SpeedLounge

4:30 am

Alarm goes off. Still dark outside, but I’m wide awake. I actually had a pretty decent, albeit short, sleep. I’m very superstitious and I’ve noticed I ride much, much better with less amount of sleep.

5:00 am

Meet up with Craig at Dunkin Donuts. Poconos is just under 2 hours away if you’re driving 60-70 mph. With no cars on the road, we do 70-80.

7:00 am

We arrive at the track to see a few people already setting up. The club we’re running with today had a track day here yesterday, so a few people who ran left their bikes here over night. There’s a very nice gentleman pitted next to us. His tow vehicle is a Range Rover. His bike is an MV Augusta Brutale. For those of you not into bike marques, if Ducati is Ferrari, Aprillia would be Lamborghini, and MV Augusta would be Bugati.

The guy has money.

8:30 am

Rider’s meeting. Typical safety talk, but the club president has a hint of irritation in his voice and speaks about the previous day with blunt animosity. You get the feeling that a LOT of people crashed and/or rode dangerously. He reminds us this is only a track day, not a race.

Can’t win a track day, but you can certainly lose one.

9:00

First of 4 groups hit a damp track. The rotation is Intermediate, Beginner 1, Advance, Beginner 2. I’m still in the Beginner group with this club, and to be honest, I kinda like it. In the other club I run with I’m in the intermediate group, and, well, I get passed by a decent amount of people. In the Beginner group, I do most of the passing.

Pocono is a weird place. It can be a hurricane one minute, then clear and sunshine another. I’m not exaggerating either. I had a day here last year where the morning was so wet, my canopy collapsed because of all the water. After lunch, the sun came out and dried the track within an hour.

The forecast for this weekend was thunderstorms, and from the looks of the water patches on the track and the cloudy skies, most of us were expecting rain. I actually love riding in the rain. Forces you to be smooth.

So far no sounds of thunder in the distance. Only the screams of 30 sportbikes being ridden in anger.


9:15

First call for my group. I already have my leathers on. Backprotector/chest protector, boots, and now helmet. Throw on my gloves and hit the start button on my SV650S. At once I hear the familiar, ‘thump thump’ of 2 large cylinders pulsing between a twin spar frame. I take a step back to look over the bike. The left side has some damage from a crash at this very same track about a month ago. Took me 3 weeks of ordering parts and taking apart the bike to get it rideable again.

Time to clear my crash demons.

We grid up, about 30 of us altogether. The Intermediate group is still running on the track. From a distance they look slow. Once you’re 30-50 feet from them, you realize just how fast they’re going. East is a small, very technical track. You are constantly on your feet, moving back and forth, side to side on the bike. The straight is short. Definitely not a big bike track.

I see the checkered flag being waved, telling the riders on the track it’s time to pit in. All of us waiting on the grid have our bikes off. As soon as the last of the Intermediate guys pits in, our track marshall gives us the thumbs up. At once, all 30 of us turn on our bikes, and my goodness does it sound beautiful.

I always try to remind myself that the first session is a warm up session. You get 8 sessions throughout the day, each lasting 20 minutes. If someone crashes, the session continues, unless it’s a bad crash, in which case the red flag starts waving and we all pit in. So, yes, warm up first session, get some heat in the tires, and just loosen up. No knee down yet. In fact, I tell myself to not even bother sticking it out.

So after the 2nd lap (2 mandatory yellow flag laps, which means no passing), I decided to discard my initial thoughts of ‘safety first!’ and proceed to ride at a decent pace. I’m not riding at 100%, probably closer to 80%, but I’m moving at enough speed to pass a good 10-15 people. I even manage to lap someone.

Yep, good to be the fast guy in the slow group.

10:20…..ish

The club puts the laptimers out during the 2nd session. This is to prevent people from chasing a time during the first session and crashing on cold tires. My best time here was a few months ago when I ran a 1:22.9. Last year, I was stuck in the 1:24s. I was also on a slightly heavier bike, but it had a good 20 hp more. 1:22s puts me in the low, low rung of the intermediate group, or the higher rungs of the beginner group.

I come back in after a healthy session and check my timer to see a string of 1:27s with a few 1:30s. I blame the slower traffic.

It’s hard not having a lot of horsepower, but it’s also a blessing. Whereas some guys are babying the throttle mid turn, I’m already at wide open throttle. I can get a great drive on a lot of these guys, get next to them and show them a front wheel, but when the middle of the straight comes I run out of hp and these guys are just getting into their power band. 90% of the passing I do is off the straights, on the brakes into turn 5. Pocono East is notorious for being hard to pass on.

To put things in perspective, most modern day 600 inline 4s put out anywhere from 95-120 whp. My 650 vtwin, with the mods i have, typically dynos in the 65-70 whp range. Fairly big difference.

As the day progressed, I was starting to get lower and lower. I was now consistently in the 1:24s, with a 1:23 here or there. BUT, and a big but at that, I have yet to have a clear lap without anyone either slowing me down, or forcing me to alter my line. But hey, I’m having fun, and again, it’s not a race.

12:30…..ish

During lunch, our other buddy Wence starts putting on new rearsets. I help him put one side on, and go to grab some food. Lunch is an hour, and at this point of the day, it’s a much needed rest. Craig and Wence fall asleep, while I sit looking at the empty track, thinking about where I can make up time.

First session after lunch, we get out. In my head, I know where I need to stay on the throttle longer and where to start braking. I’m braking too early in some turns, too late in others. I can stay on the throttle in the double apex, and I bet I can get away with not braking at all through one of the left hand kinks.

I try to get up front so that no one is in front of me. I get behind 2 guys instead. The guy in the very front takes off and is moving. The guy right in front of me is on a 1000cc bike, has about double the hp I have, yet is parking it in the turns. I get around him quickly, and on the 3rd lap, I finally get my first clear lap of the day.

I didn’t even think about it at the time, but everything I wanted to do, I just did. I even managed to slide the rear tire in the double apex (stayed on the throttle). After a few laps, I caught up to massive traffic. I was able to negotiate through most of it, but when I got onto the straight I went to upshift, and I could not feel my shift lever. I looked down, and sure enough, my lever is pointed down. All the way down. Time to pit in.

Turns out I lost my shift rod. Thing must have just flown off. I click my laptimer and immediately I jump up. That clear lap I ran, the only clear lap of my day, I ran a 1:18, 4 seconds faster then my personal best.

Without a spare rod, I called it a day. But I was happy. Actually, I was beyond happy. The following Tuesday, I called up the shop I get all my parts from, and I ordered 2 shift rods.

Over the next 2 months, I have 4 track days. One of which is an Intermediate only day (with the other club I run with). Track is green the entire day, and you come on and off as needed. That’s 7 HOURS of track time! Should be crazy.