Crash Landing

On Thursday, Jan 4th, I crash landed my new Pitts S1C on highway 14 in Southwestern MN. I had taken off from Madison SD just 30 minutes prior. Flying East towards Lakeville MN at 2000 feet and 180 MPH everything was going great - engine running like a fine Swiss watch, the weather was 100 miles visibility and light winds. I switched the center wing tank on to let fuel drain down into the main tank so I could make it all the way to Lakeville (KLVN). five minutes later the engine surged and quit. It continued to surge and quit for several minutes. I was going down fast. After checking all switches, trying the wobble pump and anything else I could think of I decided it was time to switch my focus to landing. I picked highway 14 which only had one truck on it - comming my way. I was NOT going to try any of the farm fields as they were freshly plowed and that would have been REAL bad. I set up my dead-stick approach at 90MPH - and made a perfect wheel landing (so I could see the narrow highway) I bleed off airspeed to around 50 and the tailwheel came down, nose up and I lost all sight of the road. My right wheel caught some soft ground and pulled me down to the right into a ditch where I ran over a BIG bush which then tossed the Pitts and me upside down. I quickly shut off all electrical switches and tried to reach the fuel valve but could not as I was hanging upside down in my harness. I slid back the cockpit canopy, released my seat and shoulder harness but was still hung up in my parachute. I finally released all my parachute straps and exited the cockpit. I had a bruse on my left arm and a scratch on the top of my head - that was it. The Pitts is pretty much a total loss.

So... what caused the engine to quit? At the moment I am blaming bad fuel or water in the wing tank. In the comming days I will assess damage and find the cause. Over & Out..