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AMA Pro Superbike
AMA SBK: Young Aims High Following Thunderbird Flight
Superbike star Blake Young was given the rare opportunity to take a guest ride on a USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon. Video included inside…
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The AMA Pro Road Racing action from Road America will air on SPEED at 11:00pm ET on Saturday, June 3rd and Sunday, June 4th.
Blake Young stands as the AMA Pro Superbike Championship's resident ace dogfighter. Still just getting warmed-up, the naturally gifted racer has already notched up 15 career AMA Pro Road Racing victories, 13 of which have come in the premier Superbike class, and 12 of those via a late-race acing of his rival(s).
And while Young's Yoshimura Racing Suzuki's GSX-R1000 has been described at times as 'a weapon', his experience out-dueling the best riders in the nation aboard a 200+-horsepower Superbike did little to prepare him for his ride aboard a literal weapon -- the USAF's 100,000-horsepower F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Still, Young did well in his guest ride aboard a two-seat 'Viper' piloted by a member of the USAF's famed Thunderbirds (and by doing well, we essentially mean to say he kept his lunch down…).
Madison, Wisconsin-native Young, who is desperately seeking to add wins to his resume in front of the home crowd this weekend at Road America, said, "It was a once-in a-lifetime experience for sure. I wasn't really nervous at all. I really tried to forget that I was doing it the next day so I could get a little bit of sleep and be well rested.
"I got to ride with Captain Michael Fisher with the Thunderbirds. We went through some training and I learned how to clench my legs and feet (to control blood flow and deal with the g-forces), and learn how to operate the g-suit and the breathing techniques when you're pulling those kinds of 'g's.
"He pulled me through 9.4 gs. The tunnel vision was starting to come in."
For frame of reference, at 9 g Young's body would have felt as if it weighed well over 1000lbs (his head alone near 100lbs). Roller coasters top out at around 4.5 g, the average human will go unconscious at 5 g, and modern fighter pilots rarely exceed the pressures to which Blake was (briefly) subjected to.
Blake Young stands as the AMA Pro Superbike Championship's resident ace dogfighter. Still just getting warmed-up, the naturally gifted racer has already notched up 15 career AMA Pro Road Racing victories, 13 of which have come in the premier Superbike class, and 12 of those via a late-race acing of his rival(s).
And while Young's Yoshimura Racing Suzuki's GSX-R1000 has been described at times as 'a weapon', his experience out-dueling the best riders in the nation aboard a 200+-horsepower Superbike did little to prepare him for his ride aboard a literal weapon -- the USAF's 100,000-horsepower F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Still, Young did well in his guest ride aboard a two-seat 'Viper' piloted by a member of the USAF's famed Thunderbirds (and by doing well, we essentially mean to say he kept his lunch down…).
Madison, Wisconsin-native Young, who is desperately seeking to add wins to his resume in front of the home crowd this weekend at Road America, said, "It was a once-in a-lifetime experience for sure. I wasn't really nervous at all. I really tried to forget that I was doing it the next day so I could get a little bit of sleep and be well rested.
"I got to ride with Captain Michael Fisher with the Thunderbirds. We went through some training and I learned how to clench my legs and feet (to control blood flow and deal with the g-forces), and learn how to operate the g-suit and the breathing techniques when you're pulling those kinds of 'g's.
"He pulled me through 9.4 gs. The tunnel vision was starting to come in."
For frame of reference, at 9 g Young's body would have felt as if it weighed well over 1000lbs (his head alone near 100lbs). Roller coasters top out at around 4.5 g, the average human will go unconscious at 5 g, and modern fighter pilots rarely exceed the pressures to which Blake was (briefly) subjected to.
AMA SBK Homestead-Miami
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