Luke Rips at American Supercamp

Luke Gough (rhymes with cough), a  three-time Australian National Long Track Champion, is taking no prisoners in his quest to compete against the very best flat track racers in the world, and become the first Australian to win a US National Dirt Track event. Practicing with some of the best racers in the country, Gough has proven himself to be a worthy adversary.

The visiting flat tracker recently attended a couple of sessions of Danny Walker’s American Supercamp (www.americansupercamp.com) where Walker and his staff of instructors teach riders and racers alike bike handling skills that are applicable to any type of motorcycle riding.

When Gough was invited to attend his first class in Harrington, Delaware with his friend and host Mike Hacker (Gough has been living at Hacker’s place for the past two months) he jumped at the chance. Hacker, who was working as a guest instructor, told Gough that the class would help him better handle the specially built short track racer that Gough has been riding lately.

He spent as much time as possible in the saddle putting the new style and skills to use and trying to learn new habits and unlearn old ones. Overall Gough said, “I started off by really trying to do what they said and trying to understand why they wanted us to ride like that. It was great fun and I learned a lot!”

After Delaware, Hacker invited Gough to a session in Springfield, Illinois just before the National Dirt Track Series races there. Along with Hacker, another guest instructor was none other than the fastest man on two-wheels, Chris Carr. Current motorcycle land-speed record holder at 350.885 mph, Carr is also a seven-time National Dirt Track Champion. Obviously Carr is no slouch when it comes to going fast on a motorcycle.

Gough approached this class with a slightly different attitude than the first session. “I had already been to one class and learned the correct style, but I was having a difficult time using it in actual races. I kept falling back to old habits.” Gough went on to say, “With this class I was aiming to continue practicing the new skills I had learned and push myself harder so I could simulate race conditions.”

Gough was out on the track every moment possible putting his new skills to practice, driving them home so they would be second nature under true race conditions. As the day progressed, so too did his skills as his speed and consistency got better and better.

During one of the practice sessions in the afternoon, Luke was working on new skills in a race mode when he felt a gentle nudge from behind. He continued on, racing at full speed on the little 100cc motorcycle and two laps later, he was passed. Gough was sure it was his buddy Hacker that had just worked his way around him and he set out to return the favor.

“After the pass, I set out to hang with who I thought was Mike for a bit and learn from following him around a little before passing him back. After a couple of laps, I passed him back and heard a kind of cheer from the rest of the class.” Gough and his racing buddy spent the next 15 laps or so swapping the lead back and forth.

At one point near the end of the session, Gough noticed that one of the people cheering him on from the inside of the little oval was Hacker himself. “I looked at the inside of the track and there was me mate, Mike, cheering me on. Then I wondered who I was racing with if it wasn’t Mike. Next time he passed me, I took a better look and realized that it was Chris Carr!” Gough was more than a little humbled to have been battling with the former champ.

[Image at left - Gough leading Chris Carr during a practice session.]

Following standard Supercamp practice, after making left turns on the oval, they turned around and went the other direction for a bit. This is harder than it sounds as it puts the rear brake pedal on the inside where you want to put your foot down, making it difficult to use the rear brake. Gough and Carr continued to battle it out for another 15 or 20 laps until Gough had his front wheel removed from contact with the dirt. “He (Carr) clipped my front wheel near the end of the session and knocked me on my ass! Who better to put me down though, I was thrilled that I got to run against the legendary Chris Carr.” Gough said.

“I learned so much from Mike, Chris, Danny and the entire American Supercamp team and just really want to thank them for the opportunity to attend these workshops and I really hope that I will be able to attend more. Maybe I need to invite Danny down to Australia to do a couple of camps!” Gough joked.