JOINING FAST

When you reside in Ontario or Quebec and you’re looking to improve your Sportbike riding skills or get a race license, there is but one school--Michel Mercier’s FAST school—and this year I’ve joined as one of their instructors!

The school is owned and operated by Canada’s renowned--Michel Mercier--25 Canadian National titles in four different divisions of motorcycle racing. This includes five Canadian National #1 plates in ice racing and three Canadian National #1 plates in road racing- this with an 18 year career. I am very excited to hang out with one of Canada’s greats! Michel started the school back in the late 80’s and has made a most amazing success of it--in fact its so popular you often have to book a year in advance to get a spot.

As part of my “instructor-in-training” I attended the Phase 1 course, observing and learning the teaching methods Michel has developed over the years. The race licensing training and various track/race academy courses I’ve taught with in Europe each use their own unique language yet the science is pretty much the same. I needed to understand Michel’s methods. One impressive observation was that Michele personally headed up each lesson! Huge added value if you ask me—students get to learn direct from the talent himself. When I took the 3 day camp of the California Superbike School in Almeria Spain, I wanted nothing more than to be taught by Keith Code himself—who wouldn’t? Keith often traveled to Spain to run the course, yet the camp I booked, unfortunately not—sigh (Keith Code in my books is the Guru of road race training). So it’s an extreme bonus for FAST students to be under the training of Mercier himself.

I’ll be teaching a few courses this season as I ease into FAST’S tightly run team. Two of the other instructors I met had been with the school for over 18 years! FAST is partnered with Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki who provide riders with superb machinery in the 600 cc range to learn on. FAST supplies all the kit when you enroll --Arai helmets, leather over-all race suit, boots, gloves and even ear plugs if you forgot yours—“Fete de complete” as the saying goes.