Photo By Maj. Joseph Trovato | Jason Pridemore, STAR Motorcycle School's chief instructor, discusses techniques...... read more read more
SOUTH BELOIT, Ill. - Soldiers and airmen from the Wisconsin National Guard and Guardsmen from other states gathered at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, Ill., June 26 for a day of instruction from the STAR Motorcycle School.
Aimed at limiting the number of service members killed or injured on their motorcycles, STAR, or skills and techniques for advanced riding, used the closed track at Blackhawk to teach the all-National Guard class, which included beginners and other riders with years of experience.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve been riding for five years or 30 years,” said Jason Pridemore, a racing legend who now serves as STAR’s chief instructor. “There’s always something to be learned on these motorcycles.”
The more than 40 soldiers and airmen who participated in the training fulfilled a military requirement to take a motorcycle safety course intended to sustain their knowledge of basic safety principles. Service members must take a basic rider course as well as an additional course to ride in a duty status. Every three years thereafter they must take some sort of sustainment training.
More important than satisfying a requirement is the safety record that goes along with additional training.
Since Pridemore began teaching classes to military students in 2009, none of his National Guard students have been killed in a motorcycle accident.
“It just makes no sense to me whatsoever that you can come back from Iraq and then kill yourself on a motorcycle,” said Pridemore, who teaches four Guard-specific classes each year with stops at Blackhawk Farms, California, Washington, and New Jersey.
“I’m here to create a fun learning environment, and we’re going to go through everything we possibly can in one day, breaking down shifting, body position,” he said. “We’re going to run the gambit on everything motorcycles and see if we can improve you as a rider.”
For Capt. Brian Russell, the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s safety specialist and a sport bike rider himself, the Guard’s partnership with STAR Motorcycle School is invaluable.
“You run into people who say, ‘I’ve been riding for 30 years, there is really nothing left to learn,’” he said. “It’s hard to break that mentality, but they’re fooling themselves.”
The opportunity to train at a winding closed course like Blackhawk Farms presents a huge advantage over traditional motorcycle safety courses that usually occur in parking lots, he said.
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Ball, of the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade’s Kenosha, Wis.-based Company B, 257th Brigade Support Battalion, concurred.
“You can’t really get up to speed in a parking lot,” he said. “Here [at Blackhawk Farms] you can get up to freeway speeds.
“Most of the problems you’re going to end up with are going at speed, either at highway speed or even higher. This is a great place to learn how to control, how to break, and how to steer properly.”
The course focused on proper motorcycle handling, whether on cruisers or sport bikes, and it was geared for riders of all ages and skill levels. STAR Motorcycles offers the training free for all Guardsmen.
| Date Taken: | 07.31.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2013 14:54 |
| Story ID: | 111140 |
| Location: | SOUTH BELOIT, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 101 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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