Tested By: Sean
Price: $170 (Buttonwillow Raceway Park)
Contact: www.keigwin.com
Instruction: 22/25
Price: 24/25
Amenities: 24/25
Track Time: 25/25
95
Good clean fun minus the B.S. of learning on the street sums up at a day at Buttonwillow racetrack with Keigwins@theTrack, a California-based track-day provider. Keigwins promoted a relaxed atmosphere by only enforcing the rules required for the sake of safety—never was it annoyingly bureaucratic. They have been doing this for a long time, over a decade, and understood what participants expect: the most possible seat time. From the riders meeting on there was a push to stay on schedule so each group (A, B+, B-) received the most possible track time. Case in point, if a rider took a spill and his/her bike couldn’t ride away it was to be left where it lay (off-track) until the lunch break so others wouldn’t lose out on their session.
The rules were simple: leave a 6-foot bubble when passing, no stunting and mind the flags; apart from that it was all about rider improvement. Each 20-minute session started like clockwork and by the end of the roughly 8.5-hour day (with an hour lunch) I logged seven sessions with an additional 15-minute instructor session. The instructors were approachable, fast and vocalized areas for improvement in an easy to understand manner. While more laps shadowing an instructor would’ve better cemented correct lines and faster lap times, this isn’t a school but a track day. As an added bonus because a New Racers School (hosted by Keigwins) was going on that day, all interested riders took part in three practice race starts that filled the grid with 30+ bikes. It made for an awesome end of the day and really solidified the controlled chaos of racing. Available amenities thanks to on-site vendors included tire support, food/drink, gear sales/repair and instructor direction. Pricing was average. Only one rider crashed that I saw and everyone left swapping stories; overall it was a TD provider I’d recommend in a heartbeat.