(909) 838-4587 ed [at] le-suspension.com

Buttonwillow Report

Buttonwillow is still here and so am I. I say this because Buttonwillow has a bunch of blind sections. There are three hills that block your view of the next part of the track. You have to learn the line, then trust that the track will still be where it was last time when you come around at full speed on the next lap.

The weather was perfect yesterday when Dave and I were blasting around the track all day in a TheTrackClub.com track day.

TheTrackClub.com and EDventure Racing have a deal that allows me to ride free when one of my clients buys a track day, this deal seriously cuts your cost to hire me for a day of on track coaching. Yesterday was my first experience with TheTrackClub.com. The Ninja Twins were right, the event was well run with an emphasizes on maximizing our track time. We’ll be back.

Dave has been renting a Ninja from Feel Like A Pro and yesterday he put money down on one of his own.

The weather is perfect again today and will be on Sunday as well. WERA practice is going on now. I’m strolling the pits talking to people and passing out cards.

TheTrackClub.com

TheTrackClub.com, provider of track days at Buttonwillow Raceway Park and Laguna Seca, made a deal with EDventure Racing. When an Edventure Racing client buys a track day the fee for Ed to ride and do lead/follow is waved. That’s a big savings for you.

I’ll be at Buttonwillow for the Friday May 7th TheTrackClub.com track day. I’ll be set up in RV spot 15C. Then I’ll stick around for the WERA races on Saturday and Sunday, May 8th & 9th.

If you want to join us for one, two or even three fun filled days at Buttonwillow call or e mail right away!

Big News!

EDventure Racing clients at this past weekends WSMC race included Tony on his ‘08 250 Ninja and my ‘90 TZ 250, Dennis on a RacebikeRentals.com 250 Ninja, the Ninja Twins, Andrew & Niccole, on their matching 250 Ninja’s, Tom on his 250 Ninja, Michael on his SV650 & SV500, Wendy on her 250 Ninja and brothers Guy & Allen also on 250 Ninja’s.

All had fun blasting around in the sunshine. All had good and bad laps. All learned stuff. All are working on doing stuff better. All are subconsciously making their stories better as you read this blog.

Wendy has been named the “Queen of the Ninjas” or “Ninja Queen” for short.

EDventure Racing started sponsoring the New Racers Race. All new racers get a coupon good for $50 off on their first day of Crew Chiefing & Coaching by me. The class is now called the EDventure Racing New Racers Race and I, for one, got a kick out of hearing that on the PA and seeing it on the schedule. If you did not get your coupon call the WSMC office and ask them to mail one to you or bring me proof that you were in a New Racers Race when you sign up with me.

I won’t be at the May WSMC race weekend because I’ll be Crew Chiefing for Elena Myers at the Infineon AMA race on that same weekend. In fact I’ll be working with Elena for the rest of the AMA season. This is good news for me because Elena is fun to work with and her speed will help improve my understanding of race set up. The learning never ends and the journey begins with a single step.

After Infineon I travel to Canada for the Honda CBR125R Challenge School at the Mosport Development Track on May 21st. Then to Circuit ICAR for round one of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship. I’m the coach for the riders in the 125R Challenge and the pit parking dude for PCSC. Sometimes the parking gig can be a tough job when everyone wants the same spot but mostly everyone is willing to compromise and it all works out. The coaching gig rocks because I get to ride and race with the kids so I get my racing fix too.

What all this work means for my WSMC customers: Between the AMA and PCSC schedule, I’ll miss most of the summer WSMC races. June is a maybe right now then I’ll miss everything till September. So if you are thinking about hiring me we need to pick a track day that works for both of us. I’ll be home between rounds and there are “lots and lots” of track days so give me a shout and we can pick a date.

Cheap Chain Fins!

Cheap Chain Fins!

 

A Chain Fin helps prevent your fingers and toes from getting caught between the chain and rear sprocket. This no frills Chain Fin sells for $20 each including hardware. They are unfinished aluminum and can be polished or painted and installed by you.

The bike shown is a 250 Ninja. The Chain Fin has been installed just in front of the rear stand spool. To install you drill two ¼ inch holes in the bottom of your swing arm and bolt the fin on using the included hardware.

April 16th, 17th & 18th.

I’ll be at Willow Springs for the April WSMC weekend. I hate getting up crazy early so I drive up on Thursday afternoon and get all set up in the Roadracing World garage. Friday is a track day with Track Daz. Saturday is WSMC practices and the races are on Sunday. I’m doing a group rate for this event so call, e-mail or stop by at the track and we can work out a deal based on what you need.

Press Release

For immediate release:
Date: April 1st, 2010
Location: Secret Track

At a secret test track near EDventure Racing‘s World Headquarters, Jeremy Burgess and Valentino Rossi are taking a break from a full day of rider coaching and crew chief work with Edventure Racing’s Ed Sorbo. This impromptu break came about when a surprise delivery of pie showed up from members of the WERA BBS. “When I find out who told them where my Secret Test Track is I’ll make Mongo eat Cake!” Said Sorbo. “This Pi is good,” said Jerry. “Please sir, may I have some more,” said Val.

On a serious note, Sorbo reports that the day’s test schedule is going well after a few small hurdles early on. “Jerry had his screw drivers in the wrong drawer and he says ’spanners‘ instead of wrenches. Val likes to sleep in and keeps mumbling things about a bunch of World Championships when I tell him to do anything differently.” Still, Sorbo predicts continued increased for Val and Jerry. “Jerry and Val have done OK so far. But they realized that they needed my help in order to truly succeed,” said Sorbo.

About Jerry and Val: If you don’t know, you need a subscription to Roadracing World.

About EDventure Racing: Ed Sorbo provides Coaching and Crew Chief services to racers and track day riders. More info at edsorbo.blogspot.com

Elena Myers takes 4th! Dave learns lots!

The pressure was on for me this past weekend for the AMA races at Cal Speedway. I was asked to be Elena Myers Crew Chief on her RoadracingWorld.com RMR Suzuki team.

The team had the bikes ready for me. My job was to make sure Elena had what she needed and to dial in the settings. The team is a good one, you may have heard of Elena’s team mate, Danny Eslick, he has a big number one his bike. The same guys who build Danny’s bikes, Barry McMahan and Mike “Foot” Earhart also build Elena’s bikes.

We made a few small changes in practice working on our race set up and learning about the new Dunlop AMA Spec tires. We earned a front row starting spot for both races by being 4th fastest in Qualifying on Friday when Saturdays Q was canceled because of heavy winds.

Saturday’s race was a short one for us. Elena and another rider bumped on the start resulting a crash and some repair work for us. With help from all the RMR Suzuki and RoadracingWorld.com crew our bike was ready to go after the red flag but our rider needed X-Rays of her shoulder so we started prepping for round two on Sunday.

Sunday’s weather was perfect and Elena was sore but ready to try. Practice went well until we flipped the bike in T-4.

Elena got a good start from the outside of the front row on her B bike and the fight was on. We battled for 2nd early on but the sore shoulder held us back a little. We dominated the fight for 4th and held a big lead over 5th when a red flag came out on lap 15 of 17 ending the race early.

Working with Elena, her team and her parents was the best kind of challenge. We worked hard to accomplish a difficult goal and we did a good job.

Hyper Cycle had a track day at Cal Speedway on Monday and Dave hired me for some Personal Coaching. I had my RV at the track so Dave dropped his bike off with me Sunday night. We took advantage of my track gate knowledge and did a track walk Sunday night. Dave thought it was cool sneaking onto the track with Elena Myers Crew Chief.

Dave and I did lead/follow all day on Monday with debriefs after each ride. Dave now has a bunch of new skill sets to practice with and is already thinking about when we can spend another track day together.

Yet More Happy Customers!

This just in from Lloyd Johnson, a Willow Springs veteran:

“I have been racing for 36 years now looking after my equipment myself all these years and you would think I would know everything by then. But then you happened to come by! The pointers you gave me about my tire pressure, suspension settings, etc were invaluable and allowed me to go much faster thru turn 1 and 9 without the usual chattering and other issues I had experienced prior. I would like to thank you and now I see why John Urlich has you around his team so much! Thanks again” ….. WSMC #43 Lloyd Johnson

The March WSMC race weekend was another good one. As you can see, Lloyd is happy. Michael went 1.5 seconds faster than he ever has after using the same PSI info that I gave Lloyd. Wendy and Tony did well. The Ninja Twins and both dogs are happy.

Stay tuned to this channel for more updates.

Go ride your bike in the Sunshine!

Go ride your bike in the Sunshine!

 

Wendy and her R-6 were not getting along. She was sad and thinking about selling her R-6. She had gone to many people for help but nothing worked. She knows others are happy with the R-6. She watched a R-6 win the Daytona 200. What is a Wendy to do?
Ed said he knew what was wrong and how to fix it. Wendy decided to give her R-6 one more chance, but if it didn’t work out, she would sell it.
The R-6 spent a day at the Race Shop for geometry changes and to have it’s shock mounts modified for fast and easy shock changes.
Today was phase two of this R-6 project. The weather was perfect at Willow Springs where Motoyard.com held a track day.
We started with adjusting the sag and damping to go along with the new geometry. On her first lap, Wendy knew all was well. We made some more damping adjustments based on rider feedback and she bettered her old R-6 lap time easily and with less effort.
Being able to understand what a rider is saying and turning those thoughts into changes that rider needs is job one for a crew chief. That job starts and ends with listening. Note taking is one of the keys.
The photo shows Ed listening and writing down something Wendy is saying that is important to whatever problem they were working on. Latter in the day this process reveled that on/off throttle abruptness was caused by to much throttle play.
Wendy is keeping her R-6. If your R-6 makes you feel like you’re trying to balance on the head of a pin, I can fix it. If your R-6 feels great, I can make it and you faster.
 
The photo at the top of this Blog of me on my ‘07 R-6 in Turn 4 at Willow Springs is my proof that I know what I’m talking about. If you don’t believe that picture, ask Wendy.
Race Shop

Race Shop

 

Guy and his bike were back today. This time for an exhaust system and Factory Pro jet kit install.

One of the things I like doing the most is teaching people how to take care of their own bikes. What better way than to let you work on your own bike?
Guy brought his bike and we worked on it together. Now he knows how his jet kit works and can make adjustments at the track himself.
A few days ago Guy’s bike fell over and cracked the left engine cover. We noticed the oil leak today. We removed the cover and I welded the crack.
All WSMC 250 Ninja racers are here by warned. Guy’s bike is faster and lighter. Guy is ready. Are you ready?
In the top photo you can see Guy’s Ninja on the bike table. The white counter on the left is my clean work space. The black table is steel and used for dirty work like engine work and making stuff. Under the table you can see my blue TIG welder. On the top shelf you can see all five of my number one plates and my number two plate, all earned racing in Hawaii. The 2 plate on the far left is the number plate that was on my ‘90 GSX-R750, a bike that I never crashed. The plaque is from a 250 GP race at Mosport Canada, 1st place and a new track, class record that still stands. It was my own record that I broke. The glass bowl in the middle is for my 3rd place at the Road Atlanta 2003 AMA 250 GP race. My red tool box is to the right of Guy’s bike and Tony’s Ninja is on the right edge waiting for next weekends race. My lathe is hidden behind Guy’s bike.
The second photo is the right side of the shop, storage.