sure I am forgetting by name. Besides the money raised, this raffle in particular brought attention to RiderDown.org and our cause here in District 37 and the Southern California area.

Dane

[Walker Sky Ranch]

Dane.. awesome!! Thanks for all the support, I wish I could of been there!!

Chris’s 2005 Dakar jersey signed and it brought in $275.00 DANG I really wish I was there!!

[Tatonka]

A huge thank you goes out to Dane and everyone involved in this event!

This support couldn't come at a better time given the rash of recent injuries we have seen, particularly in the Southern California region.

[Dirtbikindad393]

It was an awesome night for sure! I have to tell one little story because it really meant alot to me what this person did.

This raffle was really almost a year in the making. I originally had it scheduled for last year and the race it was to be held at was cancelled by the hosting club. I then went into talks to having it at one of the National Hare & Hounds early this year but one of the hosting club members had past away suddenly and they held a raffle to help that members children. The whole time I had slowly been gathering items for raffling or auctioning. In the end I negotiated with the Lost Coyotes to have the raffle on their race weekend and to add the raffle to their race flyer.

As the raffle drew near one of our own D-37 racers was severly injured in the Vegas to Reno race. I made reference to RDF helping this rider as well as the many others that have been injured lately and people started calling almost on a daily basis to donate items.

One of these people was a man named Ran Hooper of Hooper Information & Technologies. He donated 5 19" Hewlett Packard flat monitors but requested that they be auctioned to maximize the funds rather than be raffled for a 1.00 ticket. I told him absolutely we would do that. one or two days before the auction he called back and said he found another one and wanted to donate it, so now we are up to 6 monitors retail value 215.00 each.

I pulled out one monitor and started the auction and it went to 60.00 and sold! I then told the crowd that I had another who wanted it at 60.00? The hands started raising so I pointed to 5 more people and we sold the 6 monitors all at once. I had people handling the auction moneys so I could keep moving on with the raffle. One person in the crowd walked up and paid 60.00 cash and walked away with the monitor. In the crazyness of the raffle/auction it turned out he wasn't one I pointed at but my people didn't know that. The first buyer of the first monitor walked to their car to get a check and pay for it and when they got back there was no more monitors. Oops!!! The worst part is it was the wife of Anthony Modica's team partner in the longer BITD and Score Races. I told her to give me her address and I would try to get another one.

I called Ran Hooper on Monday and explained the situation and offered to pay his cost on another monitor so we could could get her one. He said, that was crazy, and he had saved a couple more at his shop for replacements for the company that he installed these at. He said he would donate the 7th monitor and ship it to her at his cost. Wow oh wow is this one cool dude or what?

Hooper Informatiom & Technology if you have to buy some IT products give them a call first and see if they can help you. (661) 816-6254.

Its just one of a bunch of cool little nuances behind the scenes of our raffle.

Dane

[xr650rocketman]

Don't you just love stories like this?

I've said it before but it still holds true.....The love of Motorcycling is the great equalizer.

What an uplifting story.

[Riding the Metro]

Dane - thanks for your efforts and hard work.
Art

[Tatonka]

This fundraiser has really allowed us to reach deeper into the D37 racing community and support guys like Josh Morros & Anthony Modica in a more meaningful way. Thank you again Dane!!

:dbike: