Northduc
03-02-2003, 03:27 PM
Well, here is my paltry attempt to describe my experience with American Supercamp which was held February 21 and 22 at the Sonoma County fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. The camp ran from 10am to 6pm both days and I can honestly tell you that I was damn well exhausted and sore after the first day; There were lots of riding drills and lots of one on one instruction…most of which was following one of the many instructors around a very tight dirt course. Let’s just say that I fell…a lot.
We spent the first hour of our first day being instructed by Danny Walker (former AMA 250cc Grand Prix road racer). In short order, he instructed us in the proper way of going around a corner: 1) driving into a corner (staying on the gas deeper into the corner). 2) Reducing speed. A: squeezing the rear brake (we were allowed to use some front braking later). B: pushing the bike down into the corner. 3) Change direction. A: maximum lean angle. B: turning the front tire around the corner. 4) Start straight-away. A: rolling on the throttle. B: rolling the bike up to the center of the tire. All of the afore-mentioned is a lot easier said then done when you are sliding around on a wet and slippery dirt track. We were supplied with XR100’s which were very forgiving of any abrupt braking or throttle inputs. However, almost everyone hit the ground at least once or twice from being over-zealous with the controls.
I was having a very difficult time with body positioning and accelerating too early making me go wide on some of the faster corners: Eric Bostrom (guest instructor) pulled me aside at one point and noted that I was skipping step #3 (change direction) making me go wide. I adjusted a bit and I started to do better. I also got to follow Johnny Murphree (2nd place finisher of the 2002 AMA Grand National Dirt Track Championship) around a couple of times…watching his lines (he slowed down for me).
Some of the hardest drills: Hand on the gas tank drill…Yup, riding around the slippery dirt course with one hand. Also, the Donut drill was hard! I’ve been riding since I was 17 and I can’t remember ever doing a donut on a bike…I found it to be quite a challenge.
Anyway, all in all it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot in two days. All of the instructors were very hard working and they really seemed to care about our riding. Some of the most memorable moments were seeing Eric Bostrom racing his Dad, Danny Bostrom (?) around the course…Eric’s dad is intense and very fast! Danny Walker and Murphee going around the course one handed and at break neck speeds…amazing!
Like a dumb ass, I didn’t take any pictures. But, there was a crew filming Danny Walker and Eric Bostrom …they also took pictures so maybe some pics will show up on the web site: www.americansupercamp.com
I highly recommend this camp to dirty BARFers…and even roadies. (I think I learned more about body positioning from sliding around than I did from Keith Code…just my opinion.)
Now I need to see where I’m going to get some extra mullah for a nice dirt bike.
:teeth
Wilson
We spent the first hour of our first day being instructed by Danny Walker (former AMA 250cc Grand Prix road racer). In short order, he instructed us in the proper way of going around a corner: 1) driving into a corner (staying on the gas deeper into the corner). 2) Reducing speed. A: squeezing the rear brake (we were allowed to use some front braking later). B: pushing the bike down into the corner. 3) Change direction. A: maximum lean angle. B: turning the front tire around the corner. 4) Start straight-away. A: rolling on the throttle. B: rolling the bike up to the center of the tire. All of the afore-mentioned is a lot easier said then done when you are sliding around on a wet and slippery dirt track. We were supplied with XR100’s which were very forgiving of any abrupt braking or throttle inputs. However, almost everyone hit the ground at least once or twice from being over-zealous with the controls.
I was having a very difficult time with body positioning and accelerating too early making me go wide on some of the faster corners: Eric Bostrom (guest instructor) pulled me aside at one point and noted that I was skipping step #3 (change direction) making me go wide. I adjusted a bit and I started to do better. I also got to follow Johnny Murphree (2nd place finisher of the 2002 AMA Grand National Dirt Track Championship) around a couple of times…watching his lines (he slowed down for me).
Some of the hardest drills: Hand on the gas tank drill…Yup, riding around the slippery dirt course with one hand. Also, the Donut drill was hard! I’ve been riding since I was 17 and I can’t remember ever doing a donut on a bike…I found it to be quite a challenge.
Anyway, all in all it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot in two days. All of the instructors were very hard working and they really seemed to care about our riding. Some of the most memorable moments were seeing Eric Bostrom racing his Dad, Danny Bostrom (?) around the course…Eric’s dad is intense and very fast! Danny Walker and Murphee going around the course one handed and at break neck speeds…amazing!
Like a dumb ass, I didn’t take any pictures. But, there was a crew filming Danny Walker and Eric Bostrom …they also took pictures so maybe some pics will show up on the web site: www.americansupercamp.com
I highly recommend this camp to dirty BARFers…and even roadies. (I think I learned more about body positioning from sliding around than I did from Keith Code…just my opinion.)
Now I need to see where I’m going to get some extra mullah for a nice dirt bike.
:teeth
Wilson