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View Full Version : 3 day review with TPM


John712
08-20-2006, 10:14 PM
heres my review to my weekend, its not as short as the other reviews the people posted but i had a blast :D




my first day was at Pocono doing the FUSA track on Friday the 11th. packed my trailer the night before and left my house early friday morning the 11th at about 5:30am. traveled all the way to Poconos without any problems. I seen a few police dudes in their cars but I didnt have anything to worry about, i was only doing 70MPH, I made it to the track unloaded both my street bike and track bike i took both just in case because i was doing 3 days in a row. unloaded the trailer, set everything up to my likings, people said i set it up like a living room :lol: but i brought my bike to Tech and BOOM i failed, once again i failed Tech on this bike. 1st time was because i had no rear brake, not like i use it anyways but i had to fix it. but this time i failed for my front break pads being way to low. ok so i need new pads, go to the TPM truck and buy a set for about $60.00. no big deal, but what hurt the most was that i left the new JUST IN CASE SHIT HAPPENS set home. put the breaks on, bled the breaks, "force of habit" took it around the paddock a few times to break them in, went to re-tech and passed. now the bike is ready. but am i ready is the question after my unfortunate low side at VIR 2 weeks before. but went to the riders meeting which is a MUST. for me anyways. had the usual meeting that always have important stuff to sink in. 15 to 20 minutes later the meeting was over. groups get called out RED 1st White & ART Basic 2nd and Blue 3rd. (for those of you that didnt know)


Red went out and came in about 15 minutes later. now white goes out. as im out there i notice 2 things, 1) its been a long time since i been on any Pocono Track and its bumpy to all hell, and 2) im not settled on my bike, im still nervouse about the low side in VIR. i'm not going as fast as i used to, remember im in white group so its really not all that fast, but faster then ordinary. throughout the day i was visualizing myself lowsiding again so i had to do something to calm down, i didnt say anything to a coach or friends of mine that were there i just kept it to myself. thats just the way i am, i keep shit to myself. and i can sit by myself for hours while my best friends can have a blast 20 feet away from me lol. but i didnt settle down all morning but as soon as my wife brought my daughter i was 80% calm, no heart racing , hand shaking or thoughts of sitting out this session when white gets called out. i felt so much more comfortable after lunch, got back up to speed which isnt fast, like i said im in white group, and all you fake ass wanna be fast people keep your bullshit comments to yourself about my speed because i will delete your post.


I completed my day at FUSA without any mistakes. i was between 3 and 6 seconds faster this year then i was early last year doing FUSA. now were at the end of the day, i packed up early because i was heading to Beaver for 2 days Saturday and Sunday. packed my trailer and made sure nothing will bounce and fall or come loose. before i left i was saying bye to everybody and Rob (IrocRob) told me i will really enjoy Beaver. i ate it up and was anxious to get there and on the track because i feel i did very well at FUSA. after saying bye to all of them i had a long goodbye with my wife and kids. and of course my wife told me to be careful. getting there, on the track and getting home. and i call her every hour on the hour and sometime in between.
i finally made it to the Hotel about 6 hours later, traffic on 80 was a mother you know what!!! checked in, took a shower and relaxed for the rest of the night. and all of a sudden the alarm clock is going and time to get out of bed. im feeling great still, just like i did when i left FUSA. left the hotel got into the parking lot and i got to get my gas cans out of my trailer to fill them up, i open the trailer door and HOLY SHIT. all 4 straps on both bike were completely off. thats 8 straps. i never had all 4 come off a bike i had maybe 1 or 2. but my track bike fell to the right onto my street bike breaking the break lever on my track bike and scratching the shit out of the plastics on the street bike and also putting a pivot dent in the frame of the street bike. right there i got the feeling back again like i had early the day i did FUSA. i re-straped the bikes and i wasnt sure if i was pissed off or nervouse, and if i wanted to cry or not, but hell, i strapped them and went to the gas station. filled up the cans put them in the trailor and went to get a cup of coffee from the bearded lady in the store. came outside and i seen Cakes, Chris, Bobby and Jen. said hello and all the good shit and explained what happed in the travels from Pocono to Beaver. finished talking and went to the track. found a spot to park, unloaded everything living room style again but this time i added a dining room :lol: then i went to the TPM Trailer once again to get a brake lever with some doubt, is this my sign to go home or what. but i bought it and replaced it anyways, 35.00 later.

then i went to Tech, passed with flying colors, i was in and out. then i brought my bike to where i was pitted and waited for the riders meeting. about 15 to 20 minutes later the riders meeting was called, and like usual i have to attend, like i said they always got important things to remember. after the riders meeting the groups are gettng ready to go out, again its Red, White & ART Basic then Blue. now im still a little nervouse but tried not to show it, i just stood under my EZ-UP by myself just thinking. white group gets called out and i get ready, get out there and wait in line to be released. were all let go and under a yellow flag for 2 laps. 2 laps go by and i continue my speed as if i were still under a yellow flag. we all were on the track for maybe 15 minutes and throughout the entire time i really didnt settle down. i think i must have felt 100 times better after the 3rd or 4th session when i got my knee down. then i felt better, after that i was working with Coach Cakes on my body position because i wanted to move up to Red, not to much on speed because i got my speed up a lot better and i managed to get a 1:16 for my best time. second best was a constant 1:17 & 1:18 not to mention a 46 second session i did, but it was a false reading :lol: so im there with Cakes a few times working on boy position and some lines.

Im trying to get the blind downhill right hander down for the good part of the day in which i was screwing up big time. but then we were mainly working on my body position for most of the day. Saturday comes to an end put the bikes in the trailer for the night and discuss dinner plans for the night. get to the hotel shower change and head to dinner at 7:30. were going to a place called On The Border, its Me, Cakes, Quetesh, CBRBob along with his wife, Bad5k1000 and Bobbydigital04 and a great time as usual and i have to order the MUSTARD :lol::lol: after dinner were all out. i head back to the Hotel to wait for Stiffy and Omar to show up.

heres the fun part of the night for me, Omar and Brian :LOL:
im in the Hotel when stiffy shows up. then Omar shows up about 40 minutes later. im on the phone with my wife after waking up. go to the truck to get my cigarettes have 1 hang up with the wife and me and stiff go to the hotel bar about 10 minutes later. were there having 2 drinks while conversating to a gay guy at the corner of the bar. then Omar comes in, he dont say nothing to anybody, no hello NOTHING he immediately dances lmfao and now this gay guy is looking at Omar like he wants to take him home :LOL: Omar and stiffy go to play pool and leaves me there with the flamer. the flamer asks me about Omar, he asked if we know each other real good. and im like yes were real good friends but we try to keep our eyes on Omar and hes like why and i said hes bisexual :lol: and now hes like WHOAAAA and i said yep. after Omar and stiffy got done playing their pool game it was my turn, me playing Omar but before i go play the flamer askes me if Omar would mind of he watched him play, im like no not at all. well this gay kid stood right up against the pool table watching him play LMMFAO so for like a hour this gay kid is following him around the bar HAHAHAHA and Omar has no clue that im the 1 that egged the gay kid on until later in the night :LOL:

we had a great time there that when we went back to the hotel room theres 1 bed and a couch and ummmmm 3 guys. well stiffy got the couch and me and Omar got the you know what :lol: it was a king size bed so it was cool the bed will fit 4 grown ups stretched out. and here i come out and say to Omar. so Omar hows it feel to be picked on by a gay guy and then sleep in the bed with another guy :LOL::LOL::LO: just the events was a great night. i made sure i was the last 1 to fall asleep though lol. well again the alarm clock is going, Omar leaves about 20 minutes before me and stiffy, i leave about 20 minutes before stiffy does. i get to the track and set up again. this time im working on getting bumped to red group. had my body position worked out when Cakes was helping me out the day before. and now im working on a few turns, getting them down but not to a science but better then i did the day before. i went out with Omar for 1/2 a session. and the 1st lap was good, we were let out last. went around 1 time fine and im approaching turn 2 on my second lap with the 2 riders who were not near each other just went down out of no where and im like whoa, and here i come but of course i got on the breaks to slow down and im coming to turn 1 and my bike is all over the place, and i said the hell with this i went off and started cutting the grass with my bike. well i come to find out someone blew their engine while approaching turn 1 and now theres oil all over the track.

but just my 1st two laps i did real good that i was bumped to red. now next time around red group is called out and i went out with Omar again, this time i was passed by damn naer everybody, i should have just got off the bike and walked my ass around the track because i was going that slow lol. but i was passed and lapped and lapped for the 2nd time. well its a different world, red was called in i parked the bike and discussed things with Omar. after discussing i went and got a bottle of water and sat there thinking to myself, no red is out again, this time i wasnt passed, we were let out last again that me and Omar caught up to the the tail end of the pack, i didnt pass anybody just got hard on the throttle this time. red called in samething discussed a few things then went out again, this time i passed a lot of people cleanly and caught up to the beginning of the pack. but theres always 2 maybe 3 riders thats are just that fast to catch. now i got my body position just right my speed was better that i did a 1:10 for my best time knocking 6 seconds off from my previous best time. i did maybe 2 more session in red before packing up and leaving for the long ass ride home. said bye to everybody and thanked them for their help. went home with a smile on my face and had a blast :D:D:D

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bobbydigital04
08-20-2006, 10:24 PM
1:10 huh. you gotta get into blue with that... nice review, check mine out

John712
08-20-2006, 10:28 PM
1:10 huh. you gotta get into blue with that... nice review, check mine out


thats the only best time, the rest i was running between 1:14 and 1:16 and couldnt pass it no matter how hard i tried without messing up. but if i were to go to blue group i would rather stay in red a few times 1st even though i was passing a lot in red for a while. but id rather stay in red for a while :D

bobbydigital04
08-20-2006, 10:30 PM
take your time, you will develop in red, my only advice is dont try to beat your best time, try to just learn the track better and that will knock the seconds off

sonny
08-21-2006, 07:59 AM
damnit. i want in

ffejtable
08-21-2006, 09:56 AM
grats jonnhy... beaver is a great track, and thats where I got my bump as well... I can also relate to riding after going down.... it really messes with your head for a while...

bobbydigital04
08-21-2006, 06:45 PM
3 lowsides only made me more aware in corners, after the third one that is, id say im less scared after knowing that i little slide without a sliding board is no big deal

IrocRob
08-21-2006, 09:34 PM
Congrats on the bump John - See you in Red at Pocono this weekend?

Kennedy
08-21-2006, 09:36 PM
Yea you will, when he's waving the yellow flag :(

IrocRob
08-21-2006, 09:41 PM
Yea you will, when he's waving the yellow flag :(

:doh:

Chris
08-21-2006, 10:40 PM
take your time, you will develop in red, my only advice is dont try to beat your best time, try to just learn the track better and that will knock the seconds off
you should practice what you preach.

Cakes206
08-21-2006, 10:51 PM
you should practice what you preach.
:haha: I wasn't gonna say it... :haha:

Kennedy
08-21-2006, 11:02 PM
:doh:

Didn't mean it as a bad Omen sorry Rob, just re read it :roflmao:

I meant you'll see him cornerworking LOL

bobbydigital04
08-22-2006, 01:25 AM
thats my new philosophy, u guys saw me ride last week, i wasnt even checkin my lap timer half the time, didnt look at my speedo once either

CBRBob
08-22-2006, 09:57 AM
really? wow, join the rest of us LOL

Kennedy
08-22-2006, 05:01 PM
really? wow, join the rest of us LOL


My lap timer....

Just pass you and ask your lap times :roflmao:

pillaka
08-22-2006, 05:52 PM
The night before was quite interesting to say the least. The best was when we got back to the room and John told Omar what he said to the gay guy. "You know what they say about guys that dance like that, they're 3x better in bed". Haha

Beaver was a blast, feel like I am finally getting the hang of my bike. I had an awesome session following Bill Sink and the canadian superbike chick. Right as we left pit out they were both on it. First bill passed her and then I passed her, bill looked over his shoulder prob to see where she was and saw me right behind him. (She actually pitted out due to the pace we were running and passing people) We were both hammering, bill sink was laying down a thick black line from the rear tire coming out of every turn. I seemed to get through traffic a little more efficiently than bill, but he had no trouble passing me on the brakes again. That run everyone else in Blue group seemed like cones, a few times going through t10 bill would take a dude on the inside and I would go right around them on the outside. Picked off a lot of people through 3 and 4 also. Some guys out there we actually lapped that session. 2nd to last lap I was coming out of 4, saw bill in front of me get caught behind some riders in front of him going into 5, gave it a little too much gas trying to close up the gap, spun it up, and got bucked out of the seat a little, but I caught right back up to bill (3rd day on supercorsas). I was right on him going down the back staight, then braking for turn 10 i was on the outside of a guy, and bill was on the inside, I was right behind him this time and was going to get the drive out going onto the straight. Bill though gave it a little too much gas in turn 10 and almost highsided, his left foot came off the peg and the back end kicked out real far, then snapped back towards the inside. But he stayed on it! - layed down a thick blackie and rode up the inside of the turn onto the grass and back onto the track again. So i just relaxed going down the straight to only see them waving the checkered flag with a huge sigh of relief. That was a rush. Came in checked the times, solid 1:03's, with a best of 1:03.10, had 2 or 3 low 1:04's when we were prob caught in some traffic.

I definatly feel confident that when I return to Beaver in september on better tires and a few more trackdays under my belt that I can comfortably run in the 1:02's, maybe reach the 1:01 range. I'm also looking foward to doing the GP race and seeing how I perform now that I can ride 100% consistently again. My april highside at Beaver which I feel really affected me mentally has all but disappeared from my head now. Coming home it felt great to finally be back at the level of confidence I had in myself as I finished at last season - and there are still a few more months to go before this season ends so I can definatly still improve.

Cakes206
08-22-2006, 06:15 PM
Damn Bri, I got a rush just readin that...

bill sink was laying down a thick black line from the rear tire coming out of every turn.
Hehe, he layed down a nice line up through the whole hill in front of me, was pretty bad ass.