Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Students watch a video tape of Pridmore circu lating the Willow Springs facil it y; improvem ent w as seen in both the A and B groups. Three-time AMA Super bike Cham pio n Reg Pri dmore gives classroom in struction on f ollowing the line to R :A . T . ~ st udents. ' Miles of learning at'R.A.T.S By Pau l Ca rrut hers ROSAMO ND , CA, MAY 4 What a pleasure It was learning my way around Willow Springs International Raceway without someone .divin g underneath me at every opportunity. Well, there was th ree-time AMA Superbike Champion Reg Prid.mo!e charg~ng aro~nd ~h~ outside m turn eight while riding two-up with a no the r student clingi ng on for life, but he y, he 's the instructor. , No pa ssing up the inside was one of th e rules wh en the R.A .T.S (R ider Advance Training School) met a t Willow Springs to instruct close to 40 students on th e fin e art of going fast. " No pressure" was 'someth ing th a t w as , repeated fr equent ly throughout th e day at th e school, a nd th e words were not taken ligh tly. Rules, like no inside passing, made even th e least expe rienced riders feel safe on the track. All passing was done arou nd the ou tside . " If th ey ~~': th~;~~ei~st;~~~~r ~~id~how,,, Pridmore em p hasized p ri o r to rid in g that th e school was a noncom pe titive event. An yone ca ug ht with a stop wa tch would be thrown ou t, th ey said. Everyone beli eved them and the d a y wa s ver y uncompetitive. , . But it was a co m p lete learning expe rience. For th e $175 fee, riders on ma chines ranging from th e man y BMW K-bikes to a guy on a H onda Gold Wing put in over 200 mil es on the track. For many, just th e racetrack ex p erience wa s wo rt h the money, but th e school is much mor e than that. The da y started a t 7:30 a. m., whi ch translates to an ear ly com m u te from Orange County, California, to Rosamond. The 7:30 a.rn, ca ll gives th e Rats (tha t's what Pridmor e calls h is instructors) a cha nce to put the bikes th rough tech inspecti on, get everyo ne signed up a nd basically get th in gs ro lli ng: , After a walk-through o n th e racetrack , the group was di vid ed into two grou ps. G roup A was mad e up of more experie nced riders, wh ile the less-expe rien ced riders in G roup B were earmarked to take a little more time. T he groups go o u t in th e first sessio n with four stu dents to o ne instructor. Ea ch rider in th e grou p takes a turn a t following th e instructor closely, watch in g a nd learning th e ever-im po rtant line. This is some th ing that Pr idmor e stresses . " Know whe re th e line is," he said repeatedly. The line was di scuss ed and sh own aga in via vid eo ta pe in an in-class discussion a fter the first session. Following eac h practice, each grou p (while the other was on th e tra ck) would participate in classroom instruction. P rid m ore and in structor Rob Beach do a good job ' o f keeping thi s light and en joyable. Eac h possess a dry sen se of humor to keep everyo ne on their toes, a nd Pridmore uses his native English sla ng to get more th an a few la ughs a lo ng th e way . , The in-class sessions cover every- thing from riding position to correctly cha nging gears. Each is go ne over carefu lly, bu t no one subject is overdone. T he re was no yawning or naps tak en during th e sho rt, informative lectures. Most of th e learning, however, took pl ace o n th e trac k. With 'p len ty of in structors buzzin g a ro u nd the track a t a ll times. there was al ways someone to follow and learn from. The students a lso were' on their best beh a vior - there were no Kenny Roberts wa n na- bes diving ins ide slo wer riders. By the end of the day, with 232 m iles clocked on th e odome ter, I fel t lik e I'd been through th e 24 H ours o f LeMans. Most of the students kn ew exac tly wh ere they were go ing and what th ey were do in g. Impro vemen t was seen in both groups. T he school offers the usual ben ch racing betw een sessio ns a nd espe cially at th e ' end of th e day wh en everyone receives th eir diploma and T -shirt. Pridmore a nd the other instructors were readily available for personal instruction, or for some bench racing of their own. , Pridmore and Beach talked earlier in the day about returning students. Apparently, m any who take th e cou rse return a t a later date and take it again. No one can learn everyth ing in one day, and the chance to get back' to a racetrack is very enticing. After spending a da y with the Rats at Willow, I can understand why they return. •

• Cover