Yamaha Champ Day FTW

    Have you ever dreamed of having a track to yourself?  Do you long for some one on one coaching from qualified and experienced riders?  Do you enjoy having a full day on a track without the hyper-ego riders and prefer a group of like minded individuals all focused on improving their skills rather than mashing the throttle?  Hard to believe such a thing exists, right?  Well it does and it can be yours for the low, low price of $375.  

    I know, I know, it seems like a chunk of change.  I had my reservations, but I was lucky enough to have won a free Champ Day at Femmewalla, an all female track day event, which has the BEST raffle prizes at the end.  The guys I ride with prepare their wallets annually for my eventual winnings because what I get for free somehow ends up costing them hundreds of dollars to join in on the glory of my good fortune.  Sorry boys!  Committing to this class was a no brainer for me, as it was free, but I became very concerned that the boys would not get what they wanted from it and be a little miffed at me for urging them to fork out the cash and commit to a new program from Yamaha Champions that none of us really knew anything about.  Each of us are at different riding levels, but we all felt we had some plateaus we needed to overcome.  My boys are highly experienced, long term riders with ample street and track experience, but I am a fairly new rider, so I need improvement and guidance in many areas.  I have come a long way in less than two years of swinging a leg over a motorcycle for the first time, but bad habits happen fast and I am a huge believer in continued education, especially in a high stakes sport such as this.  For everyone, novice and expert alike.   

Buttonwillow Raceway.  
We had the place to ourselves!!! There were more tumbleweeds than people.

    We rolled into Buttonwillow Raceway bright and early on a Monday morning.  We were shocked by the lack of trucks, RV's, and shiny bikes that normally litter the raceway parking area.  We unloaded, rolled the bikes through tech inspection and then headed to the riders clinic where they go over some basics on safety, tires, lean angle, traction, and braking.  Everyone in our class identified as a B group rider, so they divided us up into small groups of 2-3 people per instructor.  There were only about 12-13 people signed up for Champ Day and around 6-7 instructors available at all times for coaching and lead/follows.  

    The day started with some very spirited lead/follows around the track.  They have the students alternate who is behind the instructor, having the previous one fall back as the next rider pulls forward on the straight.  They identify some of your areas of weakness during each lap, then pull over, give some instruction on track, and right back out you go.  They did two sessions with multiple laps of grouping like this and then pull everyone in for a break and class time covering different areas each teacher worked on with their students.  After that it was free track time to work on your skills with plenty of instructors on and off track to follow/lead you around, as well as, instructors parked along the track to view and acquire feedback as you ride by.

Group class time between sessions.  With an almost 2:1 ratio of students to teachers there was plenty of opportunity for personalized instruction both on and off the track.

    I was so excited when they let us free on the track.  I was having a hard time keeping up with the pace while working on the adjustments to my body position.  I was feeling really overwhelmed in the beginning in the group setting because I was surrounded by bigger displacement bikes and did not feel comfortable keeping up with the speed while making these changes.  It was a lot to try to think about while moving at high speed.

    Once they gave us the green light for free practice, they gave us 30 minutes on the track and 30 minutes off the track.  I found a great strategy for myself. I would race out to be the first one on the track so, #1, I could pretend like I had my own private raceway, #2, I could have some space to start out a little slower and get comfortable with shifting my form at a lower speed before the big bikes came flying by, and #3, not feel like I am in someones way.  It's a mental problem I have done a fairly good job of shaking, but on a 400 you always feel someone breathing down you neck.  "Ride your ride" is instilled in my head from my boys, but it's a skill that you learn in time.  With so few people on the track it was much less intimidating than a regular track day.  Everyone was there to learn, so there was a very amicable attitude among riders.  At times, though, it was hard to resist the urge to chase people, but we were there to practice and improve, not to race, so I think most everyone tried to stay focused on our goals, not the carrot.  

    The three of us are very familiar with Buttonwillow by now.  It has become our home track and we all know our lines fairly well.  It's the perfect track for us to focus primarily on our skills and not worry about learning the course.  For myself, body position was on the top of the list.  I am totally square on the bike and have really been trying to work on this.  Each track day I think I'm off the bike only to go look at the photos after and realize that it was all in my mind.  Having someone follow me around and critique me in real time helped me make those changes while on track, instead of making this grim discovery at the end of the day and having to wait until the next track day to make adjustments.  Second on the list was my foot/leg position.  I was on the balls of my feet, but I needed to tuck my heel in to the bike and rotate at the hip more.  Lastly, my upper body needed to rotate out towards the turn, my outside arm needed to extend, my inside elbow needed to come up, and my head needed to move towards the inside mirror in a turn.  I believe one guy explained it as I should "shine my tit light where I want to go."  😂. I believe that's a Neil Diamond song?  Wait, no, never mind.

    Below are a series of pictures taken at a track day at Buttonwillow prior to attending Champ Day and the after pictures are from another track day at Buttonwillow a week after we attended Champ Day, so you can see the progress I made from one day of coaching.

Before:  
Pros:  Looking through the corner, on the balls of my feet.  
Cons: Square on the bike, not rotating my hip, not extending my arms.

 

After:
Pros:  Getting off the seat a little, on the balls of my feet, tucking in my heels, rotating my hip out more, looking though the corner.
Cons:  Need to get off the seat more, could tuck my toes up more, upper body still needs a lot of work, but it's improving.

Different corners on the track, but in the "after" photo you can see I'm getting off the seat more, rotating my hip, locking in the outside leg, and tucking my heel.  I could probably scoot my toes back a hair more and upper body still needs some adjustment.

   

I can see a lot of improvement in my lower body in the after picture and some progress in my upper body.  A little more extension in my outside arm, but my tit light is shining on my tank, not the corner and that inside elbow is far to tucked inside and needs to move up and out in order to for everything else to happen.  I've been really focusing on getting my lower body in line.  I'm going to start to focus on my upper body in future track days.  Little by little I'm making some improvement.  At least I have their words of wisdom drilled into my head for direction.

  Overall, this ended up being a hugely successful day for all of us.  We were all smiles by the end of the day and no one was mad at me for dragging them along.  It felt worth every bit of the $375 I didn't spend, lol.  No complaints and all of us saw huge improvements when we returned for a regular track day the week after.  

    After Champ Day, I was able to move up to B group with confidence and ended up not only shaving a good 10 seconds off my lap time, but was dragging my knee in several places on the track.

Three happy customers!!!😁

    Their typical Yamaha School of Champions class goes for a tremendous amount more.  I think it was about $1k for one day.  It's pretty hard to commit that type of money when you are raising a family on limited means, especially when you have a track habit that is already consuming a good portion of your funds.  Champ Day is a much more accessible and affordable alternative and you get the same access to high caliber professional riders in a very intimate setting.  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with different teachers throughout the day and find the one that fit best with me, but also loved learning from a variety of different teachers and teaching styles.  Having different perspectives and approaches to teaching the same skills makes it absorb much easier than hearing it from one person.  Someone might approach and explain a skill in a way that it finally just clicks.  The tit light just turns on!😂  They make it very clear from the beginning of the day that this is YOUR day and do not be afraid to ask for what YOU want.  

    Even though I am a new rider that needs a lot of work and my boys are long time veteran riders, the teachers offered something for all of us and were able to meet us at each of our individual levels, helping us all reach our goals.  I would definitely sign up for this again in a year to help continue to improve my skills with some quality instruction and feedback from professionals that truly are passionate about helping, sharing, and growing others skills and making us all safer and smarter on the track.

    I highly recommend signing up for Champ Day if you are an avid track rider and want to refine your skills and get quality feedback from professionals at a reasonable cost.  If you are a beginner to street riding, they also have a new program called Champ Street, which looked like a great supplemental course to the MSF program.  I have no doubt their Yamaha School of Champions is an excellent program, far more detailed and structured, and great if you have an extra grand or two laying around to spend. 

A great shot of my man and I from Champ Day!  I'm so glad he agreed to come along.
Learning, growing, improving, and doing what we love together💕

    Thank you, Yamaha Champ Day for all the amazing instruction and attention.  We are very grateful for the time and dedication you've given to making us all safer, stronger, and skilled riders on the track.  Kudos!!  Look for their class offerings here: Ride Like A Champion