Expert CCS Middleweight GP at Summit Point. Good times with Greg Melka and Xavier Zayat. My first time at summit on a 600, hit my PB Laptime in this race at a 1:13.7.
The inside pass on the Melk man in turn 4 was the ballsiest move. Congrats. Also the X man is absolutely insane on the brakes in turn one. Bloody hell.
GREAT BACK AND FORTH RACING - GOOD JOB MAN - I THOUGHT YOU WAS GOING TO GET HIM AT THE LINE !! I used to race WERA back in the 90's - I was reliving my youth thru your video - loved it !!
Thanks for posting this... used to race TZs at Summit WAAAAAYYYY back in the day ... riding Cliff Bigoney's hand-me-down TZs (well not for free ... he made me pay for them :-) ... Himmelsbach smoking everyone. Would be shocked if anyone knows those names ... this video made my day!
My heart was pounding the whole time. Better than in person as being able to see the whole race on film gives it a whole other experience. Thanks for sharimg. Exceptional race. You and Xman got mad skillz bruh. Good stuff
Brandon, it's crazy to think back to 2012 when I was racing my SV650 around Summit and you and Mazz were zipping by on the little bikes to seeing you rip SP on this R6 and who well you're doing on the Global scale. Keep it up!
I enjoyed that. I rode raced on this track in the 70s on RDs, I won six championships, two time national champion in my day. I never lost at Summit point, I never crashed there either.. I forget the lap times. But I do remember the speed gun readings near the starter/finish line. My RD would do 105 miles an hour on the first lap of a 15 lap final. On the 10th lap on, my top speed was around 95 miles an hour on a hot day.. I was racing a 1974 RD 250 with a drum front brake. Summit point has that one place you really need brakes for the end of the main straight.. so I put a disc brake front end on because the 1975 RD 250 had a factory disc in front I was the class champion then, putting that disc brake front end on my machine, I lost over five seconds a lap.. The disc is a flywheel that must be accelerated. That takes power The disc is a gyroscope that does not like to change directions quickly. Through the carousel and the S turns before the exit onto the main street, I could go through there in third gear wide-open with a drum brake. But with the disc I always ran off the track because my bike would not rotate over fast enough through that section because every mile per hour you carry out of the last exit onto the straight, you will carry that momentum all the way down to the straight.. that Disc was also a big jump in unsprung wait. After the keyhole, you go uphill to the first left-hander. That was always bumpy from the cars. My machine with that disk shattered off-line in that corner that I usually took wide opened.. my suspension could not handle that additional unsprung weight. Unsprung weight is so critical that Porsche has been using titanium Lugnuts for decades just to save a few ounces. I added pounds by adding the disk, caliper, pads, hardware.. disc brakes also have drag, get your front wheel off the ground and try to get your wheel to spin even once by hand. That steals power that brake drag. That and those other things that hurt my handling, my ability to rotate, and my acceleration, cost me over five seconds a lap.. my average speed was around 82 mph with a drum break which can be adjusted to have zero drag, it’s lighter, and the bike rotated faster left to right and back. I know I did not have 250 hp of brake available. But just for that one corner.. The reason my RD was able to win six championships, two time national champion is..-I finally realized that it wasn’t the bike that was slow. It was me. So I stopped modifying my machine into a piece of crap which I did my first year, and I started my second year with a basically box stock RD 250 with some mods, relocate the foot pegs, KONI shocks, better tires, new front brake cable about every three races, but I even left the airbox alone with the air cleaner in it and the top on the airbox. Because, the read valves work better with a little bit of restriction. I ran regular gas not high test because high test gas is dead gas. They put additives in it so that it won’t pre-ignite or detonate. And that makes the burn slower and cooler.. regular gas once the light by itself in a large bore high compression engine. Two strokes didn’t have high compression so I could get away with it. But my machine because it was bone stock and my racing weight was 190. Which I was pro tested three times because they were claiming I must be cheating and using 350 jugs because there’s no way I should be able to stay with the 350s. The fact is, they dial their bikes out with modifications they did not know what they were doing. so starting in my second year, when I finally learned to leave the bike alone. That’s when I started winning championships. And concentrating on braking.. I walked every track when we camped in the infield, but they wouldn’t let me walk around mid Ohio for some reason.. I was at the very first motorcycle races ever held at mid Ohio. I think it was 1980. 758 motorcycles entered that day. It was a one day event. It was an AMA rules weekend, so I had to race against 410 cc machines on my 250. Box stock, and modified production which meant, someone could put a Yamaha TZ 250 road racing engine in their RD.. that happened to me that weekend. But it rained. Rain is the great equalizer.. neither one of us knew the track because it was the very first race. The guy on the TZ engined RD was a writer for motorcyclist magazine. I think the crowd was over 30,000 spectators. They actually had the National Guard there in uniform at every gate and opening in the fence. I think they were afraid of the motorcycle crowd and thought we would come there and burn the place down and eat the grass or something. It was covered Buy local television. I won my showroom stock class against 410 cc Kawasaki triples, RD 400s, 350s, Honda CB 400 F machines. It was the craziest race event I have ever been to because, while I was in tech inspection, they were calling for people to line up for their final, and there were at least 100 bikes waiting to be tech inspected. I knew with the chaos they weren’t going to be checking to see if I went through tek.. I was registered, so I just went and lined up in the race, there were over 50 machines on the grid. I won.. but I did not win against the RD with a TZ engine in it. I stayed on his tail the whole race in the rain, then I passed him going into the corkscrew, but I crashed on the brakes in the rain. I never slid so far in any of my crashes, all the way to the guard rail and I stopped myself with my feet. I could hear the public address announcer going crazy on the microphone. But even though I crashed on the last lap, I still came in second because we had lapped the entire field.. on the podium, I shared the champagne with Freddie Spencer, that a couple years later went on to win the 250 and the 500 cc world championship for Honda, and I shared with Gary Nixon. He was grand national champion and he won Daytona when it was a real race.. anyway it was refreshing to see this video of what I can see were some good riders at Summit point. It looks like it has been resurfaced since I was there last. One year the state police were using it for training and they threw antifreeze at the end of the main street in that hairpin making it like there was oil on the track for months. I know the bikes in the tires and the brakes are better and faster than ever. But, riders don’t change. i’m still kind of fast on the street. My sport bike is now a Kawasaki Z 400 . I have it and other bikes on my RUclips channel I started about a year and a half ago. I’m amazed I just went over 300,000 views. My RUclips channel is not my real name but close JODYFRESNACK, In case anyone’s interested to see what happens to old racers after they hang up their leathers As you get older, you never lose your skill, only your nerve
That's awesome brother! Summit point is legendary! Gary Nixon is a legend too, I am pumped to be in the Daytona history books along side him! Thanks for the awesome info!
Great to see Summit Point again -- I raced AAMRR and E/WERA there from 1971 - 76 (you know, back before your parents were born); in some ways, it's the same track but in others, it's way different! It's so green and smooth. And you guys are insanely fast, we had no idea that tires could ever stick like that BITD. Great riding and great excitement for an old man. Thanks!!
Спорт
The inside pass on the Melk man in turn 4 was the ballsiest move. Congrats. Also the X man is absolutely insane on the brakes in turn one. Bloody hell.
That got my attention, too.
GREAT BACK AND FORTH RACING - GOOD JOB MAN - I THOUGHT YOU WAS GOING TO GET HIM AT THE LINE !!
I used to race WERA back in the 90's - I was reliving my youth thru your video - loved it !!
Thanks for posting this... used to race TZs at Summit WAAAAAYYYY back in the day ... riding Cliff Bigoney's hand-me-down TZs (well not for free ... he made me pay for them :-) ... Himmelsbach smoking everyone. Would be shocked if anyone knows those names ... this video made my day!
My heart was pounding the whole time. Better than in person as being able to see the whole race on film gives it a whole other experience. Thanks for sharimg. Exceptional race. You and Xman got mad skillz bruh. Good stuff
Man you and Xavier were killing those apexes. Some sick riding from Greg also.
Brandon, it's crazy to think back to 2012 when I was racing my SV650 around Summit and you and Mazz were zipping by on the little bikes to seeing you rip SP on this R6 and who well you're doing on the Global scale. Keep it up!
Good times!!
I enjoyed that. I rode raced on this track in the 70s on RDs, I won six championships, two time national champion in my day. I never lost at Summit point, I never crashed there either..
I forget the lap times. But I do remember the speed gun readings near the starter/finish line. My RD would do 105 miles an hour on the first lap of a 15 lap final. On the 10th lap on, my top speed was around 95 miles an hour on a hot day..
I was racing a 1974 RD 250 with a drum front brake. Summit point has that one place you really need brakes for the end of the main straight.. so I put a disc brake front end on because the 1975 RD 250 had a factory disc in front
I was the class champion then, putting that disc brake front end on my machine, I lost over five seconds a lap..
The disc is a flywheel that must be accelerated. That takes power
The disc is a gyroscope that does not like to change directions quickly. Through the carousel and the S turns before the exit onto the main street, I could go through there in third gear wide-open with a drum brake. But with the disc I always ran off the track because my bike would not rotate over fast enough through that section because every mile per hour you carry out of the last exit onto the straight, you will carry that momentum all the way down to the straight..
that Disc was also a big jump in unsprung wait. After the keyhole, you go uphill to the first left-hander. That was always bumpy from the cars. My machine with that disk shattered off-line in that corner that I usually took wide opened.. my suspension could not handle that additional unsprung weight. Unsprung weight is so critical that Porsche has been using titanium Lugnuts for decades just to save a few ounces. I added pounds by adding the disk, caliper, pads, hardware..
disc brakes also have drag, get your front wheel off the ground and try to get your wheel to spin even once by hand. That steals power that brake drag. That and those other things that hurt my handling, my ability to rotate, and my acceleration, cost me over five seconds a lap..
my average speed was around 82 mph with a drum break which can be adjusted to have zero drag, it’s lighter, and the bike rotated faster left to right and back. I know I did not have 250 hp of brake available. But just for that one corner..
The reason my RD was able to win six championships, two time national champion is..-I finally realized that it wasn’t the bike that was slow. It was me. So I stopped modifying my machine into a piece of crap which I did my first year, and I started my second year with a basically box stock RD 250 with some mods, relocate the foot pegs, KONI shocks, better tires, new front brake cable about every three races, but I even left the airbox alone with the air cleaner in it and the top on the airbox. Because, the read valves work better with a little bit of restriction. I ran regular gas not high test because high test gas is dead gas. They put additives in it so that it won’t pre-ignite or detonate. And that makes the burn slower and cooler.. regular gas once the light by itself in a large bore high compression engine. Two strokes didn’t have high compression so I could get away with it. But my machine because it was bone stock and my racing weight was 190. Which I was pro tested three times because they were claiming I must be cheating and using 350 jugs because there’s no way I should be able to stay with the 350s. The fact is, they dial their bikes out with modifications they did not know what they were doing.
so starting in my second year, when I finally learned to leave the bike alone. That’s when I started winning championships. And concentrating on braking.. I walked every track when we camped in the infield, but they wouldn’t let me walk around mid Ohio for some reason..
I was at the very first motorcycle races ever held at mid Ohio. I think it was 1980. 758 motorcycles entered that day. It was a one day event. It was an AMA rules weekend, so I had to race against 410 cc machines on my 250. Box stock, and modified production which meant, someone could put a Yamaha TZ 250 road racing engine in their RD.. that happened to me that weekend. But it rained. Rain is the great equalizer.. neither one of us knew the track because it was the very first race. The guy on the TZ engined RD was a writer for motorcyclist magazine. I think the crowd was over 30,000 spectators. They actually had the National Guard there in uniform at every gate and opening in the fence. I think they were afraid of the motorcycle crowd and thought we would come there and burn the place down and eat the grass or something. It was covered Buy local television.
I won my showroom stock class against 410 cc Kawasaki triples, RD 400s, 350s, Honda CB 400 F machines. It was the craziest race event I have ever been to because, while I was in tech inspection, they were calling for people to line up for their final, and there were at least 100 bikes waiting to be tech inspected.
I knew with the chaos they weren’t going to be checking to see if I went through tek.. I was registered, so I just went and lined up in the race, there were over 50 machines on the grid. I won.. but I did not win against the RD with a TZ engine in it. I stayed on his tail the whole race in the rain, then I passed him going into the corkscrew, but I crashed on the brakes in the rain. I never slid so far in any of my crashes, all the way to the guard rail and I stopped myself with my feet. I could hear the public address announcer going crazy on the microphone. But even though I crashed on the last lap, I still came in second because we had lapped the entire field..
on the podium, I shared the champagne with Freddie Spencer, that a couple years later went on to win the 250 and the 500 cc world championship for Honda, and I shared with Gary Nixon. He was grand national champion and he won Daytona when it was a real race..
anyway it was refreshing to see this video of what I can see were some good riders at Summit point. It looks like it has been resurfaced since I was there last. One year the state police were using it for training and they threw antifreeze at the end of the main street in that hairpin making it like there was oil on the track for months.
I know the bikes in the tires and the brakes are better and faster than ever. But, riders don’t change.
i’m still kind of fast on the street. My sport bike is now a Kawasaki Z 400 . I have it and other bikes on my RUclips channel I started about a year and a half ago. I’m amazed I just went over 300,000 views. My RUclips channel is
not my real name but close
JODYFRESNACK, In case anyone’s interested to see what happens to old racers after they hang up their leathers
As you get older, you never lose your skill, only your nerve
That's awesome brother! Summit point is legendary! Gary Nixon is a legend too, I am pumped to be in the Daytona history books along side him! Thanks for the awesome info!
Great to see Summit Point again -- I raced AAMRR and E/WERA there from 1971 - 76 (you know, back before your parents were born); in some ways, it's the same track but in others, it's way different! It's so green and smooth. And you guys are insanely fast, we had no idea that tires could ever stick like that BITD.
Great riding and great excitement for an old man. Thanks!!
Oh, BTW, y'all have nice red-and-white painted curbs -- we had muddy ruts!
This is the most badass vid on RUclips
Looks the same as 1975 when I raced a Laverda 1000-3 and my Yamaha TA125 with AAMRR. Surface looks even more slippery here. 😳🤣🏁✌️👍🏁
They always did call it slippery point!! But the track is much better now after the repave a couple years ago!
I remember being on track with you and Xaviar back in the TPM days. Both of you guys killed it then and now!!! Don't think I could keep up. haha
That was awesome to watch!! Great job!!
1:13s on a 600 is insane, wicked riding man
thank you!
^^^^
Facts.
Awesome racing Brandon!
Intense! Great racing from you all.
Well done to you both. It doesn't get much closer...
Dang Melkas R6 pulls hard! That thing was running damn good!
That one dude was getting it. I’m definitely taking my bike to summit point before this summer is out
You guys were FLYING great racing!!!!
Thanks!!
Great racing. Looked like a WSS race.
Hell of a race!!!!
Best 600 race ever ;-)
Ooof I tightened up going into 5 the first time :)
Ho. Ly. Shit. Y'all are flippin flying man!
mr.exactly is just showing off
Good stuff
Appreciate it
I still watch this video for my local track for training
what gearing were you running?
🔥❤️
A whole lot different than karts lol
seems like you had him, demon on the brakes though
i dont know how they get so close and not hit each other do they just pay attention in front of them and thats all?
It's anticipatory judgement. Takes a lot of practice, especially at race pace.
How fast are you getting in the strait?
I'm hitting 154-156mph on my stock GSXR750 on that straight
🔥🔥 {add mph}