Supermoto USA, Reno-Fernley.

[Roadstergal]

This past weekend was a supermoto weekend at Reno-Fernley.  It's a good track.  But it's a long freaking drive from the Bay Area.

Friday was the Supermoto school that Brok runs.  I took it at the beginning of the year, when I first decided to give SM a try, and it was very, very useful.  If anyone wants to get into SM and is anywhere near the Bay Area, I can't recommend the school highly enough.  They'll rent you a bike - just show up and learn how to ride on the pave with a dirtbike and on the dirt in slicks.

M'boy Slydrite agreed to help out; I took the school for the second time.  Likely because I have more seat time than the last time I took it, I got even more out of it this time.  We alternated drills with laps around the unusually high-speed course (with three dirt sections).  It was very hot out there, especially when you're in leather, but the school provided us with shade and plenty of water.  A great time.

After that, we both did the practice; me on a rented 230F, Slydrite on a rented 250x (both on 17"s and slicks).  We were both having a great time - until the valve seat on the 250x dropped, locking the engine solid.  Slydrite kept it upright as the rear wheel abruptly refused to turn, but the weekend was over for that bike (in the spirit, if not the absolute letter, of You Break It, You Buy It, Slydrite now has a 250x that needs a little love in the garage).

He rented a 230F to race the rest of the weekend with me.

Saturday was hotter.  We filled our Camelbak and water bottles, then headed to the track.  We both ran the morning practice on 230Fs and ran the Vet Mini race against an array of 150Rs.  It was just more school for me, trying to keep up with folks and improving my lines.  I finally got to the point of taking the fast twisty back section flat out, hanging off roadrace style to keep the bike on line (the pegs would scrape doing that high-speed section SM-style).

Sunday dawned with a promise of a cooler day, but a hot wind started blowing and made it the hottest day of the three.  We sucked down every bit of water we had, and still were dry-mouthed.

It was the day of the Minimoto race, and we both entered an open race to round out the weekend - Novice for Slydride, Beginner for me.  I was beaten soundly by m'boy in the minimoto race (as this was his first real-deal dirt+pave SM race, and I have a hefty weight advantage, I have no excuse), but at least I managed to beat two other folks on my aircooled trailbike rental.  I continued to improve, especially in the dirt sections.  The Beginner and Novice races were not so good.  We were both sadly outclassed by the 250/450 MX bikes that made up those classes; we were the only ones who had brought minibikes to the gunfight.  During qualifying, Slydrite held off some bigger bikes for most of the race, and I was able to dice a little with a 450SMR - but we both skipped the mains, having no bikes to really race with.  The weather was getting abysmally hot by then in any case, and the track was dry and sandy.

All in all, a very good weekend.  I learned and improved significantly, and Slydrite got hisself a good platform on which to build his SM.

I spent the weekend riding, so took very few pics, and unfortunately, none of m'boy, but here they are.

Road course.  They were running a track day on Friday in parallel with the SM day, and roadraces on the weekend in parallel with the SM races.




Supermoto course.




Whee.






















My friend Dan gettin' his lean on.




And his jump.

[bucks1605]

Awesome pics from roadstergal as usual. Thanks for sharing. 

[natedawg120]

awesome pics

[Roadstergal]

Thank y'all!

A few of me.  The fast turns worked better doing roadrace style.  No, I'm not missing the apex, I'm exiting.   




Supermoto style for the slow turns.




This track had great jumps.

[frankieG]

very kewl