Them AMA Boys Got Skills

On Monday I once again found myself standing at the edge of a pit wall watching the best of the best in this country lay down sizzling lap times during an AMA testing session at Laguna Seca. As long time TwistingAsphalt readers might remember a few years ago, when we were working on Speed On Two Wheels, I was fortunate enough to spend some time at Road Atlanta during a completely-closed-to-the-public testing session and I found it a more or less mind-blowing experience. This time around was both better and yet a completely different entity.

For starters the event was actually open to the public – I think much to the teams dismay actually – and that created an ‘in the know’ atmosphere. Back at Road Atlanta everyone’s guard was down because it was just the teams doing their thing and the event had a bit of a ‘club house’ feel. Monday everyone seemed a touch more guarded, a touch more reserved and generally more intense, which is both understandable in my opinion and yet I think also highlights a need to ‘perform’. The Pro’s not only want to be fast but they want the fans to enjoy it and that added a certain extra element to the day.

We were there to do some additional pick up shooting for the yet to be named project and the folks at the track were kind enough to let us set up in our own garage at the end of Pit Row, which selfishly allowed me the chance to see guys like Mladin, Duhamel, Hodgson, Bostrom and Hacking do what they do up close. It’s a remarkable thing to stand mere feet away from these guys (behind the pit wall of course) when they hit the front straight and head into the Turn 1 left kink full out. The speed is ferocious. And wickedly instantaneous. Just bam. Yet the part that truly stood out was seeing these guys interact when they were off the bikes — the typical race day TV coverage never completely catches their focus, dedication, effort or intensity. You tune in and see forty-five minutes of racing and then it’s over. But a test session is different because it’s an all day affair where the guys put down hundreds of laps, tweaking each part of the bike a millimeter at a time to see what works best. Physically I’ve got no idea how they do it. This isn’t like an average track day or even some of the club races I’ve seen, it’s a constant whirlwind of movement and it’s all got to be done at green flag racing speeds, which amazes me. They seem to work at a level of perfection that is completely unobtainable in the ‘real world’.