January 2010 Newsletter

Jason Checks In
Welcome to the New Year! I am going into this 2010 STAR School season more excited than previous years. It was time to work on some new things – and with suggestions from our students this is the year.

To start, we created "A Taste of STAR". This is going to be a two day course that will have optional classroom sessions every 1.5 hours. I wanted to create a track day that wasn't a free for all, but wasn't a full-on school either. What I am hoping to do with these days is attract some of the people that haven't been to a STAR school. They can come and listen to our philosophies and decide if coming to a full STAR school is for them. We will run two groups and offer instruction still to those that would like it. If you choose to come to the classroom and get some questions answered you can. I also expect a lot of our past students to come out and continue learning in the safe and structured environment they rely on with STAR. A Taste of STAR will debut at two different tracks in 2010, Streets of Willow Springs and Chuckwalla Raceway.

Speaking of Chuckwalla Raceway, if you look at the schedule you will see that we have committed to a lot of dates at the new track in the desert east of Palm Springs. We have a few weekend dates for our regular schools but what I am really excited about is our new "1 on 1" schools in October, November and December. For many years now people have asked me to run more specialized schools. Well thanks to our good friend Micky Grana and SoCal Track Days we will be doing just that. STAR is going to offer a totally inclusive package: 2 days of instruction with lodging and food. Video at the track for each student, and two days to get the questions you want answered. The track remains open so track time will be plentiful, so be in shape and ready to ride.

Last season found a great new track in Colorado: High Plains Raceway. What a layout - a true challenge. As always the Colorado students were some of the best we see and the track personnel made being there that much nicer. We also made our first trip to Portland and were greeted with (what I was told is) typical Pacific Northwest RAIN. We had great students; I just wish the weather would have been a bit more cooperative. Maybe heading to Oregon Raceway Park in August will mean better weather, and maybe a bit more challenging and safer racetrack.

Sponsors

STAR is pleased to welcome three new sponsors for 2010. Dainese will be making a big presence at our school. I wore Dainese leathers last year in World Endurance and with the National Guard program and they are truly a world-class suit. Also, AGV helmets which are now owned by Dainese will be our helmets. Motorex Oil is now on board and will be keeping our bikes running and looking even better. Thank you to Suzuki, Dunlop, Two Brothers, and Motion Pro for your continued loyalty and for supplying us with the best products in the industry.

Racing

In 2009 I raced World Endurance with Maco Moto again. To say the teams luck was bad in an understatement. There were things that happened this year that I haven't seen in all my years of racing. A brand new sprocket coming apart while 2nd in Spain with 30 minutes to go, shift linkage failing while 3rd in Germany with one hour left, and Qatar where we qualified 3rd only to have a rear hub come apart and back the axle out. I will be back over with the team in 2010.

JP in action at Suzuka 2009

I will also be giving rides to Military, celebs and news media at all the AMA events again with the Jordan National Guard team. The team does a great job with their two-up program and I look forward to going to the races even though I’m not competing. To meet so many men and women in our armed forces was a true honor in 2009. Of course I will throw a few golf tournaments in along the way; I want to get serious about it again.

Instructors

I am sad to say that we have lost the services of instructor Damian Cudlin to the IDM series in Germany. Many of you commented on how much he helped STAR and for me personally, he was such a huge asset as we trained together and talked motorcycles. Due to the state of our National race series, Germany was his best option. We wish you the best Damo and get back over for a visit mate. We're working on his replacement - anyone know where we can get one of those tattoo shirts?

Gallardo won a Championship this past year. Who knew that while he has been teaching at STAR for the past 11 years, he was an expert car driver? Mark competed in a series that traveled to four different tracks and dominated the class he was driving in. I think Schumacher may need to look out; Gallardo is moving up the ranks. Congrats Big Man on a great accomplishment and becoming a grandfather for the first time.

For those of you who took rides and donated to Andrew Trevitt in 2009, thank you. Andrew is a true inspiration and I am looking forward to seeing him back at the track soon.

I just want to say thank you to all of you who have supported us for so many years. This includes my instructors, and everyone involved in STAR. We are working hard to make STAR even better. I look forward to seeing you all at the track and hope that you had a very Happy Holiday season.

Cheers and ride safe.

JP