It was fun! Here is a report of Part 1:
OK here is the report from the weekend:
Friday:
I helped Rick move 6,000 pounds of motorcycles and motorcycle gear to his new house. I thought we would be done by 3:00 or so in the afternoon. We weren't done until 5 p.m. I then had to run to the motorcycle parts store, and had to pack the trailer with the gear for the trip. I left at around 8 p.m. My air conditioning didn't work in the truck. I had to ride w/the windows down for the whole 4 hour ride. RRRRRRRRRR . . .
I got into the Hotel around Midnight. My friend Antonio was coming down from Campbell to meet me. He got in at about 12:30. We had a couple of beers, then crashed at about 2 a.m.
Saturday:
We got up at six, then proceeded to head to the track. Pitted next to Dale Walker, and got ready for the day. Luckily, I remembered EVERYTHING
No surprises when I got there. I was a bit tentative going out, because I didn't know how I would be riding, and Buttonwillow is my least favorite track. Well, I rode surprisingly smooth, and much faster through the tight sections. Transitions were real quick (losing 18 pounds from working out helped a LOT). I was surprising myself. I pulled in to check the bike out. Everything looked good. My new rotors were breaking in nicely, and the pads bedding as well. I had to keep the speed down a bit because I didn't want to glaze the rotors.
I went back out in the second session. Dale and I followed each other around a bit. He was having a blast on his new GSX-R 600. It was a real good session. Nobody really came around me except Dale and another guy on a GSX-R 1000. That was a pretty good session. I came in. The brakes were starting to grab SWEET! Session 3 was probably the fastest session I did all day. Only Dale and AFM KFG Ross Wells came around me during that session. Oh yeah! I was holding back in Riverside and over Lost Hills a bit. I usually go full-throttle through Riverside, but I maybe went 8/10ths through there. Crashing there would really suck. My tires started feeling a bit greasy as it got hotter. No biggie, they still felt OK, and were gripping just fine.
Dale held his racing clinic during lunch. Good class! I went ahead and did another session after lunch. Rode fairly hard, but was having fun practicing outbraking some of my buddies. They would pull me a bit on the straights, but I would catch them big time in the corners. I would get on their ass, then follow them through. If it was a race, I would have passed them. No sense doing those maneuvers during a track day though. I think a friend of mine shot some video of this.
After that session, I worked w/Dale to do some drag racing starts. I really started to get a feel for how a good start is supposed to be. I never have time to practice them, so this was a good opportunity for instruction. After some wheelieing, I managed to get a good launch.
Since I was getting tired, I decided to help my friend Antonio out. I followed him through for two laps, then showed him some of the correct lines to get around the track faster. Once he followed me, then we pulled over and discussed it. The second time around, he immediately chopped 4-5 seconds off his lap times. On the last session, I showed him how to block and seal off turns 8-10. Heh, heh, he paid attention, because on the next lap, he did what I told him. I wished I had a video camera! Someone passed me, then tried to pass him. Antonio blocked him for three turns! BUAHAHAHAHA! Was real sweet! He now knows how to go around that track a lot faster. I think 8-10 seconds faster!
After the day, we all went to our motel rooms. We retired to the Willows Inn barbecue pit for some great beers, bench racing and delicious food. Then it was to bed for another day of riding . . . on the street . . .
Part 2 Next!
- Nut
