"Michigan's Grattan Raceway up for sale"

You are just so wrong with this statement.

 

I’ve had the record on an R6 in both directions and as it’s more fun CCW it was always a few tenths faster CW… probably as coming on the straight backwards is way slower than CW… but this is way back in the 1:19 days of 1999/2000

I remember starting there and hoping one day to get to a 1:27 it’s never fast enough is it?

it’s down to 1:17 now iirc Taylor or Jenson still have it from 08/09 or so afaik

 

You get so much air CCW… bikes have changed so much that to go fastest that way you have to scrub the jump so you can get back in the gas earlier

and wheeling all the way from the left flick down the hill to 9 is so fun….. one time a good friend actually passed me on the start coming down the hill and I was cheering him on and trying to telepathically tell him to mov over my way as we rode the wheelies down the hill I veered way outside to try to take him with me… because he was lined up to set it down on wet leaves…. As he did… wadding his bike to pieces… I won the race but still to this day 30 years later he’s like “you remember me passing you down the hill?!? That was cool!” With the biggest smile… good times

 

When I lived in Dallas, I dated a girl for awhile from Franklin LA. Her family came up and visited us in Dallas one weekend and my best friend happened to be on college break and was staying with me at the time. Anyway he pulled me aside to ask WTF was wrong with her family and are they mentally challenged? It was because he couldn't understand a word those coon asses were saying. When I visited them, her dad took me out on an airboat, which was pretty fun.

 

Kenneth..... Ok teacher, expand on your flawed opinion... I was a full second faster CW.

 

When my wife gets amongst her close family and gets excited about something, or when she's mad with someone she goes full eastern Kentucky Appalachian. It cracks me up, especially when my side of rhe family hear it and can't understand a word that she's saying.

 

my favorite teacher ever was an advanced physics teacher in High School… he was from eastern Kentucky and tried to get kids to drop the class on the first day and week like a college prof would… he spoke in his true accent and came over and looked at my lecture notes that were accurate… purposely mispronounced my name and said “ya gettn all dat?” To which I said yep… he said “y’ain’t got no prolens un’standen me?” I said “nope” he said “how’sat?” To which I told him “cus it sound jus lik down home… itsall I hear’d my hole life!” He smiled and became my mentor and changed my entire education trajectory counseling me into engineering school… greatest educator ever… he had degrees from T A&M ND and One of the geological schools out west…

really thankful for his guidance and belief that a poor halfbreed hillbilly kid could achieve his dreams…

 

It has nothing to do with which way is fastest, it has to do with which way is the most funnest and that way is CCW. Accellerating out of the bus stop is fun, the bowl is fun, the next to the last turn is fun with the high curb on the inside and the last turn is way better than it is as the first turn. That is why it is more fun, just not faster.

 

After losing the front more than once due to damn box turtles trying to play frogger, I prefer CCW. You can at least see them ahead of time.

I did my damndest not to fall over laughing.. 5 of us went through the bowl and this poor turtle was right at the apex and I think every one of us clipped him with our knees. Came back around again and he was trying to have another go but either Eddie or JB sent him tumbling into the weeds. It was awesome

 

I think it was Ryan Shader that actually ended up crawling off of Lessiter after one Mr. Chang helped him change (heh, chang change) front brakes really (really!) quick. Dude only needed one suture on a cheekbone after skimming the fence post on his way over the sandy berm between T1 and the road.

Also, CCW is where it’s at.

 

what was that kids name? He wasn’t around for long iirc…


this is after I figured out the fastest was to scrub that jump and get the tire on the ground to drive into 4 faster… about 1/2 sec faster… so very fun…

 

we called it turtle tapping I even ran a little turtle sticker on my windscreen so they had friends

 

Read my first sentence again.

And yeah, one season, I think. Had a tennis scholarship so he could get a real job instead of being a motorcycle racist.

 

I remember that pic. I think that was the same weekend we pushed someone’s ZX to the top of the tabletop on the motocross track. And maybe stuffed a scooter into a Porto Potty

 

Never have I been Ccw there, I bet that is interesting to say the least. There is a reason a higher percentage of high level riders come from there and oakhill in Texas . Both tracks always had some patches all over it , and lots of blind turns or hills , totally a rider’s track =big balls+faster lap times

 

I won't disagree with preferring T1 going CCW, but I disagree with everything else. Yeah, it's fun to do wheelies coming over the jump, but way more fun blasting past people who brake on the face going CW. Also, T3 was way more interesting to me going CW, as it was another area where you could gain time and make a pass over people who were freaked out by the drop. And I LOVED the sweep of T4 going CW, and even the bowl was more fun to me going the right way. It was always cool changing direction on the back wheel coming over the crest out of the bowl. That being said....a lot of the runoff issues are cured going CCW.

 

They got rained on 3 years in a row and with the tall hills it washes out really bad and double the prep cost.
Was always cool to glance over before turning into 3 and see guys flying on the mx side.

 

That is some crazy air! Nice picture!

 

Matt Lapham. Fast kid, wasn't around long like you said. Had a bunch of talent.

CCW overall lap record is held by Taylor. I've still got it on a 600, if people count that. Had some great races there, one with Brian Gibson on a 750 - passed back and forth 3-4 times on the last lap of one race. T1 was like a wide open pool of asphalt where you could make any kind of pass, but couldn't always make it stick if someone drafted you down the straight to the finish. Rolling one wheel in the air down 10A to the bus stop was a blast too. Good times.

 

Hey Eddie, good to hear from you…. Now we’re officially the “back in our day” guys… hope you and yours are happy and healthy