September 28 - Ted Cobb back

Ted Cobb, Back On The Bike

Sunday September 28th, I packed up the van and headed out to Carolina Motorsports Park with the wife and our two pups. We scheduled a track day to test The AB1 Motorsports Aprilia 550 SXV in preparation for the GNF that's coming up at Road Atlanta. I also needed to see how my foot would do as I'm now just beginning to walk without crutches.

The weather turned out to be perfect and aside from a quick shower mid day, you couldn't ask for better conditions for testing. Team owner Aaron Brown, brought all five of the Aprilias to the test however we spent most of the day working on the bike I'll be racing.

After starting out with the forks that come on the bike from the Aprilia factory, we decided to try the Ohlins forks from my 450. It was an easy swap and the Ohlins felt immediately better, as I was able to trail in on the brakes with less front suspension travel. We finished up finding a couple seconds and ended the day with lap times that would have put us on the box in the light weight classes.

The other thing that was really encouraging was my foot held up exceptionally well, it's actually much easier to ride at this point than it is to walk. Overall, our test was helpful and I think we have a good shot at some decent finishes at the GNF.

See you at the track!

Ted "Cannonball" Cobb