Ride42 Track day report – June 22, 2026.
** I am not affiliated with Ride42 in any way and this is my personal opinion ***
So… I have done Racer5 Stage1 & Stage2 at grand bend motorplex so have some familiarity with the track.
Ride42 is a 3rd party track organization that is run by Sebastian Hothaza (a SOAR racer) that endeavors to provide a welcoming track experience for riders.
The problem for me without a trailer is… how do I get my bike there… A million thanks to ChopperCJ (NorbertJoo) for offered to trailer my bike up to the event and stayed for the track day. He is an A+ (Current first in standing in his race class –lightweight superbike) SOAR racer and he expertly and safely trailered my bike up to Grand bend (for a fee)
I was really excited as I have a 2020 CBR500 that I wanted to get more familiar with at a track pace. It has OEM Dunlop D222 street tires (DOT) but only has 6600km on the odometer so I ran them at the track.
**** REMEMBER TO LOWER YOUR TIRE PRESSURES ON TRACK ***
I had a pretty good experience running 32 front / 30 back psi at a weight of 145 lb. Ambient temperature this day was a wonderful 25 Celsius.
Since I only have 1 bike, I prepped it by replacing coolant with distilled water + water wetter and disconnected tail lights and taped up the lights/mirrors/license plate. I was incredibly relieved that they allowed me to keep the side / kickstand for use as I am not comfortable with solo paddock stand use yet.
Arrival and tech inspection @ 8:00. Although I swapped out coolant at home (since it requires removal of fairings), I did not do the final prep/tech inspection until arrival. It took me 15 min to tape everything up with painter’s tape. I spent the rest of the time until the 9:30 rider’s meeting just meeting fellow riders and catching up to my classmates from Racer5.
I met a ton of wonderful people including a bunch of racers.
Although the track was wet from rain overnight. It had luckily stopped raining by the time we were ready to roll at 10 am.
*** THERE IS AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF TRACK TIME ***
They collapsed the sessions into novice (green) and intermediate (yellow) which ran for 20 min per session. Since there were only a handful of advanced (red) riders; they were collapsed into yellow give maximum track time.
After the sighting lap on the reverse modified course; we were allowed to go at our own pace.
The 20 min sessions on my own bike (CBR500) were amazing as it allowed me to get to know my own machine better (braking points / lean angle) as well as just learn the track. Since my goal is to get home without incident (less my track privileges be rescinded by my wife) I took it really easy and only gradually increased my pace throughout the day. The stock suspension on the cbr500 is fairly soft and the tires being 6 years old and OEM Street meant I wasn’t 100% comfortable that the tires wouldn’t give traction on me.
This is to say… I’m a novice rider that is goes fairly slow/cautiously.
At noon, they even provided a hamburger / pop lunch and it was great not to have to leave the track because…
The afternoon was continuous sessions. In fact, with only 20 min of downtime between sessions, I barely had time to get my gear off and sit down before being called back out.
The weather throughout the day was perfect and once the track was fully dry in the afternoon, I was able to push my track pace and lean angles.
The last session of the day was open (everyone allowed) and I skipped that one as I was already completely exhausted.
In the novice group, I was allowed to pass on the straights. It was VERY interesting as I got to ride with other bikes (300cc – litre bikes). All green riders were very friendly and respectful of each other and lines.
REMEMBER that track is not racing. Goal is to have fun, stay safe and learn your bike/push limits in a controlled environment.
I am incredibly thankful to the Ride42 crew and if you want a well organized track day with crazy amounts of track time at an incredible price… this is your group.
Honestly, these are all enthusiasts and I really don’t know how they do it.
FINALLY, we had all levels of riders out there from SOAR racing champions to myself (first track day on my own bike). Everyone was incredibly friendly, there were no egos and I met a bunch of new motorcycling friends.
The only thing that I would do differently next time is maybe mount a camera system so I can review footage afterwards to see how I can improve.
Thank you to Sebastian Hothaza and all the Ride42 crew for making this incredible event happen. I really don’t know how you do it but am thankful that you are there to make this opportunity happen (July is motogymkhana training for me though with 2 events that month).
TLDR Thoughts
** I am not affiliated with Ride42 in any way and this is my personal opinion ***
So… I have done Racer5 Stage1 & Stage2 at grand bend motorplex so have some familiarity with the track.
Ride42 is a 3rd party track organization that is run by Sebastian Hothaza (a SOAR racer) that endeavors to provide a welcoming track experience for riders.
The problem for me without a trailer is… how do I get my bike there… A million thanks to ChopperCJ (NorbertJoo) for offered to trailer my bike up to the event and stayed for the track day. He is an A+ (Current first in standing in his race class –lightweight superbike) SOAR racer and he expertly and safely trailered my bike up to Grand bend (for a fee)
I was really excited as I have a 2020 CBR500 that I wanted to get more familiar with at a track pace. It has OEM Dunlop D222 street tires (DOT) but only has 6600km on the odometer so I ran them at the track.
**** REMEMBER TO LOWER YOUR TIRE PRESSURES ON TRACK ***
I had a pretty good experience running 32 front / 30 back psi at a weight of 145 lb. Ambient temperature this day was a wonderful 25 Celsius.
Since I only have 1 bike, I prepped it by replacing coolant with distilled water + water wetter and disconnected tail lights and taped up the lights/mirrors/license plate. I was incredibly relieved that they allowed me to keep the side / kickstand for use as I am not comfortable with solo paddock stand use yet.
Arrival and tech inspection @ 8:00. Although I swapped out coolant at home (since it requires removal of fairings), I did not do the final prep/tech inspection until arrival. It took me 15 min to tape everything up with painter’s tape. I spent the rest of the time until the 9:30 rider’s meeting just meeting fellow riders and catching up to my classmates from Racer5.
I met a ton of wonderful people including a bunch of racers.
Although the track was wet from rain overnight. It had luckily stopped raining by the time we were ready to roll at 10 am.
*** THERE IS AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF TRACK TIME ***
They collapsed the sessions into novice (green) and intermediate (yellow) which ran for 20 min per session. Since there were only a handful of advanced (red) riders; they were collapsed into yellow give maximum track time.
After the sighting lap on the reverse modified course; we were allowed to go at our own pace.
The 20 min sessions on my own bike (CBR500) were amazing as it allowed me to get to know my own machine better (braking points / lean angle) as well as just learn the track. Since my goal is to get home without incident (less my track privileges be rescinded by my wife) I took it really easy and only gradually increased my pace throughout the day. The stock suspension on the cbr500 is fairly soft and the tires being 6 years old and OEM Street meant I wasn’t 100% comfortable that the tires wouldn’t give traction on me.
This is to say… I’m a novice rider that is goes fairly slow/cautiously.
At noon, they even provided a hamburger / pop lunch and it was great not to have to leave the track because…
The afternoon was continuous sessions. In fact, with only 20 min of downtime between sessions, I barely had time to get my gear off and sit down before being called back out.
The weather throughout the day was perfect and once the track was fully dry in the afternoon, I was able to push my track pace and lean angles.
The last session of the day was open (everyone allowed) and I skipped that one as I was already completely exhausted.
In the novice group, I was allowed to pass on the straights. It was VERY interesting as I got to ride with other bikes (300cc – litre bikes). All green riders were very friendly and respectful of each other and lines.
REMEMBER that track is not racing. Goal is to have fun, stay safe and learn your bike/push limits in a controlled environment.
I am incredibly thankful to the Ride42 crew and if you want a well organized track day with crazy amounts of track time at an incredible price… this is your group.
Honestly, these are all enthusiasts and I really don’t know how they do it.
FINALLY, we had all levels of riders out there from SOAR racing champions to myself (first track day on my own bike). Everyone was incredibly friendly, there were no egos and I met a bunch of new motorcycling friends.
The only thing that I would do differently next time is maybe mount a camera system so I can review footage afterwards to see how I can improve.
Thank you to Sebastian Hothaza and all the Ride42 crew for making this incredible event happen. I really don’t know how you do it but am thankful that you are there to make this opportunity happen (July is motogymkhana training for me though with 2 events that month).
TLDR Thoughts
- Come out to ride a fun trackday. It’s non-competitive, an incredible price and well run. You will definitely get your money’s worth.
- Other than swapping out coolant, all other trackday prep involves painters tape and lowering your tire pressure so it’s REALLY easy to do.
- Bring your bike. Street, sport, any cc. (I don’t know about cruisers though… I didn’t see any cruisers).
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