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03/26/2007: "Star Motorcyle School"

Today I attended Jason Pridmore's Star Motorcycle School at Willow Springs Raceway's Streets of Willow Track.

STAR stands for Skill & Techniques for Advanced Riding. They run a 2 group format to maximize the amount of track time each student gets, an Advanced group and a Street group. Since this was my first time attending the Star Motorcycle School, I thought it would be best if I didn't "skip any steps" and start out in the Street riders group. (Jason also recommended it in the riders meeting)

Before the riders meeting and after I got my gear and Robyn through tech inspection, I took a few pictures of the pits and of the STAR Motorcycle Truck and rental bikes.




After the riders meeting, the Advanced group hit the track first. This gave me an opportunity to get a picture with Danny Eslick (AMA 600 SS & FX #69) our guest instructor and with the top dog, Jason Pridmore.





We were told that after the first free session, the riders in the Street group that felt they were fast enough could move up. This was mostly because there were a lot of riders in a Street group and only about 10 in the Advanced group.

The Streets of Willow is my "home" track. I've only ever been on one other track, so I'm really comfortable here and basically have good lines and reference points. I was hoping to learn a little something new about the track and some new riding techniques, and I did.

One of the important tips that I picked up in this class was RPM Management. Keeping the bike in it's optimal rev range smooths the bike out and makes shifting easier. As Jason said in the class "Most people use too many gears". I found this true of myself as well. With less shifting, I could spend more of my concentration on other things.

I practiced this during our first 2 sessions and started to really get a feel for it half way through the second session. This was also the first free session. I was finding myself passing a LOT of people. When I realized that I had lapped one of the riders twice in the 20 minute session, I knew it was time to move up.

I pulled off after the session and went right over to Jason and asked to be moved up. He told Buzz to follow me around for a few laps to make sure I'd be ok in the Advanced group. After a couple of laps of going balls out . . . he passed me . He then tapped the back of his bike and had me follow him for a lap.

At the end of the 3rd lap, he pulled me off the track and gave me some really good tips on a few corners that were causing me trouble. Buzz said I was fast enough to be in the Advanced Group and that I had no business being in the Street Riders group. I told him I'd never been to the Star School before, so I didn't want to skip anything important. He was pleased I was willing to be patient about going fast but said the only thing he felt he needed to correct was how I was taking those 2 corners (Turn 2 and Turn 4).

He said he didn't really want to tell me about those because he might not be able to pass me again. Of course, I'm sure he probably still could have if he really wanted to.

Once I moved up to the Advanced Group, I was having a lot more fun. I even got a chance to chases Danny Eslick around for a little bit. I was only staying close because I was on a liter bike and he was on a 600.



At this point in the day, I wasn't getting passed much, but there was one student that was fast on his GSXR-1000, Steve. Steve and I seemed to battle all day, with him winning most of the battles. I could usually pull on him entering the corner, but the grunt of that GSXR was too much for Robyn on the corner exits. If I was in front and kept a good line though, he had a really hard time passing me. All in all, we had a lot of fun.

Here's my proof that I could get Steve going into the corner:



Anyway, The other big tip that I picked up was a down-shifting technique that prevents you from having to blip the throttle on down-shifts. I don't want to disclose all of their "secrets" though, so I'm not going to give any more details here. You'll have to attend the class yourself to find out more.

One of the last big thrills of the day for me was getting to ride 2-up with Jason Pridmore. This was done right after a session that I "thought" I was just flying around the track. Jason was a Top Level AMA racer for a reason. All day I was passing people at the end of the back straight doing about 120mph. On my 2-up ride with Jason, we went through there at about 145mph.

What was really astounding, was not just how fast he was, but how smooth . . with everything. Someone asked me if he grabbed a down-shift going through the back kink and I KNOW he had to have grabbed one, but I never felt or heard it. His braking was eye-popping, yet smooth. It was like you you'd start to wonder if he was starting to brake and then suddenly it was like WOAH!! He's braking!!

The first lap I felt like I was going to make us crash because I wasn't in rhythm with him because I wasn't looking far enough up the track. Once I started to look as far down the track as I'm think he was looking, I could shift my body weight at the correct times. The second lap was smoother and consequently, much faster.

I would have to say that as a rider that has developed a pretty good arsenal of skills and wants to find ways to get that little bit extra out of those skills . . Star Motorcycle School is an excellent value. I don't know however, if I would recommend Star Motorcycle School to new riders. Not because it's not safe, far from it. It's the only track day I've ever been to with only 1 crash. I just don't feel like the skills/lessons being taught are done in a way that someone who doesn't already have a certain level of skill would easily be able to pick up. Or maybe STAR was just doing it's job as a school and fitting itself to my needs.

I still think that maybe newer riders, would be better off and less intimidated at CLASS (Jason's father Reg's School). But I'm not a new rider anymore, so I'll be back to see Jason and Crew again.