My last track day of 2012: BFR on Wednesday, August 22

[Breadman]

  Yes, it's me again.  I am having a third go at it on my "new to me" ZX-9r at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, IL.
$150 is the fee I just paid at the Ducati dealer on Silvernail Dr. in Waukesha, WI.  Linky to dealer: http://www.motounion.net/

  Chime in if you are up for a fun day at the track!

[OU812]

Should I put the SUMO tires back on?

[Breadman]

  Bike is in the minivan, ready to go.

Cooler is filled, gear in van, keys in ignition.  

Bedtime.

Perkins in Delavan at 6 AM!

[FZ1 Matt]

Have fun. You lucked out on the weather again!   Try to podium at least.

[Breadman]

  Absolutely fantastic is how the day went!

I even won "Rider of the Day" in a drawing, which will put a photo and profile of me on the motovid.com facebook page, got my photos of the day for free, AND I won a free track day!!

I rode safely as well, and received lots of CR advice.  I put that advice to use and got smoother with better lines.  

THE ADDICTION HAS SET IN!

[06_wi_vfr]

 

[Breadman]

Bad shadows are evident from the morning sun on the pictures in the right-handers from the carousel (turn 3), but overall I am pleased with the photos.

  I have never passed as many riders (on the track) as I was able to pass yesterday.  It was fun to pass in the carousel or turn 3(on the outside, of course)!  I did a lot of passes between turns 5 and 6, then was forced to brake hard into 6.  All safe passes, and much fun was had.
 

  
  I now know how FZ1Matt feels, when he gets outpowered in the straights and is forced to pass in the turns.  There were several late model GSX-R 750s and reasonably new liter bikes that had a power (or power/weight) advantage on the front straight (maybe their pilots weigh under 250 lbs. ).  It forces you to improve unless you are content with waiting in the turns behind slightly slower riders all day.  I now can take both turns 1 and 7 way better than earlier this season, since I was getting schooled in the drive out of 7 onto the front straight continually.  There also were two SV650's over which I had the power advantage, which makes passing in the straight sections possible.




















I only wish I could share this incredible event with more of you.  It was as close to a perfect moto-related day I have ever had!

[falconati]

   Glad you had a great time!  Those are excellent pics...and the price was right!  

(Very jealous by the way)

[phoenix]

the addiction is fully set in when you:
remove all lights from the bike
put track only rubber on it
buy some tire warmers and price out generators
make up a huge spreadsheet for the year listing all the trackday providers that and their events within a 400 mile radius

[ManWorkingHere]

+1 on the nice Pix, nice Weather, and smooth riding.

[stromgal]

Don't those turn signals slow you down?  



Glad it was a 'perfect' day. Reading of your thrills and advancing skills bring memories of my similar feelings racing the RD.... back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

[FZ1 Matt]

Don't those turn signals slow you down?  



Glad it was a 'perfect' day. Reading of your thrills and advancing skills bring memories of my similar feelings racing the RD.... back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

I'd crap my pants if I was a dinosaur and I saw an RD fly by. And yes dinosaurs wear pants.

[FZ1 Matt]

I'm glad you had fun Kris. You look faster now too. You're probably faster than me now. The cool part is that as soon as you think you're the shit, they throw you in advanced and then it's back to the drawing board. Guys with slower bikes will be passing you in straightaways on corner exits and under brakes into the corners.

Then after you're advanced and think you're the shit, you go race and then it's back to the drawing board.


And then somewhere in the middle there after it's too late, you'll realize that you've stopped enjoying riding on the street.


And then you will buy a KLR and laugh hysterically when you encounter the first hill that you can't maintain 70mph on in 5th gear.

And that will be ok with you.

After spending all that money on a sportbike and fancy suspension and expensive tires, you'll enjoy "railing" around on a bouncy ass, unrefined in every way, KLR sporting a supremely cupped front knobby tire with 17000 miles on it.

[davef]

Yeah, the track is where you can ride your bike the way it was designed to be ridden and in relative safety. Glad you enjoyed it. Wait till you borrow a friend's modern 600 and go 3 seconds faster on it than your 9r.  

[Krellian]

the addiction is fully set in when you:
remove all lights from the bike
put track only rubber on it
buy some tire warmers and price out generators
make up a huge spreadsheet for the year listing all the trackday providers that and their events within a 400 mile radius

oh damn, other then the tire warmers i'm addicted!