GregGorman

First, define your terms. What is trail braking?

The theory: the front (usually) or the rear starts sliding with your kneed down. To keep from crashing you push down with your knee and hold the bike up until it regains traction. Is it possible? Is it really what is causing the bike to regain traction? Yeah, I saw Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden at Jerez. My theory is the bike simply slowed down enough for the front to regain traction and/or they rolled on the gas a bit and that's what saved it.

Can't shift but you took 5th? That's AWESOME! Good job!

If you do unplanned mid corner steering inputs it's SR based.The question is not whether planned is better than unplanned. I was trying to understand how any mid corner steering input could be reconsiled with the only 1 steering input per corner that is stated in the twist books? Ah good, just making sure. That's it. SR vs. deliberate thought.

Yeah. So in the world plan you have to plan you have to make a mid-corner adjustment otherwise you're just following a wide-in/wide-out plan. How is that different than unplanned mid-corner adjustments or corrections?

That's a good video. Loved it. Just thinking about those impacts made me cringe. On the flip side, here's a track in Jamaica that almost makes the Isle of Man look safe! Cars, trucks, spectators in impact areas and WALLS galore. Look for the corner worker/spectator sitting on the middle wall with his legs hanging in an impact zone. WOW!

What is the World Plan trying to accomplish in a turn that's different from the other plans?

It sounds like when you're not hanging off, you lower your upper body to the inside of the turn, is that right? When you hang off, is your upper body in the same position?

OK 2010 MotoGP 1 Stoner, 2 Rossi, 3 Spies WSB 1 Haga, 2 Fabrizio, 3 Camier(if he's in it, Biaggi if not) AMA SuperBike 1 Hayes, 2 Hayden, 3 Yates AMA SportBike 1 Herrin, 2 Aquino, 3 Cardenas BSB 1 Ellison, 2 Easton, 3 ?

I'm probably a little wrong here but I'll chime in anyway. My understanding is the primary reason for sag is so the shock absorber (fork or rear shock) doesn't top out on rebound. Should it top out the bike will feel very harsh and loose as it bounces across the pavement. Tuning reasons for adjustment are ride height and feel. So for a basic setup, because most bikes have about the same about of travel, just starting with 25-30mm sag rear and 30-35mm sag front is a good place to start. The real vague part of my understanding is that adding preload doesn't change the rate of the spring. Once the spring is moving, it requires the same amount of force to compress the spring 1mm/sec regardless of how the preload is set. But, what does change is the initial amount of force required to get the spring to start moving. Weird physics stuff relating to the change in the coil of the spring.

Oh, that's good!

double post... see this thread: http://forums.superbikeschool.com/index.ph...amp;#entry14450

Now that's a real definite maybe there!

I race an '08 ZX-10R. I think I might actually be faster on a well prepped 600 but I know I'd have more fun on a 600. Compared to a 1000, the 600 just feels light, nimble and almost toy like. The effort level to ride a 600 fast is much lower than a 1000. And that Katana 600 doesn't count for experience on a race prepped ZX-6 or R6. Having said all that, I would only wish the 600 novice class on my worst enemy.

Good, you've done level one. So, was the crash because you got on the brakes, because you forgot about the bump, or because you were wide exiting the first part of the S? It's easy to blame the brakes and forget about why you felt like you had to use them in the first place. Let's go through the scenario, you're wide exiting the first part of the S. You flick the bike into the second part and use more lean angle than you normally would there. Let's assume you remember theres a bump coming up. What action can you take, what of the 5 drills of level 1 will maximize the suspension's ability to absorb the bump?

After watching your videos, I think braking is the wrong place to look to get faster. Other than get to the school, the advice I would offer would be to read Twist II and get the new DVD. Specifically look at the rules of throttle control and the Two Step.

Gomer? Ok Lonnie, you got some 'splainin to do!

Part 1 of the Unlimited Superbike race part 2

Thursday and Friday practice: The plan was to use last year’s takeoffs for practice but things don’t always go to plan. We changed the rear tire at the previous race meet but didn’t change the front. When we got to Daytona, I made the decision to leave the medium compound front on. I was thinking, “It’s the front, it doesn’t take a lot of force and heat like the rear tire does. And, I’m only going to be doing 5-6 laps at a time. There shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just watch it carefully for any problems.” The front tire held up fine and showed no signs of abnormal wear for the four practice sessions on Thursday. Friday morning’s first practice went just fine and the tire was looking quite normal. Then, in the second practice Friday morning I was on the brakes in turn one and the bike was feeling weird. I turned in and the bike just didn’t want to lean over and it felt like I’d moved the position of one of the clip-ons. I was off line and I chalked it up to rider error. As I went through turn two, something was definitely wrong with the bars. On the short straight to the International Horseshoe, I looked at the bars trying to determine what was up. I didn’t see anything wrong and I turned into the horseshoe going slower than normal. The bike didn’t want to turn in so I pushed a little more. Then I realized it was all wrong, I had to stand the bike up NOW! Too late. The front gave way and I was on the ground. I and the bike stopped in the grass relatively undamaged. The front tire was flat. I immediately took the tire to Dunlop and told them it went flat. The looked at it for about 15 minutes and then came back and told me it was a non-Daytona tire and it over-heated. What had happened was the plies of the tire had started to come apart and I was very lucky the only thing that happened was the loss of air. Friday – GTO, 4th: The bike repaired and fresh Daytona compound Dunlop tires on, I was ready to go. Due to a new clutch problem, I got a bad start and went into turn one in sixth. I was behind Marco Martinez and Charlie Mavros. I expected Martinez to be kind of fast and was content to just chase him for a couple laps to try and hang with the front group. Things don’t always go to plan. By turn six I realized Martinez was having bike problems. The pace was still of the leaders was slower than I expected and I wasn’t having any questions about keeping up with them. But I had to get around Martinez first. It took the whole west banking to pass him. With the pass complete, I got on the brakes at my usual point before chicane. The brake lever came back its normal amount but the amount of braking force was much lower than what was needed. I squeezed harder and the lever didn’t move nor did the bike slow down more. Not good. I picked the bike up and started making a plan to blow through the chicane. It was at this point I realized I hadn’t blown the chicane in practice and didn’t know the route through the barriers they had up. To me, it looked like the whole back straight was blocked and the only escape route was a thin piece of grass between two walls. Adding to my issues, the back was sliding all over the place. Somehow the engine had stalled. I pulled in the clutch to get the rear tire back under control and then let it out just a little to try and get the bike started again. It started just before I turned into the grass at about 70mph. I made it through the grass with no further issues, checked to make sure I wasn’t about to pull out in front of another racer who was at speed, and pulled back onto the track in 8th, well behind the lead group. I experienced the same braking problem again in turn one. This time though I was ready for it and was on the brakes about 100 yards earlier than normal. I made turn one and from there on added a lot of distance to my normal braking zones. Even with my braking problems I was running my best laps so far and caught and passed 7th and 6th place. Two of the lead group dropped out with mechanical problems and that promoted me to 4th. Saturday – Unlimited SuperSport, 5th: On Friday, the grid positions for the Unlimited SuperSport race on Saturday showed only five entries. The only racer on there that would provide me competition was Charlie Mavros. I was thinking there might be a win in store for the team. Things don’t always go to plan. Saturday morning, three more riders had signed up for the race. Two of them, Brian Stokes and Shane Narbonne, were just plain faster than me. The third, Eric Haugo, I thought I could run with. As for the brakes, we replaced the glazed pads, sanded the rotors to clean them off, and bled the brakes. They worked fine after that. I got a decent start considering my clutch problems and went into turn one in 4th. Narbonne was already in front with Stokes, Haugo and then me right behind him. Mavros used my draft to pass me going into the chicane and then passed Haugo in turn one. Haugo re-passed in turn two and held that to the chicane on lap three when Mavros took over 3rd place. I was quite content to let those to battle themselves and tire each other out. I’d wait until the last lap and then use their double draft to pass both of them. Things don’t always go to plan. My first indication there might be a problem was that I wasn’t actually catching them on the banking, I was hitting my rev limiter. The other issue was these guys were really battling it out and going into the chicane on lap four it looked to me like they were about to crash each other out. That’s all fine and dandy but for some reason I they were slowing down more than usual and I was coming down on them mighty fast. My closure rate and the idea they’re running into each other gave me just enough distraction to make the decision to blow the chicane. This time I knew the route through the barriers and went through without incident but well behind Mavros, 3rd place, and Haugo, 4th place. I finished a lonely 5th. Sunday Cold, for a Florida boy. It was 51 degrees Sunday morning. Wind-chill at 175mph in 51 degrees is 35 – brrrrr. For morning practice, I just woke up and made sure I still knew the track. ASRA Pro SuperStock – 6th: I was gridded 6th with my Friday qualifying time of 1:55. I knew I could go faster though as I had run consistent low 1:54s in Saturday’s Unlimited SuperSport race. There was a group of three riders that had qualified in the 1:53s and I hoped I could chase them and maybe make something happen. I got lousy start and was 8th in turn one. Joel Spalding and Antal Halasz managed to get by me from the 3rd row. I immediately got by Halasz going into the International Horseshoe and then passed Spalding in the west horseshoe. At this point, there was already two seconds between me and the lead five. Despite running my personal best lap at Daytona, a 1:53.8, I was unable to close the gap and I finished 6th with no challenges from 7th. On the cool down lap, according to plan, I ran out of gas. Unlimited GP – 3rd: With Eric Wood, Barrett Long, Marco Martinez, and Jeff Lampe in this line up, I thought I’d be racing for 5th. Things don’t always go to plan. I bogged the bike off the start and was 6th in turn one behind Halasz and Martinez. Right from the start, one of the Ducati’s of Long or Martinez was smoking pretty badly. But at turn two there was no more smoke from either bike. When we entered turn six though there was definitely smoke coming from Martinez’s bike – not good. Once Martinez got onto the banking the small puffs of blue smoke turned into big plumes. Halasz and I were doing our best to stay out from behind Martinez. Neither one of us wanted to be hitting oil on the banking at 150+. Even in a self destruct mode, Martinez’s bike was fast and he stayed in front of the two of us going into the chicane. He made the left entry just fine but the once he got the bike leaned over to the right it just snapped full sideways and spit him off. He had dropped oil on the track and by the time I got to turn one the race was red flagged. An amateur rider had also crashed in the chicane from the oil. I got a better start on the re-start and went past a badly smoking Barrett Long to be 3rd in turn one behind Lampe with Eric Wood in the lead. Those two checked out and I was running alone in 3rd at consistent 1:54 laptimes. On lap four of six, I was on the west banking and I saw the shadow of Halasz. I had thought there was someone there but he’d never shown me a wheel – he’d been hiding. At that point I’d slowed to 1:55 laptimes so I picked up my pace and Halasz continued to stalk me. On the final lap he made his move going into the International Horseshoe but he was going way too fast to make the turn and went off straight. That left me to myself in third place. My first podium finish at Daytona. Things don’t always go to plan. Unlimited Superbike – 3rd: The main riders in this race were Brian Stokes, Jeff Lampe, Charlie Mavros, Antal Halasz, and a racer whom I’ve forgotten his last name, #111 Mike. Mike was only entered into this race. His plan was he’d be fresh, his bike would be fresh, and he’d be on new tires where the rest of us would be tired on tired bikes and old tires. Things don’t always go to plan. At the start I was second behind Lampe. We made it through the horseshoe and Stokes was pulling up beside me going into the dogleg when the red flag came out. Mavros had gotten a bad start from pole. Mike in row two and to the right of Mavros. Mike got a decent start and went to the left to avoid Mavros but Stokes got a great start from row three and was already there. Mike’s front tire his Stoke’s rear tire and Mike went down hard. With a bike and rider on the track with the Amateur racers waiting for their start, the race was red flagged. The race was restarted minus Mike. While lining up for the restart, Lampe shut off his bike. That was odd because none of us were having over heating issues thanks to the mid-60 degree temps. Fifteen seconds later he was restarting the bike and we were getting ready to race. This time I was third into turn one behind Stokes who again got a great start and Lampe in the lead. Stokes passed Lampe going into the dogleg and that was the order for the next three laps; Stokes, Lampe and me. On lap two Lampe slowed and pulled off in turn six – he had run out of gas. I was now running in second. Behind me, Mavros was putting on a charge and was catching up to me. On lap three I caught a slow expert rider from Hawaii in turn six. I had to go way wide to go around him and spun up the tire on the banking enough to let Mavros pass me. I re-passed him going into the chicane and he passed me back in NASCAR turn four. I followed Mavros for a lap and then passed him going into the international horseshoe. I lead him across the start/finish line for the white flag and he passed me on the brakes into turn one. I was in too hot and I ran wide, into the run-off area of turn one. That allowed Halasz to get by me too. I wasn’t about to give up. When they got to the dogleg, they had three seconds on me. At turn six it was down to a second. At the chicane I was right on them. Mavros got a good drive out of the chicane and opened up a gap on Halasz. I got into Halasz’s draft and started passing him exiting turn four. I had just a bike length on him at the finish to take third. What a weekend!!!! Thanks to my wife Susan, my Mom, my Crew Chief Ray Atchley and Steve Brubaker at Dunlop Racetire Services for making all this possible. Video to come soon!

Thanks! I'll be making a full report later. Too tired to make it home. Stopped at Coco Beach for the night. Lots of great video. Results 4th in GTO, 5th in Unl SS, 6th in ASRA SuperStock, 3rd in Unl GP, 3rd in Unl SBK.

Cool. Good Luck and Good Riding!

Thank you! For Daytona, I'll have finally have GPS data overlaid on the video. That should be way cool to see. I'll be using software from www.racechrono.com. I can't wait to see that.

Thanks! Tantalizing? Frustrating!!! I can do better!

New Crew Chief, Ray Atchley, put together a test plan that yielded noticeable gains in rider, Greg Gorman's, performance at Palm Beach International Raceway. Suspension adjustments and the addition of a quick-shifter dropped Greg's times from 1:20-1:21 to 1:19-1:20 with a new personal best for Greg of 1:19.321. Even though Greg improved, so did the rest of the field. In Expert GTO, Greg chased the battling pair of Lars Remsen and Chris Boy. Greg tried to take advantage of their battle on lap three of the nine lap race but ran wide in turn 10 and was unable to get close enough to make another attack. Greg finished 6th. "I got a good double draft coming down the back straight and stayed to the left of the track when Lars pulled out to pass Chris on the right. Lars made the pass and started drifting back left on a collision course with me. I made the decision to let off the brakes a bit and go by him to avoid the collision. I ran wide and lost about a second. I gained some ground back but I was never able to get closer than about a half a second." Unlimited SuperSport brought a better result with a 5th place that was improved to 4th place after 3rd place Chis Boy failed to show for technical inspection after the race. "We change tires for this race and they're a bit different. I was getting a lot more front end chatter going into the corners with these tires. I was pushing, but so was everyone else. I got into 5th and tried to make up the time but it just wasn't happening." The Unlimited Superbike was red flagged on the last lap due to an accident involving the third place expert, Gus Sanchez, and an amateur rider, Isidro Castillo, who was being lapped by the leaders. Gus didn't crash but received a deep bruise to his bicep which made contact with Isidro's left clip-on. Isidro crashed into an unprotected wall and at last word was listed in critical condition. The Team hopes for the best for Isidro. Greg was credited with 5th place. "Dwyer, Barnes, and Sanchez took off I was behind Lars and wasn't gaining on him at all. He was just a bit faster than me all weekend. After we got the white flag, I was going through turn 2 and the corner workers were just starting to take action for Isidro in turn 3. Where he hit the wall is a very odd place. But after hearing Gus' story, I understand how he got there. Get well, Isidro." The last race of the day is the Shootout. Eight racers took to the track and quickly split into four groups. Dwyer and Barnes were running 1:16 lap times. Just behind them was the pair of Sanchez and Thomas Puerto running 1:17s. Further back was Remsen and Gorman in the 1:19s, Delvalle and Keesee in the 1:20s. Greg finished 6th. "I wheelied off the start again. That hasn't been happening for awhile and the last time was because the clutch was going bad so I'll have to look into that. I was last into turn one behind Delvalle. I knew he and I were close on laptimes so I took the first chance I got to pass him which was at turn 4. I was in hot and I pushed him wide but if I didn't get him there it probably wasn't going to happen. Next was Keesee in turn 6. I waited for him to turn in but his turn in was much later than I expected and I ran way wide. I was quite surprised Delvalle wasn't there to re-pass me. Keesee then missed a gear or something because I passed him quite easily on the short straight to turn 7. Then I spent the rest of the race trying to close in on Lars, which I did but then made too many mistakes to really make anything of it. Good race though." High Def video of the Unlimted GP race can be viewed here: . "Really, this was a very good weekend for us even though the results don't quite show it. I was in the 19s in every race and set a new personal best. I really have to thank Ray for his hard work on the bike and Susan, my wife, for all of her hard work and putting up with me." The Way to Happiness Racing Team, races again at Daytona on October 16th, 17th and 18th. The last race of the season will be at Homestead-Miami Speedway December 5th and 6th.

I've come close to crashing from off-throttle slides a couple of times. If I chop the throttle at high RPM and flick the bike in simultaneously, the back will slide dirt track style. Or if I'm partially leaned over from going through a fast kink into a slower turn, already off the throttle and get on the front brakes hard enough, the back can start sliding.