07/05/2021
TractionWerks Moto Guild’s 2021 season is complete, and we could not be more thrilled!
First, we want to thank the students who participated in our April 30th – May 1st and July 2nd – 3rd Double Header weekends! YOU made the weekends work! No amount of planning (roughly 9,174 hours of video calls) can cover everything, but we learn and improve, adapt and overcome. Your commitment, patience, and enthusiasm made you the all-stars of the experience! The excitement you brought was infectious and all of us at TractionWerks caught it!
For our inaugural 2021 season, we offered 8 - Cornering 101 and 4 - Cornering 201 sessions. Weekend 1 was at an incredibly challenging time in the provincial COVID response. It truly wasn’t until Monday, April 26th that we had confirmation we were safely a go! The health restrictions were a challenge to work with. A ton of extra effort from the students and coaching staff, and careful coordination with the staff at Vancouver Island Motorsports Circuit all committed to a safe environment, and we got it done!
Just in time for Weekend 2, BC reached a point of relaxing COVID standards which meant we were able to see faces in the pits! Smiles were tanned, tired, and a mile wide! And the students had then, too! It was hot weather for heavy leather, but it was all worth it! The circuit was clear and clean, just like we’ve come to expect. No minivans, no gravel, and no deer! That’s the recipe for fun on 2 wheels!
The Victoria motorcycle community is absolutely unparalleled! When we found ourselves looking forward to record heat for the July weekend, we reached out to our friends. First, we contacted Scott Collins from Adrenalin Motorcycle Co-op to borrow a tent. Scott’s reaction? How about I deliver the tent to the track….and bring the mighty Zombie Bus, too! So, we had the black beauty herself, the Piston Girl, with awnings spread wide, providing lunch time shade for weary riders and noontime nappers. Then, a message to Higginbottom from Higgy's On The Track. Wellll, Mark’s out of town for the week, but that didn’t stop him from setting us up with his massive tent to create some cover for our main pit operations and misting station! The truth is, given the expected temperatures, we really needed more. One last call for help to Jamie Emery at Action Motorcycles for one more tent. Jamie said hard no to a tent, but offered a counter proposal instead. And so, four more tents! Nick from Action even interrupted his Canada Day to facilitate picking them up! There are no adequate words to describe just how much we love this committed group of friends, so simply, thank you.
A special thanks goes out to Brandon Ryder at Sol Paradiso X Motors for his contest! Nikki Sanderson was the lucky winner of a free Cornering 101 course…. oh, and an Italian red Ducati Panagale 1299 to ride for it!! Thanks to everyone who entered and all those who tuned in to the live draw! Expect to see more from Sol Paradiso and TractionWerks!
If you don't have photographs of you being cool on a motorcycle, were you even really cool on a motorcycle at all? Much love to the magic cameras of Vincent Witteveen of Images On The Fly and Greg Samborski of https://gregsamborski.com/ for braving the desert dry infield to memorialize the students transforming from mere riders to being motorcycles gods! Future generations will idolize your exploits and your grade 8 English teacher will finally have to admit you made something of your life!
And none of this would have mattered at all without a brilliant place to learn! Thanks so much to the staff at Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit for a spectacular venue! There’s no better place to offer our training!
So, there we go! On behalf of the TractionWerks Moto Guild coaches and crew, “WELCOME TO THE GUILD!”
