Kieth Code explains how the The Streets of Willow Springs California Superbike School came about and why its known by many as “The Cornering School”.
The first time I rode The Streets of Willow Springs it was one mile long with 8 turns to it. I was doing a new model release with Motorcyclist magazine and I fell in love with the flow of the short little thing.
A few years later I started a Sunday afternoon event where riders could come out and ride the 1 mile track, get their laps timed and do a sort of Superpole set of laps, five at a time for about $25. It was fun. The only thing I thought was missing was a few extra turns and the track owner, Bill Huth, kindly agreed to add three tight turns by the skid pad section and we began running our California Superbike School sessions on the “new” track. That worked out pretty well but I wanted more length so Bill again agreed to add some more to the track and I designed another section which added about 2/10ths mile and another 2 turns.
OK, it was getting better and we had great schools but still, at 1.2 miles it needed something really special and a little more straight. One more time Bill Huth stepped up to the plate and gave me ½ mile more of asphalt to play with. Presto, changeo, the new turn 6, 7, 8 and 9 were born and I had a ball designing that section of the track. The new turn 8 is one of the most fun turns on the West Coast. I kind of knew what I wanted but it wasn’t until I spoke with the guy running the road grader that the real spirit of that turn was born. I asked him how much tilt he could get on his blade and he said 20 degrees, I just grinned at that and said, OK, this turn will have a 20 degree banking and it does, making it the steepest banked turn west of the Mississippi. Now we were up to 14 exciting, technical and challenging corners and I was finally happy.
Since that time we’ve run about 150 school days at The Streets and the particularly good thing about it is students experience anywhere from 500 to 800 corners in a single day. Well, since we are known as “The Cornering School” that all makes perfect sense. Even though we’ve run over 90 tracks worldwide, The Streets holds a special place in my heart and has become our favorite track for training and I’m willing to bet that once you get some coaching with us, it will become one of your favorites too.
Keith Code
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