MotoAmerica heading to The Ridge

There is a large plan for track improvements scheduled starting late Sept and the facility already has the new 2 story admin building going up.....I consulted for some basic track changes last winter and there is talk of a new chicane down the front straight.

The track is very pro motorcycles and the MX track was built because one of the owners is a huge dirt fan. Do your best to keep an open mind and support a new-ish track trying to improve and bring racing to the PNW.

Ken

 

What Pittsburgh track are you talking about? PIR is >>> than Rd Atl, VIR, NJMP just to name a few.

 

3,142 miles from my coffee drinking spot on the back porch I'm enjoying right now. I'm down.

 

I find it funny there's a track that looks just like it a mile and a half away lol. Well, not exactly the same but they have a similar vibe. That's the coolest police course I've ever seen!

 

Fun track to ride. Turn 1 is at a left hander at the end of a 5-6th gear straight that you clip the apex in triple digits...turn 3 should create some carnage since its blinder than 4 at Barber
Has a mini cork screw (13) that you enter at like 20 mph from a short straight that all track days forbid passing in...lol. The config as it is now.

 

Looks cool.

 

first pull off youtoob

 

Is Washington still part of the USA, or did we gift it to Canada?

 

Hope not. I'm hoping it just gets added to the west coast swing.

 

they has Indian reservation casinos in Shelton not to far from the track. I would guess we could see some CSB entries at that round.

 

Why would they drop ANY round. That's not making strides of any form. You'd want them adding venues period.

 

The answer to your question is how many rounds are being paid for by MA? Or by a outside promoter?

 

Either way. That question applies to ANY round this, last and next year. Rounds added are a direction motoamerica needs to go. Especially with the huge rumors of another factory pulling out.

 

That only works if someone can pay the bills after the event. And what pays the bills is the front gate, as in spectators and advertisers. And added rounds obviously increse the cost for the teams including the factories. And don't they go racing to help sell more bikes?

 

I would rather see them do 5-8 rounds where they made incredible profits vs adding rounds & expenses.
I agree adding more dates to the schedule should be an end goal as long as those added rounds are profitable.
Every time Ive been to the Ridge it seemed there were ALOT more Canadians than Americans attending.

Thinking now the Ridge also has an MX track & a go kart track thats a mini replica of the main one.

 

It's a really fun ride. Getting a good drive out of T16 is critical and a challenge. T1/2 does a great job of separating men from boys. T3 will indeed be the site of much carnage. T5 and T6 are where you'll practice getting your elbow down. T7 catches a lot of riders out; the pavement falls away just as you're squirting on power and you need to land the wheel in time to brake and turn for 8. T9 and 10 again separate men from boys. 11 and 12 are pretty standard hairpins, and T13 is indeed a very interesting braking zone. You won't pass through 14, but 15 presents some interesting opportunities of "get past him in 15 and fuck us both for 16, or set him up in 15 and get a better drive in 16 for a pass on the straight".

The facilities are pretty minimal - three shower stalls as @pscook mentioned, and a men's and women's restroom. There's a burger/coffee shack on site. As of a couple months ago they were about halfway through constructing a large-ish two-story steel building aimed at playing HQ for the kart course; that may end up hosting more facilities as well.

No power or water access in the pits as of a couple months ago. No grandstands or access to viewing access to anything but the front straight - I'm really hoping one of the improvements they're planning is a bridge. Literally everything but the front straight is on the other side of a large hill, so there's no spectator visibility to the back side.

There are three hotels in the town, and they fill up fast. Small and Super-8 quality at the high end. There's a casino fifteen minutes down the road with another hotel, and 30 minutes away is Olympia, the nearest "real" city. Dinner options in Shelton are semi-limited but good.

Mason General, the hospital that serves the Ridge, is a smelly dumpster fire operated by fat greasy Minions padding their banks by schilling fentanyl to their mullet buddies. They missed a broken neck in one of my buddies and left him to walk around for a day and a half before his own ortho emergency-backboarded him after noticing it on a different x-ray, and they insisted on me sitting down, bending over and twisting my body around after cartwheeling at ~120mph and complaining of back pain, and literally fought me on x-raying my back. I had to literally insist on it. Then, to cap things off, they literally had to have my girlfriend help them put an IV in me. Do not go to Mason General. Tell the ambulance to take you to Providence in Olympia.

 

That's simple, the tracks in Canada are few and far between and basically suck.

 

What'd I just watch? looked like an advanced rider in the beginner class! Something ain't right when you're running twice the speed of everyone else on the track...

 

<------ Looks at my title