SFCRex
Full member
- Location
- Spur, Texas
Howdy All,
There are no Laverda's in this report, but I had the opportunity to ride at the Yamaha Champions Riding School back in March! I would have never sprung for the fees myself, but my older brother had signed up and wound up not being able to go, so I was his fill in, since the fee was not refundable. Long story, but I and my lovely bride drove out to Wilcox, Arizona to the Inde Motorsports Park for a two day thrash. I had not been on a roadrace track since about 1985, but have a lot of fast street and mountain riding since the old days. It was an interesting revelation, riding the newest fast Yamaha bikes on a REALLY nice tight, technical track, with modern tires! I was the oldest youngster there by a lot of years. There were some 10-12 year olds on fast single cylinder racebikes that were fast riders, ranging all the way up to my old school self at 66. Majority of the class were young, aspiring, roadracer's, but there sere several mid-age riders just looking to improve. About 30 total riders in the class. It was a BLAST! Had rented racing leathers since my age appropriate racing attire was not acceptable, rented racing boots, and rented racing bike with new tires! Track had been refinished about 4 months prior with rolled asphalt and was in superb condition, very smooth, very few bumps and very nicely laid out.
The riding and instruction was top notch. Nick Ineatsch was the lead instructor, and there was a whole crew of National level roadracer's there helping. The one thing about the whole experience that really impressed me was that none of these guys had any attitude, nor did they talk down to any of the riders, regardless of their experience. They were truly there to help you ride better! There was enough one on one instruction to answer any questions that anyone might have. The course syllabus started out with about 45 minutes of do's and don'ts, then it was on to the track. After the first track session, they sorted the riders into similar skill level groups, so that there was always a group on the track while another was in the classroom. No wasted time. Day one was slow for me, learning a new bike, on a new track, with new tires, plus trying to incorporate the new techniques they were emphasizing. Trail braking was a major emphasis, as was shifting your butt across the seat to shift the CG of the bike through the corner. Lot of time was spent on thinking through the use of the techniques, before you got on the bike. Got a lot faster on day 2, the old competitive urges came out and I had to dial myself back a couple times, as my urges were rapidly overcoming my current abilities! LOL! WOW, the adrenaline and fangs came out and I was 20 again, with better gear and much faster bike. I did not crash, nor did I run off the track, despite my best efforts! LOL! But trying to go fast and use their new techniques was a study in timing, sometimes I got it right and got cocky, and then the next lap I was so far off my line it was pitiful! Towards the end of day 2 they told me to go do 2 laps "old school" and I turned the 2 fastest laps of my day! Hahahaha, those new tires REALLY stick! Anyway, it was 2 days of throwback fun for me, in a REALLY nice venue, with a bunch of go fast guys!! The old saying, "The older I get, the faster I was!", is true, but I still surprised a few of the instructors on my good laps. I was beat after 2 days of nonstop, fast track riding, but MAN, it was fun!!!
There are no Laverda's in this report, but I had the opportunity to ride at the Yamaha Champions Riding School back in March! I would have never sprung for the fees myself, but my older brother had signed up and wound up not being able to go, so I was his fill in, since the fee was not refundable. Long story, but I and my lovely bride drove out to Wilcox, Arizona to the Inde Motorsports Park for a two day thrash. I had not been on a roadrace track since about 1985, but have a lot of fast street and mountain riding since the old days. It was an interesting revelation, riding the newest fast Yamaha bikes on a REALLY nice tight, technical track, with modern tires! I was the oldest youngster there by a lot of years. There were some 10-12 year olds on fast single cylinder racebikes that were fast riders, ranging all the way up to my old school self at 66. Majority of the class were young, aspiring, roadracer's, but there sere several mid-age riders just looking to improve. About 30 total riders in the class. It was a BLAST! Had rented racing leathers since my age appropriate racing attire was not acceptable, rented racing boots, and rented racing bike with new tires! Track had been refinished about 4 months prior with rolled asphalt and was in superb condition, very smooth, very few bumps and very nicely laid out.
The riding and instruction was top notch. Nick Ineatsch was the lead instructor, and there was a whole crew of National level roadracer's there helping. The one thing about the whole experience that really impressed me was that none of these guys had any attitude, nor did they talk down to any of the riders, regardless of their experience. They were truly there to help you ride better! There was enough one on one instruction to answer any questions that anyone might have. The course syllabus started out with about 45 minutes of do's and don'ts, then it was on to the track. After the first track session, they sorted the riders into similar skill level groups, so that there was always a group on the track while another was in the classroom. No wasted time. Day one was slow for me, learning a new bike, on a new track, with new tires, plus trying to incorporate the new techniques they were emphasizing. Trail braking was a major emphasis, as was shifting your butt across the seat to shift the CG of the bike through the corner. Lot of time was spent on thinking through the use of the techniques, before you got on the bike. Got a lot faster on day 2, the old competitive urges came out and I had to dial myself back a couple times, as my urges were rapidly overcoming my current abilities! LOL! WOW, the adrenaline and fangs came out and I was 20 again, with better gear and much faster bike. I did not crash, nor did I run off the track, despite my best efforts! LOL! But trying to go fast and use their new techniques was a study in timing, sometimes I got it right and got cocky, and then the next lap I was so far off my line it was pitiful! Towards the end of day 2 they told me to go do 2 laps "old school" and I turned the 2 fastest laps of my day! Hahahaha, those new tires REALLY stick! Anyway, it was 2 days of throwback fun for me, in a REALLY nice venue, with a bunch of go fast guys!! The old saying, "The older I get, the faster I was!", is true, but I still surprised a few of the instructors on my good laps. I was beat after 2 days of nonstop, fast track riding, but MAN, it was fun!!!
You have me thinking about finding something like that next year, before the lump of meat in the saddle becomes utterly incompetent. Thanks for posting, good read.
