My First Track Day: I Think I'm Addicted

The morning of my first scheduled track day I was woken up by a thunderstorm. I called my friend, Southern Ontario Association of Racing (SOAR) racer Drew Morrisey, for the reschedule date but there was none.

"We aren't racing 'till the afternoon dude, storms' here in London the track is dry - get your ass over here."

When we arrive at Grand Bend Raceway I'm not nervous because I'm a confident street rider. I know my shit, keep it smooth, ride the lines and think entry, apex and exit.

I had two goals; go at your own pace and don't crash. Simple. Once we were instructed about what the various flags meant and the rules of safe passing, the nervousness set in big time.

My First Laps Were Terribly Slow

I went out behind Drew, kept on his tail to learn the lines in the curves and to get acquainted with the track. Everyone passed us but each lap we got faster and faster. The Grand Bend Raceway was dynamic.

The turn 3 jog was a bit unnerving because it was basically 90 degrees to the right then 90 degrees to the left but Drew warned me of it and I knew to brake early. I didn't think I could go any faster anyway. I also had no idea how fast I was going because I was too afraid to look down. When he felt I knew enough, Drew took off and lapped me immediately. Twice.

Once lapped, I was feeling meek I went to the pits. I was exhausted.

Learning to Ride Properly at the Track

During my first laps my whole body was tense. I needed to relax my arms as much as possible and garner strength from my legs and core.

Prepare your body for the turns before you get there. If you are turning right then only your left butt-cheek should be on the bike. Lean, trust the bike, stay on the throttle and look through the turn. I was in awe at the amount of focus required to ride a motorcycle well at the track.

Mentally I knew what to do but completing the action was the problem. I was braking too early or too late, turning to early or too late and just jerking my motorcycle around. It was not smooth. Despite all this, I was getting better. I was getting faster and was able to ride longer.

Overconfidence Brings the Crash

By my third session I was doing 150km/h plus on the straight, then hunkering down into the carousel, hanging off the bike and dragging knee all through the turn before slingshotting out of the carousel towards the finish. Drew was impressed and I couldn't remember having more fun in my life.

Drew decided to tail me now and see how my lines had improved. I wanted to impress and go faster so I focused and took off fast. My motorcycle did as told.

Turn one: entry, apex, exit, followed by a quick flip into turn two. Entry, apex, and shoot out the exit to the short straight. Brake for turn three while turning and asphalt.

In an instant, something went wrong. My arms were above my head and I was rolling on the track. My bike slid off the track on my frame slider and titanium can. When my motorbike hit the grass, the slider dug in and spun the bike around bringing it too an abrupt stop.

I was down. I now understood at least some of the flags.

The motorcycle crash went something like this: I tucked the front end and low- sided my pretty yellow Yamaha R6 on the turn three entry. After checking for leaks I was back on the track.

I did 5 more laps, slowly at first but I got faster each time. By late afternoon, my motorcycle was the only one that could be heard; I was the only one out there. I probably would have ridden all night.

Why Take the Track?

The precision and mental acuity needed to command a motorcycle at the racetrack is something understood only with experience. Anyone can ride fast on the street, but at the racetrack that means nothing.

I was humbled by my crash but I did what many street riders never work up the nerve to do. I'm counting the days until I return.

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