Of all the people for this crazyness to happen to and it's Cade....

Remmy11

Noob
I was reading about this article this morning and just couldn't even believe it. Cade has posted a response about it on his face book page... Check it out and what do yall think??


NOTICE OF OFFENSE AND PENALTY

Date of Notice: May 27, 2015

Date of Offense: May 23, 2015

Event: Glen Helen National

Crew: Don Leib and Josh Pitts (aka Todd Pitts)

Ruling Official: Roy Janson, Competition Director

Background:

On May 23, 2015, Cade Clason was officially entered to compete in the 450 Class at the Glen Helen National in San Bernardino, California, and his motorcycle officially approved during the pre-race Technical Inspection process. Clason’s official registered machine was a 2015 Honda CRF450R. Through the qualifying process Clason made the Final 40 and was slated to compete in the main motos.

Approximately one hour prior to the start of the first moto, Josh Pitts, a technician familiar with Clason’s motorcycle, approached the machine where it was located in Clason’s pit area, and spoke with Clason’s mechanic, John Shelton, about an ongoing problem with the machine. Under the auspices that he could adjust the mapping for better performance, and Shelton gave Pitts access to the machine. Pitts attached a computer to the machine’s ECU, but instead of correcting the problem, disabled the mapping, thereby making the machine inoperable for competition. Pitts then left the area without disclosing to Shelton what he had done. Unbeknownst to Shelton, Don Leib had previously arranged for Pitts to disable the machine at the event in an effort to settle an ongoing dispute regarding an alleged outstanding debt.

Soon thereafter, both Pitts and Leib returned to the Clason pit area to confront the Clason family about the alleged debt. Leib was asked repeatedly to leave the Clason pit area. He refused and informed them what he had done to the bike, as a result of their failure to pay the money that he claimed was owed.

For nearly 30 minutes Leib argued with the family, indicating he could fix the problem if they would agree to pay. Leib admitted that he disabled the bike with the intention to “create leverage to have dialogue”. They refused to pay, and Leib and Pitts left the scene and the event prior to the commencement of the race. Leib recorded the confrontation surreptitiously.

Determination:

The ownership of the machine and the status of the alleged debt or who owed it are irrelevant for the purposes of this determination. It is clear that the intent of the action was to force the Clason’s to agree to terms of payment under duress, at a time when they were under extreme pressure and time constraints.

This is a civil matter, and by engaging in self-help measures rather than means available through the civil judicial system, the pair intentionally interfered with the performance of a professional racer officially entered and qualified for a national event for the purpose of collecting a debt, and unnecessarily caused a scene in the paddock, requiring security and race officials to respond.

The actions of Leib and Pitts in sabotaging a machine officially entered in competition in an effort to collect a personal debt, were not only egregious and vindictive, but potentially endangered the welfare and safety of Clason in particular, and other riders and spectators in general.

Such conduct is deemed detrimental to the sport of motorcycle racing and thereby subject to disciplinary action, pursuant to Appendix A of the 2015 AMA Pro Racing Motocross Rule Book. Accordingly, the eligibility of Leib and Pitts to obtain an MX Sports Pro Racing credential is suspended indefinitely, and they are hereby prohibited from entering the Pro Paddock at any Lucas Oil Pro Motocross event until further notice. Violation of this prohibition will be deemed trespass and subject to criminal prosecution.
 
When you don't pay your bills s**t happens ....not sure it was handled professionally . The vital threads got interesting on this one .
 
Here is a follow up response by Davey Coombs at vitalmx.

Okay, I did a little more digging, including listening to the 27-minute tape that Don Leib recorded when he executed this plan to get paid by the Clasons, then sent to me to try to explain his actions. It's an unfortunate deal all around, but calling Cade Clason a deadbeat is neither fair nor accurate.

Apparently the original deal was with Al Albiker's AG Motor Sports team for supercross, which Cade rode for, and when that fell through by Dallas, his grandma Debra offered to pay for the bike so Cade could keep racing. She agreed to pay off the bike in three installments – two of which were paid. But when she reviewed the invoice that was emailed to her after she agreed to make the payments, the invoice originally prepared for AG, she discovered items that were not on Cade’s bike, and refused to make the final payment. According to the Clason’s, the final payment was owed by AG and they were not going to pay for parts or engine work they did not receive. Not sure who is at fault there or who ended up with the parts, if AG removed them prior to giving the bike to Clason or not, but they felt it was between AG and Don at that point. But according to Don, he knew AG could not pay the invoice, and he wanted Clason to pay for the original unit.

And it wasn't Don who approached the bike or was asked to work on it, it was Josh Pitts (who works for Leib) who acted like he was there to help, only to disable the bike instead. Don showed up moments later, with the race rapidly approaching, and offered to remap the bike if the Clasons agreed to make the final payment. Debra asked him to leave many times, but he wouldn't, nor would he fix the bike back to where it was before Pitts did his thing. It started getting hostile, security was called, as well as MX Sports officials. At that point Don Leib left the facility with Pitts, leaving the Clasons with a disabled bike. At no point did he bring this to our attention, the AMA's or Glen Helen's. He did however contact the police and his attorney before the race – both of which advised him it was a civil matter and that it would be best to negotiate a deal. But since when does “negotiate” equate to confrontation, sabotage and sketchy debt collection practices?

Add it all up and no one wins, but calling Cade a deadbeat and scum bug is way too much. So it appears that he did pay for the bike, or at least most of it, he just didn’t want to pay for someone else’s stuff. By the way, I had never met the kid until after this went down, but I have known Don and his wife and son for many years and long considered all of them friends. This whole saga was avoidable and could have been sorted out afterwards; but taking it upon himself and Josh Pitts to knock Clason out of the race for a deal gone bad with a third party (AG) was just reckless. He should have listened to his attorney.

DC
MX Sports
 
I do not know the Clason's, but from what a few have said, it would not be a problem for Grandma to write the check, but as DC alluded to, she felt she was asked to pay for parts/mods that were not on Cade's bike.
bruce
 
Who should have paid the bill? The guy that didn't get some of what he (or his
grandma) thought he was getting? Or the guy that originally made the deal.

Like Davey said, shoulda listened to his attorney.
 
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