This is my third track (street) school. Please read the previous others first to have a complete understanding ( Beaver Run #1, Nelsons #1 )
The "Motorcycle Performance Riding School" aka "Advance Street Riders School" was held by FASTTRAX at Beaver Run Motorsports Complex. FASTTRAX is based out of North Canton, Ohio (about 50 miles south of Cleveland) and Beaver Run is just south of Pittsburg, PA.
 |
Riders going to the grid |
I have previously been to two Fasttrax schools before. The last one just seem to take too long to get up to speed and the number of sessions at speed was too few. I wanted not to be bored and wanted some track time at speed, so I went to the "A group". The "A Group" consisted of about a dozen riders, half racers and the other half were riders that wanted track time. Previously they were set up as 30 minutes of track time, then 30 minutes of open discussion. Bob (Stanley) want to try a new format he was considering implementing next year. It's essentially an open practice: 30 minutes of track time, 30 minute break. During the break you could ask the instructors questions. The first two times out we played leap frog.
Front straight
Back Straight
We had no track walk, just a driver's meeting. The first out we followed the instructor and played leap frog. We were going very briskly, a little too brisk for me at 9am. The second out we did the same, except faster. I could not keep up some of the time and have to catch up on the straights. The remaining sessions were open practice.
 |
Me going into turn 2 |
Pretty much everyone was faster(or braver) then me. I was trying to be consistant on the track so I just left it in third gear all the way around. I'd was also leary about the first turn after the straights, so I always braked way too early and way too much. I was definately slower then everyone else too, often being passed/lapped. Hopefully more experiance will help me in those areas.
 |
Turn 2 |
The facilities were great, I never noticed the large bathrooms with water last time. But the biggest problem to me was that the concesson stand never opened. I had to run down to a gas station a couple miles away to get a sub.
| Turn 11 |  |
I bought a camcorder mount for my bike. I mounted my Canon ZR20 on a bolt on mount from sportbikecam.com. I was very impressed with it, very good price and no suction cups. It turned out great video. The videos are at the bottom of the page.
 |
Me coming out of turn 11 |
There were serveral bikes that went off-course or down during the day. We thought Bob (Fasttrax owner) was going to have a heart attack (he really tries to run a safe school).
I had several "exciting" moments during the day, all cought on video (see bottom of page). The first was a "shortcut" I took when I took turn 1 too wide. The next, "the bump", occurred on the back straight. Another rider thought he had enough room to pass me on the inside because he thought I was going wide. Well I didn't go wide. His rear tire touched my front tire and his muffler popped my turn signal lense off. The last exciting moment occurred when my boot hit the ground on a turn causing the bike to become unstable.
