Latest article about Can Akkaya: http://www.asphaltanddirt.com/2017/04/06/what-racing-motogp-taught-can-akkaya/
Written by book author Aaron Heinrich, Asphalt & Dirt: Life on Two Wheels
Superbike-Coach photographer Dean Lonskey published featured pictures of the Cornering class from last Sunday. This is my favorite shot. Student Troy V. at his 5th attempt of my ‘power braking’ drill. Here is the download: http://www.dlonskeyphoto.com/Superbikecoach-Gallery/Cornering-School-Days-1-4/Cornering-School-Day1/CSD1-March-19-2017/CSD1-FEATURE-PICS/
All 2500 pics are in work right now- probably done by the end of this week.
Just some stuff i teach which also could gain your chance to stay alive!
Headcoach Can Akkaya
Ever heard the slogan: “Doing one track day replaces 1 year of riding on the street.”… or something like that?! What about statements like: “Riding on a race track makes you feel your bike on the limit.”, or similar?!
Sounds about right and super exciting huh?! Well… super exciting yes- but it’s not right at all to say- or even to think that this would make you a better rider, because where the hell should all of that coming from all of a sudden!? I am saying here, that nothing will change over night just because you have a track day ticket in your pocket. Straight up… the only thing which will move ‘on the limit’ are going to be your guts.
Here is what’s gonna happen in reality… you probably couldn’t even sleep the night before your track day. Not feeling that you are actually totally tired, because the adrenaline pumps through your vanes while you listen to the obligatory riders meeting, which actually freaks you out even more. Then you move out to your first session. You are stuffed with hope because you’ve been told that those four ‘beginners sightseeing laps’ are making a huge difference for you. In fact it does not, cuz’ you are riding in a massive 20 miles per hour convoy on darn pretty funny lines. This btw is the reason why Superbike-Coach track days are not even offering it, because the moment when you go for your second session… your head is as empty as much as your tires, and you still have no clue where you actually are. We have other ways. Anyway- after lunch break, you go an ask an instructor to follow you around, and after you could probably entertain the entire crew with your chicken stripes- he says yes. 20 minutes later he probably says something about your body positioning and a plain “…other than that- good enough”. But naturally, you are alone again in your very next session, and you are actually doing the same BS you’ve done before. You might finish the day early by deciding to skip on the last two sessions without a good reason actually. In fact though- your entire body feels like you got hit by a truck, and mentally hurt because you just realized how much you suck. You are tired and weak, caused of being tensed up and mentally overwhelmed for hours. And then you spend an hour on a monitor to find ‘the perfect shot’ that photographer hopefully took of you. All High-Res and awesomely tilted- but non of them showing you in much of a leaning ankle… not even in your last session when you really felt best. So you are attacking one track day after another for the next 3 years, and a 5 seconds drop- 15 sets of tires and 2 crashes is the outcome, but you still don’t know why those A riders are 20 seconds faster per lap- or why you are still not dragging the damn knee.
I might sound like I would think every rider is the same- but I don’t, and don’t get me all wrong- I know you are excited and I am totally on your page- but ‘excitement’ and the feeling of being scared to death is all what you’re going home with. At home, you’re looking back and you are probably loaded with wish-thinking that your riding performance felt so much better than usual. In reality though… you probably are more solid on line choice and more confident on your favorite canyon road. I even heard riders talking themselves into a ‘better world’ by noticing that there is a slight chance that the photographer f’d it up, because he did not get you at your deepest leaning in that particular turn.
How dare am I, and how do I know all of this?!…well, maybe by dealing with pro racing, ego, 40 years of riding on tracks world wide and 15 years of teaching riders should give me some kinda experience. It is also not just my opinion, based on this experience, because there are also people out there who admit it, which I think is where all what I am saying goes. It also seems that some riders are becoming ‘blind’ after they’ve been to a track day, because they see themselves ‘grown up’ in terms of riding bikes then. This can be literally deadly wrong, because again… nothing is better all of a sudden. If you are going to do a track day- then do it just for fun, and don’t fool yourself.
I know what you are going through and I can help you to really get something out of your track days, and it doesn’t matter if it is at my track days or someone elses. For example… I’ve coached riders who never got their knee down in 15 years of track riding. Riders who spend time and thousands of Dollars with other schools and track days… I’ve made them drag the living dead out of their pucks in one day for $149 bux, including track fees- free photography and snacks. Just sayin’ …
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Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
Coach Can will be at A&S Powersports to give a Seminar on road hazards
1125 Orlando Ave, Roseville, CA 95661
This question hits racers, teams, managers and event organizers every year. Stuff like this is off topic for the public of course, so this article is not addressed to you- but maybe interesting enough to get an idea what’s going on in motorcycle racing for example.
When you start amateur racing, then there is a bunch of stuff going on in your head, also this… dreams, hope, wish-thinking. Yea, I know, I was there too so give me a break. So what’s happening from September till March is that thousands and thousands of athletes worldwide are looking naively for monetary support by RedBull with a 10 years contract… literally. So here is what I’ve learned as I walked from the slowest amateur racer to a professional racer who almost made it to MotoGP.
Yea, I can hear voices saying again: ‘that was long time ago’, but believe me… nothing has been changed much. Well we have the internet and social media and blogs now too, and it seems that this should help to get to potential sponsors- whil I actually believe it makes it harder FOR the sponsor to pick the right horse since everyone tuned to a keyboard jockey and blows up Youtube with gazillions of gigabytes of more or less senseless 20 minutes track sessions. Am I sound mean? No, I just try to open your mind for whats wrong and whats right, so stick with me and let me show you first where all the wish-thinking like this brought us…
There is that couple who of course believe that their son is the next Marc Marquez. That’s totally fine of course, but blaming the entire industry for making all those mistakes in regard ‘our future talents’ is not quite correct. A promising lap on some go kart seems to deliver enough arguments for getting a Monster Energy contract, but this demanding attitude produces two psychological dead end roads…
- amateur racers getting the idea that racing without sponsors is not going anywhere and give up
- potential talents are not even start to race without having sponsors
I received a call from a Mom, asking me to support their kid by paying their racing fuel. After I told her that I competed against 120 racers to even qualify for an amateur race, and that I didn’t had money for racing fuel either… and that I also had to use slick tires in rain, and also that I kicked ass anyway, and that exactly that’s why I got my first check from a sponsor… she hung up on me. What’s that called… to much reality check?!
It takes many years of sweat and blood to make people believe in a racer. There is a relationship growing which builds something very important… a shield of loyalty, which kicks in when your results are not good sometimes.
I can’t be more proud for all my CSD-3 graduates!
They were going through day 1 and 2 with me, and the pictures showing clearly their confidence level today. It makes me believe even more that the stuff I am teaching has the efficiency I am aiming for. Dean Lonskey’s pictures are telling the story. Enjopy
1500 pictures coming free of charge for our Day 3 graduates soon. Only with Superbike-Coach!
I am passionate about motorcycle riding skills, and devote my time to coaching. It makes me crazy when I identify a bad habit, and the student tells me that he or she learned this from some motorcycle school. There may be differences of opinion on certain techniques. But there is also objectively WRONG advice out there. It is making you slower and less safe.
The very worst technique taught by some schools is to go for a “late apex at all cost.” That is, to drive deeper into the turn, then make a more violent tip in, shooting for a very late apex. Sure, there are track situations when the true apex is more than halfway through the turn. But habitually following this line is not necessarily the best line on a track, and can be deadly on the highway.
I spend too much coaching time teaching that the “late apex at all cost” concept is wrong, and breaking the bad habits based on bad advice. In a right turn on a road with oncoming traffic (or a potential of oncoming traffic around a blind turn), it is unsafe to go to (or over) the center line just to make a late entry into the turn. It can be deadly. If you think you need to drop in so late to make a reduced radius turn, you are certainly over the speed limit, and probably over a safe speed.
On the track, focus on the fastest line through the entire course. The best line for a particular turn necessarily depends on what follows. A “late” apex may be OK if it sets up one or two turns down the track. Building total track awareness takes time and focus. Professional coaching will identify bad habits and techniques, and will greatly reduce the time a rider needs to build speed and safety.
Please click back to your newsletter for more information: Track Day rescheduled to 7/30/16
Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp
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