I will say, this past weekend was probably one of the best weekends I have had at the track. The weather cooperated, people were great and the track was fast. Thanks to everyone who came out.
Had a great day sunday, except for being mistaken for the other blue/orange/white gixxer that was causing all kinds of trouble in I all day lol.
And I couldn't agree more either, what a fantastic weekend. Picked up my pace quite a bit and didn't feel like a moving roadblock in A :jester: People still passed me left and right but I passed a few people as well!! :thumb: There was a few times out there that I thought to myself am I really keeping up with these people?? Even if it was only for a few turns But it shows me what turns I need to work on...like 2 & 6 And I have tons of video so will try to get to it soon. Thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend, it's everything (not just being on track) that happens from Friday night until Sunday night that makes these weekends unforgettable!
Also had a great time Sunday...finally a good trackday, no rain, hot sun for the track and tires and nice breeze for the riders!
I've had time to gather my thoughts about this past weekend. As many now know, we brought Dave Moss in for the weekend. The purpose of this was to work on a pilot program and offer it to our customers in the future. Dave worked with 8 people on Saturday, myself being one of them, and 8 people on Sunday. From all the feedback and responses at the track, it was a huge success. STT will be bringing Dave back again this year. Dates and tracks to be announced in the next week or so. There have been 2 defining moments in my time riding on the track spanning over 20 years. This weekend working with Dave was the second. We are excited to be able to pass this opportunity on to everybody very soon. A big thank you to Dustin and Megan Boyd for hosting Dave and making him feel at home while on the road. The weather was great, despite terrible forcast for Saturday and Sunday was rockin. Best I have ever ridden there and quite possibly the best I have ever ridden a 1K.
My first and second track days were this past weekend. I had a blast, but boy am I sore today! Learned a lot, so I'm excited to try and get more money to make at least a couple more days this season.
I know we got a talk mid day about passing safe from Nick, I was riding in (I), I felt like I was passing safely with good distance, who were the offenders? Just curious becasue what is safe for me doesn't feel safe for others since (I) has such a big spread of riders that riding abilities range. I don't want to be that rider on track that people think is not passing safely. I know I got passed, or tried to get passed and I looked at the guy like what was that about? ha
the I group was getting pretty crowded in the afternoon, i ended up hot pitting a few times (tony asked me if everything was OK :lmao:. coming out of turn 6 i always hug the right side of the track to setup for 7. some dude passed me on my right (handle bar to handle bar). luckily i heard him and saw him in my peripheral before i closed off the track on my right. but there were a few shady passes. it's what separates the I from A's. close passing doesn't bother me, but if i have to deviate from my line to make sure we don't shake hands then i start to wonder.
regardless sunday was fantastic... there was a guy with his g/f pitted close to me on a newer white cbr. he crashed in the first 5 minutes of the first session saturday, broke a rearset and didn't ride the rest of the day. sunday he crashed in the afternoon and went to the hospital. felt bad for the guy, hope he's ok. he also wanted to ride 2up each day.
I had so much fun Saturday and Sunday. The weather Friday night was perfect for staying overnight. Saturday was my first time riding in the rain at a track - holy sh!t was that interesting! After that session though the track really dried up and the level of grip increased significantly. After a lot of advice and instruction from Hipple, Tom M., and Owen I finally started to get my upper body down and over and was hitting turn-in points and apex's more often than not in the afternoon sessions. There were still a few turns I would catch myself staring at the apex and not through the turn - gotta work on that. Towards the end of the day I was getting a knee down, for the first time ever, and now I know what that feels like. Tom was my coach in the group I was in for the Novice class. He was awesome to ride with. Great references for turn-ins, great advice and a terrific coach. At the end of the day he was sure I had the pace to keep up in the intermediate group. I'll admit I was nervous, but the next morning I made up my mind that I was ready to try it out. First session went great. Tom gave me a tow for the first couple of laps and then let me pass him and he had more positive comments for me at the end. Spent a couple more sessions doing the same thing with Tom before he moved on to help another newby in the "I" group. I caught myself making mistakes more often than not after that and the verbal slap on the back of head by Nick in the afternoon to the whole group really helped get my mind back on track and I stopped "trying" things and just rode the way I knew how to. Thank you Nick. It was really just another terrific experience with the whole STT family and I'm glad I got to meet a few of you. Hopefully, I can make it out to Grattan in a few weeks. If not, I'll see you in August @ Putnam :cheers:
Sounds like my typical weekend in older days ... Btw: I saw 'A' sticker on your bike at the end of the day. Congrats ! (says the guy who pitted next you with my r6)
You mean like this totally legit Novice-group pass? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlCl0AgiwN4 But I kid. I also had a total blast both days, improved my body positioning a LOT and Eddie was super helpful in giving me feedback. It was sort of bittersweet since it was my last trackday on my Daytona 675 (working on selling it now) but it was definitely a great time even though I sat out a couple sessions on Saturday due to the rain (only had slicks mounted).
I had my best weekend in over a year. Felt good and made progress. On Sunday, when the sessions got off-schedule, I somehow ended up out in A for a few laps. I think the tows took 5 sec off my lap time Good times. Sorry if I was an inadvertent rolling roadblock. I'll be sure to bring a radio next time so I can hear the announcements at the far end of the paddock.