Keigwins Novice School / Pridmore STAR School

[dmh2000]

I just returned from the Keigwins 2 day novice school at Thunderhill. 2 weeks ago  I attended the Jason Pridmore 2 day STAR School, also at Thunderhill. I want to give some feedback to the club about my experiences.

First, let me say that both schools are very good. Both are very professional. Both helped me improve my technique and built up my confidence to go faster. There were some differences in the approaches each school had to the same parts of riding. But me being a relative noob means I am in no position to judge the merits of the techniques taught. So let me address other aspects of the schools.

Groups and Track Sessions : both schools had two groups, slow and fast. that meant longer track sessions than a 3 group track day. But because there were other things going on, the total amount of riding was similar to a 3 group track day. The Keigwins sessions were 45 minutes, which were too long for me to ride so I rode for 30 and used the extra time to prep.

Instructors : both schools had plenty of instructors and all were helpful and professional. The Keigwins school had maybe double the number of instructors as the Star School, but it also had  more students. There was no shortage of help at either school. At both schools the instructors were mostly racers. The STAR school had a little more 'racer' feel to it and more racer talk.

One-on-One : At the Star School, most on the track instruction was via 'sniping', where instructors roamed around and grabbed students as they saw things to work on. We were told that we could request an instructor for some targeted one-on-one if we wanted, but it was informal. In contrast, the Keigwins school had somewhat less sniping but each day you could sign up for a 45 minute scheduled one-on-one session with an instructor of your choice (you could get 2 sessions if any were left unassigned). I preferred this because I got instruction when I wanted it and when I was practicing I was not interrupted. The 'sniping' approach is fine, but during some sessions I ended up with too much to work on. The Star school did have a method of marking a sticker on your helmet when you were sniped, I'm pretty sure to avoid too much interruption. I think that at the Star school I needed to be a little more proactive about getting instruction when I wanted it.

Best Riding Instructor I worked with: Martin Szwarc at Keigwins

Two-up-rides : I got two up rides at both schools. At the Star school it was on a GSXR 1000 with Jason Pridmore. After two laps of that my legs were shaky. He pretty much went all out to show what could be done. Even with me being on the large side, the GSXR was smoking. I got a two up ride with Martin Szwarc at Keigwins and he focused more on showing me some things, and not so much on going all out (maybe because we were on a borrowed 600 that wasn't that great). That ride was awesome also, not so scary. If I had to choose, I would do the Pridmore ride.

Classroom and Techniques : similar classroom sessions on lines, body positioning, safety, track breakdown etc. both schools were good. Some differences in the details. I think the classes taught by Jason Pridmore himself were the best. Keigwins had the best visual aids.

Track Walk : well, not a walk. At both schools we rode in trucks out to some of the turns on the track and got some advice then watched the instructors ride by (close up). that was a great help on lines and seeing how fast it was possible to go.

Extras: up to this point, both schools had differences but either would be good. But Keigwins won out on the extras. Some of this may be due to the fact that Thunderhill is the Keigwins home track so they have the connections, and maybe because Keigwins had more students:

STAR School:
-Rental Bikes. You can rent an SV650 or GSXR600 at the STAR School. Keigwins did not rent bikes. Since the STAR school hits a few more tracks, if you wanted to visit a track that was too far to pull a bike, you could fly and rent. The bikes were brand new and shiny.
-Reverse track direction. the afternoon of the second day we rode the track backwards. Most folks liked the variety. Personally it threw me off as I was just learning the track and going backwards was like a different track so I struggled.

Keigwins:
-Free suspension setup by Dave Moss of Catalyst Reaction (plus a class by Dave)
-Complete shop on site for repairs, mods, welding, whatever (MSC Performance, which is a permanent shop in a garage at Thunderhill)
-Viets Performance for Tires and Accessories. (STAR school had tire service also)
-Lunch and Dinner provided at Keigwins! STAR school had snacks, coffee and energy drinks only. The food was TOO good at Keigwins, I ate too much at lunch both days and thought I might puke at the after lunch track session. The first night Keigwins had pizza, beer and WSBK race videos.
-Keigwins rented the paddock overnight, so camping at the track was allowed. At the STAR school you had to leave the track by 6:00 PM, no camping. (at both schools you could leave your trailer/bike at the track overnite).
-The Thunderhill pro shop was open at Keigwins, not at STAR school. that only mattered if you wanted a thunderhill t-shirt.

Both schools had good photographers like most all track days.

Weather: March and April are a crapshoot for weather. I almost did not get to the STAR school (last week of March) because the hill had chain controls, but they let up just in time for me to slip through (If you have a trailer, you have to chain up even if you have 4 wheel drive). Once I got to the STAR school the weather was warm and fantastic. The first day at Keigwins was great (80 degrees!) but we got rained out the afternoon of the second. Then getting back from Keigwins I just slipped over the hill right before chain controls were thrown back on because of the storm tuesday night.

P.S. I stayed at the Economy Inn in Willows. It is off the freeway somewhat. clean and cheap. $45 a night. And when I left my lights on, the onsite owner got out of bed at 6:00 am to give me a jump, and he wasn't too irritated at me.

LAST AND BEST: Keigwins raffled off some stuff at the end of the second day and I won a free trackday!

[stimacsays]

LAST AND BEST: Keigwins raffled off some stuff at the end of the second day and I won a free trackday!

Nice dude!

Thanks so much for your report.

[Adiggity]

Thanks for the report dmh2000. Good info.

[Justin]

EXCELLENT REPORT and congrats on the free track day...
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. 
What about costs?  Comparative???

[dmh2000]

What about costs?  Comparative???

oops, meant to include that. they are comparable. $600 for STAR school (not including bike rental), $590 for Keigwins.

[Justin]

again, great info.  Thanks for sharing it. Next you have to go to California Superbike School!

[Dragone]

Great write up, congrats on the opportunities as well.