So, now you have your gear, you have your bike, and you are itching to go. I am sure that there is some sort of track near where you live, even if the AMA doesnt go there. I have been to some great tracks around the country, and some not so great ones too, but some of the best were the ones that were not on the AMA calendar. For example, Putnam Park roadcourse is one of the best tracks I have ever had the great fortune to be on, but Mid-Ohio was one of the worst I have ever ridden on (this was pre-repave). Google racetrack and your nearest big city, and you bound to come up with something. You could also try going to the local sportbike shop and asking them if they know of any local tracks. Odds are pretty good that if it is a big shop, and a track is really close, they will be sposoring an event.

The local track is bound to have some sort of open track day in some variety or other, and most have some affiliation with a sanctioning body for racing and you can find out what is in your area. most likely, it is going to be CCS or WERA. Both organizations have the tracks that they go to often, and both are pretty well run, you will always find someone who will gripe about the way it is run, but if you want to race, you have to put up with it or start your own club.

Each organization is going to have its own quirks in the rule book, but for the most part, they are very similar, white number plate for expert, yellow for novice, and a T-shirt over your leathers for riders school, stuff like that. They really only vary when it comes to defining their classes, and this is one area you want to look at.

When talking about the bike selection, I noted that you wanted a bike as close to stock as possible, with the factory muffler if at all possible and that you wanted something small, like a 600. The reason for this is that most organizations have a production class in which you can replace the shock, tweak the fork internals, change bodywork, but you have to keep the motor from intake to exhaust bone stock. This is always the best class around because you know that if you can go fast on a prod bike, then you are going to go really fast once you upgrade to something like superstock or superbike. The other benefit is that you can always race up a class, but you can't race down. What I mean by this is that you can race a 600 in a 750 class, or a production bike in a superbike class. This just means that there will be more of an opportunity for you get your butt on track and get the seat time you so desperately need to go faster. The other huge benefit of starting on a 600 is that you dont learn by relying on the power of the bike to make you faster. I can't tell you how frustrating it is for a fast rider on a small bike to get behind some guy on a 1000, who parks it going into the corner and then hammers the throttle on the way out and drives away from you. It is, however, immensely satisfying to blast past that same guy on the 1000 in turn two and disappear into the distance on your 600.