Quote:
Originally Posted by Last1Out
I had been riding for a bit over 10 years when I entered my first sanctioned race. I learned more in the first 20 minutes of that race than in all the time prior and the most important thing I learned was how much I didn't know!
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- Track days amp up the intensity of a fast street ride maybe 50%
- Racing, another 25-50% over and above previous.
I too could hardly believe my first race, in 1995. I finished in the gutter somewhere, glad to be alive and not crashed out.
I believe it was about five races later I took a trophy, fastest Amateur (class) lap time of all out there that day. Awarded end of day; I was a bit surprised. The fastest couple guys in my specific racing class were Experts and cleaned up, race after race. Oh well. I crashed hard the next event, first and hopefully last somewhat-serious wreck (concussion, cracked ribs, moderate damage to bike). That's part of it too.
Year or two after that, a dozen or more events later, I was in there with the top guys in 750 Production, my class of choice. The level of discipline and commitment to actually win that would put someone back of the pack at an AMA race; I had neither that ambition nor deep pockets so usually ended up mid-pack in a field of 10-20, once rising to third but that's about it. I hung out with some of the top guys, Steve Rapp, Geep Terranova, and others way back when, but would not/could not match their level of total commitment.
Friend of mine was that top-dog, a decade later. He went to AMA, DNF'd a couple times on his R1. I suggested he "declare victory" and depart with pride, which he did actually. One club-level champ is a national-level back marker. Whatever: we were proud of him, "local buy makes good" sort of thing.
I think just about all of us at the club(s) who made it through a number of races, let alone got that "E" (Expert) license and plate, were probably (cough) Experienced riders, pretty shortly after surviving several events!
Again, though: that's all rather arbitrary. As is any answer to the original question...
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