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I was still numb when I woke up. It didn't seem real. I had been invited to test ride a World Supersport CBR 600 RR, and now I was just about to take a shower, grab something to eat for breakfast, get geared up and be on my way to the Estoril track in Portugal.

Just a few days ago I got an email from Miguel Praia, portuguese racer in the World Supersport championship in the Parkalgar Racing Team, inviting me to ride his bike at the track, since his team would be there for the usual end of the year press test ride. Curiously, it was on the same day of another DragRacingShow track day, which meant that we could have more bikes on the track when we were riding a unique $30,000 USD CBR 600 RR Ten Kate prepped world level supersport machine..

Since it would actually be during a track day and I would be there, I signed up for the track day too, and would enjoy a morning of track time on my personal bike. More than that, I could compare my own 2003 CBR 600 RR (all stock except for an Akrapovic pipe, BMC air filter and Goodridge brake lines) with the 2006 WSS spec bike, on the same day, at the same track.

When I got to the circuit, it was about time for my group to go out to its first session, and I just stepped into Miguel Praia's pit and asked if it was ok for me to go out for a few laps and then try his bike. Since not many journos had turned up yet at 9:00 AM, I could ride the bike in 5 minutes, but I decided to take advantage of the first session of the track day on my bike and come back later to try Miguel's CBR. The weather was also an excellent suprise. Sunny clear blue sky, a bit cold but nothing drastic, around the 12-16 º C (56-61 º F).

After a few laps having fun on my bike, checking out the track and all that, I went back to the pits and into the hospitality setup that the Parkalgar Racing Team had set up for the press and VIP guests. I met there a few friends from the press, and before I knew it, I was getting the sign to get ready to ride the bike. I was told that all the invited press was getting 4 laps. One out lap, two laps, and then the slow down lap. And that meant that Miguel "Kidhornet" Santos only managed to get a single photo of me on the WSS bike .

I put on my helmet and gloves just in time to hear the bike coming in to the pits and being waved to sit on the bike. As I sat on it, I felt at home right away, barely hearing someone saying "don't forget it's got an inverted shift pattern!" while completely absorbed by the digital all-imaginable-telemetry-included dashboard. I put it in first, release the clutch with just as much throttle as I would do on an stock 600, and the bike pulled down pit lane smoothly without any stutter or complaint.

Once past the marshalls verification point, I went out on the track and was thinking about how the tires were cold and I should take it easy. But once past turn 3, I just remembered that the bike had been on tire warmers all the time, and another journo had just came in the pits from his session, so the tires had to have some heat in them. I kept thinking in the back of my head that I could not forget about the inverted shift pattern, so I was shifting by thinking ahead and counting the gears. Sitting on the bike, I felt confortable right away, as Miguel is not a short fellow, and the riding position wasn't too radical. It just felt natural for track riding.

I then realized I was exiting turn 4 (also called the VIP turn), with the back straight appearing in front of me. So, I gave it some gas out of the turn, and I could only scream "banzai!" as the front wheel decided to lift a couple of inches from the ground and I was catapulted towards the slight right hander kink that I usually go through at full gas on my 600. I simply couldn't. My brain was screaming "why is the turn so tight this time around????" just because we were getting there much faster than 20 minutes earlier on my 600 RR. The rest of the lap was a very cautions one, as I was very careful going through traffic. Maybe even too careful, as when I tippy-toed behind slower riders to pass them real safely, one or two other riders would go by me. And we were on the not so fast group... Oh well, I guess I was just too scared to push it right away.

Braking into the turns made me realize two really distinctive behaviors when compared to my bike. The brakes were really powerful, but the initial bite when you pulled the lever wasn't overwhelming, it was just a slow down kind of feeling. But it was in the second half of the course of the brake lever that there was the World Supersport braking power. And I mean stop-on-a-dime type of braking. I reason that since in Supersport corner speed is so vital, and it's so important to keep your momentum up, that the inital softer brake bite is there to allow the rider to scrubb off speed without really be throwing the anchors.

The other difference I noticed was the front suspension, which was softer than I expected. Ok, I didn't do any late braking at all, I was being extremely don't-risk-anything-on-this-bike aware, as I didn't want a bunch of well known journalists angry at me for dropping the bike before their turn. But from what I could feel, it did seem a lot like the braking feeling, soft at the beginning, and stronger at the end. That initial "softness" was to be expected, as I asked about it when I was back in the pits, and that is how it's supposed to be. Naturally, this may also be down to the WSS spec fully adjustable WP front forks, which can have different settings for slow and high speed damping.

But it was the acceleration, the power coming out of a supposedly similar engine to the one in my personal bike that I had ridden a few minutes before, that blew my mind. If this is what World Supersport racing preparation does to a 600 cc bike, I can't even begin to imagine how far a World Superbike 1000 cc inline four can do. Giving it all at the main straight, I was presented with a Star Trek spaceship kind of view, with all the information available on the digital dashborad, which includes a telemetry pickup system, including video feed from two cameras. The green lights quickly lit up and gave way to the yellow lines, which gave way to...green lights, to yellow lines, to... braaaaaaake!!!! Yes, it got through the main straight like a hot knife through butter, on speeds. Simply doesn't feel like a 600, with something like 30 extra ponies at the back wheel !

I wish I could have riden more laps, or at least the laps I rode could be traffic ridden, so that I could enjoy it more, feel it more, instead of being constantly on the lookout for slow riders going around in the strangest possible trajectories. In fact, traffic around the circuit would be a constant during my laps, ruining any chance of anything close to what would be a fast lap for me, but I enjoyed riding this unique machine. Even missing a gear on the back straight (inverse shift pattern, Mario, inverse shift pattern!!) to avoid a slower rider didn't put me off from feeling like Charpentier on the last WSS race where he won this year's title. It was great to see Miguel taking some VIP guests around on one of the team bikes setup as a two seater, and watching the excited pillions' grins and smiles after their track experience.

For next year, the Parkalgar team is bringing the experienced Simone Sanna on board too, which they hope will make the team evolve quicker, along with Miguel Praia's desire to do better. So, next year they plan to be constantly disputing the top 10 positions. It will be a tough job, believe me, as they haven't got the new 2007 CBR 600 RR bikes yet and hence haven't done any sort of testing with it, as opposed to the semi-factory teams which already have got a taste for the bike. Nevertheless, I'm sure we can count on a great performance by this team, if their professionalism and desire to succeed is anything to go by.

For me, an amateour ex-racer, track day regular, father of two, riding bikes like this makes many youth dreams come true, but, more than that, it makes me admire even more those who push them to their very limit against the very best in the World.

Good luck for next season Miguel, we'll be following you closely here at CBRWorld !

PS - As usual, the amazing quality photos were taken by my friend Miguel "Kidhornet" Santos, which had a tough job of taking photos of riders that had only 2 real laps on the bike. Thanks Miguel !