No Excuses,
Madonna Orand Takes it in Stride
www.ultimatebikeshootout.com
By Spencer Brandkamp
On a cool November
night in Bowling Green Kentucky, 26 year old Madonna Orand
lines up for an 1/8 mile run at the Beech Bend Raceway Park.
Her 115lb frame sits upon a stock 2000 Kawasaki ZX12. As the
tree comes down, the bike shakes, the clutch is released and
a girl from West Virginia hits the 1/8 mile beam in 5.859
seconds - on a STOCK street bike.
Those in the crowd
are fully aware of the impressive nature of the run even if
they don’t know or understand the history. Those who
do know the history know that for Madonna Orand even making
a pass is a monumental show of strength and will. Years of
physical and emotional setbacks would be excuse enough for
most men to leave the industry. For Madonna, getting off the
bike has never been an option.
Madonna Orand was
born in 1977 in Lewis County West Virginia - in the small
town of Weston along with her twin sister, Ladonna. Motorcycles
were not a part of here life as a child and it wasn’t
until high school that she had her first taste. It was then
that a boyfriend introduced her to a Yamaha TT350 dirt bike.
The seed was planted. Though she begged her parents to help
her purchase her own, parental concern won out and Madonna
would have to wait.
After high school
Madonna looked to make her own way in the world and headed
to the city of Nashville to go to school and establish a career.
It was there that the for mentioned seed would sprout under
the light of what else - another boy with a bike. That boy
was Quinn Orand; a Nashville native and avid motorcycle drag
racer.
The two met through friends and the subject of motorcycles
quickly came up. Quinn bragged of his new Yamaha FZR600 as
Madonna insisted on giving it a try. Quinn doubted that Madonna’s
small frame could even hold up the bike, not to mention ride
it. She soon proved him wrong and a love affair was born.
Quinn Orand grew
up in Greenbrier Tennessee and has always loved bikes. At
six Quinn received a Honda Trail 70 as a Christmas gift. By
sixteen he was deep into motocross and picked up drag racing
in his mid twenties.
Drag Racing quickly became a part of the relationship with
Madonna’s first pass down a track on a ‘93 FZR600.
Both spent 1998 running at the Music City Raceway and other
Midwest tracks racing for points and small amounts of cash.
But, as the 1999 season got underway, Madonna would experience
her first serious setback in the sport that had become such
a huge part of her life.
On May 9th, Mother’s
Day 1999 Madonna got on her Suzuki GSXR750 at their Greenbrier
Tennessee home and headed for town. Just yards from the house,
on the first bend in the road Madonna took the turn at rate
of speed that no level of experience would have warranted.
The bike left the road and careened into the local woods.
Madonna cleared the bike and found herself in a neighbor’s
yard.
After getting her
bearings she attempted to stand - but couldn’t. She
remembers a man from across the street coming to her aid.
She remembers him calling her ‘son’ over and over.
"Son, son are you ok?" Most of all she remembers
thinking how that she had never bothered to mention to her
mother that she was even riding a motorcycle at all. Not to
mention racing one.
Madonna would add
to her life a steel rod and two dozen screws in her right
leg. It was 6 months before she was able to get around and
with racing off the table Madonna and Quinn would plan a wedding.
Though she walked down the isle with a noticeable limp, Madonna
became an official Orand in April of 2000. By May, she was
back on a bike.
This time it was
a Kawasaki GPZ750 Turbo. The two continued drag racing and
in the Spring of 2002 Madonna got the chance to take her racing
to a new level when she attended the Ricky Gadson School of
Drag Racing. There she learned fundamentals that would impact
her confidence and improve her numbers. Confidence however
cannot always overcome the nature of high powered street bikes.
In August of that
year at the Music City Raceway, Madonna lined up for a run
no different than most. As the tree came down she opened the
throttle and released the clutch. With all of the things that
happen at the line she had not realized that the RPMs were
too high and the bike stood up. Unable to pull back on the
clutch and with the throttle wide open there was nothing left
to do but slide of the back and let the bike go.
Clear of the bike
Madonna came down hard on the strip. In an attempt to catch
herself she put out her hands. With the track well prepped
her hands stuck as apposed to sliding and Madonna’s
left arm broke in two.
No one in racing
would have blamed or even questioned the idea of Madonna hanging
it up. Most, after experiencing such highs and lows in such
a short period of time would have made any excuse possible
to move on. After a long winter of rehab Madonna Orand came
out in the Spring with her final decision on racing. It wasn’t
to quit and concentrate on her medical career or even go back
to school. It was to buy a Kawasaki ZX12 and head for the
fives.
Today Madonna expresses
no fear in going down the track or achieving faster and faster
numbers. Though aware of the danger she has not let it slow
her down. She is aware of her frailty and certainly understands
the pain. But, more than anything she understands the joy
of the sport. As long as the joy is there you will no doubt
find Madonna at the strip - and you may want to find someone
else to line up against.
