Women lovin’ their curves on Shannonville Race Track

Women lovin' their curves on Shannonville Race Track.

We had such a terrific day during recent F.A.S.T. school on Ontario’s Shannonville race track. This particular course date, along with another one on 11 August provides a woman’s only group. We had 9 women new to the track—by the courses’ completion you would NEVER have known it was their first track experience. Well that’s all due to Michel Mercier’s years of proven teaching methods.

We managed three groups throughout the day; one comprised of women the other two, men. Four of us instructors (3 fellows and “moi”). The conditions were perfect!—blue skies, dry, sunny, slight breeze accented by the scent of high performance sport bikes! It’s so rewarding to introduce women, true enough any riders, to the art of cornering and higher speed riding the circuit allows; viewing the amplified skills and techniques—those HUGE smiles are gratifying. Yahoo!

Great pics hey? (Excuse my hat –having helmet hair issues!) Special thanks to FLAIR photo for their terrific track side photo service and professional photographic talents!

GIRLS OF F.A.S.T.—Another Perfect Day on Shannonville

Did we have fun this past Tuesday on Shannonville? You bet! I was teaching once again for Michel Mercier’s FAST school, with a focus on our "all women’s group". We had a super day and many enjoyed taking home more riding skills than what they arrived with.

We focused on cornering skills, push steering, throttle steering, down-shifting [before the corner] and ideal lines. This course’s youngest ‘racer girl’, Erin, just 17, working the track like she was born on it. Erin has her own Kawasaki Ninja 250 and was able to use the FAST schools 250 cc during her training so the familiarity of the ride helped out. Fair credit to Erin’s dad Tim, who’s an avid Canadian Vintage Road Racer/Mechanic enthusiast.

Another female participant in our group used her own KTM where by the end of the day, most certainly while the other women were getting their bodies off the bike, leaning into the corner, Jane was moving forward on her supermoto, steering further into the lean than she’d shown in the morning sessions. Another day and her foot would be out while sliding through the apex. You’ll note in our group photo, the enthusiasm of everyone! The in-action shot where I’ve got a finger in the air is pointing from apex to exit.

Many thanks to Shari and Jack of Flair photo for the usual great photos!

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.