MINI MOTOCROSS RACING TECHNIQUES

all right class now listen carefully we're going to place two points on a plane point a and point b now how would we find the shortest distance between the two points rick what is the shortest distance between the two points one of the things we'll be working on today out of the track is our cornering technique the quickest way to enter a turn is to keep the bike in a straight line from a to b before we get into turns today though we're going to start off with our starting technique why don't we get suited up and head out to the track [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] today we're going to begin with our starting technique a lot of wires you start with one foot up on the foot peg and that's not a very consistent way of starting because with one foot up like this the bike can be leaned over a little bit sideways and when you release the clutch out the bike would immediately go sideways so it's much more consistent to start with both feet on the ground in this manner also remember too that you don't want to be sitting back on the seat like this you want to get all the way up on the gas tank this allows for more of an even weight distribution and gets a lot of the weight off the rear end of the machine so so it doesn't come up into a big wheelie so again just a quick review of this we're going to be starting with both feet on the ground above the machine on our toes all the way up onto the gas tank a real smooth release of the clutch with the throttle held in a set position [Applause] [Music] here in slow motion the starring technique is performed correctly the rider just put the bike in gear and he left the clutch out a little bit so he knows it's in gear he's all the way up on the gas tank both feet to the rear of the foot pegs he's holding the throttle in pretty much a set position and he's going to release the clutch very smoothly both feet are again to the rear of the foot pegs and he slowly puts him up onto the foot pegs after he crosses the starting gate we're going to begin our flat corners what i want to cover here is that too many riders make a mistake of leaning the bike over well before the corner i finally lean the bike over we can't do our braking correctly and we can't slow down properly now we're going to watch wayne demonstrate this corner but the first time down he's going to do it incorrectly he'll make the common mistake of leaning the bike over too far before the corner too many riders waste time leaning the bike over before the corner begins [Music] keeping the bike straight up and down the throttle can be left on longer and the bike can be slowed down much quicker this is the single most important technique for reducing your lap time [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're going to be working on our jumping technique now a common mistake that most riders make is that they see a jump and they gas it real hard and they fly way up in the air and what that does is the rider spends too much time going up instead of forward this technique that we show you works very well on stadium type jumps to throw you way up in the air or just jumps on the racetrack that you spend too much time going up and not enough forward acceleration this technique that we work on here we're going to be in a normal standing position like this approaching the jump ramp and then as the bike leaves the ground we push the bars forward and our hips back what this forward to rearward movement does is it makes the bike fly out more level some riders stand up and this makes the bike go up higher in the air and that's what we're trying to stay away from here today we're going to be leaning our chest down low and pushing our bars forward and our hips back just like this when do you guess it you accelerate up the jump ramp and then before you land again to smooth your landing out see the wheel spinning will absorb the shock over the entire wheel and that's what smooths your landing out remember that if you shut off going up the jump ramp itself the front end is going to go down you always want to accelerate roll the throttle on going up to jump [Music] rick you've got good body movement over the jump but what'll help it even more is as you leave the jumps move your knees back that'll extend your body movement okay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] approaching the jump the rider is in a standing position with his chest down low as the back wheel leaves the ground he pushes the bars forward and his hips back this is the correct jumping technique the next technique we're going to cover is whoopsie dudes a common mistake that some riders make is they get up too far in the front of the machine the problem that this causes is too much of my body weight right now is on the front of the bike and we want to keep the front end light when we go through these bumps if weight gets on the front end it collapses the forks and there's no springs there's no fork travel left to absorb the bump so we want to keep the front end lights and the way to do that is let your knees move back and keep your weight more to the rear of the machine a real easy way to tell if you're doing this right or wrong is just to look down if your knees are locked between the seat and tank this is incorrect we want to get them back and move around and get your hips back to the rear of the bike to keep the front end light another mistake that some riders make is they lean back with their upper body this causes many problems but the worst one it causes is the arms are locked and it makes upper body take a real bad beating when they go through the bumps here when you lean forward it relaxes your arms and make them makes them work more evenly through the bumps almost like your suspension they can absorb the bumps here when you go through it now we're gonna call you guys two at a time and i'd like you to go down and line up where bob is down [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there here these riders are too far forward on the machine you can see the forks bottoming out and the back wheel's coming off the ground the second rider here almost end those because of this mistake [Music] [Music] here you can see the correct position the chest is down low the knees are bent the hips are to the rear of the machine and you can see how the suspension moves very evenly through these bumps the front end is light and i'm bottoming out and the back end is coming up and down between the rider's legs this is a good example of the correct technique rick rick what is the shortest distance between the two points a straight line on a suzuki [Music] you