I decided to take two bikes, my 1998 Ducati 748 and my 2000 Aprilia Mille-R. The drive was long, about 8 hours, but the trusty Subaru Outback XT does quite well towing an open trailer. I took a Friday off to make the drive down. I met up with the other guys at the track, as they live a few hours southwest of me and there wasn't a good way for us to meet up on the way.
Jennings is a fun little track, nearly perfectly flat, but with lots of interesting turns. The pavement is typical Florida-style, with crushed seashells included in the mix. That makes it really tough on tires, so you should always go there with fresh rubber on your bikes. Here's a track map:
Seeing that I had not been on any track in a couple of years, I decided to run in the beginner group on Saturday so that I could learn the track. That was probably a mistake because even on my old 748 with only 90hp, I was being held up on every lap by slow riders. But I stuck it out and just tried to get around them whenever I could. My comfort level with track riding came back to me quickly. On Sunday I ran in the intermediate group on my Aprilia and even there I spent a lot of time trying to get around slower riders. By the end of the day I was one of the fastest riders out there in the intermediate group. I had only one "moment" when I went to pass on the inside and the rider I was passing made a sudden swoop across the track right into my line. I had to hit the front brake while leaned over in a turn - never a good thing. But only a touch of brake was all it took to keep from hitting him - we were both lucky!
Ken stayed in the beginner group, but his friends Dave S and Cris rode in the intermediate group with me. We had a blast chasing each other around on the track, as we were very closely matched. Dave was on a Kawasaki ZX6, and Cris was on a Triumph 675. Dave P is super-fast, none of us can keep up with him. He rode in the advanced group and was one of the fastest guys out there.
Here's a video taken with my old Contour camera mounted on the gas tank of the Aprilia:
Jennings GP on-track video
We put the camera on Cris's bike for a session and he followed me. For a while he was close, but then traffic caused him to fall behind:
Jennings GP on-track video from behind me
Dave S's wife Jackie took a bunch of great photos. Here are a few of the best ones:
This one is Dave S in front, then me, then Cris in the back. We ran like this for lots of laps!
Overall, my return to the track was a total blast, I felt comfortable and really enjoyed being back out there. I hope to return to Jennings again next year.
