CLASS Motorcycle School

SUMMARY: Grab the instructors for as much 1-​on-​1 as you can, it will make the CLASS class so much more worthwhile. Any of the instructors can teach you *something*, no matter your experience. If you want to learn passively, then this is not a good choice. Speak up during class room instructions, and grab instructors.
The 3 star rating («A-​OK») is because the class room instructions seemed heavy on concepts but light on providing solid examples on when and how *you* can apply them. There was no booklet or hand-​outs to follow, so everything was lectures, with a few posters and whiteboard drawings to emphasize major points. They brought up concepts, and would explain them, but being mostly verbal, did little to give concrete examples. For instance, body positioning was illustrated with a poster that showed good and bad positioning, but I personally would’ve preferred someone get on one of the bikes sitting right there and demonstrate it, or even invite some of the students up a bike to demonstrate their body positioning and then help them correct it on the bike so they have an idea of what it feels like on the bike before they go out on the track.
When I went in late April, there were about 50 of us students, with about 35 or so in the B group and the rest in A. There were only about 8 instructors so while it was a decent ratio, it could get tough to grab an instructor for more than 1 session.
If you go, I would suggest you grab an instructor on your very 1^st session, ask him/​her to tow you around the track and show you the lines, and then grab instructors for as many sessions as you can. The 1-​on-​1 instruction is awesome if you get it.
Recommended if you want:
1) A nice, gentle and *safe* introduction to the track without a lot of the aggro, ricky racer types that you might see at «pure» trackday events.
2) Learning from one of the AMA’s racing legends, Reg Pridmore and listening to some of his anecdotes and stories. His wife Gigi is an absolute sweetheart of a lady and a great instructor/​rider.
Not Recommended if you want:
1) Structured learning environment in the class room.
2) A high instructor: student ratio.
3) Strictly trackday or race-​specific instruction (unless you get it 1-​on-​1, which can by iffy, see #2).
4) If you haven’t done any other reading, watching of videos or other trackdays and learned and *practiced* the major concepts like counter-​steering, body positioning, throttle control, brake control.
This review was for the CLASS instruction at Sonoma Raceway (formerly Infineon, formerly Sears Point), though CLASS conducts training at various tracks around the USA, so check out their website for the latest schedule. Look up the other Unilocal reviews for Sonoma Raceway but any trackday is a fun day; try them all and find the ones that you like!