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/595371
P100 CN III LOWSIDE BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK I recently read a col- umn in that brilliant car rag, Road and Track, written by Sam Smith. It spoke of his endur- ing boredom of being essentially broke upon when he and his wife re- located to California (cue my ears pricking up), and how he basically needed to get out of the house after wearing an ass groove into turn one of his home racetrack, the couch. Cue my ears pricking up, again. My time in California so far has been a mix of Cycle News deadlines, many, many miles of road testing, episodes of Family Guy and my wife's and my new obsession, Anthony Bour- dain's Parts Unknown. Prior to my entering of the American dream, I'd spend as much time as possible at the race- track. Good time, as it turns out, because my racing endeavors often coincided with family time with my parents and glorious classic mo- torcycles like the 1981 Suzuki Katana and the bike of my childhood, a 1961 Matchless G50. Now on the other side of the world, I realize how special that time spent changing Katana Pirellis and getting the Matchless to run as specified actually was. So it was decided. It was time to get back to the racetrack. You meet great people there. I have a hilarious colleague in Adam Wa- heed. The man's energy is contagious, and you can't help but have fun in his presence, so when he threw the idea of a two day trackday at Chuck- walla at me with a plethora of machines that included his massive two-bed trailer, the new Yamaha YZF-R1, my KTM Super Duke, new tires and lots of beer, it'd be the day Newport Beach freezes over before I'd have said "no." A hangover was on the cards, so I missed the first session and didn't get on track until 10:30 a.m. with Adam's ever-enthusiastic "friend," Jamie, our one-lady fan club, wanting to see some screen tucked action. A bubble of energy, she is. Lots of laps followed, yet that's not the highlight of the weekend. That came with the Chuckwalla arrival of a certain Melissa Paris, here for a single day's scooting at her home track on her Aprilia RSV4. For those of you not familiar with Melissa, she's a true racer in her own right as well as being the wife to American legend, Josh Hayes. I'd seen and heard of Melissa before— as the former sport editor of Australian Mo- torcycle News, Melissa's exploits would pop up in my feed from time to time, and I'll have to disclose the reason probably was, here was a female that could ride, really ride, rather than any outstanding results she may have had. Sad, but that's how it is in a male dominated sport such as this. There's a great film directed by Brian H. Carroll called Why We Ride, it's a real tug-on- AN AFTERNOON WITH MELISSA