does anybody here want to go fast?



i do..i want to go fast

_________________

LETS GO PRAIRIE DOGGIN!!!!!!!!!YEEE HAWWWW!!!
WERA & NESBA #45

take your time on the new bike - post up how you like it..

_________________


Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς

www.WickedRacing.com - Go Fast Parts & Gear for Riders and Their Motorcycles
PM me for "TrackWhore" special discounts

I love this bike and these michelins rock. This v front is incredible

_________________

LETS GO PRAIRIE DOGGIN!!!!!!!!!YEEE HAWWWW!!!
WERA & NESBA #45

You'll have to post up a comparison of it and the Gixxer when you're done. And a tire write up.

_________________


Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς

www.WickedRacing.com - Go Fast Parts & Gear for Riders and Their Motorcycles
PM me for "TrackWhore" special discounts

Told You Michelin is the poop

_________________
03' Yamaha R1 - Track Bike - In bits and pieces across the united states - Rest in Pieces
09' Suzuki GSX-R 750 - Street Bike
Nesba #22

I'll do a long write up later, that is a lot to talk about. Overall it was a great weekend for the trackwhores boys. No wrecks, mechanical issues, and we showed almost everyone else in the STT A group why the NESBA A group rocks.

Yea we pretty much ran that A group

_________________

LETS GO PRAIRIE DOGGIN!!!!!!!!!YEEE HAWWWW!!!
WERA & NESBA #45

Since a lot of things were new this weekend (new track, new riding organization, etc), this is going to be a fairly long thorough write up. So I am going to split it into different parts to try to make it more readable.

Overall
Left Friday early afternoon to get to the track. I wasn't sure how traffic was going to be on a Friday afternoon, so left earlier than I needed to. Got to the track around 4:30 and they wouldn't let us over to Tbolt yet because some group was testing and didn't want anyone else around. Justin showed up right about 5:30 when we could get over to Tbolt. We went over, found the garage we had rented and got my stuff unloaded. Went to dinner and then back to the track to meet Tom who was bringing Justin's bike down. Tom was supposed to ride but hurt himself at work earlier in the week and couldn't. We unloaded Justin's stuff, got everything setup and went back to the hotel.

For the weekend, we had absolutely awesome weather. Especially Saturday it was great, mid 80's and low humidity. We got there about 7 and went and got registered and teched. This was real fast, so Justin and I had about an hour to kill until the rider's meeting. Rider's meeting was fairly short. Unlike NESBA, their rotation is I-A-N, so Advanced doesn't go out until 20 after the hour.

Once the sessions started, for Justin and I it was just getting the feel (Justin with his new bike and me with the new track). I did almost high side myself coming out of T1 (Tasha got it on camera, I'll post that up later). I was trying to keep up with Justin and grabbed too much throttle at too much lean angle. My tires were on their 3rd day so I mentally started questioning them and ended up backing off for most of the day although I think they were fine, it was just me riding over my head at that point.

I started the first day pretty slow since I needed to learn the track, but after maybe 2 or 3 sessions I was already faster than probably 70% of the guys in STT's A group. The track was really easy to learn and flows really well, a lot of fun.

I don't think Justin had any, but I had 2 incidents on Saturday. The first was my near highside which I mentioned above and the 2nd was a guy and I hit each other mid turn. For those of you who have not been there, Tbolt has a long sweeping right hander for its carousel. It comes into a really hard right turn and then quickly transitions to a long left hander. I was following a guy through the right and when we transitioned to the left he went in too hot and pushed himself out wide. I went up the inside to pass him. He ended up coming back across and we ran into each other with his left handle bar at the back right side of my tank almost back to me. I guess its my fault since I wasn't completely by him, but if he was looking through the left hander he should have seen me there since I was in front of him. So not sure why he turned and ran right into me. Either way it caused us both to stand straight up and run off track. Was only off for maybe 20 or 30 yards and then came back on, so nothing too exciting.

Besides the mention above, our day as far as riding was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately we can't say the same for everyone else as they must have had 10 or so red flags on Saturday alone. I have never seen so many red flags at an event, it was really frustrating.

At the end of the day, we got all our stuff organized and closed up the garage for the night. I took my wheels off the bike and dropped them off with the tire vendor to get new tires on.

The next morning Justin and I stop for gas. Since Justin has a black gas can, in NJ they won't fill it for him. So they filled my can, we dumped it into his can (right in front of the attendant) and then had to fill mine again. Really dumb, so remember to bring a red gas can. We got back to the track around 7 because the tire guy told me he'd be open then and I could get my tires. I like to get to tech early just in case something is wrong, so that was good to hear. Unfortunately he didn't follow through with what he said. Justin got teched and was just hanging out. The tire vendor never showed up until 7:45 and even though they did my tires first, I still could not make it to tech in time. On top of that they charge $20 a tire off the bike to mount/balance. Most other places I believe it is $10 at the track. Either way, it was piss poor.

After the rider's meeting I got teched and had just enough time before our first session to re-safety wire everything. Again, the day was pretty uneventful except for one time I almost ass-packed some guy in the carousel. He was significantly slower in the carousel and I went to pass him on the inside and he just changed his line right in front of me. Missed my front wheel with his back wheel by about 5 inches. He was that slow that I stood the bike up and slammed on the brakes to keep from hitting him and then regained control, got on the gas and passed him on the outside.

Besides a few close calls with other riders, ran every session well and felt really good. Justin looked real good and was basically the fastest guy on the track. I was really happy in the fact that it was only my 2nd day on the track and I was passing pretty much everyone (except Justin) including all the STT CRs.

Unfortunately, just like Saturday, Sunday morning was filled with red flags. One guy dumped oil the ENTIRE front straight and into T1. Fortunately he got off the track in T1 so he kept it off the raceline through the corner. As far as red flags, it was a complete disaster for the weekend. The only time that went smoothly was Sunday afternoon. I think for the most part Justin and I were the 2 fastest guys on the track all Sunday afternoon.

Overall it was a great weekend. Neither Justin or I wrecked, there were no mechanical issues, and the weather was great. My more specific write-ups are below. I was really happy with the weekend all though I do have some complaints, but it was a good weekend for Justin and I.

NJMP and Thunderbolt
NJMP is a beautiful facility. A lot of places to watch from and really nice paddock area with lots of room. The track is awesome with something for everyone. Has some high speed stuff, a lot of technical areas, and some great passing zones.

Some negatives about NJMP were the fact that they seemed to rip us off on a garage. Justin and I needed power so we rented a garage which they charged us $50/day. We get to the event and I'm talking to another guy in the garage and he says that he asked them if he could rent one and they told him he couldn't because STT paid for them all. So he used it for free while we got charged $50. I asked STT about getting our money back and they had no clue about the garage situation. The garages were really nice, but don't pay for them. Just show up and take one and only pay if they say something to you.

They also yelled at Tom and the girls. They accused them of jumping an 8-10 ft fence when they were trying to take pictures and wanted to throw them out. Kind of ridiculous in my opinion.

I will be doing Tbolt again and probably this year. Really like the track and it is about the same or a little closer for me than Beaver.

Sportbike Track Time
This was my first time riding with STT. I had heard they do a good job, so I was excited to ride with them. The first downer was that Tom hurt his hand earlier in the week (like Tuesday) and couldn't ride. They would not refund or give him any credits for his two days. I thought that was a little ridiculous and as Justin pointed out, he should have shown up with this bike, teched, and then had a "mechanical issue" and he could have gotten half his money back. That wasn't a real winner with any of us.

Rider's meeting was short and sweet and tech was a breeze. No gear necessary, just take the bike up and done. One of the things I like about STT vs NESBA.

Now to the major bad with STT, allowing people to sign up in any group. This was a complete disaster. We had at least 15-20 red flags between Saturday and Sunday. Even the STT personnel commented that it was happening because people were not in the correct groups. I know one group of guys pitted across from us had a brand new track rider with them and talked him into signing up in Advanced so they could ride together. He was on a 2008 CBR1000RR and I passed him on the front straight with a closing rate of probably 60 mph. I was really disappointed in this aspect of STT and I plan to let them know about it.

I'll probably ride with STT again if their schedule fits mine better, but overall I was not impressed. Justin said the STT south division ran a better day and I also figure they get some meatheads from the New York/New Jersey area that think they are faster than they are. I expected the groups to be slower, but the riders were not just slower, they were erratic and unpredictable. They changed their lines on a whim and caused a lot of serious situations.

Moto-clinic
These guys were a complete joke. First off, they wanted $400 for a set of Power Ones that SBTG was selling for $345. Then they want $25/tire off the bike to mount, balance, and dispose of the tires. I know with other orgs we usually pay $10 or so at the track.

On top of the prices, the part that really pissed me off was the service. I asked the guy if it would better to drop them off after the day was over or just come down in the morning, he said drop them off and he could get them done. So I did and he told me to just stop back the next morning. He said since he was staying in the suites above the garage, he would be down by 7. Well the next morning rolls around and he did not show up until 7:45, my tires just sat there all night, he didn't have them done yet, and I still missed tech even though I was the first set to get done. Complete bone-headed operation.

Pros
+Great weather
+Bikes ran well
+No wrecks
+Love the track
+STT managed a good day and tech was good

Cons
-Ripped off on garage
-Red flags constantly. People riding over their heads in groups they shouldn't be in.
-Everything about the Moto-clinic guys was bad.

I think you have now rivaled Matt as the write king at TW

Pretty much what you said about STT is how I felt about them after the one time I rode with them as well. The thing about signing up where ever is scary. Did they bump people down/up at all? I know they did bump a few when I rode with them but it took a long time. Groups mean just about nothing unless it's NESBA.

Glad you guys had a good/safe time. Jr will have to post up his comparo between the piano and the squitastic. Which tires did you end up running Nate? Feedback from both of you guys would be greatly appreciated.

Look forward to seeing the pics!

_________________


Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς

www.WickedRacing.com - Go Fast Parts & Gear for Riders and Their Motorcycles
PM me for "TrackWhore" special discounts

+1! The problem is that when you let anyone sign up in A, you will get riders in A (and I and B for that matter) that don't belong. If you don't bump said riders to the proper group (which can be very difficult) you muddy the waters on who belongs where. Unless you put min/max lap times (not at all practical) out there it's all subjective. I agree that NESBA has the best set up!