Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126484
[I • • ~ E .. - 0 00 0') ,...-4 t"'- ... CN Vl 6b ~ <: (Clockwise from top) Firat the students gllther and get one of the school's KZ56Os. Then e ride eround following the instructor. Then they get down to It. Keith Code'. California Superbike School GOING FAST IN A SUITABLE ENVIRONMENT By Patrick Behar For years, Keith Code has been teaching club road racers how to improve their skills and performance on the race track. But now he has decided to take his knowledge to the street and canyon racers . The first sessions of the Ca liforn ia Su pe rbike School had just started at Riversid e R a c e w a y , and already nu merous riders had 30 go ne a rou nd th e famo us road race track . For them it is a rewarding experience. After 16 laps or 40 mi les on t he twist y 2 .5 ·mile tr ack they ha ve d iscovered their lim its and wh a t it ta kes to go fast on a motorcycle . The day started ea rlier with a th eoretical session , with Code expla in ing the steering. b raking , shift ing and genera l ra cin g a ttitude that th e students will ha ve to encounter while on the track . And surprisingl y enough , most of th e students had very little to say abou t that blackboa rd session . "I'd rather be on the track doing all thes e things than silting t here." said on e . Richard Lovell, an ex- teac he r at the Bri tish Mot ocycle Racing Scho ol . added "They love it. For the m, it is an op port u nity to ride as fast as they want or ca n in t he safest co ndition s witho u t hav ing to wor ry a bo ut the CHP , cam pers co ming t he ot her way . .blind co rners or oily spots o n th e ro ad. Ha lf of th em a re here jus t to have a g-ood time without th e fears that canyon racing can give. , " Even if most of the m do some thi ng wro ng , they are pretty m uch OK , exce p t tha t most of them go in to th e corner way too early but they do know how to steer the b ikes and ho w and when to b rak e. I ca n pre tty much tell how they perform by th e lap times tha t we take on every la p for all 10 of th em that go on the tra ck , a nd Keith d iscusses with th em th e pr ob lem s th ey had and th eir times aft er the sessio n is over . " T he Cal ifornia Superbik e sch ool has four cylinder Kaw asak i KZ550s eq u ipped with ' Bassa ni su per b ike pipes, Lock hart oi l coolers, low raci ng bars, Michelin PZ 2 tir es, a nd S&W shoc ks. T he student s hav e a Vanson leather rac ing su it , a pair of ro ad raci ng boots and gloves and Bell helm ets for th e tim e th ey are on th e track so they do no t need any particular eq uipment before ge tting there. T he students ca me from di fferent bac kg ro unds. Most of th em a re already g oing fast in the streets a nd the stack of citations issued by the officers of the CH P are ge tting higher , so instead of pa ying, they spend the ir mon ey on the track. Some are long time motorcycle riders interested in what and how it is to be-on a ra ce track . One of the m told m e that he had spent mu ch of his tim e watching road races in Ca liforn ia and at R iverside , and was curious to experi me nt with it. And for on e of two who are a lready clu b racers, it is a che a per way to ha ve some time on th e track before th e nex t race in order to get a better ed ge. No matter what the reason , it seems that th e Cal iforn ia Superbi ke Sch ool is off with a good start a nd good int en tion s. All they need is m ore riders off th e street and on the race track . You ca n contact Keith Code at 2 I 3/ 484 ·9323 or Richa rd Lovell at 213/ 545-445 0 , or write to the Cal iforn ia Superb ike Sch ool, P .O . Box 3743 , Manhattan Beach , CA 90266. •