June 2010 Newsletter

Jason Checks In

STAR is halfway through the season and things are going well. We've had great schools at Thunderhill, Streets of Willow, Willow Springs and Chuckwalla. Our return to "Big Willow" was awesome, and paired well with the previous day at the Streets. Based on the feedback we will definitely put that on the 2011 schedule. Chuckwalla Raceway is awesome - Micky Grana has done such a great job out there. Unfortunately our second day got cut a bit short because of weather, but everyone got in a lot of riding over both days.

Up next is High Plains Raceway in Colorado and Oregon Motorsports Park in Oregon. High Plains was our find of the year in 2009. A great track, very technical, and we always have a great turnout up there in Colorado. I have heard good things about the new Oregon track, it looks like it has a lot to offer also. STAR went up to PIR in 2009 and had horrible weather, so I have moved the date up into August hoping it will be a bit nicer.

1 on 1 Instruction with Jason
We have been getting a lot of people asking about our 1 on 1 programs. My close association with Micky Grana and CVR has allowed me to get further involved with teaching on a 1 on 1 basis. If any individual (or small group) are interested in working with me, send an email to 1on1@starmotorcycle.com and I'll get back to you.

Military Instruction
It looks like we are also going to be doing some special Military days soon. STAR and the Jordan/National Guard team have worked together on a program to make our soldiers and military personal better and safer riders. We have to keep those protected who protect us, right? I have taken so many great people for rides on the AMA National weekends, it been a true honor for me. If you had asked me in 2008, I never would have guessed that it would have made such a big impact on me personally as it has.

Getting ready for 2ups under the watchful eye of the boss

Racing

On the racing front overseas it’s been about as bad as it gets! My team, Maco Moto has been so incredibly unlucky. Check out this video if you haven't already seen it. The bike exploding is ours, in the second hour of Le Mans 24 Hour. My teammate was lucky to escape; someone pulled on the track right in front of him!

Instructors

Lick's new rider Chris Fillmore is showing increasing speed. At the recent round at Road America he showed he could ride the pace, now a bit of luck and some polishing he should start seeing top fives and maybe a podium in the future. Keep working James. It was great to see Angie back with us for some schools - even threatening to come to the rest of them this year! This year we will see a few more of my AMA friends out to join us, one of them is going to be a fulltime instructor with us. Can you guess who? Lick looks for the elusive one second

As for me, golf is the highlight of my life right now. I was low medalist in qualifying for the Southern Cal Mid-Am but got stuck in France due to the volcano and didn't get to play the actual tournament. Lincoln James and I won our member-member tournament, he played great. And last week I qualified for the Southern Cal Am, even Tiger has won that one so I am looking forward to playing. I am going to try and qualify for the US Amateur and US Mid-Am later in the year also.JP Jason in a white belt, maybe. Lincoln in a white belt?

Mark is still ripping around in his car. For those that don't know we started a bit of a new branch of STAR, starcarsports.com. We are running car events at Chuckwalla once a month except July and August when it’s too hot out there.

Sponsors
If you live in the NorCal area I'll be at the Cycle Gear's annual "Motobash" on Saturday, June 19th. Gallardo and I will be there with our truck and trailer. More information is available here.

That's all for now.

Cheers and ride safe.

JP