Laguna Seca - Tracktime!

Laguna Seca. Anyone who’s ever watched motorcycle racing knows about Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It’s an amazing track with history as being the only US Moto GP race for a rather long time, and it’s right here in our backyard. Pacific Track Time had a track day planned here for the middle of the week, so with some last minute prep the night before we woke up hella early to pick up a fellow BARFer and head down. Traffic, even at that time of day, was significantly worse than anticipated, and we ended up rolling in later than expected. It was the first track day ever for the rider who was catching a ride with us, and it was also going to be the first track day for one of my newest sponsors, Sy Nazif with RiderzLaw.

It’s always exciting to see new riders get out on track, and I was pretty stoked to get to be there for their first experiences on a race track. The weather was perfect with a slight breeze and sunny skies, and this was stacking up to be my first time at Laguna with great weather and no recent injuries. I had been here two time prior – the first time was in 2012 when it was my first day back on a bike after my Thunderhill incident, and the second time was earlier this year when it poured rain overnight and into the AM leaving us with a damp day for much of the day.

This day, however, was looking to be about as perfect as it could be. We got set up, made sure our newbies were ready and I headed out to coach the first C group session. The next hour I went out to ride my own ride in B group and get back into the groove in addition to riding in C group all day. Out on my own ride and I just “wasn’t feeling it.” This is something I’ve ran into a number of times in the past when I just feel like I’m not really feeling that aggressive, but my inability to overcome that has definitely been an issue sometimes. As I rode around I sat there having a conversation with myself, finally asking myself “are you a racer or not?!?” I guess that was the motivation I needed as I seemed to experience that mental shift and starting actually riding the bike. The following B group that I went out in was the same thing, but I kicked that a little quicker and got going, working on some passing of the liter bikes. Since Laguna is a relatively fast track with places for the bigger bikes to really use their throttles, it forced me to work on my passes in the areas where, historically, I’m the least comfortable making the pass. This was overall a good experience, but in the end I was again getting annoyed by the swooping lines and inconsistency that is often present in B group, and decided to move into A in the afternoon.

In the meantime, my newbies were starting to get into their groove, figuring out the track and track procedures and starting to have some fun. I was excited to see what they’d be doing after lunch!

Due to not being done eating in time, I ended up doing the first B group session after lunch, and then C, then heading out into A group to work on my speed. I was running a pair of flipped race take off tires from Thunderhill, so the right side profile was a bit screwy, not assisting my already-needs-work right hand cornering. Despite that, I started picking up my pace. The increased confidence in my brakes even had me thinking to myself that I could be braking harder, deeper – some of that is going to require some seat time as I adjust to this rediscovered confidence, but I was surprised to be feeling that way myself, opposed to the usual “I know I should but I don’t want to” mantra I’ve had on this bike.

Downshifting is still an issue. The lack of a slipper means I have to be especially careful. I’m struggling with blipping the throttle when I’m hard on the brakes without pogoing the brake lever. I’m feeling more confident on my clutch release which can work, but is still another distraction in the midst of a corner at speed. This still needs work.

The great thing was that I was having fun. Out in the A group I was feeling confident with what I was doing, and Turn 1 started to become a bit of a thrill as the bike was starting to get really light coming over the hump. I still haven’t decided if that was more thrilling or scary, but either way it was a blast! Turn 2 is one of my stronger corners, and I still love the corkscrew. There were a few times I hit it just right and what a thrill to drop those 5 ½ stories in 450 feet of track with the tight left/right corners!

At the end of the day I was feeling good. Definitely had some very clear things to continue to work on and improve on, but overall I felt that it was a successful day for me. To top it off, my new riders were grinning from ear to ear, and I’m pretty sure both had the track needle firmly inserted! 

The infamous Corkscrew

Now it’s time to start my homework for the next AFM round at Sonoma Raceway. My bike and I SHOULD be able to do well there as I’m finding at most of the tracks the more technical sections are where I’m doing well. If I can maintain my confidence on the brakes and get my shifts in, it should be a great weekend, but I definitely need to focus on those two areas.