Going to School

Track Report
By Pete Hitzeman
for R6Live.com

A few years ago, I had reached a very frustrating point in my track riding. I had worked my way up to running a solid “A-group” pace at my local track days, but I was stuck. Despite studying hard and working harder, I just wasn’t going any faster. Worse, I didn’t know what I needed to do to go any faster. It was almost to the point where I wasn’t having fun anymore. Going to the track had started to seem like work, instead of the fantasy-land it once was. Even my wife started to ask me if I was having any fun, wondering why I looked so serious all the time at the track.

I had asked for help. At a few track days run by some very reputable organizations, I had asked the control riders to follow me and tell me where I was going wrong, what I needed to work on. But the feedback I got was, well, not feedback. “Yeah, you look really smooth, your lines are good, just keep at it,” was the essence of what I was told. Not exactly useful, substantive advice. So I went nowhere with my riding, and continued to try to do the same things, but faster, which yielded exactly nothing in terms of lap times.

Then the best possible thing happened, and I was forced to take a break. A knee injury and subsequent surgery sidelined me for the 2010 season, and an extended training tour for the Air National Guard kept the bike on stands for all of 2011. I missed riding on the track, but realized through the break that when I came back, I needed to do it right, do something entirely different, or I would quickly run right back into the same stone wall I had reached before.

Enter Jason Pridmore’s STAR Motorcycle School. Through his partnership with the Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki team, Pridmore had gotten involved with the National Guard a few years ago, and started running school dates throughout the year, free of charge to Guard members. The Guard, and the military as a whole, have become painfully aware of the accident and fatality statistics for military riders, and asked Jason what he could do to help turn the tide. The STAR school’s emphasis on conscious control has turned out to be just the thing, and their National Guard Rider Training dates have received universal acclaim for enhancing rider skill, preventing the losses of control that are so central to most motorcycle accidents.

Pilgramage

Opinion/Commentary
By Pete Hitzeman
for R6Live.com

After a seven hour sprint across the deserts and hills of southern and central California, I abruptly found myself at home among friends. Moments before they were total strangers, but just then, sitting around a campfire with a beer in my hand, I realized that we had essentially known each other for many years. Stories were exchanged, arguments joined, and jokes were told as if it were the reunion of a long-separated family.

Perhaps it was. I was at Laguna Seca, an unlikely race course nestled into the hills near Monterey. During one weekend every summer, the otherwise tranquil and picturesque nature reserve explodes into three days of power and pageantry known as the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.

Attending a race weekend is a shock to the system of even the most ardent race fan. The assault on all senses, the intangibles of the atmosphere and the proximity to one’s heroes combine to produce a state of almost childlike bewilderment for the racing faithful. To be sure, watching a race on television may give you a better overall understanding of what’s going on throughout the weekend, but it is no substitute for the in-person experience.

And there is no experience quite like MotoGP.

Death in the Family

Opinion/Commentary
by Pete Hitzeman
for R6Live.com

It seems almost cliché to say that the motorcycle racing community is very much a family. But one has to look no further than Colin Edwards' post-race interview at Indianapolis, or the faces of the podium finishers today at Misano to know that it is completely true.

The past week has been uncharacteristically trying for those in the roadracing family. Last Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 13-year-old phenomenon Peter Lenz was killed in what can only be described as a freak warm-up lap incident, just before the second USGPRU race. News of Lenz's passing reached the turn 1 grandstand, where I was sitting, just before the start of the Moto2 race via text message and mobile internet, and the mood among the gathered thousands immediately turned somber. For those of us who already knew, the excitement of the Moto2 race and even Ben Spies' masterful ride to 2nd place in the MotoGP race had a decidedly hollow feeling.

On Wednesday at the Manx GP, James Adam, a 28 year old Royal Navy officer from Prestwick, and Chris Bradshaw, a 39 year old traffic policeman from Tamworth were killed in the same accident on lap 2 of the Junior race. The race was immediately red flagged and later abandoned. Adam was declared dead at the scene. Bradshaw was airlifted to a nearby hospital, but later succumbed to his injuries.

Today, on the very day a moment of silence was observed for Lenz, 19-year-old Shoya Tomizawa crashed exiting a high-speed right hand corner on lap 12 and was struck by two other riders with nowhere to go. Tomizawa was a rising Japanese star, having won the first ever Moto2 race at Qatar. His riding style was bold and tenacious, but off the track he was known for his smiling, lighthearted demeanor. The entire Grand Prix paddock has been devastated at his passing, with many MotoGP riders declining to even comment on their races after news reached them.

Grid filler rules will not solve MotoGP's troubles

Opinion/Commentary
by Pete Hitzeman
R6Live.com

A significant portion of the epic silly season in MotoGP this year involves the future of the series itself, as Dorna seems poised to yet again revise the class rules, starting in 2012. While we're nowhere near any final version of the '12 rulebook, it seems clear that 1000cc engines will be returning in some fashion, be they true prototypes, production engines in prototype chassis (a la Moto2), or some sort of spec engine. Some talk has been heard of even allowing some of these bikes to enter races, on an exhibition basis, in 2011. There are also rumors of claiming rule teams, who would be allowed to claim the equipment of other teams for a set fee.

Dorna's motivation to put more bikes on the grid is certainly understandable. A mere twelve riders have finished the last two races at Sachsenring and Laguna Seca. With only a total of 18 riders on the permanent entry list and wildcard entries being a financial impossibility, it's clear that the size of the grid is the most glaring problem facing MotoGP's tenability as a world championship.

Mid-Ohio track owner rolls eyes at surface complaints

Opinion/Commentary
by Pete Hitzeman
for R6Live.com

Michelle Trueman Gajoch, President of TrueSports Inc., which owns and operates Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, was quoted recently, joking about the condition of the track surface at the venue. Apparently, Ms. Trueman Gajoch thinks that racers simply have nothing else to do but whine about external factors making them slower. While rider and driver safety may be a laughing matter to her, she would do well to pay attention to the criticism of those using her facility.

The track received a full re-pave in 2005, after suffering through a long period of mediocrity, with concrete patches and harsh bumps dominating the track. Initial reviews for the new, smooth surface were exuberant. The concrete patches in the corners were gone, some of the runoff was improved, the asphalt was pool-table smooth, and with one exception in the carousel, was free of bumps or dips. Finally, riders and drivers at the Lexington, Ohio circuit would be free to enjoy the universally-praised layout.

Then came the last weekend of September, 2006. Mid-Ohio was to be the scene of the AMA Superbike season finale. During the week prior to the event, news broke that Mat Mladin and Ben Spies, the series leaders by a wide margin, had agreed not to race in the rain there, due to safety concerns. When the weekend arrived, the riders' fears were realized, as it rained all day on Saturday. The decision was made to try and race anyway, and the Superstock race was started. Damon Buckmaster crashed hard, and broke his arm. On Sunday, track and series management tried to force the entire weekend's schedule into a single day, sans-practice, to the vociferous objections of all the riders and teams. The races were held anyway. By 2007, the AMA had removed the second Mid-Ohio date from the calendar.

2010 Season: Over before it started?

I injured my right knee just before Christmas, playing basketball at the gym.  I was just killing time while my wife finished up on the treadmill.  Went to change direction, planted my foot, but my knee kept going.  I felt a pop, then some searing pain, and I was on the ground.  I suddenly realized, as the high school kids I was playing with stared down at me with clueless expressions, that I was the old fat guy writhing around on the gym floor!  I ended up with a torn ACL, and tears in my lateral and medial menisci.  I put off the surgery so I could go to Gulfport for my job, and to get my interview with Josh and Melissa done.  There was no way in hell I was missing that trip!

Anyway, I finally had the surgery done this past Friday.  They grafted a piece of my patellar tendon, with a bit of bone on each side, into the center of my knee to replace the ACL.  Doing that required that they drill holes in my femur and tibia, to thread the graft into.  Then it's fastened on each side with screws.  The surgeon ended up trimming off a little bit of one of the menisci, but the other one had already started healing up pretty well.

Pictures of my knee, post-op, follow (Warning, kinda graphic!!).

Basically, I'm looking at 6 months of intensive rehab, so track season this year may not happen at all.  I'm going to make every effort to recover as quickly as possible, but it just has to heal, and that takes time.  The pain isn't terrible right now, surprisingly.  A portion of my lower leg, from my knee to about halfway down my shin, is still numb to the touch.  I assume the surgeon may have nicked a nerve during the operation.  Hopefully, feeling will return in that region eventually, but for now, I'm perfectly content for it to be numb!  I'm also on Percocet and Ketorolac, and just came off of Oxycontin on Tuesday.  So yay for drugs, I guess, but I hate taking pills, so I'll be getting off of those as soon as possible.  The Ketorolac will run out tomorrow.  After that, I'll probably switch to Ibuprofen, if I still need an anti-inflammatory.

Therapy already started Monday.  I'm doing a handful of muscle-activation and range of motion exercises for now, and a couple stretches, just at home.  I go back in for another assisted session tomorrow, then have my post-op with the surgeon on Wednesday of next week.  The staples should come out then, and my leg will look a bit less gnarly.

All of this simply continues the pattern of my on-track activities for the past few years.  In 2008, I got married in May, which pushed my track season start back to August.  In 2009, we bought a new house, which again delayed my start until August.  This year, depending on how quickly my knee is rehabilitated and I get clearance from my doctors, my track season may be delayed until August or later.

This brings me to an interesting decision.  Last year, I spent all of my track time trying to knock off the rust from the previous year, and saw precious little gains in terms of improving my riding.  In fact, I saw no gains at all in terms of lap times.  So once my knee is good enough to ride again, I will have to decide whether it is worth the time and expense to go to the track for a few weeks at the end of the season, or just to shelve it all for this year and come out swinging in 2011.  The bike needs new tires, a new exhaust, and a few other tid bits before it hits the track again anyway, so I might be better served just waiting, doing those things over next winter, and getting the most out of it next year.  But boy, is that ever depressing to contemplate.

Sheesh, 2011!  I'll be hitting the track on a seven year old bike!  I'll try to massage a few more ponies out of her, but chances are, I'll be increasingly outclassed.  As much as I hate to think about it, eventually, I'm going to have to upgrade equipment.  Still, I'm not particularly worried about that until I'm starting to race seriously.  No sense in blowing money on equipment when the rider isn't up to it, right?

But anyway, there's plenty for me to do in the mean time.  I'll be rehabbing the knee, then once that's good enough, getting back on the mountain bike.  I was in the middle of a weight loss program (and having some success!) when I dorked up my knee, so I'll need to get back on track with that, as well.  I'll do my best to keep this site up to date with my progress, and hopefully I'll have some more interview and article content to post as well!

Until next time...

America’s Fastest Couple

Interview with Josh Hayes and Melissa Paris
By Pete Hitzeman
for R6Live.com

Ride of a lifetime

On a chilly, but otherwise perfect February morning in Gulfport, Mississippi, two Ohio Air National Guard F-16Ds shattered the quiet morning with their thunderous afterburners. One by one, they streaked down the runway, raising up slightly at mid-length and retracting their landing gear. Abruptly and with afterburner still lit, they stood on their tails and hurtled skyward, subjecting their passengers to an enormous G load as the jets climbed to ten thousand feet in an instant.

In the back seats of those F-16s were none other than Graves Yamaha’s American Superbike star Josh Hayes, and his wife, rising Yamaha star Melissa Paris. While the pair are certainly no strangers to speed and agility, the two riders spent the next hour revising their definitions to those words. 9-G turns, dogfight maneuvers, and a host of aerobatics in the skies over southern Mississippi pushed jets and humans alike to their limits, but all returned safely (and with empty airsickness bags!).

For Josh, getting this ride was a lifelong dream, come true. He grew up just off the south end of the runway in Gulfport, and spent many hours as a child watching F-4 Phantoms and, later, F-16 Fighting Falcons taking off and landing. His reaction to his dream’s fulfillment? “You could just say I giggled a lot!” Maj. Bernie “Bunyan” Willis put the fighter thoroughly through its paces, giving Hayes the full experience. “It was fantastic; it was fun from the word ‘go.’… Everybody here at the Ohio Air National Guard has been really, really nice to me. I had a great time.”

While getting a back seat ride in an F-16 hadn’t been a lifelong goal for Melissa, she was equally awestruck by the experience. After being delayed slightly by a minor maintenance malfunction, her nerves eased a bit, but not entirely. “I was joking as we were taxiing away,” said Melissa “that this is like the minute that you’re strapped in the roller coaster, and it’s too late to say ‘man, I don’t really wanna do this!’” While Josh was giggling in his helmet, Melissa was “squealing” in hers.

Melissa has been the back seat rider for Chris Ulrich when he was going for a lap record. How did that compare to being a back seat rider in an F-16? “[The ride with Ulrich] was almost, in a way, more scary, because I know Chris Ulrich, and I know when he gets excited... I could see ten years down the road, him being like ‘hahaha, remember that time I was trying to go real fast, and Josh Hayes’s wife ended up getting pitched off the back of the bike!’ Somehow I just can’t see ZEB (her pilot, Lt. Col Zane “ZEB” Brown) over here being like, 10 years from now ‘hahaha, remember that time I was totally flying over my head, and I had to eject that chick out of the back!’”

Season Preview

Hayes is understandably optimistic about his upcoming season. Winner of seven Superbike races last year, to include three double victories and the last four consecutive races, he feels that they have a very strong starting place this year. Even over the winter break, Josh believes he can carry momentum into this season. “I think momentum is probably just a sly word for confidence,” he opined. “That affects how you’re riding more than momentum. …I’m confident rolling into the first race that I can race for the win.”

Paris is looking forward to a much more focused season this year, in several ways. Finally parking her 250 Grand Prix bike, she’ll be concentrating entirely on the Daytona Sportbike class this year. And her expectations for herself are higher, as well. After breaking her leg last year at VIR, she entered a very aggressive rehabilitation plan. Now that she has recovered, she’s turned to an intense physical training regimen, to be more ready to contest the AMA series.

For entirely different reasons, Josh and Melissa both feel they have unfinished business in World Supersport. Josh participated in the last three rounds of the series in 2008, riding for Parkalgar Honda, and putting on quite the show at Portimão, just missing out on the podium. But while he is eyeballing a return to the world stage, he has other goals to accomplish first: “I would love another opportunity to go and try that, and I would love to do it with Yamaha if possible. But right now I have unfinished business in the US, and I think that comes first. Not only do I want to … fulfill some of my goals of a Superbike championship, but I would also like to see if I can help build AMA Pro racing back to being a strong series that world contenders want to come be a part of, and help raise the level of our sport here in the US.”

Melissa became the first female to qualify for the World Supersport grid last year at Miller Motorsports Park, and was progressing well through the race when her bike suffered an engine failure. After the enormous investment she had made getting into the race, having it end that way was gutting. Nevertheless, she wants to try for it again, and this time, do it all the way. If she has the opportunity to race in WSS again this year, she’ll be entering on a properly prepared, WSS-spec machine, and with the added experience of racing on a pro circuit full time. Unbeknownst to many, her entry in the Miller round of World Supersport was only her second pro race ever!

Besides contesting the full AMA schedule and keeping an eye on World Supersport opportunities, the couple is considering some further action in endurance racing this year. With Graves offering a $40,000 purse in the middleweight class of the WERA National Endurance Series, a cameo appearance is tempting. “If she’ll let me ride her bike,” Hayes admits. To be fair, Melissa agreed to that, “If he lets me keep the winnings!”

While Graves Motorsports has increased its support paddock-wide for Yamaha riders, including offering factory-built customer bikes, Hayes will be the sole factory rider this year. But he doesn’t think that will present any real challenges through the season. Last season, he and then-teammate Ben Bostrom went different directions with the setup of the new-for-2009 R1, so the benefit of having a teammate for testing and bike development was somewhat limited.

Like many riders who have ridden for other manufacturers, Josh has been impressed with the familial atmosphere at Yamaha. “You feel like you’re part of a family. They’ve been very good about making you feel at home, and like you’re a part of the program there, rather than just a contractor. They’ve treated me really well. They’ve believed in me and given me the tools I need to do my job.”

Yamaha’s worldwide rider line-up this year reads like a who’s who of motorcycle roadracing. In MotoGP alone, their riders account for ten Grand Prix world championships and three World Superbike championships. In World Superbike, a double series champion has been paired with the defending World Supersport champion. In AMA, three time national champion Hayes carries the flag, and in even in BSB, former World Superbike champion Neil Hodgson has returned to vie for the title. It would appear that Yamaha has pulled out all the stops, looking for a clean sweep. Coincidence or clever strategy? “I think that’s what their goal is,” Josh agreed. “A lot of people are pulling back in this time. Yamaha is looking at this economic time as an opportunity to put their face out there, and make sure that when people are ready to start spending money on motorcycles again, it’s Yamahas that they’re buying... I think their approach is hey, let’s go out there and win everything we can. And I think it’s a smart approach… I feel lucky to be a part of all that.”

Life at the racetrack

But life for America’s fastest couple isn’t always sunny track time and F-16 rides. Both have had some hairy crashes over the years; Josh losing his brakes on a Superbike at Laguna Seca, Melissa breaking the crankshaft on her 250 at Road Atlanta, each with scary results. But despite the injuries and crashes (and in Josh’s case, pleas from his mother), neither has ever seriously considered quitting.

The pair have also had some unique experiences at the track, ranging from the painful, to the confusing, to the downright bizarre. Several years ago, at Brainerd, Josh was struck in the right shoulder by a two-pound bird. The impact knocked him off the race track and numbed his arm, but he proceeded, undeterred, to break the track record trying to get back to the front. Hayes finished 2nd in the race, and found bones and feathers embedded in the hump on the back of his suit after pulling into the podium.

Josh’s wildlife adventures have also included turtles on the track at Daytona and Jennings, deer on the back straight at Road America, and a seagull-hunting bald eagle in the International Horseshoe at Daytona. But more daunting than nature was the car he faced VIR, who thought it would be okay after spinning out to use the North Course as a shortcut to return to the South Course. “But he was going backwards, and I was ON the North course!” Josh explained. “That happens pretty quick… Your focus definitely gets pulled away from what you’re doing for a second.”

Perhaps more terrifying still was Melissa’s encounter with another foreign object on the race track ― a Harley. She was doing a track day at Infineon, and explains: “I’m coming down the front straight, clicking fourth gear, tucked in, and all the sudden a dude on a Harley cuts across the racetrack! Some dude on a Harley Davidson thought he could just go out on the race track and cut some laps. He’d been going along pit wall, and then realized that there was a chicane, and cut all the way across the race track in front of me. You’re out there, yeah, everyone’s going a different pace, but… It was a full-dress, like bags and everything, the whole nine yards. Just cuts in front of me and I’m like ‘uh………. Okay…’”

Hayes professes to not have a favorite race track, though he enjoys purpose-built, modern road courses far more than the infield courses at ovals. Melissa, however, is far less equivocal: “Miller Motorsports Park. Hands down, no question about it. It’s like a real race track! It’s fast, it’s nice, it’s super safe. The surface is good. …I think I’d take racing at Miller in the rain over racing in the dry at most tracks!”

While World Superbike and MotoGP have both enjoyed broad success in recent years with spec tires, Hayes and Paris maintain the jury’s still out on the experiment in AMA. “The idea behind it was to level the playing field and also reduce cost,” said Josh. “The problem is, it did level the playing field, it did not reduce cost.” Melissa points to the fact that many riders who were previously able to secure tire contracts or contingency deals with other manufacturers are now unable to do so. Her tire bill for this season, not including tests, is likely to exceed $30,000, an enormous amount for a privateer. Had she been able to stay with Pirelli, that cost could likely have been reduced significantly.

Hayes and Paris plainly enjoy their unique circumstance of being married to a fellow professional roadracer. Josh relates: “I’m very, very fortunate that my wife is my best friend. And for the amount of time we spend together, we’re very lucky we haven’t choked each other! ...It’s been really good to have her behind me, have a travel companion, and to have the backbone of all my program and my life right there with me everywhere I go, every step of the way, understanding how bad I want it, and how hard I’m willing to work for it, and how much I’m willing to risk to get there, because she’s living the same thing.”

Despite racing in the same series, and once even in the same race (last year’s Daytona 200), husband and wife each agree that the other isn’t a distraction. “I think we got tested this year at Virginia when I broke my leg,” Melissa admitted. “Josh came and saw me in the medical center as they’re ready to pack me into an ambulance to go to the hospital, and he had to walk out of there and go suit up and go race... The last thing I want is Josh sitting on that motorcycle and worrying about me. So I’m trying to put on the brave face. ‘Oh I’m totally fine, I’m totally okay, nothing’s even wrong… It doesn’t even hurt!’ I think when Josh went out and won that race while I was in the hospital getting my leg set and put into a splint, probably made [people] realize that he knows when it’s time to put his helmet on and go to work.”

Underlining the theory that opposites attract, Josh and Melissa’s pre-race demeanors are completely different. “Josh is so fun loving and joking around, having a great time,” said Melissa. “I’m like ‘don’t even look at me, don’t look in my direction.’ I’ve got headphones on and I hate everybody.” “My best rides have always been when I’ve been relaxed,” Josh explained. “And I think the best rides from Melissa have been when she feels the pressure and the need to go out and destroy everyone.”


Hayes and Paris will be putting on their respective game faces this week at Daytona, as Josh competes in the Superbike double-header, and Melissa races in the Daytona 200. The 200 will be broadcast live on SpeedTV, Friday evening at 8pm Eastern, and will feature Hayes doing some live pit reporting! The Superbike races will air back-to-back Saturday night, starting at 10:30 Eastern, also on Speed. And be sure to check out OnTheThrottle.com’s coverage of Daytona, as well as their feature video about Josh and Melissa’s F-16 rides!

Interview with Josh Hayes and Melissa Paris

Be sure to head on over to R6Live.com and read my recent interview with Yamaha AMA pros Josh Hayes and Melissa Paris!

http://www.r6live.com/content.php?r=82-R6Live.com-Exclusive-Interview-Josh-Hayes-Melissa-Paris!

Also, don't miss OnTheThrottle's coverage of their recent back seat rides in two Ohio Air National Guard F-16s:

http://www.onthethrottle.com/content/view/554/1/

Giddy as a Schoolboy

My wife and I had the privilege of attending this past weekend's AMA round at Mid-Ohio, a track I had only previously experienced from the inside of the fence. I surprised my wife (the most wonderful woman in the world) with tickets and paddock passes Friday night, and we made the trip up early Saturday morning. It's rather odd, but despite my consuming passion for motorcycle roadracing, I had never previously attended a sanctioned motorcycle racing event of any kind. But the wait was well worth it, I assure you, as we picked one of the best racing weekends in recent memory to attend.

The weather was perfect, the people were friendly, and the racing was spectacular. From our vantage point in the grandstands at the end of the back straight, we witnessed some of the closest and most exciting racing the AMA has seen in some time. The seats (despite their state of disrepair) provided views of the entire back straight, through the Esses, and past where the riders shoot under the Honda bridge. It was an eye opening experience for me as a rider to watch the fastest riders in the country navigate the same course on which I have turned numerous laps, and I was able to pick up a few pointers that will certainly help me the next time I'm on track there. Not the least of which is that I need to stop being such a wuss going through turn 1!

The overwhelming highlight of the weekend for me, though, was our time in the paddock. Though I was pretty much star struck and dumbfounded on Saturday, I eventually got up the nerve and talked to several of my favorite riders, which was simply an amazing experience. I spoke to Josh Hayes (who ended up winning both Superbike races that weekend) twice for a short chat, as well as Ben Bostrom, Neil Hodgson, Josh Herrin (who was actually staying at our hotel!), and a slew of others. After getting hosed down with champagne by Tommy Hayden after race 2, I congratulated Hayes on his double victory, and he actually took the time to stop, give me a heartfelt thanks, and shake my hand. Truly a class act, that guy. I've always liked him, but after meeting him this weekend, he's made a lifetime fan of me.

Two days later, I'm still buzzing and grinning like an idiot from the experience. I was amazed at how friendly and approachable most of the riders were, and I'm grateful to have met them. True to common perception, it seemed to me that the factory Yamaha guys (riders and crew alike) were the happiest in the paddock. I have to say thanks to Josh Herrin in particular, who took the time to personally address the autograph on his poster to my wife and I. Great kid, and I hope he continues to excel. He and his teammate Tommy Aquino put on a great show in both Daytona Sportbike races. Meeting and speaking with the somewhat controversial but undeniably likable Johnny Rock Page was great as well, and I was sorry to hear of the penalties levied against him by the AMA.

The overall experience for this first-time attendee was incredibly positive. I enjoyed every minute of the weekend (minus all the walking, of course), and can't wait to do it again next season. We will be attending the Indianapolis GP next month, but even the MotoGP circus will have a hard time topping our AMA weekend.

Stay tuned for further commentary on the state of AMA racing in general, as well as a long-overdue update on my race bike build!

Scratching the Itch

Since the completion of my street-to-track bike project has been decidedly delayed (we finally closed on our new house on Wednesday!), and the weather has become decidedly summer-like, the itch to hit the track has become nearly unbearable. I could only read so many more track day stories and race reports from my friends without going insane! So it was that on a whim, I had a look at the Sportbike Track Time forums to see if anyone was selling their spot to the already-sold-out KTM Ride_Orange day at Mid-Ohio. For this event, KTM would be supplying the bikes (brand new 990 Super Dukes), the tires, the fuel, and all that, and all I had to do was show up with my gear and ride! Sounded like a perfect way to scratch the itch to me, so when I found someone who was selling their slot, I snapped it up without hesitation.

The Bike

The Austrian company having been famous for it's off-road bikes for years, KTM has more recently forayed into the world of road-going bikes with a modest line up of adventure tourers, supermotards, streetfighters, and even one open-class racebike. The SuperDuke would fall under the streetfighter category. With minimal fairings, a riding position almost like that of a dirt bike, and aggressive styling, the SuperDuke is a certain kind of beautiful, in the eyes of some beholders.

Powered by a 75° v-twin motor displacing 999cc, this KTM produces a modest 119 HP but a beefy 74 ft lbs of torque. For reference, that horsepower number is easily attainable on most modern 600cc inline fours, but the torque number is nearly twice that produced by the fours. In fact, beefy is a word that could be used frequently when describing the SuperDuke. Power is transferred to the rear wheel via a six-speed gearbox and a stout-looking 525 chain (I would have guessed it was much heavier). 48mm (beefy!) WP Suspension front forks lead down to muscular Brembo 4-pot radially mounted brakes, which clamp down on 320mm rotors. The gas tank boasts an impressive five and a half gallon capacity (including reserve). The forty bikes provided by KTM for the event were fitted with a variety of tires, including Dunlop Sportmax GP-As, D209s and D208s, Pirelli Diablo Corsa IIIs, and Michelin Pilot Powers.

The Ride

The day dawned warm and humid, mist and fog rolling over the gentle hills of north-central Ohio, as it usually does in the warmer months. The weather forecast promised a heavy chance of rain, but there was no sign of it as the day began, with partly cloudy skies and a gentle breeze blowing through the paddock. After registration, I finagled my way into sharing a garage with four other guys (which would later prove fortuitous), unloaded my gear, and began suiting up. The riders' meeting advised us of the basic setups of the bikes (for a 175 lb rider, standard-shift only, no adjustments to be made through the day as we'd be sharing bikes between sessions), and KTM's damage liability policy (not quite you-break-it-you-buy-it, but...), as well as the usual routine of flags, pit procedures, and passing rules.

My group was the first to take to the track, and I mounted a brand-new (0.0 miles on the clock!) black SuperDuke fitted with Pirellis. Sitting on the bike, I noticed that it was long, tall and comfortable, the cushy suspension and wide, high handle bar leaving you sitting nearly upright. After adjusting the brake lever to the furthest position out, I cranked the motor over and we proceeded out onto the track.

And now for something completely different.

Veterans of Mid-Ohio will tell you that the first session of the morning is frequently treacherous, as the morning dew on the track surface, particularly on the technical back section, can make things quite slick. The amount of sealer used on the pavement at this track, while necessary to prevent the harsh winters from degrading the track surface, make it almost unrideable in anything but dry conditions. This, coupled with scrubbing in brand new tires, made the opening session particularly tricky for all of us. I was tucking the front and sliding the rear in nearly every corner, the mushy suspension not providing enough feedback to know when a slide was coming. Fortunately, the combination of compliant suspension and steering geometry also made it fairly easy to correct the slides, so nobody crashed.

My initial impression of the 990 SuperDuke was somewhat mixed. The strong points were certainly smile-inspiring, as the torquey v-twin motor provided power just about everywhere in the rev range, and the phenomenal front brakes slowed you from speed with excellent initial bite, feel and power. The wide, high bars made steering inputs easy and direction changes fairly effortless, despite the 410 lb dry weight of the bike. The bars also had drawbacks, however, as it was somewhat awkward to hang off the bike in the corners and still modulate the throttle. With more seat time, I might have been able to adjust my riding style a bit to help alleviate this problem.

Limiting all the bikes to the standard shift pattern (down for down, up for up) also presented a challenge for many riders in my group, who normally run GP or reverse shift pattern on our personal bikes. Several times in the first session I found myself shifting the wrong direction coming out of a corner, the bike protesting loudly as it was revved far past its intended range. The rev limiter, set at around ten thousand RPM, came on well before the bike stopped making power, and engaged with all the subtlety of a brick wall.

Coming from the perspective of a 600cc supersport rider, getting around the track on the KTM was an entirely different experience. I'm used to machines that carve corners like a scalpel, handle effortlessly, and let you know at all times what is going on between the tires and the pavement. Transitioning from a middleweight sportbike to the SuperDuke was akin to driving a go kart vs. driving a golf cart. Both can be made to go fairly quick, with the right coaxing, but the feel is so diametrically opposed as to deprive the operator of confidence when transitioning to the latter. After the first 20 minute session, I was left wondering what I had gotten myself into, and wishing hard to have my R6 back!

Ride it for what it is.

I went out for my second session determined to find out more about the bike, and let it show me how to ride it. I mounted another black SuperDuke, this one with nearly 2400 miles on the clock, and fitted with Sportmax GP-As that had been scrubbed in a bit and were at least lukewarm. Between the better rubber, warmer track, and my new mindset, I began to have a bit of fun on the big KTM. I discovered that the motor started putting power down as low as 2500 rpm, alleviating the need to shift so furiously as I do on my R6. As I shifted less, I gained more speed, allowing the bike to lug itself out of the corners, and enjoying the distinctive sound of a big v-twin growling beneath me.

A small group of loudly protesting riders had convinced the KTM techs on hand to tweak the suspension on all the bikes a bit, adding a bit of compression damping and increasing preload slightly. These changes made the bike much more responsive to control inputs, as if someone had given the bike its morning coffee and it was now fully awake. The bike was now able to more or less hold a line, and turning in while on the brakes was no longer a dicey proposition. Five laps into the session, I found myself having quite a bit of fun with the bike, particularly on corner exit, where you could wick up the throttle and get the rear to slide just slightly. And the sound of the motor was proving to be intoxicating, even with stock exhaust silencers fitted.

The clouds had started to gather somewhat during our second session, and just as I slipped on my helmet for our third, the skies opened up. The track marshals threw the red flag to bring in the riders from the session that was still running, but not before two people crashed on the suddenly slick track. So lunch started early for us, as the officials decided to cancel the third session entirely. I was completely disappointed, as I was just coming to terms with the SuperDuke, and wanted to see what I could do with my riding style to get even more out of it.

Fun in the... Damp.

Following our extended lunch, a riding instructor was sent out on track to see how much of it had dried since the rain let up. He came back in and gave his blessing, so after a brief riders' meeting, my group was sent back out on track. We spent several laps following the riding instructor, getting heat in the tires and scoping out the damp areas, trying to create a dry line through the corners. Riding at this reduced pace allowed me to appreciate the easy handling and overall good nature of the KTM at less than full pace. I came to the conclusion that the SuperDuke would be a fantastic street bike, with its easy handling and fat torque curve. The gobs of suspension travel would certainly be a plus in urban environments, and the bike was definitely surefooted when there was any traction available at all.

On about the fifth lap, myself and a friend got the go-ahead and charged past the instructor, eager to get a few decent laps in before the session was over. Once back up to pace, I still was left wishing for more suspension feedback, as the bike would frequently slide a bit before I knew it was happening. On the straights, the extra-long throttle throw made getting it wide-open a bit of a pain. Shifting while on the straights was somewhat comical to observe, as the throttle required such an exaggerated movement to go from on to off and on again (and the bike wouldn't shift any other way, at least without the clutch, and who wants to use that, anyway?). Several riders, myself included, reported having problems shifting into 5th and 6th at times, and I caught a few false neutrals. These problems might subside slightly once the bikes are fully broken in, but it was a frustrating problem to have nonetheless. All teething problems aside, I was really starting to come into my own on the SuperDuke, and very much wanted to get another full, clean session on the bike to really put it through its paces.

Vroom! Rain! Whoop! Bam!

The clouds had darkened again when we took to the track for our fifth session. Track officials had assured us that at the first hint of rain, they would throw the flags and bring us off the track, so I was paying special attention to the corner workers as I warmed up my tires and started putting in laps. There were a few drops of rain on my visor, but nothing to be really concerned about, so I started putting in laps and working with the bike.

I passed the instructor and chased down a (usually) faster friend of mine, passing him on the brakes going into turn 1. As I ran up to the chicane, more rain drops suddenly appeared on my visor, and I slowed to a moderate pace for turn 4. Exiting the turn, the instructor came back by me and the rain stopped, so we both charged hard down the straight. But just as we went through the kink by the flag stand, the orange and red debris flag came out, and the rain started in earnest. The instructor and I both checked up, had a look at each other and slowed dramatically for turn 6. In proper wet weather form, I slowed way down, let off the brakes completely, and tipped into the corner just behind the instructor. Just after I tipped in - whoop, BAM! I was on the ground. No warning, no slide, just me, the bike, and the pavement, getting friendly in ways I don't enjoy. My right leg was trapped under the bike as we slid off the track, coming to a stop in the grass, about six feet from the pavement. I wrenched my leg free and trotted away from the track into the sand trap, just in time to have another rider crash in exactly the same spot and come to rest just a few feet from where my bike lay! Then I looked to my left and saw another rider was down in turn 8, and unbeknown to us, a fourth had crashed in 10! So much for throwing the flags at the first sign of rain; 4 riders had crashed in 30 seconds!

My gear did it's job well, and I was unscathed from my lowside. My brand-new suit is now properly broken in, and I'll have to get a small hole on the right forearm patched. My right boot kept my foot and ankle intact, grinding down on the plastic protecting my ankle and lower leg. The bike was similarly lightly damaged, with only a couple scratches and a broken front brake lever to show for our off-track excursion. Once the rest of the bikes were safely by, I picked it up, pulled the grass clumps out of the bike, and rode it back to the pits. The rain became more intense as I pulled into the pits from my ride of shame, and event officials made the decision to call the day.

Right tool for the job?

In today's sport bike market, there are race bikes that are produced for the street, and street bikes you can take to the track. While the SuperDuke falls solidly into the latter category, the average track day rider would still certainly have a blast on it. And the practicality, comfort, and... er... crashworthiness of the bike certainly add to its usefulness during the rest of the week. Hardcore track riders, used to their razor sharp superbikes, may be unimpressed, but the KTM certainly does fine on the track, ridden like the bike that it is, rather than the bike you wish it was.

It's a long, long preseason...

Seems like every season, for one reason or another, I get a late start. It's always some silly excuse, like getting married in May of last year... Well, this year it's buying a new house. My wife and I are moving (on up) to the East side of the city to a house that's double the size and four times as nice. So that's thrown a bit of water on my preparations for this year's track season for the moment.

But plans are still moving forward! I've already purchased new, track-only bodywork from Catalyst Composites, a new racing suit, and a host of other odds and ends to make this season everything it can be. The bike, after not getting a lot of TLC last year, was in need of some in-depth maintenance. Waiting in the wings are new wheel and steering head bearings, new spark plugs, fresh brake fluid, new throttle cables, and new front brake caliper seals. For this year's modifications, she'll also be getting a new exhaust, handlebar grips, the aforementioned bodywork, stronger engine case covers, a spiffy paint and decal job, and a camera system! I hope to be able to produce some pretty sweet videos to share with you all over this year.

As you might have guessed, the goals for this year are to make the bike race-worthy, get a lot of experience and have a lot of fun, with the aim of getting my race license by the end of the year. I've sworn off of riding on the street anymore, and have sold just about all of my street parts (headlights, street plastics, etc.). I'll also be working on improving myself physically, so that my fitness no longer detracts from my riding. I'll still be way too big for a 600cc bike, but at least I won't be huffing and puffing 4 laps into a session anymore.

Despite my jam-packed schedule, I will do my best to keep this blog updated with the latest happenings and progress as I edge toward track time this season! I'll be posting reviews of the products I'm using this year, as well as keeping you all up to speed on our new house. Check back soon!

Track Day Report: Putnam Park 9/27/2008

Track Map

Swiftly following my breakthrough day at Mid-Ohio, I loaded up the bikes again and set off for Putnam Park Road Course in Mt. Meridian, Indiana. The track day was being hosted by Cycle Options, an organization I normally don't choose to ride with because of their rather-- er, lax administration of their track days. But it was my last chance of the year to revisit the track where I got my start, and also the track I had left over a month ago with my tail between my legs, having scared myself senseless in a near-crash coming out of turn 10.

But I came ready to conquer this time, with a set of race tires still mounted on the bike, another in reserve, and my trick suspension bits freshly dialed in by Jason Etter of the Department of Suspension. I was riding a wave of confidence from my meteoric progress to-date, and had the added bonus of knowing that, this being the last track day of the season for me, I had very little to lose if I crashed the bike.

My wife's probably not all that happy to hear that last bit, come to think of it...

We arrived at the gate before dawn (a first for me), and yet there was already a considerable line to get in! After the usual ritual of setting up our pit area and drinking a Frappuccino during the rider's meeting, I made the executive decision to sit out the first session. At the rider's meeting, I had glanced over my shoulder to see a seemingly endless crowd of riders. Given my previous experience with Cycle Options, I decided to watch the first session and see how crowded the Advanced group would be, before I went out into it, and see if there were any riders I needed to be concerned with, from a safety aspect.

But not to worry, while the other two groups were packed chock-full of riders (and the track marshal wasn't even splitting them up as they went out on the track), the Advanced group was small enough, and everyone out there seemed to be riding fairly professionally. And riders coming in from their first sessions were reporting that the track was pretty grippy right from the start, which is always good news when you're running race tires without warmers.

I went out for the second session of the day (my first) and slowly felt my way back into the track and into my tires, and finished out the session turning one hot lap of a 1:23.86. Everything felt good, and I was highly impressed by the difference in the feel of my suspension since Jason had tweaked it at Mid-Ohio. Putnam is a significantly less smooth track, so suspension plays an even larger role in turning a fast lap. Properly tuned suspension can be worth its weight in gold at a bumpy track.

I went out one more time before lunch, working on settling into a rhythm, finding my braking and turn-in markers, and generally getting in the habit of turning clean laps. I settled right down into a groove, ending the session with a satsifying 1:22.29.

At any track, I've found it useful to mentally divide the track into its natural sections, and work on each of those sections individually to improve your lap times. It's easy for a rider to go into mental overload, especially as a newer rider or at a new track, trying to improve everything all at once. At Putnam Park, for instance, I take turns 1-2-3 as the first section, then 4-5-6, 7-8, and finally 9-10. Each of those sections will have individual aspects that I try to work on, but I never try to work on more than one section at a time, when I'm trying to lower my lap times. When I feel I've made progress in that section, I'll put it all together and see what it has netted me in my overall lap time.

The first session after lunch was quite productive for me, as I was able to put in 12 laps in a row, the most of any session all day, and really work hard on improving sections of my laps. I started pushing my brake marker deeper towards turn 1, which has been a perennial problem area for me. I was able to move that brake marker to the end of the rumble strip on the left side of the track, and then throw the bike into a tight line through the turn, still scrubbing off speed from the front tire. Having gotten what I wanted out of that section, I started working on opening the throttle earlier and harder exiting turn 4, to take advantage of all my new-found grip from my race tires. In that same section, I was working on carrying more speed into and through 5, and keeping the throttle open as far as I could through 6. (This is one of the secrets of Putnam that is often overlooked because if it's apparent ease, but a fast rider can make up GOBS of time here). I was fairly satisfied with my lines through 7-8 and 9-10, so I just spent the rest of the session committing my new-found lines to memory, and turned a 1:22.59 as my fastest lap. My lap average, though, had fallen considerably as I started to gain consistency, regardless of whatever traffic I was running into.

The next session, I started to put it all together, and to good effect. Directly after my warmup lap I put my head down and started pushing a bit, and was immediately in the mid- and low-22s. After sifting through some traffic, I got clear track for a lap and turned in my fastest lap to that point, a 1:21.41. The last time I had turned a lap in the 21s, I had nearly crashed doing it, so this was something of a milestone for me, and a testament to the awesome new Bridgestone rubber I was using.

At the start of the day, I had set a personal goal for myself of seeing a 1:19.xx. While not an incredible lap by any means, it would certainly represent an immense psychological triumph to be in the same "decade" as the really fast guys, who are running 1:15s or better. In my next to last session, I started really trying for that goal, and despite being hampered by traffic for much of the session, managed to claw my way down to a 1:20.88 on my last lap.

I was stoked! The bike felt good, I felt good, and I was, for the first time ever, leaving Randy and Daryl (who used to blow my doors off) behind me consistently. Turning 19s seemed perfectly attainable, all I needed was one more session and some clear track to do it.

I headed out for my last session with a single-minded sense of purpose, got out on the track, and went to business. I warmed up the tires aggressively, wanting to get every lap I could out of the session to try and make my goal happen. As I came onto the front straightaway at the end of my warmup lap, I did a swift inventory of all the things I needed to do right to make it a good lap, and then set about doing them.

Coming over the rise after the pit exit, I wound the bike out through 5th gear, wringing the throttle for all it was worth. I kept my head low, eyes just above the windscreen, and waited for my brake marker. Just as I came up to the rumblestrip on the left I popped up into the wind, getting on the brakes hard as the red and white stripes flashed by, clicking a couple downshifts and tipping the bike right towards the turn 1 apex. I dipped my shoulder in low, planting my knee on the ground just as I was trailing off the brakes, and scrubbed speed with the front tire over the ripples midway through the corner. Letting the bike drift back out to the left for just an instant and standing it up only slightly, I tossed it down on my right knee again, this time just picking up the throttle. Through the apex of turn 2, I got on the throttle with some aggression, picking the bike up for only a split second before dipping down to the right one more time for the turn 3 kink.

Rolling off the throttle just long enough to flop the bike over the other way, I tossed myself left into turn 4, dialing up as much throttle as I thought my rear tire would allow. I sucked the bike down hard to the left, my knee slider skittering over the pavement, my head and inside shoulder reaching for the rumble strip, as the power of the bike started to carry me wide again towards the right side of the track. Exiting the corner, I straightened up and tucked in at full throttle for just a second, drifting back to the left to set up for turn five. I stabbed the brakes momentarily at my previously chosen skid mark and barreled through five, squaring off the corner slightly to miss the bump in the middle line. No aggressive throttle yet, as the rumble strip at the exit rushed towards me menacingly. Standing the bike up just a bit as I got out of five, I opened the throttle hard and kept the bike headed right, to and through the apex of the turn 6 kink.

Keeping the throttle open as far and as long as my intestinal fortitude would allow, I clamped down hard on the binders for the "bus-stop" turn 7, hooking a downshift just as I was about to tip in. I slammed the bike down onto my right knee and looked for the apex, opening the throttle just as I crossed it and feeling the torque of the bike rocket me forward towards the exit. I stood the bike up just as I came to the rumble strip, short-shifted into 3rd gear and pounded the throttle to the stops for just an instant before braking for the long, left-hander that is turn 8. Settling into my well-practiced and proven line around 8, I apexed slightly late, grinding my knee slider over the inside rumble strip and rolling on the throttle smoothly as raised the bike back up and hurtled towards turns 9 and 10.

With the throttle pinned hard and the front tire just skimming the ground furtively, I set up to the left at the entrance of turn 9, just trail braking a bit and making sure I hit my apex as tight and soon enough to put me on the preferred line through the double-apex right that is the 9-10 complex. I settled the bike over onto my right knee and put in just enough throttle to settle out the chassis, letting myself drift out to the short rumble strip between 9 and 10. Sucking the bike back down into 10 I looked for the apex and started opening the throttle with a vengeance, waiting for any sign that the rear tire was going to let go. It didn't, I hit the apex and drive hard onto the straight, hitting my upshifts to 4th and 5th gears just right, at 15000 RPM.

I knew I had put in a fast lap. I knew just from the seat of my pants that it had to be my fastest lap I had put in all day, and I just couldn't wait to see what time I had pulled! So I broke my general rule, and looked down at my lap timer as I hurtled down the straight at 130 mph, and was greeted with... A BLANK SCREEN!?! A stream of obscenities not repeatable to my mild-mannered readers issued forth from my mouth, drowning out the scream of the bike and almost surprising even myself.

I tore back around the track, riding mad and sloppy, and went into the pits. I practically screeched to a stop next to the track marshal, and politely inquired what had happened to the lap timer beacon. He informed me that one of them had run out of batteries, and that the owner of the backup had packed his things and gone home. I wasn't all that thrilled to hear his answer, to say the least, but I wasn't going to waste pefectly good track time, so I set back out around the track and put in several rather determined laps, making quick work of several other bikes in the process. Those on hand who witnessed the last half of the session said that they were quite taken aback by my sudden aggression, particularly with my swift overtaking of a black R1 who was some distance ahead of me at my reentry to the track.

Despite the heartbreak of not really knowing whether I had broken into the 19s, I was somewhat content to know that at least those watching said I had gone much faster, and I had pushed the bike harder than almost ever before, and still not reached the limit of my new equipment. However, the circumstances of my final track session of the year have left me with a somewhat unrequited feeling, and the overwhelming desire to go back out and try it again. But for those of us in the Midwest, the season's over for awhile. The mornings are getting cold, the leaves are turning, and it's time to bed the bikes down for the long winter. Spring can't come soon enough!

Track Day Report: Mid-Ohio 9/23/2008

Track Map

Tuesday, September 23rd was my third and final track day of the year at the famed Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, Ohio. The 15-turn, 2.4 mile course has a little bit of everything, from the amazingly fast back straight to the Esses, long corners, short corners, fast stuff, slow stuff, and quite a few blind and off-camber corners for good measure. It is certainly a track that can teach you a WHOLE lot about riding a motorcycle at speed.

Previous to this season's excursions to Mid-Ohio, I had only visited once previously, in 2006. I was still fairly new to track riding, and certainly didn't know much about what I was doing, so I bumbled along through the day and finished with a best lap time of 1:51.53. What I thought was reasonably quick then has suddenly become a rather placid warm up lap for me now! Such has been the pace of my progression as a rider this season.

On my first trip to Mid-Ohio this year on July 1st, I made immediate progress, besting my previous personal record in only the third session of the day. That afternoon, I arranged for someone to get some chase footage of me around the track, both to show me what I could be doing better, and to take home to show to family and friends. The resulting video can be found here. With the video bike behind me, I put my head down and started clicking off laps fairly well, dropping my times into the 1:47s by the end of the day.

Between that track day and the next at Mid-Ohio on August 12th, I had finally been able to upgrade my long-abused stock suspension. Thanks to Sportbike Track Gear I had a brand new Elka rear shock, and Matt Carr at Ducati Indianapolis had rebuilt my forks into something significantly more track-worthy. I felt I had reached the point where I was struggling to progress further, and this was partially due to a bike that wasn't giving me the feel, feedback and traction I needed, and was thus hurting my confidence. With these upgrades and increased determination, I dipped down to a 1:45.23, and more importantly, got the long-awaited bump into Advanced class.

[As a note, I was accompanied to this track day by my father, an aspiring (and might I add talented) photographer, whose work can be seen at the top of this page. He can be reached at f51gtracing@f51gtracing.com for future engagements. A further sampling of his work can be found on his SmugMug page.]

This track day was to be another joint venture between myself and my friend Paul, accompanied by our wives Jenny (his) and Katie (mine). Though to be honest, to simply say my wife comes along is completely untrue. Katie is the official Free Radical Racing coach, chef, nutritionist, photographer, pit crew, rig driver, cargo loader, logistician, mental health specialist, accountant, assistant mechanic and the founder and charter member of the Free Radical Fanclub. She's the reason the whole operation happens, and I owe every corner of every lap to her.

We arrived at the gate to the track just as the sun was coming up. Uncharacteristically, I had been nearly unable to sleep the night before at the hotel, for no apparent reason. Nonetheless, I didn't feel tired, and assumed (rightly) that adrenaline would carry me through the rest of the day.

We were one of the first few through the gate, and proceeded to hurry down to registration to get our garage number and begin setting up. Talk around the already-packed garage was that the morning sessions would find a rather slippery track, as overnight temperatures in the low 50s F and high relative humidity would leave quite a bit of dew on the track, despite the previous several days of clean, dry conditions. After the riders' meeting (and more warnings about slippery sections of the track), I consulted briefly with some of the faster riders I knew from previous track days, several of which said they'd be skipping the first session.

No matter to me-- I paid for track time, not to be a spectator! So I took to the track anyway. I had mounted up my first set of race tires, a set of Bridgestone BT-002 race-takeoffs, and was eager to try them out after only having the chance to briefly scrub them in on the street. The unfortunate thing about race tires is that they take longer to reach operating temperature than do street tires. Couple that with an already cold and damp track, and I found myself riding on what felt like marbles for the first couple laps of the opening session. Gradually, I started to get some heat into the tires, and five laps into the session I was finally able to get a little lean angle out of the bike, and brought my times down to the 1:44s immediately.

My goals for the day had been fairly conservative. I wanted to work primarily on consistency, being able to turn the same lap time over and over again, to prove to myself that I was reliably fast, not just fast on accident. As such, I spent the remainder of the morning and the first couple sessions of the afternoon turning 1:44s and :45s, but improving my lines and technique in various parts of the track. I was slightly unhappy that my lap times weren't falling on their own, but encouraged that I was starting to really understand how to put in a good clean lap, and repeat it at will.

Finally, at the insistence of Jeff, my friend who had shot the chase video for me previously, I went out with him and his two friends to "play". I am riding a 2004 Yamaha YZF-R6, a revolutionary middleweight bike for its time and still a very capapble track weapon, especially as I have it currently modified. Jeff rides the 2007 edition of the same model, and has the edge on brakes, acceleration, and suspension in that regard. His two friends were equipped with a Kawasaki ZX-10R and a Yamaha YZF-R1, both heavyweight horsepower giants more than capable of running away from me on any of Mid-Ohio's several fast straights.

I've played with 1000cc bikes before, so I knew the drill I would need to run in order to keep pace. Get every bit of corner speed I could out of my little 600, drive hard onto the straights, and brake like a man possessed at the end of them. That said, when we got out and started having fun, I didn't really feel like I was working hard. I was playing with them, as we fright-trained through slower traffic (wait, since when is there traffic slower than me?!), showing them my front wheel going into corners to let them know I was there, and trying new and inventive ways of passing where I could. I was pushing the bike harder than I ever had previously, but somehow it didn't feel like I was pushing. I came into the pits grinning from ear to ear (and sweating profusely), and was rewarded with a 1:42.98 on my lap timer!

Throughout the day, Paul had been progressing rapidly as well, and was trying to make the bump to join me in Advanced class by the end of the day. Finally, he had worked out a deal with one of the track coaches that the latter would follow him for the final Intermediate session, and if he rode well enough, let him ride in the last Advanced session immediately following. Paul rode well, the instructor gave his blessing, and Paul pulled up beside us to go out for the final Advanced session.

Being fairly satisfied with my progress on the day, and generally just intending to enjoy myself, I had decided to ride with Jeff and friends again, and just go have a bit of fun to close out the day. Jeff had said that he was going to take some video of his friend on the ZX-10R, and I intended to harass them mercilessly for the whole session! But then at the start of the warm-up lap, Paul (benefiting from the increased cold traction afforded by his street Pirellis) elbowed his way past the Kawasaki and took off. I laid back a bit, as my tires weren't yet up to temperature, and watched as Paul put his head down and charged off into the distance.

As my tires gave me their quiet signal that they were ready to go, I looked up to see Paul some several corners ahead of me. I muttered "oh hell no" in my helmet and put my head down as well. I made quick work of the ZX-10 in the back section of the track and went to work reeling in Paul, who rides an R6 very similar to my own. I proceeded to turn my two fastest laps of the day, a 1:41.81 and a 1:41.71 back-to-back, and found myself right on Paul's rear wheel as we entered Thunder Alley. I kept the throttle pinned through turn 12 and stuck my front wheel right up inside of him in 13, to let him know I was there. Now we could play! I didn't have the right position to actually complete the pass, but I intended to try it again on the brakes for turn 1. But to my surprise, as we came onto the front straight, he sat up and waved me by! Oh well... I spent the remainder of the session just having fun, tossing the bike around and wringing its neck like you can only at a big track like Mid-Ohio.

Paul and I both came back to the pits exhausted, but happy and satisfied with the day's work. I had dropped my times a full three and a half seconds, gained a whole lot of consistency, and gotten comfortable running the pace I was running. On the season, I dropped nearly 10 seconds from my lap times! And more importantly, I had a helluva lot of fun doing it! There are still several areas where I can improve at this track, namely in corner exits and ironing out my lines at the end of the esses, and I think improving those areas will net me some sub-1:40 lap times next season. Can't wait 'till spring!