Lee Shierts is one of the best all-around motorcycle race riders active today. Lee has been a championship-level road racer; including remarkable rides on 250cc two-stroke factory road-racers. Lee has also been a national-level drag racer. Lee is also the pilot of the #8 Rich Yancy 250 MPH Hayabusa, the fastest streetbike in the world.
My observations of Lee at the track is that Lee does not overstate danger. Here is what Lee said about "THE TURN" at Maxton - and remember that this comes from one of the fastest men EVER to put a 250cc bike through the downhill righthander to the finish line at Road Atlanta - a turn most riders NEVER get correct. This quote is from the current issue of SPORT RIDER.
"It was pretty damn insane," said Shierts, and for him to say that, it certainly must have been. Actually he said that getting up to speed was the easy part; it was slowing down after going through the lights that was the risky part.
It's necessary to carry as much speed as possible in the run through the timing lights, and even though there is .9 miles of shutdown area, the pavement condition isn't the greatest, and at that velocity even the slightest kink in the strip becomes a major turn
" I came that close to putting (the Busa) in the bushes because I was running out of pavement trying to keep it in the road", recalled Shierts. "It's a good thing that bike still had decent ground clearance when lowered, if I would've been on a stretched (drag) bike, it would have been ugly".
My observations of Lee at the track is that Lee does not overstate danger. Here is what Lee said about "THE TURN" at Maxton - and remember that this comes from one of the fastest men EVER to put a 250cc bike through the downhill righthander to the finish line at Road Atlanta - a turn most riders NEVER get correct. This quote is from the current issue of SPORT RIDER.
"It was pretty damn insane," said Shierts, and for him to say that, it certainly must have been. Actually he said that getting up to speed was the easy part; it was slowing down after going through the lights that was the risky part.
It's necessary to carry as much speed as possible in the run through the timing lights, and even though there is .9 miles of shutdown area, the pavement condition isn't the greatest, and at that velocity even the slightest kink in the strip becomes a major turn
" I came that close to putting (the Busa) in the bushes because I was running out of pavement trying to keep it in the road", recalled Shierts. "It's a good thing that bike still had decent ground clearance when lowered, if I would've been on a stretched (drag) bike, it would have been ugly".
