Between the Races: Yamaha Champions Riding School

Freddie Spencer’s High Performance Riding School was one of the most popular sport bike technique schools around, so when it recently shut its doors, it was a big loss. Fortunately, most of the instructors are still around, and many of them are now involved with the new Yamaha Champions School, held at Miller Motorsports Park. During this past weekend’s U.S. World Superbike round, we spoke about the school with instructors Nick Ienatsch and Ken Hill, as well as Yamaha corporate communications division manager Bob Starr and MMP CEO and president Dan Davis.

On how the school got started:
Bob Starr: From Yamaha’s standpoint, racing has really been in our heritage since way, way back when we started this company. As much as we can pass on and continue that, we want to do that. Everything that we’ve done with the sponsorship of Laguna for MotoGP coming five years ago, to this, are just links in a long chain of things we’ve been involved with. We try to get back to the customers, because that’s where the center is. This is just a great opportunity for us. The facility’s wonderful, the track stepped up absolutely big-time to help us, and the instructor staff doesn’t need much of an introduction. I’ve known Nick since he was about four years old…

Nick Ienatsch: So twenty years… [laughs].

BS: We go way, way back—he was racing at the time. I couldn’t think of a better place or a better group to be involved with. We’re really psyched.

NI: There’s so much bad information out there on how to ride a motorcycle. Back in ’86, they had the Danforth Bill started to basically shut down everything over 100 horsepower, and that’s what got me started writing about this stuff. I realized that I rode the AMA championship bikes and still went slow, so it wasn’t the bike, it was the rider. That’s what got me started on this, and when Freddie [Spencer] announced his school, I got on as lead instructor there. I was there eleven years, and we brought on Ken Hill six years ago; he’s been there six years, Shorty’s [Dan Short] been there, we’ve got Shane Turpin here as well, Mark Schellinger, and Dale Keifer are our instructors. So when Freddie’s school went down, luckily Dan McKeever had been to the school. He’s a Mustang guy here, and he got a hold of these guys and said, “These guys are awesome; we’ve got to do it.” That’s how it all happened. And obviously hooking up with Yamaha’s a big deal for me, because I’ve been racing Yamahas since…

BS: Since he was 4 [laughs]!

NI: That’s right! I won a lot of things on Yamahas, and it’s a big deal to me. That’s how it all worked out. There’s a bunch of things that don’t work on motorcycles, and people are getting killed every weekend. But there’s a bunch of things that do work on motorcycles, and that’s why these guys [World SBK riders] can go this fast all their lives. It’s techniques, as guys in the industry know. To get a chance to put those techniques forth to people and get them working on it, we’re excited about that.

On the facility’s role:
Dan Davis: At Miller Motorsports Park, the concept here is whatever we do is done right, with the right partners. You come here, the experience is right, everything’s right. With our driving school for cars, everything’s right. Now we have the opportunity in a riding school to do everything right. We’ve got the right product with the right partners, the right instructors, the right track, so when people come here, they’re going to get the right deal. Our pricing’s good, and we’re excited.

BS: Certainly this event, and Ben Spies and where he is in this series is going to help everything—help this facility, help us, and so on and so forth. It’s a great time for it to happen.

DD: The place is so safe. This is the right place to do this. Just look at how hard these guys [the SBK riders] are pushing. Just talking to Paolo [Ciabatti, Infront SBK director], they’re pushing harder here than they push anywhere, because of the safety factor.

On launching such a project during a struggling economy:
BS: As difficult as things are, and even with the challenging the retail environment, the core is still there. Look at the fans that are here; it’s in their blood. We still have to focus on the core, and there’s no better way to get to the core than to have a riding school that teaches people how to operate their motorcycles better and in a safer manner. That’s why. As tough as things are, it’s not the time to walk away from something like this. It’s important to the customers and to our business—both now and in the future.

Ken Hill: Despite the fact that times are tough economically, talent doesn’t change depending on where we are financially in the country. Lives still need to be protected, and skills improved.

NI: A lot of people bought scooters because of the gas crunch, rode them around, and some of them thought, Man, this is such a great deal—I want to ride a real bike! Then they move up, and they get to a point where they think, Okay, I need to learn a little more. I think that’s going to create an influx for all schools.

On the expected demographic:
NI: The school is relatively pricey. We get a person who’s very intent on learning, a person who’s successful and well off in life—somebody you want to hang out with and has things going in the right direction in their lives. We’ll get a lot of father-and-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter, a lot of brothers. We get a lot of sponsors sending their racers. It’s all across the board, but it’s not the 18-year-old with 300 bucks who wants to beat up on equipment. It’s somebody who really pointed at learning.

KH: We’ve had some track-day organizations send all their instructors, so they know they want to get the best training and a good foundation, and they know where to go.

NI: We draw from Japan and Europe, because people want to come to Miller and ride this racetrack. It’s an award-winning racetrack last year [World Superbike’s Circuit of the Year], and they want to be here. They’ve heard how the school works and how it goes, and they get signed up. They’ll fly in from Europe or Japan and do a western tour. And of course we’ll get people from the whole United States.

On the school’s focus:
NI: It’s mostly street riding. I think 85 percent of our schools will be street-based, but to have them on racetrack. Then 15 percent will be pro schools, but we have professional racers come to all levels and learn something. We have club-racer guys and track-day guys. We’ll get a guy who shows up who has a Harley, wants a sport bike—so brand-new to it—and then a guy who wants to go from the intermediate to the advanced group at his track day, and they’ll be in the same group. We keep it small—twenty riders max, with lots of instructors, lots of individual attention, video every day. We can get them all.