Roadracing World – April 2019

RW

By Michael Gougis

T

he Yamaha Champions Riding School
and several other training programs
can claim roots that reach back to
the Grand Prix World Championships of the
1980s, when Freddie Spencer swept to three
titles, including winning both the 250cc and
500cc World Championships in 1985.
After Spencer's competitive career ended,
he started teaching what he knew about getting
a road racing machine around a track quickly.
In 1997, Feddie Spencer's High Performance
Riding School opened for business at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway. Spencer brought on Nick Ien-
atsch to help create the curriculum and plan
the nuts-and-bolts process of actually impart-
ing Spencer's knowledge to the students.
Ienatsch was no slouch on a racebike.
Deeply experienced in motorsports journal-
ism, Ienatsch had proven his talent in road
racing. In the AMA 250cc Grand Prix class,
Ienatsch scored multiple top-three fi nishes in
the Championship standings. He took a pair of
AMA SuperTeams Championships, was twice
the overall Champion with the Willow Springs
Motorcycle Club (WSMC), won WERA Grand
National Championships, and earned podium
fi nishes in AMA 600 SuperSport races.
Spencer had the Grand Prix experience,
knowledge and fame to attract students but
wasn't as good at business as he was at racing.
Fortunately, Ienatsch had created the plans for
drills and verbiage and all things from sched-
ules to notebooks. And Ienatsch hired instruc-
tors Ken Hill, Dale Kieffer, Shane Turpin, Chris
Peris, and others. And so when the Spencer
school crashed and burned, closing abruptly,
Ienatsch was well-prepared to continue the
process of teaching the art and skill of perfor-
mance riding.
Ienatsch and Hill, a former AFM and AMA
racer turned riding coach, founded the Yama-
ha Champions Riding School in 2008 and op-
erated it at Miller Motorsports Park (now Utah
Motorsports Campus). The school grew, at-
tracting guest instructors like Superbike World
Champion Scott Russell and assembling a fac-
ulty of instructors including other professional
coaches and professional motorcycle road rac-
ers. When Larry Miller, owner and creator of
Miller Motorsports Park, died, the ensuing bat-
tles over its future operation ended the school's
stay at Miller.
But during the time the school was at
Miller, Keith Culver had started an organiza-
tion helping youngsters start performance
riding. His program, Evolution Racing, had at-
tracted the fi nancial support of a banker from
New York who was a graduate of the Yamaha
school. When Miller shut the school out of its
future plans, that banker, Josh Siegel put up
the capital to purchase the program and move
it to New Jersey Motorsports Park. Culver, Ien-
atsch and a New York marketing and branding
expert, Limore Shur, became partners in the
new venture. Shur, like Siegel, also was a grad-
uate of the Yamaha school. The new operation
opened for business in 2014.

Winters on the East Coast are mostly

hostile to track riding. Over the winter, Chris

Peris, one of the instructors and a member of a

private track in Arizona, thought schools could

be run at Inde Motorsports Ranch all winter

long, providing a year-round revenue stream.

Peris saved the fi rst season and turned out to

be a great addition to the team, so he became

a partner as well.

In the ensuing years, the school has

added more economical single-day classes, a

street-rider course, motorcycle police training

programs, and military courses. The U.S. Ma-

rine Corps hired the school to design and write

a completely new rider training program; the

school now subcontracts with the Marines to

train its members who ride.

Culver has gone from Operations Manager

to Chief Operating Offi cer and Chief Financial

Offi cer. He qualifi ed for an AMA 600 National

on a stock school bike in 2014 at the age of 43,

and has raced successfully in SuperMoto races

and recently won a SuperMoto Championship.

And one of the school instructors has recently

seen his visibility and status in the American

road racing community skyrocket. He's the

winner of the 2019 Daytona 200, Kyle Wyman.

Track day and racing organizations—

including N2, Xcel, TrackDaz, USBA, MRA,

Evolve GT, and Track Time—continue to send

their coaches to YCRS, or hire YCRS to coach

their coaches, lead groups at their days, and

speak at their events. These groups have asked

to adopt the language and processes YCRS

uses. And it's worth noting that YCRS coaches

are USMCA certifi ed.

Currently, the school offers the following

programs:

`ChampSchool: Two days at the track, a 4:1

student/instructor ratio, van laps and video

instruction.

`ChampDay: One day at the track, with an 8:1

student/instructor ratio.

`ChampCoach: Personalized private or

semi-private coaching with a YCRS Instructor.

`ChampStreet: A 4- or 8-hour program with

an 8:1 student/instructor ratio conducted at

a track or large parking lot modifi ed for street

speeds and challenges.

`ChampMil: A one-day military program with

a 6:1 student/instructor ratio at a track or

large parking lot modifi ed for street speeds and

challenges

`ChampPD: Track or parking lot clinics for po-

lice motor offi cers combining high speed skills

with the added functions motor-offi cers need

to perform.

(Above) Nick Ienatsch speaks to a group of ChampSchool students at New Jersey Motorsports

Park (NJMP). (Below, Left) A classroom session at NJMP. Photos by Ray Bradlau/thesbimage.com.

Freddie Spencer, seen here

in 2018, now works as an

FIM MotoGP offi cial.

58—Roadracing World, Trackday Directory 2019

FREDDIE SPENCER'S

Legacy

ORIGINS OF TRAINING: