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how have u worked up the latter?

  1. #1
    Senior Member
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    im curious as to how you guys have worked thru the ranks of racing. what class did u start in? then what? where r u now? and most of all, what was it like?

    gimme somethin to read. im bored, and u guys amuse me

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  2. #2
    Member Onedwn5up's Avatar
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    so I'm here for your amusement? fuckin wanker.

    Before you ever get yourself near a race you need to get personal with your machinery and the track. I don't care how many miles you have turned on the street as it doesn't mean dick.

    I spent two years doing track days and came from a background of motocross and off-road racing before I ever competed on a roadrace track.

    Look under the trackdays thread and see that I just posted the '06 for the TPM schedule. We have a series call the GP Moto Cup. This is actually what I did several of before going out this year. And most of the people are regular racers but for a lot this is a chance to mix it up with people that do race and to also get that expereience of starting on a line and going for turn 1.

    I also suggest taking a school. Of course taking a school at the track you plan to compete at is the best thing but reality is, any course is good.

    Take a look at this article I wrote relating the importance of track days to competition.
    http://www.teampromotion.com/tpm.php?page_id=ms_081705

    Let me know if you have any questions.
    -Eric

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    Team ProMotion Coach & NE/Mid-Atlantic CCS/LRRS #973
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  3. #3
    Lifer a13x's Avatar
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    I guess I'm the opposite of Eric. While we were both 'Rookies' this season, I came at the track from a completely different angle.

    Here's my deal. It's long but I'm in a typing mood tonight. Sides, you wanted a Story. WELL GATHER ROUND THE FIRE LIL CHIPMUNK.


    I started riding dirtbikes at 10, never raced, just rode around the pits and had a good time. Stopped riding around 16. At 18 I bought a little 500cc twin motorcycle and rode that until I was 20'ish. Then I had a Superhawk from 20-23. So I rode about 5 years total on the street and about 30,000 miles or so. When I hit 23 I had to stop riding so I could concentrate on getting the heck out of college. Over the next 2 years I probably rode 10 times total when I borrowed people's bikes. The 10th time I went out for a ride (at 25 years old) I was hit by a drunkdriver and almost killed.

    It was at this point I decided to maybe try riding on the track.

    My buddy had be racing for a few years (since 2002) and I'd always wanted to try it but never could afford it. I couldn't even afford a trackday. However, laying in the hospital, I called up my buddy and told him "yea, I'll take you up on the offer to borrow your racebike for Penguin" I knew I could do it. I knew from riding on the street that I had some semblance of a idea how to ride a motorcycle. I never dragged my knee, did a wheelie, or rode that wild, but from riding with others... I knew I was pretty comfortable.

    So exactly 30 days after leaving the hospital I rolled into Loudon in a borrowed truck, with a borrowed bike, and rented some leathers to take Penguin. I couldn't even operate the clutch properly as my left arm was still severly bruised and messed up from my accident. I didn't care, I just wanted to ride. So with that shitty pain and the thought of 'don't crash my friend bike.. he has to race this weekend.. don't crash my friends bike.. he has to race this weekend...' I wobbled around the track and had a big friggin smile. I wasn't the fastest, nor the slowest, but was probably the happiest. My buddy was watching with a stopwatch and I was doing 45's. WOOHA!!

    So that winter I decided to buy a racebike with my insurance money and give a big middle finger to the Street. In January I bought a $1500 Hawk and spent the next 3 months frantically trying to make it servicable. It was a basketcase and my buddy (Matt) and I were up all night working on it before the April races. With zero sleep we went up to Loudon for the April LRRS races and my maiden voyage with my own bike. Well I got about 1 (half cracked) practice session in before the Basketcase decided to act up and I spent the rest of the day working on it. Then it rained and we all went home that night.

    In May I finally got to race. I still had yet to ride around the track 'full out' but here I was gridded up. From there things just, I don't know, things just went really well. My goal for the first 3 MONTHS was do to a 1:30 laptime and for the SEASON was a 1:27. I based these laptimes on what other Hawk racers had done over the last 6 years (going back to 1999 on the LRRS Archives). Well I won my Rookie Race with a 1:30. Ran a 1:27 in the next race. Fixed my gearing (which was all wrong) and did a 1:26 at the end of the weekend. Needless to say I was a bit surprised and everyone I knew (all the other Hawk racers) were in disbelief.

    From there things just went well. Did a 24 the next weekend. 22 the next and at this point I had the 3 fastest racers at Loudon telling me to get the frig out of Novice. This is where the Ladder stinks. You have to do 10 races total before advancing. Well due to finances I couldn't do more than 2 races a weekend really. So finally I got my 10 late in the season, upgraded to Am, and ran a 20. After 3 races as a Amateur (two 3rds and a run-away win) those same 3 racers are already asking me why I'm not a Expert. HAH. WTF. Cause you need THIRTEEN bloody Amateur races to advance to Expert. At this point, I've done 13 races in my entire career.

    So going into 2006 I'm not sure what my plan is. I might try to advance early or just plod along and upgrade when I reach 13 races (which will be late in the season). Both have their plus sides.

    I'll probably stay Am for a least a few weekends. I'm making MANY MANY changes to my bike this winter and it will probably take a few weekends to sort it out. I didn't touch one thing on it last year (other than gearing), no supsension dialing, no race gas, no slick tires, nada.... so making many changes is going to probably really mess with the dynamics it currently has. In the end it *should* be better, but who knows. I'll probably fuck it up.

    All I know is 2005 was great. Hey I could very well never go any faster than I did this year and I'll still be god damn happy. In 14 months I went from never being on a track, to taking Penguin, to teaching Penguin. I had guys I'd been admiring for 10 years as they dominated Loudon races come up to me and take me under their wing and compliment my riding. I was in utter shock for pretty much the entire 2005 season.

    It's a fun thing this roadracing and I enjoy it. Hell I just like RIDING. I have a whole lotto learn still but everytime out there is a new thrill. I think my deal was weird or something. That's what people tell me. My main goals were to not crash (which I didn't) and to have fun (which I did). That's the biggest things to remember. Have fun riding or you won't be riding long.

    I look forward to seeing you up there this season x2468, even if it is just hanging out and getting a feel for the scene. (something I did for years up there).

    Peace.

    ps: You current plan for getting out there is a good one x2468.

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    Last edited by a13x; 01-04-06 at 02:28 AM.
    Boston --> San Diego

  4. #4
    Lifer a13x's Avatar
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    Wow.

    That's a novel.

    What a loser.

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    Boston --> San Diego

  5. #5
    Super Moderator OreoGaborio's Avatar
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    Well... I can't call myself a racer just yet, but I do have experiences climbing this LADDER you speak of

    (insert Wayne's World "deedle dee doo, deedle dee doo" flashback thingie here)

    got my license through MSF back in '01... had SOME experience on two wheels before then but most were un motorized... nothin special... a friend's dirtbike here, a friend's dirtbike there... nothin much. So i got my license, rode a friend's sportbike here, a friend's sportbike there... nothin much (luckilly there ends the pattern) Got my ZX in May of '04... joined this forum & got talkin to the guys on here... did a bunch of group rides, picked the brains of the veterans (Mark, TLRMan is a known talk-a-holic and is a huge source of information... i really have to thank him for taking me under his wing my first season riding, he's the one that got me into trackdays. w/o him I wouldn't be an aspiring racer).

    A couple months after getting my bike the guys on NESR convinced me to save up for a Trackday.... So I did... I had about 3 months of time and 5k miles of street experience under my belt & off I go to the track.

    Now... I can't BEGIN... to describe the emotions I felt that day... After BARELY SKUFFING my kneepuck in turn 2 about 1/2 way through that first trackday, you couldn't wipe the shit eatin grin of my face w/ a fahking Louisville fahkin Sluggah. It was made perfectly clear to me why they call em "Crackdays", cuz I was friggin hooked... still am...

    Now jump to 2:45am, January 4th 2006... 14 months & 8.5 trackdays later, I'm sittin here typin away my weak-ass story to someone that's already ahead of where I was whenI was 20 & you're 4 years younger at that At the same time I'm typing this thoughts of Virginia International Raceway and the Cornserspeed Level I Race School are goin through my head, along w/ plans for a race ready Production Twins legal EX500 that will hopfully be on it's way to my apparmtnet next weekend.

    Lemme just say bro... consider yourself one of the lucky ones... you've found somethin you love (or at least HOPE to love) pretty early in life... you've got alot of time ahead of ya to hone your skills.

    I'd say the path I took was a damn good one & I was lucky to stumble upon it

    And that was less of a novel.... That makes me less of a loser than Alex

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    -Pete LRRS/CCS #81 - ECK Racing, TonysTrackDays
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  6. #6
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    thanks for the story guys. very insperational, and a great reads. sometimes i need inspiration. especially with all this depressing snow....

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  7. #7
    First name on the shit list.... SVRACER01's Avatar
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    began working for a trackday company about 2 years ago where i got as much tracktime as i could handle at least once a month. my boss began racing and proceeded to convince me that i was way faster than the guys out there in (what would be) my class. got my racing license in Oct. of 04 in phoenix, did 3 races and pulled in 1 1st and 2 3rds. moved hee and raced loudon and well you can look up the results yourself

    i was there every weekend except FUSA and i did every NV supertwins and thunderbike race with a few others here and there

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    Last edited by SVRACER01; 01-05-06 at 07:18 PM.
    When I start my KTM in the morning, rules are broken. Its inevitable...
    01 SV650S (RC51 eater)/07 690SM /03 300EXC/14 XTZ1200
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  8. #8
    Soul Rider Paul_E_D's Avatar
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    how have u worked up the latter?

    I did 4 trackdays with tony on my streetbike, and then bought a clapped out EX500 to check out racing.

    I Raced that with Tony's original crew for 3/4 of a season before I spun a bearing with an extra downshift into the bowl. A friend let me borrow his MINT EX500 and I binned it in the first race. Not much damage, so he said "have another go". Well, this time I really binned it and it flipped end over end.

    Now I had to buy it! That was my most expensive day at the track. In retrospect, it worked out OK, because I now had a good racebike. I campaigned it successfully for almost 2 seasons, winning lots of Junior (now Amatuer) races and finishing on the podium in expert races. I was into the 1:20 bracket, and starting to slide, spin, (and crash) quite a bit.

    I looked at my options for upgrading. SV? 600? 125? Aprilia cup? I got to race a 125 in an endurance race and never looked back. This was my third season on the 125. I missed the championship by one position in one race. Doh!

    I've ridden all the other bikes mentioned, and still consider the 125 clearly the best of the bunch. Not to mention the class is competitive and the guys I race against are super talented and super nice as well.

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    Paul_E_D


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