My First visit to NJMP

[ktd]

My first ride at NJMP Lightening was a little different than I expected.  The track is beautiful and very nice pavement.  It is very fast with very sweeping long turns, Average speed is fast!  I had a really hard time with the track it was like nothing I had ever ridden.  I struggled the first day terrible and the second day I didn't do much better.  The best I could ride it was a 1:17 and the really fast guys were doing 1:09.   I was feeling pretty bummed about it. The best I could figure is you just don't break for some of the sweeping turns.   On most tracks that wouldn't be a big deal but this track the speed differential seems to be an issue.  I didn't have any real problems myself but there were guys even slower than me and it was causing problems.  I followed a guy for a lap and he did a 1:27 so when a guy came by in those long sweeping turns ding a 1:09 it was a problem.  I could see problems if they held races here mixing Experts and Am and lap traffic.    I only see one really dangerous spot on the track however many of the turns are blind.  The corner workers were very new at this you could tell.  In one case a guy fell off his bike and tumbled down the middle of the track pretty bad.  It took a long time to get the corner workers to notice and longer to get the red flag out.  I also found the flag stations to be in bad places that made it hard to notice as you were focused on looking ahead of you.

The management is just plain strict and is also trying to nickel and dime every penny.   They were charging admission for your visitors who arrived in separate vehicles after you came in.(track day not a race) so on top of my $400 bucks for track fees they got $45 bucks from the Girlfriend and her mom and dad.  They were fining the organization for anything they found in the paddock.  The pavement in the paddock was new and not cured so it was very soft.  Even the wheels from stands put a dent in it.   If they found a dent in it apparently they were fining TPM.   I heard $600 for a oil cleanup.  $1000 for a side stands down(track day).  When we got there we were told bikes could not be parked on the pavement but later they seemed to withdraw that..  Everyone I talked to was charged a different fee for electricity.   We even got in trouble for lighting our grill.  Apparently there is no charcoal grilling allowed.   They were looking for open beer during times the track was hot.   The cops patrol (state and city) through the paddock regularly and the security patrols are buzzing around.  I expect this will relax as things are new now but who knows how it may go.  From what I see at AMA races I just can't imagine these guys hosting an AMA race.  They would have heart attacks!

[Eye-p]

The management is just plan strict and is also trying to nickel and dime every penny.   They were charging admission for your visitors who arrived in separate vehicles after you came in.(track day not a race) so on top of my $400 bucks for track fees they got $45 bucks from the Girlfriend and her mom and dad.  They were fining the organization for anything they found in the paddock.  The pavement in the paddock was new and not cured so it was very soft.  Even the wheels from stands put a dent in it.   If they found a dent in it apparently they were fining TPM.   I heard $600 for a oil cleanup.  $1000 for a side stands down(track day).  When we got there we were told bikes could not be parked on the pavement but later they seemed to withdraw that..  Everyone I talked to was charged a different fee for electricity.   We even got in trouble for lighting our grill.  Apparently there is no charcoal grilling allowed.   They were looking for open beer during times the track was hot.   The cops patrol (state and city) through the paddock regularly and the security patrols are buzzing around.  I expect this will relax as things are new now but who knows how it may go.  From what I see at AMA races I just can't imagine these guys hosting an AMA race.  They would have heart attacks!

Let's hope that these are growing pains rather than the way they plan to run the facility long term.

[ktd]

Yea I hope that's it.  I read the rules from the site and I don't see anything about having a Grill and it seems they are treating a track day like a spectator event.