Road Racing World Review of Final Camp of 2011 Season!

AMA Pro Racers Made Guest Appearances At Final Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp Of 2011 Season

Colin Edwards hosts AMA regulars Cory West, Dane Westby, Lucas Scherb and Dustin Dominguez

On Sunday November 20th, the Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp wrapped up the final boot camp of their inaugural season. During the Boot Camp’s first year, students have had the pleasure of riding with some of the best motorcycle racers on the planet. The star studded guest list has included Ben Spies, Josh Hayes, Freddie Spencer, Danny Eslick, Cory West, Dustin Dominguez, Dane Westby, Lucas Scherb and Doug Lawrence who all spent time riding with students at the Texas Tornado Boot Camp.

During the November 17-20th camp, Colin played host to AMA regulars Cory West, Dane Westby, Lucas Scherb and Dustin Dominguez along with students consisting of NESBA track-day regulars and other students from across the U.S. The Camp’s Most Improved Rider Award was presented to Michele Middleton of Phoenix, Arizona who improved her superpole time by an astounding 23 seconds from her first attempt on Friday. Superpole is a single rider, one timed lap on all three courses combined.

Filled with action, the weekend included a bar banging demonstration by AMA Pro Flat Track racers Merle Scherb and Lucas Scherb on their “fire breathing heavily modified 450cc weapons of flat track destruction”. Students who weren’t resting from the non stop riding and drills had the opportunity to partake in other activities during breaks like shooting trap, numerous pistols, a sniper rifle and the .50 cal “big stick”.

Following the conclusion of the camp, Colin immediately boarded a plane heading to Spain for his first test on the NGM Forward Racing BMW/Suter machine. This was the first time Colin was able to throw a leg over his 2012 bike as he was forced to sit out of the Valencia test while recovering from shoulder surgery. After spending some time on the bike, Edwards was quoted as saying "the bike is actually better than I was expecting" and "It's all basically electronics right now, that's the number one thing." Given Colin’s history with motorcycle development, expectations are high that the team will field a very competitive bike in 2012.

TTBC Instructors and AMA regulars had the following comments regarding their time at the final Boot Camp of the season:

Cory West, AMA #57 of Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki shared his thoughts on his first Boot Camp Experience. “It was an awesome experience to come down and ride at the Texas Tornado Boot Camp. Riding with some of my old racing buddies and current competitors was a great way to sharpen the skills for next season. I’d like to thank Colin for having me down and I can’t wait to come back and play some more” - Cory West, AMA #57 Rider’s Discount Vesrah Suzuki

Joe Prussiano, lead instructor summed up his thoughts on the Boot Camp’s first year.
“I’m very proud of our instructors, we have professional road racers come to the camp that have plenty of dirt experience and when leaving they all comment on how they learned something they can take with them to use on the track. I’m also extremely impressed with our beginner/new riders, we have on multiple occasions, taken someone that has never thrown a leg over ANY type of motorcycle and after four days of instruction we have them feeling confident and in control on the bike, not to mention, they are putting down some impressive superpole times as well”

Brandon Cleland, AMA #75 attending his first Boot Camp provided the following assessment. “The camp was awesome and was a great learning experience. This was nothing like I had ever done before and the skills we learned like throttle control, balance, inputs into the bike, and steering the motorcycle with the rear brake are all things I can translate onto the pavement when I go racing next year.”

Instructor Shea Fouchek commented on the weekend “The improvements were amazing. Once tentative riders at the beginning, they were attacking corners by the end of the camp. I’m not only proud of my students, but also all the riders who attended.”


About the Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp:
Colin Edwards makes his living going 200mph on some of the fastest and most exotic bikes known to mankind and he honed his skills and fundamentals riding mini-bikes on dirt tracks growing up in Texas. Colin created the Texas Tornado Boot Camp to share what he knows about riding motorcycles and the skills he shares with students transfer to any motorcycle...dirt, street or track. Like the pieces of a puzzle form a complete picture, developing or refining your skills at the Boot Camp will provide you with the complete set of skills needed to be successful on any motorcycle you plan to throw your leg over.

For more information about the Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp and camp dates please visit: www.texastornadobootcamp.com

Original Story on Road Racing World

TTBC Review in Next Moto Champion!

Have you seen the write up about the camp in Next Moto Champion?! If you haven't click on the image below to read all about it! It's a great review! Thanks to NMC for the great write up!

Chris Cummins latest camp review

So the Camp was absolutely amazing. Had the time of my life. I showed up about 5 PM on Friday and was nervous as hell. The fact that there was people coming in from Canada and Chicago and even OverSeas didnt help any. And to only make it worse many of these are AMA riders and champion Club riders from all over and school instructors I felt way out of my leauge. lol Good thing there was a few others that were in the same boat as me.

As for instructors you couldnt ask for better.

Two time World Super Bike Champion Colin Edwards. He spent the entire weekend on a bike working with people hands on and was right in the middle of everything. Was amazed at his willingness to help out and watch people learn. And there is nothing better then hear "Hell Yeah Good Job" then turning around and seeing Colin with a smile from ear to ear and giving you two thumbs up when you finally nail a drill or maybe even a sweet wipe out lol.

Mike Meyers, Joe Purssiano, Shea Fouchek, Steven Bodak, and the "King Ding-a-Lings" of flat track Merle and Corby Scherb. Between all of them there is some pretty impressive careers and futures and maybe just a couple of national championships. But one thing is for certain...these guys can ride a bike and are more than willing to share all their knowledge if you are willing to learn.

When you arrive at the camp you are met with nothing but smiling faces. Some of the lovely ladies will get you signed in and directed to your room where there is a gear bag with everything you will need. Boots, pants, helmet, goggles, gloves, jersey, and most importantly knee pads lol. The rooms are also very nice with comfortable beds and great accommodation, anything and everything you could ask for.

Friday night after a amazing dinner...Trust me you wont go away hungry. We got the chance to go do a little riding. We were split into two groups. Both groups were riding under the pavilion on slick red dirt/clay that was like riding on ice. We ran both a small oval and a laid out course. This gave the instructors a chance to see everyones skill level and be put into two groups to start. Also gave some of us a first taste of the dirt. I managed to get that experience 4 times in the first hour first night lol. But I was already watch and trying to learn and try new things. But the cold beer that followed helped wash the dirt down and heal my ego a little. There is plenty of cold beer to drink and great company to drink it with as long as you follow the rule of no motors after you crack one open which I was fine with. I was already hurting.

Come Saturday we had the most beautiful perfect day. Little sore getting out of bed already but the excitement help me thru. The morning was filled with fun and learning. They break the camp down into drills focusing on the entry then mid turn then exit. In addition to the pavilion there was a sandy TT track and a oval track with a small really sandy TT section in the middle.

Some of the drills we ran worked on teaching to trust the brakes. Run hard at a turn and brake with the front, some times with the left hand on the gas cap. Other times we would run the track and tires would be places on the race line. This helped alter lines and find new ones. Also with the left hand on the gas cap at times. This really taught you to use your body and knees to steer and not muscle it all the time. One of my favorites was the 90 degree drill where you had to use the rear brake to spin the bike 90 degree around a hay bail and drive to the next to spin the other way while never touching the ground. This was one of a few drills that Colin said was so fun in the "pursuit of perfection".

Lots and lots of water was drank during the day and one more aspect of the day I loved was that during a break there was other things to do. So after lunch we were able to go shoot guns at the guns range. Sat was Pistol day. We started out with some .22's and moved up to 9mm, 357 mags and a sweet .45 Kimber. I think I may have done OK and got a "Good Shooting Tex" from Colin was amazing! After this short break back to riding and learning.

One of the biggest miss conceptions I had about this camp and I think many people do is that it is about riding dirt or dirt bikes. That is the farthest from the truth. But to me the one thing I have always heard is "SMOOTH IS FAST" and I tell you what if you are not smooth on a ttr125 with dirt front and street rear tire out there. You will pay. I learned that lesson 18 times. lol But many of the drills if not all are designed to teach you this. It is stressed that anytime you are not putting input into the bike is time being lost. You need to either be on the brakes or throttle, even if steady pressure but always some input. And it also has to be smooth or else. Chop/slam the brakes throttle and end up on the ground....trust me 18 times lol

Then one of the fun times is at the end of the day s Super Pole. This puts all three tracks together is a race against the clock. Well I learned that you cant be WOT and grab the front brakes at the same time. But got a second chance. Made it around the second time only to get beat by some 13,12,7, and yes even a 5 yr old kid on a 1 speed 1 brake pw50. But when that kids last name is Edwards it didnt hurt my feeling to bad lol.

Sat night consisted of some mouth watering country BBQ and great friendship. All the instructors also gave a great lecture on suspension and settings and tires that rapped up just in time for the races. and some more cold beer.

Sunday morning was much the same. Back to riding but focusing more on the corner exit and putting together everything we had learned. One of the other biggest aspects I liked is there is no one forcing you to do anything you dont want to do. I banged up both my wrist pretty bad in the last Super Pole wreck the night before and could barely move the left one or pull a clutch in. There was no pressure just sit back and watch and jump in when ready. Then thanks to Linz he told me to go down to the oval where Bodack had a new to riding kid. So after a little ride the wrist was getting looser. Then Linz took me for a little trail ride and ride thru the motocross track and I started feeling better. After some more riding I went in and jumped in on the other group to work on what I skipped in the morning. Fouchek and Purssiano were more than happy to have me and work with me.

After lunch we were pleasantly surprised with a exhibition from the Scherb Brothers. They broke out their Honda 450 dirt track bike and showed us what they do best. Going sideways around a track inches away from each other. Pure balls of steel. lol

This was followed by another run of the super pole and getting smoked by a five yr old once again. lol But so much fun non the less. Then after lunch the infamous question was asked by Colin..."who wants to shoot the big gun?" So back to the gun range we went and got to shoot a .50 cal rifle and drill a bulls eye and talk a little trash. Perfect end to a amazing weekend.

I cant say enough good things about the camp. It is definitely a family environment and they all make you feel like you are one of theirs. Everyone is willing to help in any way and share all the knowledge they can. It is so much more that just riding on the dirt. Heck Colin has been doing it since he was 4 and still does for practice as do many other MotoGP riders so there has to be some good in it IMHO race lines and how to choose them can be taught anywhere. But smoothness and finess on the brakes and throttle and how to make the transition and put constant input into the bike is best learned just how the Texas Tornado Boot camp does it. Plus when you you go down it is on their bike and not yours.

In my opinion it is worth way more than the price paid.

When you figure other camps you use your bike, tires, fuel, pay for food, gas to travel, hotel, damages if you go down just to name a few. They add up to way more than the cost of this camp.

But the one priceless thing is the friendship made and the memories. I cant wait to go back.

I cannot thank Linz enough for posting up pics and stories that convinced me to go check it out. Or all the staff and instructors and family of instructors. Including the kids that blew me away all weekend. For a much needed and much enjoyed experience. I will definitely be back.

Superbike Planet Interview with Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp Interview
by dean adams
Monday, April 25, 2011

'Hey, who taught you to ride?'. GP racer Colin Edwards and his son, Hayes, at his Texas Tornado Boot Camp. image thanks, colin edwards II

Q Why did you decide to start your riding school/camp camp?

Colin Edwards II: The main reason was because, whenever I jumped on a roadrace bike, I was fast, immediately. I didn't have to spend years and years and years of learning how to ride a roadrace bike. So obviously, once I got into roadracing, wow, why am I so fast immediately? Well, sh*t, I learned all my fundamentals for the last, since I was three years old and everything came from the dirt. So I put two and two together. I've always been known as a smooth rider, a "feel" rider. I've been good at setting up motorcycles. So it all came down to my wife - we had discussed having some kind of a school or camp or something, years ago ... 2000, 2002, right around that time. I thought, "Man, it'd be a shame to ... right now, I'm 37, so 34, 33-1/2 years of motorcycle experience, it'd be a shame just to take all this to the grave and not share it. What I've learned over the past lifetime." So that's really the initiative that got the camp going.

As much as I love roadracing and motocross and anything, really, to do with motorcycles, the most fun I've ever had in my entire life on two wheels has been on TT-R 125s with the slick on the rear, banging bars with your buddies. At the same time, obviously, Rich Oliver's got his Mystery School there. I used to ride with Rich at Kenny Roberts' ranch, in the early ?90s. Same with Danny Walker. We used to ride XR100s back in the early '90s back at my place here. And the reality is, all the fundamentals, the feel, all your basic needs, you learn at a much lower speed and much lower risk. So that's that. That's why we actually wanted to build the school.

Rooster Cogburn: camp instructor Mike Myers shows the students some true grit. 'Catch me if you can.' image thanks, colin edwards II

Why did we build a hotel and cover a football field, and why did we build a mega-complex? That's another story. Basically, I've been to all these schools. I've been to all these camps. Danny's place, I haven't been to Rich's. But you know, Freddie's, and I've done a couple of things in South Africa, Australia, teaching my own schools. I always noticed that at 5:00 the fun stopped, people went back to their hotel and twiddled thumbs, waiting for 8:00 the next morning to start the fun again. I thought, "Well, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it my way." My style. I'm a people person. I enjoy hanging out. It turned into, "Let's just keep everybody on premise, build a Wild West town, put a little hotel." And it's turned into a lot more than I thought. I thought it was just going to have everybody on premise. The reality is, at the end of the weekend, everybody's exchanging phone numbers and emails, and it all turns into one big family, which is a dynamic that's just been amazing, for the few camps that we've done. Everybody knows everybody by the end - by the end of the first day, really. And the football field, the big arena, we covered - that was the first thing we did, before we built the hotel. We couldn't have people come from Europe or wherever and get rained out, and say, "Okay, sorry, come back next week." And that was it.

After that, it was, "Okay, if we're going to do it right, I want to find the best instructors," the best people I could possibly find to instruct. And everybody, all of our instructors, have, or still are, making a living racing motorcycles. Which they're all professionals. We have one instructor, a beginner instructor, who's never raced. He's ridden motorcycles all his life. He has more patience than God. So we put him in, and he's a real great beginner teacher. And we're all friends. We're all laid back. No ego problems here. It's just a good mix, a great team. And after that, it's just, "Come on in. If you want to learn something, come on." And it is a - it's hardcore. I mean, I'm tired after the weekend. Seriously, it's hardcore riding, and you get six hours a day. For a lot of that time, the instructors are actually on their feet. We're walking around and stopping people and instructing body position and line of sight, where you need to be looking, and doing a bunch of drills. You definitely get all the riding you want.

I've informally nicknamed it "Colin Edwards' Disneyland for motorcycles," just amongst friends. But the reality of it is, and you learn this throughout life, anybody under the age of 20 has the ability, or the adaptability, to learn something pretty quick. And it doesn't necessarily have to be fun. You instruct them, and you teach them, and they're more willing to make a change here or there to extract what you're looking for. Over that age of 20, there's the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." You can, it just has to be fun. They have to not realize they're being taught. The more fun that's involved with it, the easier it is to soak up. That's what we have here. We have scheduled riding, but we have also scheduled free time. We want to go shoot some guns. Or if you don't want to shoot guns, you go ride. You can do whatever you want to do. But you need that time to decompress and figure out what you've just been learning. And then jump back on the bike again. And we're learning all this stuff too. We're picking up little pieces as we go, and just making it better and better.

With Colin as chief instructor, the camps are scheduled around his MotoGP schedule. image thanks, colin edwards II

Q If they're tired from riding, is there a variety of other things that they can do?

A Oh man, we've got so much stuff to do. The reality of it is, if you don't want to ride and you're too tired, you can go take a nap. You can take a nap, you can come shoot some guns with us. The first day's usually pistols, and I've got a long-range rifle that we back up a few hundred yards so everybody gets a shot. The second day, we shoot some trap with a shotgun. And the last day we break out the .50 and squeeze the trigger a few times on it. A lot of people think they want to shoot the .50, until they see it go off, and then they're like, "Oh, sh*t, maybe I don't want to shoot it." But it's not just guns. If you want to go out on the lake, a couple of our instructors will bring you out on the lake in boats. Or you can do some wakeboarding, or just go lay in the lake. Whatever it is. Or RC cars and paintballs. The majority of the kids, obviously they like the RC cars. We get all the kids here.

The grownups are pretty much spent after riding all day. Kids still got a little bit of energy to burn. Generally they're the ones out on the paintball course. But you know, it all just kind of works pretty seamless. Even with the go-karts. We've got the go-karts under the arena at night, turn the lights on, and whoever wants to go ride go-karts, fire away. There's a lot going on. There's a lot to manage.

Each camp has had a good turnout of students of all ages, and both genders are well-represented. image thanks, colin edwards II

At the end of the day, it is still 100% motorcycle. What we teach is just feel. We're teaching you where that limit is. And we've got a lot of guys come out here and crash. They'll spend the first day on the ground. It's that old adage - you've got to go slower to go faster. Stop making so many mistakes. The amount of emails that I've gotten from our students that have already attended, that just say, "it was the best four days of my life," or "I've learned so much, I don't know what I've been doing for the last 20 years." Over and over and over again. And I think that is when you've got six instructors that five of us have been racing motorcycles all our life, we're all teaching the same thing. We might say a little different things, but we're just trying to get you to absorb it. Whatever's going to make that light bulb go off.

Q Have you had good response from people coming to the first schools?

A The whole idea of this thing was - probably the best advice I got was from my motor home driver. He's a good businessman, he just drives the motor home for fun. He said, "You know, you don't want to start out on top." And we didn't. We didn't do any advertising. We just want to slowly build on it. Are we full - have all of our camps been full? - yes. Our next two camps, full ... we've got about two spots left in each. The more camps we do, and the more it gets out there, the more people are realizing they want to be a part of it. At the end of the day, it's Disneyland. I just pulled up out here. It's Disneyland. I don't know how else to explain it.

This town's big enough for all of them. An instructor leads his posse past the hotel. image thanks, colin edwards II

Q Do you foresee that you will be at all of the camps?

A Yeah. All the nine that we have scheduled this year are in between Grands Prix and CMRA races. We've scheduled it like so, just so I can be here. Any camps in the future next year, if we hold more, they will be advertised as I will not be here. If you want to come and just ride and be instructed by the instructors that are available. We might throw some of them in next year. But at the moment, we focus 100% on the fact that I'm going to be here at every one of them. That's why we made the schedule like it is.

Q From the photographs, it looks like an enormous financial investment.

Fifty-caliber fun: From shooting, to riding, to go-karts, to RC cars, you're never bored at Edwards' Boot Camp. image thanks, colin edwards II

A First I have to thank all my sponsors: Yamaha, Arai, Bridgestone, Sidi, Spidi, Monster, Motul, Spy, GoPro, One Industries, GYTR and Traxxas.

It was a big investment. But you know me. I'm a people person. I love ... it's what I've been wanting to do, instruct, and kind of give away some of the knowledge that I've learned over these last 34 years. The reality of it is, I remember reading Wayne Rainey's book about he always feels like he's been learning, and it's absolutely true. Every time I get on a bike, I just feel like I'm always learning something. If it be body position, or if it be where you're looking, or how you're holding the grip, or where your foot is on the footpeg, or a particular line that you're taking. We're always, all of our instructors. We had this conversation last camp. They're like, "We always feel like we're learning. Even though we're fast, we still feel like we could be faster."



First Camp a Success!

The First 4 Day Edwards Experience at The Camp was a roaring success!!! Everyone had a great time, enjoyed great Texas cooking, and learned skills that will last a lifetime. We want to thank everyone who made this possible as well as the great students we had at the camp! We've received some AMAZING feedback from our students plus a great article on RoadRacingWorld.com. Look below to see what they are saying and then get signed up!!!

Road Racing World Article: Colin Edward's Texas Tornado Boot Camp Opens for Business

"Thank you! Even with small kids, they all had a blast. Once the plane landed in WA Landyn asked if we could turn the plane around. It was an amazing vacation.....until next time :) "
Bettina Gese, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011 

"Edward's Camp n his crew is outstanding! Delivery FIRST class!!!!! 4 days of play time n learning! Wanna see Colin's toys-->> thats the place to be! Drills n tons of ride time on 3 different tracks, not to forget special guests; this time: fast MELISA & JOSH! Delicious Texas home cooking n chilling together made us feel like one big Family! Cant wait to ride in DIRT again! Thanks to all for this one of kind experience!"
Kat Zimpel, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011

"Just left Texas Tornado Boot Camp. What an amazing and unique experience! So much more than riding motorcycles - a 24 hour immersion in fun. Tons of riding plus fun with guns, boats, go karts, rc cars, campfires and great food. It felt more like camping and playing with close friends than going to school. Thoughtful attention to every detail - I cant believe this was their first real camp. They had their work cut out them. I came in as a road racer that had never ridden a dirt bike. But by the middle of the first day I was having a blast. Thanks to everyone at the camp. Y'all are amazing. C ya again soon I hope!"
Stephen Ludwig, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011 

"Yep, a surreal experience. I mean where else can you worry about a 5 yr old crushing your lap times and get to experience a "drive by shooting?! Learned more about bike control in these 4 days than the past 30 years. Great instructors, great gear, amazing facility and you never know who`s gonna be a guest instructor."
Ben Hinker, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011 

"Back from Boot Camp where I bruised, scraped and tumbled my way to better technique and faster lap times, but I don't think I could've possibly had more fun. Big thanks to you all, what an amazing weekend!"
Paul McComsey, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011 

"Really enjoyable weekend, like a reunion with old friends even though all new people. I highly recommend it."
Mike Manners, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011 

"BEST 4 DAYS EVER! Can hardly wait for another crack at the super pole!"
Alex Drysdale, 4 Day Edwards Experience, March 24-27, 2011