Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Great. . After checking in with the gals at registration, I turned over my borrowed Suzuki GSX-R75D to the Team Suzuki endurance mechani cs. In order to make the bike race-track sa fe, they rem oved . the mirrors and taped over the headlight, taillight and turn signals, so that glass and plastic lenses wouldn't be littered across the track in case (or when) I crashed. To my surprise, the first classroom session calmed my nerves a grea t deal. Aldana was lively and showed a great deal of enthusiasm. And tho ugh the school is dubbed "advanced", I was excited to find that I was not the only motocrosser wi th no stree t experience in the class. Including myself, there were three "moto heads" signed up. A few of the students had attended the class before, but the majority of them we re simply street riders who were taking advantage of the class. As Paul and I looked a ro und the classroom (yes , he di d show up after all), we began to pr edict how fast each of our classmates wou ld be. "Hey, there 's ano ther Japanese gu y," whispered Paul. "Hey, maybe yo u can at least be the fastest Asian in the class." That's just what I needed. Now not only would I have to worry about not crashing, I had to worry about beating the Japanese guy in the blue leathers. Well, at least he didn't look that fast. As a matter of fact, he looked even more nervous than I was. In our first classroom session, Aldana introduced himself and explained the various flags that we would be seeing while we were out on the track. Throughout the class sessions, Aldana frequently entertained us with stories about his past racing experiences. Five classroom sessions and fou r on-track sessions filled the day's agenda, and to my surprise, I never caught my mind wandering in class. Aldana does a great job of keeping things interesting. After being warned over and over to take our' time, we suited up and got ready for our first practice session. Since the school was held in conjunction with an AMA National, our practice sessions were mixed in with the racers' Thursday practice sessions. "Hey, there's your buddy Mike Hale," said Paul, as he pointed to the d irt tracker-turned road racer. "Here, I'll call him over." After slapping down Paul's waving arms, I flipped my tinted face shield down and hoped that Hale wouldn't notice me sitting in the staging area . The last thing I needed was one of the racers whom I report on critiquing me. After watching me take a spin on a HarleyDavidson 883 dirt tracker at the Pomona Half Mile, Hale had heckled me for me hours about the way I had downshifted and stuck my leg straight out in the corners. The first few laps around .the course were no t what I expected. instead of the all-ou t race like the motocross pre-race pra ctice sessions I'm accustomed to, the school staff sep arated the students into three grou ps - advanced, interm edi a te and beginner. Paul was placed in the advanced group, whil e I was more than happy to ta ke to the trac k w ith the beginners. With Team Suzuki Endurance riders David Stanton and Chuck Graves, 125cc GP support class rider Chris Rogers, Nancy Delgado and Aldana serving as instructors, each student was treated to a personal teacher at one point or another during the first session. I was fortunate enough to ha ve Aldana lead me around my first few laps around the course. No ego here - Aldana resists the temptation to gas it and roost away, and instead takes time to mak e sure that you are following his lines. . At firs t, I felt odd taking the enterwide, cut-inside lines that are used on a road racer, and had a hard time resisting th e tempta tio n to d ive in tight, brake hard, and square the turns. I did make it through the firs t practice session unscathed, though, and by the end of the 3D-min ute session, was thoroughly enjoying myself. In the second classroom session, Aldana reviewed the track , a n d the th in gs that he, himse lf, had lea rned. Since the Pomona Fairpl ex course was all-new, "Professor " Aldana was as new to the course as we were. I was amazed at his ability to remember the entire course, from each turn to each little bump and ripple on the course. In only 3D minutes, Aldana had figured out where all the good lines w e re, and memorized each of them. One by one, Aldana drew each corner - and the best lines - on his chalkboard . He d iscussed the numerous bumps and holes on the track, and how to avoid - or negotiate - each of them. Being a motocrosser, the bumps on the track didn't reall y bother me, and it was entertaining to see how they unnerved some of the others. When we suited up for th e second track session, I was full of confidence and ready to go. Gone was the fear of cra shing. Gone was the desire to rid e motocross lines. Aldana had showed me where to go... now all I had to do was find that guy in the blue leathers. This time , I took to the tra ck with the int ermediate bunch, and felt more at horn e riding with the faster riders. Sure, they ma y have been passing me, but I was more at ease being passed than ha vin g to do the passing. In the first session, I'd spent a number of laps cha sing another on e of the motocrossers - and boy, was he wild . Decked out in a set of ren ted leathers and a fanc y, motocross-style painted helmet, this gu y was death on wheels. As a matter of fact, I was expecting the track to magically turn into a big basket - he was doing an awful lot of weaving out there. But, hey - so was I, and the class is for ri ders with minimal 'track time. Anywa y, back to the second practice session. By the third lap, I found myself going much faster than I was in the first ses sion, and actually bega n to ca tch some of the riders who were ah ead of me. I eyed each rider as I made my way past, hoping that one of them wo uld be my oriental rival. No such luck. Suddenly, the yellow caution flags . began to fly as I appro ache d a set of tight turns in the infield a rea . In between the tw o turns was on e of the nastier bumps in the course, and Alda na (Above) The students await an on-track practice session. Riders wera divldad Int o three groups, according to the ir experlence levels. (Left) David Aldana In action. had warn ed us to be particularly careful in that section. Then I saw him - the blue bandit. See in g tha t he was unhurt, I couldn't help but chuckle'as I rode pas t. He stood there, looking at his machine and shaking his head in disbelief as if it were the bike ' s fa u l t that he had crashed. Paul wa s an u p-close witness to the spill. "That guy carne ripping past me on the inside an d just locked it up and threw it away," he said. "Th e gu y was totally ou t of control." In the first classroom session, Team Suzuki Endurance Captain John Ulrich had warned us to take it easy out there, and to reme mb er that we weren't racing. "If you crash , you won't grad uate, and you 'll lose your track pri vileges as well," he said. Needless to say, the b lue band it wasn't back for the third classroom session. Later, I learned that he even had the gall to sue the school for the damages to his mo torcycle. Because the professional racers claime d that the track was unsafe and nea rl y bo ycotted the event that wee kend, the blue bandit reasoned that as a novice, h e shouldn' t have even been let out on the course . Wrong. A triple jump isn't dangerous for a beginner, if he's smart enough to roll over each jump, and the same held true for the track at Pomona . The other students in the class were sma rt eno ugh to take it easy in the more challengin g sections of the racetrack. It was his fault, and his fault alone, that he crashed and scra tched his shiny new GSX-R. And besides, if he filled out the same registration forms that I did, he should have been well aware of the risks he was taking. But, on the oth er hand, maybe Paul had whispered the same "Fastest Asian" challenge in his ear. . I continued to learn more and more during the remaining classroom and practice sessions, and my confidence gre w with each lap I made around the track. Each one of my ignorant questions was answered, and Aldana made me feel qu ite comfortable about asking each of them . "There's no such thing as a dumb qu estion," he assured me. By the day's end, I felt about 95% comfortable on the ne w motor cycle. Heck, I had even stopped brake sliding and slipping the clutch! Though I was presented a nice, fit-for-framing certifi cate of completion by Ulrich at the end of the da y, my real souvenir came in the final practice session when I scraped my left knee in the last tu m. I'll save that knee puck, thank you. Oh, and yes, Hal e d id even tually spot me. " Man, Don n, you're elbows were Iookin' a Iittlehigh out there. Yo u're not on a motocrosser, y o u COl know..." , " '. ' ". ':': .. . .":, " ." . . .. io ": ..' .. . May S~t"PQint ~~~~y.. ' . .. .': . :::.: Sciiunit p.oini;. :c':'. July 22: -' , Indiana polis Ra:ceway:P.ar~ :..: :-:: Cleremont, IN :.; . AugUs,t)7. ..: .... BridgepamptonRa ~ewaY : ' : ' .: " . :: :LOng Island , ~ . ., .: '. .August22, ··.,' , . Willpw SPr!n~ Raceway:..', ,::.' ':.' .; \ ': :Rosamond, C~ .' ;; :: :. August,26:. . . ': Portlahd Interna ti0rial Raceway : : . . '. : .Portland, OR . :. _. '. ' :. !>epterI!ber9 .:. : ·.1>iernphis Moto rsports I:'ilrk ' " :' ." '.': ' MillIDgt0l\'.1~: · :.. :. :- . W\( ::.:'. ·' ~o~··;;;;;e·i~;~tJ~ ~~c;:T;a~· ·;~iu·ki ·~ruiu;~~&.·Adim;.ad R~i4kch~I;.P:O

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