Last weekend Jennings was my last STT event and last East Coast event. Unfortunately work will take me west to San Jose, CA and unless I make lots of arrangements and add a plane ticket to every event, I don't see yet a clear way to keep doing track days around here... So here is a BIG THANK YOU and farewell to all of you. Thank you for providing a safe playground where I could develop my motorcycle riding skills. Not only I learned to look good while the photographer takes a pic, but more importantly I believe track riding has made me a much safer rider. I commute on a daily basis in San Jose/San Francisco traffic madness with lane splitting and all, and thanks to all the track riding I know how hard I can squeeze the front brake, how to react and keep calm if a wheel slides, learned to trust rubber, to get close to other cagers and not be afraid yet ready to react, etc. This is the safest I felt riding a motorcycle ever! So again, big thank you for enabling this. I hope sometime I make it back east and get to ride again with you all. PS: any plans to open an STT division on the west coast? PS2: here goes a pic of the very first and last track days with STT. Damn I'm going to miss this....
Mario I wish you the best Man!!! You can ride my bikes in the East if I can ride yours in the West.... Get a couple more for Dennis and Bill too!!! Good Luck and do well.. We will miss you...
Damn it Mario, I'm sure going to miss seeing you out there on the track and at our events. I saw so much improvement with you...... you've got a lot to be proud of with your riding skills. I wish you well with your move and your job and sincerely hope that it is a giant step forward for you. You know that you are always welcome here, so don't be a stranger....... drop in and say hey once in a while. Good luck my friend and be safe in your travels.
Thanks Marc! If I can find bikes that can pass 90db at Laguna, you are all welcome to ride them there. I don't know what will pass though, I think even my farts are louder than 90db... Thanks Vern! I really appreciated your coaching at Barber and NCM. You are an awesome instructor, only surpassed by Peggy of course...
Welcome to the west. Thunderhill, Infineon, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs and Chuckwalla Valley are all great tracks that I know you'll enjoy. I also think you'll be surprised at how much fun the elevation changes at Thunderhill and Infineon are. That's an aspect of track riding that you just dont see a whole lot of in the midwest. I loved tracks like MAMotorplex and MPHastings when I lived in the midwest but there's nothing like going up and down an 8% grade at 100mph.
I've been looking at some of Thunderhill, Buttonwillow and Laguna. Never heard of the rest you mention! If you have some time and want to share some of your wisdom, please shoot me a PM, email, facebook, etc. I need to look for a safe org and cool tracks to do, both sportbike and sumo. Thanks!!!!
Chuckwalla Valley is in Blythe near the Arizona boarder. Probably not worth the drive since Thunderhill and Infineon (Sonoma Raceway) are so close. I think SoCal trackdays runs the events at Buttonwillow and Willow. I like their events because they have a no sessions format. I did one of their events at Spring Mountain in Pahrump, NV one time and logged close to 200 miles in a single day, though I was absolutely toast at the end. I've only been to Thunderhill once and it was to help out a friend who was doing a race weekend with the AFM. I've never actually ridden the track but there is tons of youtube footage from AFM races at this track. I think Zoom Zoom Trackdays aka Z^2 runs the events at both Thunderhill and Infineon. Dont know much about the Z^2 orginization unfortunately.
Hey Mario, what model is that motard bike you were riding at Jennings? You were damn fast on that thing!
That's a '14 KTM 500 that I put some bicycle tires on the original dirt rims. This is the most fun I had a the track! It is extremely easy to ride and you can make it turn really fast! Only drawback is that it rev limits at 105mph, I need a tight twisty track to have fun with it.
Man that looks like fun! I am impressed with how fast you can ride that bike and I thought maybe I'd like to try a motard since I come from a motocross background but after watching many vids I realize that I'd probably end up in a nasty high side situation, lol! Thanks for posting the vid and I hope you find some nice tracks/organizations to ride on the west coast.
As to crashing sumo vs sportbike, my gsxr seems much more unforgiving, I'm riding on a 450lbs machine hanging off the side when my tires decide to let go... On the 250lb KTM I'm sitting upright, leg out, waiting for that slide to happen and ride it out! I have much more control turning, braking and sliding on the KTM than the gsxr, so I end up riding faster on it. Give it a try, mount some road rubber on your existing rims and ride the crap out of it. Worst that can happen is that you'll like it and end up having to take two bikes to every track event
