NJMP Report

[IrocRob]

I was told there were 7-8 red flags on Sunday.
With that many red flags, I can make a decent guess
at what was said and by whom...

[mowshweettea]

It started in the morning meeting from what I gather, some people think some guys dont belong in certain groups and it caused problems later in the day. some guys were fast because they figured the track out and some were slow b/c it was new and were taking their time and the fast guys were complaining, thats what I got out of the morning meeting. what happened in the afternoon meeting was an extension of that im sure to include the red flags.(ass chewing) You know you have guys who have come up through the ranks in TPM on the same old tracks and they know em like the back of their hand and then we come to a new track and im sure some people were apprehensive and getting in others way... idk just my opinion of what was said in the morning

[PERT1905]

For the most part Eric is right. Saturday morning a few people were talking about how there are people in the blue group that don't belong, and same thing sunday morning at the riders meeting. From what they were saying there were some people on the track turning around and looking behind on the front straight and riding erratically off line. I didn't see anything to that degree but there were some pretty slow people out there, I chalked it up to learning the track, as I was doing the same. If these people were in fact riding like douche bags then by all means they should be talked too and possibly moved back down a group or something. However, it seemed like the real problem was the difference in speeds among the group. But like I said most people were learning and it seemed like some folks didn't want to cut them any slack. One guy brought up the idea of having some of the safety riders or coaches come out the first few sessions to show everyone the "proper" line, which I feel on a new track is a good idea.

[NYCSTRIPES]

I didn't have any real issue with some guys riding at a slower pace in Blue group on Friday as much as some of the unsafe riding I saw. The guys riding at a slightly slower pace were still keeping a good line, so I didn't have a problem with that.
There were one or two kamikaze riders in my group Friday and a bit of unsafe passing going on. If I see the guy again I will be making a trip to speak to Dave Gallo just to let him keep an eye out for that stuff. I was just pre-occupied with keeping hydrated and keeping my TZ250 running...LOL
Ken

[RCM78]

Originally Posted by NYCSTRIPES

I didn't have any real issue with some guys riding at a slower pace in Blue group on Friday as much as some of the unsafe riding I saw. The guys riding at a slightly slower pace were still keeping a good line, so I didn't have a problem with that.
There were one or two kamikaze riders in my group Friday and a bit of unsafe passing going on. If I see the guy again I will be making a trip to speak to Dave Gallo just to let him keep an eye out for that stuff. I was just pre-occupied with keeping hydrated and keeping my TZ250 running...LOL
Ken

Ken, Gallo is no longer the head coach. He does still ride with us though. He was there on sunday. If you want to talk to someone about unsafe riding you can talk to Danny Neron, Bill Sink or any coach.

There was one rider in particular that was spoken too on friday and we had no problems with him on sat or sun.

[NYCSTRIPES]

Thanks for the heads up Ralph. I would guess that it may have been the same rider that I had in mind, I heard others complaining about the same 1-2 guys as the day went on.

Ken

[RCM78]

Like it's been said allready, this track is FAST!!! Seriously fast. Until everyone get's some time on the track to dial it in theres gonna be a large discrepency in speed in all groups.

We were aggressively working with white and red group riders to get everyone online. We had more coaches and safety control riders then usual this weekend and that helped alot.

The blue group got out of hand on sunday. An anouncement was made and things didn't improve. So a meeting with all blue group riders was called during their session. So yes, they missed one session to get yelled at a bit.

It worked. We had no more incidents after lunch in blue.

Until everyone gets up to speed on this track we'll have issues and we will handle them accordingly.

[pillaka]

Antal got down into the 1:08's with a best of 1:08.11, I was pissed off cause I was leading the first lap and if my trans was 100% no doubt in my mind I could've run with him. Riding Friday i was having an issue upshifting into 5th gear, I would either have to jam it into gear or it would pop out into a false neutral. This was kinda an intermittent problem, maybe would happen once or twice a day at the track throughout the season, but happened almost every lap on friday. Went back home fri night and got back sun and the prob was even worse. I couldn't even downshift from 5th to 3rd or from 4th to 2nd, almost crashed during the race cause bike hit a false neutral coming out of t4 and I went wide onto the gravel and almost tucked the front end. Popped out 4 times on the straightaway basically handing away my position. Looks like I gotta pull the tranny apart and figure out whats wrong.

Otherwise I was spoiled riding omar's bike. Once the the tires came up to temp that bike felt awesome. Front end feel was insane, front end was just planted, it wouldnt bounce all over the place or chatter going into t1, but keep in mind I am comparing an ohlins 25mm cartridge kit to OEM yamaha front forks. Rear was just as good, an elka just doesnt compare to a TTX rear shock. I am seriously considering dumping the $$ for a cartridge kit now, hell even get and ohlins for the rear too and getting the thing set up RIGHT instead of trying this trial and error that I am now. I could see dropping another 2 - 3 seconds easy.

[redneckrider]

I was there on Friday and Saturday. After the first session on Friday i was just about ready to pack it up and go home, i didnt like the track that much. it didnt flow right IMO. After i picked up the pace i began to enjoy it alot more. End of the day on Friday i was running 1:15's. Completely ruined a 211gp rear on Friday so i spooned on a set of supercorsa takeoffs for Saturday. They wore much better.

Saturday i ran pretty consistent 1:15's and down into the 1:13's with a rabbit to follow. I have to applaud NJMP for the oil cleanup that they did after some idiot rode up the hill and around half the bowl spewing oil all over the race line.

[NYCSTRIPES]

Thunderbolt......must ride it again. TPM went there yesterday and aside from the rider's meeting starting late and the track not going hot until 930AM and ending early for the BS twilight event, it was still a good day.
TPM was running late already and then Glen had the coaches go out after the meeting ended, pushing back the start time even more. When riding new tracks, why can't the coaches do their sighting laps during the rider's meeting? It kills another 15-20 minutes of track time. By the time Red group went out it was about 930. Track was dirty from a previous cars event and that made the day start late as well.
I guess I am still pretty upset that the club sold out and cut track time to run the twilight track time. Taking paid track time from guys who registered early and trying to sell it back to them is still a thorn in my side.
At the end of the day, the sessions ended about 430, so twilight riders got their full 2 hour slot ending the AM riders track time another hour or so early...this is gettiing old in a hurry.

TPM still hasn't replied to my email about that either.

The good:
awesome track, great layout with lots of grip even for a "new" facility.
food was good, burgers were huge, great if you don't decide to bring lunch
aside from other reports, venue staff seems to be friendly and courteous
garages look nice
when completed, the facility should be one of the finest on the East coast.
track side vendor is willing to begin carrying motorcycle related gear which helps because TPM track side store doesn't carry much anymore
3 hours from home (Queens), looks like Pocono will die a slow death...

The bad:
no bathrooms or running water yet
paddock area at thunderbolt is dusty, should improve when the lawns grow in
no track photographer yet to replace race day photo
Ken

[FDNYDANO18]

At least they were "NEW" portasan's

[ronin_01r1]

NESBA Dates at Thunderbolt. There's a $75 membership fee but I heard it's for 1 year from the date of membership, not for a calendar yr like TPM. Prices seem pretty cheap too. Lightning was only $125 for the day. And you don't have to pay extra for EPT - free rain and crash insurance.. that's a big plus I think.

I signed up for a free acct this morning to see what was available. Maybe that's why I don't see the Advanced group availability. I'm thinking of signing up with them for their w/e days at Thunderbolt in November and a few days next year.

Fyi, Intro = "Introductory - Try out NESBA by riding in the first 2 sessions of the day at no cost to you"

August, 2008

20 NJMP-Thunderbolt Millville, NJ $150 (Wednesday)

Intro - Full
Beginner - Open
Intermediate - Open

25 NJMP-Thunderbolt Millville, NJ $150 (Monday)

Intro - Full
Beginner - Full
Intermediate - Full

September, 2008

15 NJMP-Thunderbolt Millville, NJ $150 (Monday)

Intro - Open
Beginner - Open
Intermediate - Open

October, 2008

6 NJMP-Thunderbolt Millville, NJ $150 (Monday)

Intro - Open
Beginner - Open
Intermediate - Open

November, 2008

1 NJMP-Thunderbolt Millville, NJ $150 (Saturday)

Intro - Open
Beginner - Open
Intermediate - Open

2 NJMP-Thunderbolt Millville, NJ $150 (Sunday)

Intro - Open
Beginner - Open
Intermediate - Open

[FDNYDANO18]

will definitely be considering some of those dates.....

do THEY start on time and give a full days worth of tracktime?

[HondaGalToo]

You may not be seeing the Advanced spots, because with NESBA, you cannot sign up for Advanced unless you have an expert race license. Other than that, you must be bumped to Advanced by a CR. They will let new members sign up for Intermediate, which is good, as it used to be Beginner for all new members, regardless of experience, or at least I was told.

[NYCSTRIPES]

Next season will more than likely see me visiting some other clubs as well. I rode once this season with STT at Pocono and it was OK. I may be trying NESBA as well next year. At these prices, you can ride for 6 days at Thunderbolt for what it costs to ride 5 days with TPM....got me thinking.
Ken