On Saturday,  July 28, 2006 AMA Superbike champion and current points leader Ben Spies of Yoshimura Suzuki joined Jordan Suzuki's Jake Holden, Chaz Davies of Celtic Yamaha, and Matsushima Performance Suzuki's Danny Eslick at the 5th Annual Renton Motorcycles "Seattle 100" Presented by 2Fast Motorcycle Track Days & Instruction. 

This year’s event broke the 2006 record amount – with the great support of sponsors and participants, the 2007 Seattle 100 collected $145,000 in contributions! The Seattle 100 is a charitable track day event benefiting The NephCure Foundation.   T o participate, riders had to raise $500 which appeared to be no obstacle for the majority who surpassed the minimum fee required. 

“It's a cool event for a great cause" said Ben Spies, who will now add his name to the list of top tier AMA racers to lend support to the Seattle 100 which has become a popular event judging by the list of previous celebrity attendees including the famous comedian David Alan Grier, Josh Hayes (four years in a row), Aaron Yates, Jake Zemke among others. 

However, the true heroes of the event were Blake Palmer and Christian Orton.  The two eight-year old boys share the diagnoses of Nephrotic Syndrome.  While Christian is in med-free remission, Blake is still undergoing steroid treatment to halt protein from leaking into his urine which is causing a defect in the kidney filtering system.  “This event was a dream come true for my son,” said Blake’s mother, Nikkole Palmer. “Not only was he invited to ride on the track with Christian’s father, Brian Orton, he also found a new friend in Christian.”

Brian has been co-organizing the event with his business partner, Mark DeGross from 2-Fast.org.  Brian is the co-founder and vice-president of The NephCure Foundation and has been passionate about raising awareness of Nephrotic Syndrome.  Accompanied by his great support system of participants, special guests, sponsors, and spectators, Brian is certain that his endeavor to raise funds for kidney disease research will help NephCure accomplish its goal to accelerate the process of finding the treatment that will bring hope to patients affected by this condition. 

The NephCure Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to support research seeking the cause of Nephrotic Syndrome and Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), improve treatment and find a cure.

Blake, Christian and thousands of other children and adults dealing with kidney disease appreciate Brian Orton and his team leading the S100 effort.