Kevin Kane

Brad; ...and a second LOL moment for me - Thanks. Rain

Carey; I will be shocked if it isn't deemed a success; especially since Ducati seems to be selling a lot of bikes at least here in the US; their sound alone will be a marketing gimmick. The one big change I have read (somewhere) is that it's torque curve is more curved than the 1198's (or its predecessors) and the power delivery is more like a I4 and less linear than a L2 but I can't remember where I read that. Kevin

I wonder if Ducati is suffering from an "OMG, what did we do?" dilemma. They appear to have bet the house on a design concept that they just abandoned at the MotoGP level; then they held it out of SBK this season so they could test it in Superstock. Checka and the 1198 are struggling this season handicapped by a couple of DNF's so the decision to hold it out is curious under the circumstances. Having watched Dylan Code wring one out at NJMP back in May however, I can say that I finally heard a bike whose sound exceeds that of the RC51 which up until that point had been my most favorite sounding bike on the track. Rainman;

Mike; By constantly reminding myself "I'm not on the track". When I ride my street Ducati it is a real struggle to maintain this approach but there really isn't a choice IMHO. I also have an old Triumph Bonneville I restored that I ride with no such pretensions so no desire to push it like my 996; It can't do what a sportsbike can so I don't even try - and it's all good! Having said that however, I am stunned at times but how much more I push that old Bonnie after all of my CSS training. Rainman

Kai; The FIM Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Series. I too say congrats. Spoiler alert: www.RoadRacingWorld.com has the results from yesterday. Rain

Vorontzov; You found the details in Twist II I was alluding to...but do you understand the distinction that Hottie is asking you about? Rain

OK; I think we can all agree that crashing is no fun and that no one wants to crash whether we learn from it or not. I know from personal experience that crashing will haunt a rider like nothing else can and it does affect (my) confidence big time. When I know why I crashed (braking too much at too much lean) it is easier to move on from it; when I don't have a clue why it happened it is very hard to trust again. At least that's my sense of this thread and clearly it does provoke some strong emotion in the process. It's more like a new topic we could label: "How I didn't Save My Bacon"... if you know what I mean? So let's see if we can stay focused on helping Yellow Duck to the Promised Land of Cornering Nirvana shall we? Rain

Vorontoz; Does the throttle rule no.1 have any exceptions? Rain

YellowDuck; The reason that other Forum Members believe they can corner without low siding is that many have been trained how to do it. It really is that simple IMHO. I have offered my opinion up here many times before that much of what it takes to corner a sports bike at any speed is counter intuitive; starting with the concept of counter steering. Consequently and I will only speak for myself here, I had to learn how to overcome my own survival reactions (SR's) to allow me to do this - and that's why I went to the Superbike School. There are many many components that the School teaches and they all build upon each other; it is the sum total of those pieces that taught me to "trust" not only my tires but my suspension (and how to settle my suspension with the throttle), my position on the bike, my position on the track and a myriad of other techniques I can use to keep the bike planted and my mind off of worrying "can I really do this?" Unfortunately, I have no shortcuts to offer you. If you can't get to a School you can read the Twist books and watch the Twist DVD and try to practice what you learn but it isn't the same as having someone coach you - on the track - on how you do these drills…but if that's all you can do then you now have one person's opinion on how to approach your fear. BTW, I don't know a single rider who hasn't been in your shoes when they were first learning how to corner, but that's just me. Good Luck with it. Rainman

Stewal; 7 is one of only three left hand turns at NJMP/Thunderbolt and I believe it had to do with not enough heat in the left side of the tires coupled with a little too much drive out of the corner. ...at least that's my belief. Rain ...or maybe I was too far up on the paint? This arrived about two hours after I posted this.

Bullet; Man, welcome back! The Forum hasn't been quite the same since you left us. Are you going to be doing any US School's this year? Rainman

Vorontzov; Great quote; This has been a strong thread. Rain

Stewal; 7 is one of only three left hand turns at NJMP/Thunderbolt and I believe it had to do with not enough heat in the left side of the tires coupled with a little too much drive out of the corner. ...at least that's my belief. Rain

I had a recent track experience that got me thinking about how often things like this happen to other riders and whether we just kind of take it for granted or can we see the link to our training. For me it was right after the apex of turn 7 at NJMP when I felt the front start to tuck and the weight transferred to my knee. The rumble strips are very smooth there so without even thinking much I just pushed back with my knee and with the lightest adjustment to the bars the front picked up and I resume rolling on the throttle - it was all over in a nano second. There was a time I would have chopped the throttle or maybe just let go but I remember thinking as I drove out that my reaction was an ingrained response and not at all what would have been intuitive. So I know that the School's training saved my bacon but I'm not sure I am alone with this experience. How about anyone else - do you find yourself dodging a bullet with your training? Rainman

Yellow Duck; I had the exact same problem at the same point in my track riding experience and the same reaction to it. For me, I swapping out the heavier fork springs installed by the previous owner and that solved my problem completely. I continued to use the rear brake but the front fork chatter was gone. I also ride a Duc so I was surprised by how your solved your problem. Rainman

Jay; Timing the GL from the first cone entering T3 (he's at Loudon) he's doing about a 1:54 lap so he's a bit off the track record. Clearly he can ride so I would have loved to see what his lap time would have been had he attacked the course on the second full lap instead of working to drag his knee; that would be a cool comparison. I think many here might agree that dragging a knee per say doesn't indicate much more than dragging a knee. Rainman

Will; I need to address a couple of minor scratches in the fairing and I am curious about surface prep. One area of the fairing was scratched into the primer level so I have prepped that area with a 600 grit paper well past the blemish. I need to paint it with color (using a tack coat on the first step) because I am into the primer. Once painted I will finish it with clearcoat (again with a tack coat first) but there are other areas where the scratches appear to be only in the clear coat. Can I re-clearcoat those areas or do I need to apply paint and then clearcoat over top? As I sanding thru the clear I never had any color show up on the paper ergo the question. Also, how far out past the damaged area do you feather the clear? Thanks; Rainman

Fossil; ...you go Girl! Rain

CCR; I have attended the Superbike School at Laguna, Sears and the Streets multiple times. While the Streets may not have the cache of Laguna or Sears, it is a great track for School. The course is shorter, you get more laps per session and it is very technical. More of the corners are linked so you need to be more precise IMHO. I also believe that you will get more of what your paying for because of these features. Hopefully more Members will chime in here. BTW, welcome to the Forum! Rainman

OK; another weekend of racing; another incident. Specifically, Moto2 race from Catalunya. FIM has rendered a decision after the Race Steward issued a penalty but curious if our racers agree with their determination. If you haven't watched the race yet consider this a spoiler alert. Rainman

Guy; Welcome to the Forum. Your story had so many parallels to my riding experience (except for living in Belgium, Alaska and New Mexico) but I had been pushing into the direction of the California Superbike School by my Insurance Agent once I bought my first Ducati; I haven't looked back since. I also didn't want to mess up my 996 on the track after taking Level's I & II so I bought a race prepped 748. Regardless, welcome aboard and feel free to post your ideas about riding/racing/motorcycling or jump onto any thread you find piquing your interest. Rainman

This is such a true statement - DAMHIK! It is very humbling to know that no matter how fast we all become, we still get passed by someone faster. Certainly a truism for almost all new track riding students. Also, I target fixed like you described and came oh so close to following a student right off T9 - the long Carousel at the far end of the track. Also like you described below, it was later in the day when it is easier to lose concentration but fortunately the School's training is so ingrained that I was able to recover but it was a great wake up call to stay focused. Dylan went out on two exotics - a totally tricked out new Ducati Panigale and a Metrakit 250. The Panigale sounded totally unique; almost like a WWII P47 Thunderbolt. If you could keep up with him then you did REALLY good at the School that day! Thank You for your kind words as well - but also for your extending your experience over a series of well thought out observations. Somewhere Hotfoot will jump in, I can just feel it. Rain

Vorontzov; I was working in the garage when that happened; I know I was impressed when I heard that he rode it out as well. You've got a good thread going here - generating a lot of reaction and an excellent way to affirm your training at the School. Keep it going and as a further affirmation, anytime we get "Hottie" weighing in on a topic we know we've got a good thing going. Rainman

Kuroshio; I have been a corner worker for the School for about 5 or 6 years now and work NJMP on a regular basis. I also typically work the two-day camps and I can tell you without any exaggeration that I have never seen a student fail to improve - in most cases dramatically. If you could see what many Level I riders look like in the first session on day one and see them in the last (7th) session on day two, you would not believe they are the same rider. YRMV, but I doubt it very much. Rainman

Stevo; My second time racing at Loudon I failed tech inspection over my rear brake (or lack thereof). When the CCS Offical said: "you have no rear brake" I laughed and said "I haven't used it in years". he said "what if you crash and break off your front lever, how will a corner worker control your bike?" Fast forward a couple of race weekends and sure enough I crash entering the bowl and break off the brake lever... As you said Stevo they do come in handy on occassions; especially in your case when you no longer had one at speed. Good save BTW! Rainman