feature
cracking the code
California superbike school founder, author, world famous riding coach and all-round cool dude Keith Code was in
town recently. We caught up with him at Eastern Creek…
MOST
of us have a Keith Code book, or two, or three…
Like a good series of recipe books, most of his
stuff is easy to digest, while some parts can cause
indigestion – but, importantly, all of it tastes good… Follow
Keith’s diet and you get desert; faster, smoother lap times and
more bike control for the road.
Keith’s books are deep. They’re thinking books – and Keith is
a thinking man. As we sat in a quite area of Eastern Creek
Raceway and cracked The Code, each and every question was
taken in, broken down and carefully answered in an intense
combo of fact, reason and proof. It’s all there in the big man’s
head. Keith Code is a riding university on legs.
Rapid: I know you started racing back in the 1960s.
So have things developed from there?
Keith: Yeah, I did. Actually, ’61! You know, well, I was like, 16
years old when I started racing. But, you know, the ’60s were
harder on some people than on others. They weren’t as hard
on me as some of my friends who aren’t around anymore,
but I spent a great deal of time doing drugs. My dreams kind
of faded away from the drugs, as all drugs will tend to do
that. I pretty much quit racing altogether because I lost those
things most important to me – my dreams. I stopped for a
long time. I was basically a full drug addict on the street.
Eventually I quit through Dianetics (Scientology), which
really worked for me and helped me. Those things then
started to come back in line; come back to me.
Drugs knocked me off my pins and Dianetics removed the
reason why and I started racing again in 1973. So back
then in ’73 or ’74 if you told a rider that it wasn’t in their
genes to be a good rider, but you could think this through
and go fast, they’d serve a bit of lip service to it. There was
no data. No written info. Nothing at all. Nothing!
So I started thinking that this riding of a motorcycle, it can
be broken down into bits and, once mastered, assembled to
improve the riding as a whole.
Rapid: What about the top riders, did they have a system?
Keith: No, there was no communication. Those who could
string a fast lap together didn’t have data to prove why
they were fast. They were just fast. But that is common in
many, many sports. Like Steve (Brouggy) says, “If you
wanted to play golf like Tiger Woods would you want
coaching from him or his coach?”
But the top guys weren’t my problem…
Rapid: When did you start building a database?
Keith: I started to write down info in the mid ’70s. Because
I tried a few things and broke them down in a logical analytical sequence. To find what is actually going on. Why this
corner is going well. There must be a technology. The robot
that puts the frame together doesn’t have a technique, it has
a blue print. So in order for any rider to get along with this
machine, right, they’re going to have to be able to work the
machine. The machine can’t be tricked. The machine does-
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Interview by Jeff Ware Photography by Heather Ware
n’t know anything, right? So the guidance points do break
down into specific points and areas. So as technology
increased for the machines, it never really improved for the
riders. So I said, OK, this is something I could do…
Rapid: From there?
Keith: Well while I was riding as a pro in the mid to late ’70s
I was experimenting in the winter time. I said OK, I need a name.
So I called myself the Keith Code Rider Improvement Program,
right? It’s one-on-one, give me a couple of hundred bucks and
we’ll talk about it for a day and we’ll go to the track for a day.
Everybody improved a lot, so that kind of pumped me up. So
once you take it, and break it down, and get it to that first point,
then you can go back to the start with data and say OK, what
are we going to teach here. And you can find that point. It works.
Now I had to say, OK, how am I going to communicate it? My
next task was to come up with exercises and drills.
Rapid: Trial and error?
Keith: We’re still refining what we do but it is near perfect, we’ve
had many, many years to develop our program.
Rapid: Has the modern sportsbike or racebike changed
techniques?
Keith: No. You know, you’re in publishing. So no matter how
sophisticated you get or how pretty you make your mag, the
basics of publishing are the basics of publishing. The difference
between technique and technology is a very interesting area.
We see techniques come and go, but the underlying technology never changes. Straightening out a corner is a piece of
technology. A 125 and a MotoGP rider use different techniques,
right, but they’re both just straightening out that corner.
Rapid: Is knee down/hanging off going to change?
Keith: Well, it’s got a function. It can be done correctly and
wrongly. But really, no. I can’t see it changing. You want to
control the machine but you want to be autonomous from
the machine as much as possible, right? So this machine will
only work in certain ways. That machine will only work in
certain ways. If there are advances in technology that help
the rider use the underlying riding technology then there may
be changes. If they don’t, then no.
Rapid: What do you think of rider aids such as ABS,
Traction Control, etc?
Keith: Not many are going to race with it. Good for riders who
panic. They’re great but not for cornering!
Rapid: What makes a fast rider?
Keith: I guess at the end of the day you want a rider that
knows what they’re doing and that can overcome that fear
factor. The survival instinct. That was something I really
didn’t understand – I learnt about it and walked down the
line, figured out how to get the rider to focus on the correct
technique to overcome it and understand it.
CHAMPIONSHIPS WON BY RIDERS KEITH
HAS TRAINED BOTH PRIVATELY AND AT
CALIFORNIA SUPERBIKE SCHOOL
Latest Champions
2005 MotoGP 125cc World Champion Thomas Lüthi
2005 British Supersport Champion Leon Camier
World Champions
2004 World Superbike Champion James Toseland
2003 World Supersport Champion Chris Vermuellen
1997 World Superbike Champion John Kocinski
1993 World Endurance Champion Doug Toland
1993 World Superbike Champion Scott Russell
1992 World 500cc Champion Wayne Rainey
1991 World 500cc Champion Wayne Rainey
1990 World 500cc Champion Wayne Rainey
1989 World Superbike Champion Fred Merkel
1988 World Superbike Champion Fred Merkel
Rapid: So you like to solve problems eh?
Keith: Yeah, I like it. My books and my
research is all about helping and solving problems. I went back racing in my 40s on 250GP
to do some more research, have some fun and
just freshen up! I practise what I preach. That’s
why I went out again and it was hard. The pressure was on. Everyone wanted to offer me
advice when I was in 20th, then it dried up as I
went closer to top 10! It was fun though.
Rapid: So the racing is finished?
Keith: Yeah. Hey, I’m 61 you know. But it never
leaves you. I could start an over 60s class –
maybe win a plastic trophy!
But it’s not really my place to be fast anymore.
Rapid: Big ride day culture now. When you
wrote your books racers were the main readers. What do you think of the new track
culture? Does it make for safer riders?
Keith: Well that first point is true. There are loads
of track day riders now. But safety? That’s not my
area, you know. Those two things don’t go
together – bikes. Safety. You kidding?
Rapid: A few stand out success stories?
Keith: Well the latest are always the best. I’ve
trained 43 riders who’ve gone on to world or
national championships. This year it’s Thomas
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Luthi. Our UK director coached him and he
won! I took on a Brit who won the UK
Supersport title. But there’s been Lawson,
Kocinski, and all those guys. Hey, Scott Russell
was a street squid (racer). A total jerk!
Somebody said hey, get on the track! You
know. You never know who’s the best.
AMA Superbike Champions
1998 Ben Bostrom
1997 Doug Chandler
1996 Doug Chandler
1992 Scott Russell
1991 Thomas Stevens
1990 Doug Chandler
1988 Bubba Shobert
1987 Wayne Rainey
1986 Fred Merkel
1985 Fred Merkel
1984 Fred Merkel
1983 Wayne Rainey
Rapid: Steve (Brouggy) is popular here in
Australia – has the Australian Superbike
School been Australianised in any way?
Keith: No. You could do level one here, level
two in the US and level three in the UK.
They’re all the same.
AMA 250cc Champions
2000 Chuck Sorensen
1998 Roland Sands
1986 Don Greene
1985 Don Greene
1984 Don Greene
Rapid: How do you help a top-level rider like
Rossi?
Keith: We don’t. Rossi doesn’t need my help!
The question is, what could Rossi do for me?
Rapid: What is your job?
Keith: It’s not my job to tell anybody how to
ride a bike, right? There are certain points that
somebody should understand but it isn’t my
job to tell that person how to apply them. Just
to say – if you get this right it’ll work for you. If
you get this wrong it won’t work for you. This is
not my opinion. This is how it is.
Visit www.superbikeschool.com.au
■
AMA Supersport Champions
2005 Tommy Hayden
2004 Tommy Hayden
2001 Eric Bostrom
1994 Jamie James
1990 David Sadowski
AMA Superstock Champions
2004 Aaron Gobert
1992 Scott Russell
1991 Scott Russell
1990 Scott Russell
Formula USA Champions
1993 Chuck Graves
1992 Mike Smith
AMA Supertwins Champions
1997 Eric Bostrom
1994 Shawn Higbee
1990 Nigel Gale
AMA Formula Extreme Champion
1998 Eric Bostrom
AMA Battle of the Twins Champion
1988 Dale Quarterlya