About a month ago I was watching my friend race up at Steel City when I heard about Yamaha Fun Day up there. A free practice day at a pro-national track with factory trucks there and all kinds of cool stuff: how can you beat that? I was thrilled to get up there and be on a track for only the second time ever. Plus I had just got my V-Force on and I wanted to see how it helped.
Well, the day seemed like it was going to go great. I got on the track early with the C class guys…and was getting used to the track. It was pretty intimidating, the jumps look way steeper and bigger than they do from a spectator’s point of view and the track was much harder than the CRA track I had been to. My first lap I was about to pass a guy in one of the big ruts on a muddy section and the guy dumped it over and I ended loosing footing in the soft stuff and stalled her out. Well I got back going but I think I got a little too risky. On the rhythm section with the table tops I cleared the first small one too far, landed in the middle and lost the bike. Hurt pretty good I thought I dislocated my finger but I was alright and kept going around, albeit more cautiously now and I finished out the rest of my 3 laps I got just taking a survey of the track. I snuck back on again with another C group and this time I rode pretty hard. Cleared the two uphill step-ups with ease but I never got the guts to try some of the other doubles. But I rode hard.
But that’s when the day turned sour. After waiting about 2 hours while the D class guys, mini’s, quads, and that did their practices, I got lined back up to go again. Well, 2 hours later we were still in line. They let about 4 A/B practices go…but people were sneaking on the track: there were guys out there who were clearly not A or B riders, I was faster than a good many of them. So by now everyone was hostile, they took us down to the starting gate where we sat for another 45 minutes before finally I got out on the track. Sure felt nice to get moving but after 3 laps, they waved us off. I was like “that sure was short, I’m not even tired”. So I got back in line with some guys that were in my practice and waited there for close to a half hour. I get all the way to the front about to go on track and they tell me that if I already went out, I had to leave. I was heated because not only did other guys already get on, but I waited a total of almost three hours in full gear to get 3 laps in.
So I went back to the truck and my friend Kris and I complained like two old women lol. He’s a B rider who qualified for Loretta’s in 250C and he was pretty upset because he could have rode 100 laps today somewhere else, instead he got a total of around 12 before his 450F seized up on him. Yeah that didn’t help his cause either lol.
I did end up getting back out for one more 4 lap session which was very tiring and felt good, but I still wished I would have had more time on the track. Bottom line was the promoters didn’t expect near as many people as they actually got. I’d say it was in the 300+ bike range. They needed to get people assigned to a specific group and have those groups stay the same and go out on a set time. What kept happening was 100 bikes would crowd for C class, and then the line would never get smaller cause people kept sneaking back on. And then to wait all that time and only get 3 or 4 laps…it was pretty bad. Now it was free so you can’t expect miracles but still, things could have been organized much better. Although by the end of the day they did have a system down that was working well and getting guys on and off the track in small groups of about 30 bikes at a time.
Overall it was worth the hour and a half I drove up and back to get there. By far it was a beautiful day for riding, got a little cloudy at one point but stayed dry. The track was in beautiful condition and it honestly is extremely challenging. Most of the jumps you can’t even see where you going to land you just hold on tight and gas it. If they try an event like this next year, hopefully they can have it set up better so that guys are able to get more time on the track, and less time waiting around with 100 bikes around you.
By the way was anyone on DRN there? I was riding the #63 CR125 with black backgrounds and red gear.
Well, the day seemed like it was going to go great. I got on the track early with the C class guys…and was getting used to the track. It was pretty intimidating, the jumps look way steeper and bigger than they do from a spectator’s point of view and the track was much harder than the CRA track I had been to. My first lap I was about to pass a guy in one of the big ruts on a muddy section and the guy dumped it over and I ended loosing footing in the soft stuff and stalled her out. Well I got back going but I think I got a little too risky. On the rhythm section with the table tops I cleared the first small one too far, landed in the middle and lost the bike. Hurt pretty good I thought I dislocated my finger but I was alright and kept going around, albeit more cautiously now and I finished out the rest of my 3 laps I got just taking a survey of the track. I snuck back on again with another C group and this time I rode pretty hard. Cleared the two uphill step-ups with ease but I never got the guts to try some of the other doubles. But I rode hard.
But that’s when the day turned sour. After waiting about 2 hours while the D class guys, mini’s, quads, and that did their practices, I got lined back up to go again. Well, 2 hours later we were still in line. They let about 4 A/B practices go…but people were sneaking on the track: there were guys out there who were clearly not A or B riders, I was faster than a good many of them. So by now everyone was hostile, they took us down to the starting gate where we sat for another 45 minutes before finally I got out on the track. Sure felt nice to get moving but after 3 laps, they waved us off. I was like “that sure was short, I’m not even tired”. So I got back in line with some guys that were in my practice and waited there for close to a half hour. I get all the way to the front about to go on track and they tell me that if I already went out, I had to leave. I was heated because not only did other guys already get on, but I waited a total of almost three hours in full gear to get 3 laps in.
So I went back to the truck and my friend Kris and I complained like two old women lol. He’s a B rider who qualified for Loretta’s in 250C and he was pretty upset because he could have rode 100 laps today somewhere else, instead he got a total of around 12 before his 450F seized up on him. Yeah that didn’t help his cause either lol.
I did end up getting back out for one more 4 lap session which was very tiring and felt good, but I still wished I would have had more time on the track. Bottom line was the promoters didn’t expect near as many people as they actually got. I’d say it was in the 300+ bike range. They needed to get people assigned to a specific group and have those groups stay the same and go out on a set time. What kept happening was 100 bikes would crowd for C class, and then the line would never get smaller cause people kept sneaking back on. And then to wait all that time and only get 3 or 4 laps…it was pretty bad. Now it was free so you can’t expect miracles but still, things could have been organized much better. Although by the end of the day they did have a system down that was working well and getting guys on and off the track in small groups of about 30 bikes at a time.
Overall it was worth the hour and a half I drove up and back to get there. By far it was a beautiful day for riding, got a little cloudy at one point but stayed dry. The track was in beautiful condition and it honestly is extremely challenging. Most of the jumps you can’t even see where you going to land you just hold on tight and gas it. If they try an event like this next year, hopefully they can have it set up better so that guys are able to get more time on the track, and less time waiting around with 100 bikes around you.
By the way was anyone on DRN there? I was riding the #63 CR125 with black backgrounds and red gear.
