Kawasaki Zero to Hero Challenge - I need your votes!!!

[Galaxieman]

Hey guys, I'm posting on all the forums I'm a member of trying to drum up support and get votes. I got selected as one of the Semi-finalists in Kawasaki's Zero to Hero Challenge. There are 8 of us, and after the public voting period is over, 4 finalists will be selected to attend Rickey Gadson's Drag Racing School in Las Vegas. Once they complete the school and qualify for NHRA bracket racing licenses, the final 4 will complete in a 4-man tournament, the winner of which will race Rickey Gadson for a shot at winning a ZX-14R!

By way of my 'qualifications' here, I've got a 2009 Tiguan with over 70,000 miles which I bought new in April '09... I'm not just some dude who signed up on the forum to try and pimp myself for votes. That said, since I was already a member of this forum... I'm posting this to ask for your votes! I'm the U.S. Army Major, with (as one of the guys on another forum described it) the 'demented Popeye' photo. Please click the link below and toss a vote my way!


Click the pic and vote for James M!

[xombiesarelove]

Voted for you out of sheer boredom.

[autotragik b3attlewagen]

voted

[atomicalex]

OMG, you are here, too?

Voted (again).

[Galaxieman]

Hey Alex. Yep, I'm on here too... Thankfully the Vortex forums have a space for 'motorcycle' stuff that's at least a bit more specific than the 'off-topic' section of some of the other forums I'm on. I'm trying to get the word spread as far and wide as I can, mostly due to my being hamstrung on the social media front. I've got the "I'm in the Army" card, but I can't get the word out as wide as I'd like (official facebook page, etc) due to ethics regulations.

So, if folks here would be so kind as to head over to the zero to hero link and vote for James M, I'd be much obliged! Thanks!

[Galaxieman]

Two weeks left in the public voting phase. Thanks to everyone who has voted thus far, please keep it up! Assuming the re-captcha image isn't too stupid to try and decipher, it takes less than 10 seconds... and you can vote daily! Thanks for the votes, please keep 'em coming!

Click the pic and vote for James M!

[hrama803]

I voted.

that code thing was a b!tch

[atomicalex]

Vortex is a good place to call home, actually.

[Galaxieman]

Another day, another request for votes. Please, if you're riding, stay safe out there. I'm hitting up all the forums every morning, and in the same board as where I'm posting my vote request at one of my bike forums... a thread announcing that we had a man go down because a drunk driver plowed into him from behind at speed while he was waiting to turn left. A piece of this, for me, is about doing this thing that I love, but trying to teach people to do it safely. We're more vulnerable out there, remember that, and watch out for yourselves.

[Snowhere]

voted!

[Galaxieman]

Hey folks, just thought I'd check in here and share a little work I've been doing to promote motorcycle safety, and where I managed to get my Zero to Hero contest status into print. I've been working with Xcel trackdays out of Phoenix, AZ to get military riders to come out for their 15 April trackday at Inde Motorsports Ranch. As a way to try and promote that, and 'going fast the right way', I worked with the PAO on post to get the following article written. Check out page 1B at the link below, it's the PDF version of the Fort paper:

http://www.aerotechnews.com/forthuac...4052012A20.pdf


And I'm covered for the Zero to Hero plug because "This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the U.S. Army. Contents of The Fort Huachuca Scout are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, Department of Army or the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence and Fort Huachuca."

It took a bit more lead time to get the print article done vice getting the word out over facebook, but hopefully we'll get some good interest in the trackday, and (secondarily) I might get a couple more votes in the deal. Thanks for voting, keep 'em coming through 14 April!

[Galaxieman]

Here's a better link to the article by itself:

http://www.aerotechnews.com/forthuac...eed-for-speed/

The publisher put the digital version up on their website, so you don't have to wade through the entire post paper to get to the article. Thanks for voting, and please keep the votes coming!

[Galaxieman]

The race for 4th is really heating up... please keep voting and help keep me ahead of them! I'll be in class all week with limited internet access, so it'll be a quick 'please vote' thread bump, then I'm off to class... I'm hitting up all the forums and blowing up facebook as we head down the stretch. Voting is open through this Saturday, so please keep it up! Thanks everyone for voting, I really can't say it enough!

[disenfranchised]

Voted for you, because why not. Good luck!

[VR]

voted - hope you get a chance!!!

[Galaxieman]

Five more chances to vote, please use all of them! Voting closes Saturday, so I imagine all of the contestants will be working a big push here at the end. Vote, cross-post the link over on facebook, tell your friends... every vote helps! I'm still in 2nd place, but with the swing from 6th that Shawn E has made (currently in 4th), it could still be anybody's game. Please vote!

[Galaxieman]

Daily thread bump, with 4 days to go. I'm still currently managing to hold onto 2nd place, but with the swing in percentage points that have happened over the past week, I need every vote I can get to make sure I stay in the top 4. It takes less than 15 seconds to vote, so if you vote today and every day through Saturday you're out less than a minute... please click on the Zero to Hero link in my Signature and vote for me!

[Galaxieman]

28 days down, three to go. I'm holding onto 2nd place, and am within 5 percentage points of 1st, which is pretty amazing considering the leader has around 1700 more facebook friends than I do. Forum communities are where it's at, which is why I can't thank you all enough for voting. Please keep it up!

[Galaxieman]

Two days left! Vote, gets your co-workers to vote, get your (other) friends to vote, hit facebook... I knew the race would get a bit crazy at the end, just gotta stay in the top 4, but with the last-minute flail, I knew 2nd through 4th would dice it up a bit. Please vote and pass it along to others to do the same, just today and tomorrow left!!! I'm no longer running solo in 2nd place, please vote so I can stay in the running and don't drop down the order!!!

[Galaxieman]

Thank you all for voting! I ended up with 18%, putting me solidly in 2nd place. The Kawasaki judges, NHRA Medical folks, etc., etc. will now get all their stuff together, and on 2 May they'll announce the 4 official finalists! With such a good showing in the public voting, I should be picked up, and I am truly humbled by the amount of support I got from all my 'forum families'. Again, thank you all!

[Slick-Wicked Fan]

Rickey called Angie tonight and invited her to Vegas. Did you get the call? I hope you made the cut. Slick-Wicked supports the military and we thank you for your service.