Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

GET YOUR VENTED MOTOCROSS Gary Bailey's How to win MOTOCROSS * - Part ten: Racing technique .... ~ .c p to h ere , we h ave cove re d a lo t slow ly an d care fu lly . Stu dy th e tra ck of st u ff. No w the chips ar c down . This is it . yo u say. I'm gonna get 'em to day . Please don 't say tha t yet. Thcre is o ne thing I keep sayi ng th a t som e p eople kee p no t he ari ng:. " Yo u before you rid e on it . even if y ou rode o n it las t week. Some th ings m a y be di ff erent o r yo u m a y sec so me t h ing yo u never noticed befo re. I'll tell yo u some thi ngs to lo o k for and wa tch fo r in a m in ut e. It takes 15 m inu tes or so to wal k U E ~ u ~ c pallO ca n't learn a nd ra ce a t the sa me t im e !" WITH YOUR NAME OR LOGO DONE ON OUR PREM ISES While You Wait yl 1$5.951 II V EN T ED JE RSEY S So wh at happen s wh en the race begin s? Some riders d o a big whcc lie at the sta r t, then dr op in behind th e pac k. The rest o f the race th ey are ou t there fo llow ing people aro und , usin g th e sam e gro ove th at every bo dy else is usin g. Th ey are trying as hard as th ey can to win - th ey think. Th ey lo se. What's wrong? Did n ' t the training d o around a track. So me ride rs thin k th ey don 't h ave ti m e to do that so th ey decid e 10 rid e aro und it slowl y , Th at th ose ride rs a ny good ? 'I11e a nswer is no . winning pr actic e. ,. isn 't the same thing ev en if y o u do go slowly but yo u kn ow what usuall y ha ppen s. One lap wal kin g aro un d th e race t rac k is worth at least 20 to 3 0 lap s playi ng o n yo ur m otorcycle. "Th ey do n ' t give a troph y for Yo u won"t ge l bo red if you a rc co nsid ering all th e angles and filing th e infonn a t ion away in yo u r mind. Yo u shou ld c o nsid er every th ing fr om two viewpo in ts: Wha l if I do? What if I do n't ? Yo u see a good line through a co rn er and visual ize h o w y o u are going to rid e it. Th ar's wha t if you d o. If ano t her rider is a lready in it. o r h e has crash ed and is ly ing right o n yo ur line , then wh at if yo u do n 't? You have to have some a lternat ives . O ne o f th e altern a tiv es is a lways go ing off th e track, Yo u ma y get fo rced o u t or you m a y ride ou t to a vo id a pile-up. So wh en yo u are wa lking, yo u look a t th e track and you also lo o k bes ide the t rack. Wha t 's in th e weeds It did n 't do th em any good because they didn ' t use it. They went o u t there, got excited abo ut win n ing. a nd forgot • ALL COLORS. ALL SIZES PRE-ORDERS TAKEN Dr p ut on LAY-A-WAY Where? 10 do any of th e things that h elp yo u win . The training a nd methods in this boo k w ill not help yo u if y o u do n't use th em. Nothing can hel p yo u cha nge or improve if y o u won 't change or improve. Her e's another th in g I say . The first tw o or three t imes yo u rac e usi ng my meth ods, yo u may ac tual ly go slower than be fo re. Th a t's hard to ta ke for so me riders. They th ink I waved a magic wand over th am and now th ey are Above: Gary's son Dav id is on the in side; he's gonna go wide and use that big berm. You know what Gary (93) is gonna do. Above left, Gary is squaring it off. When other riders come in wide and go out t ight, Left, like th is: David is on the berm, Gary has made his p ivot and is accelerating. Below left, when Gary gets it on, the bike wants to powersl ide and drift across the track. Gary holds it in with his toe. Below, down at the next corner their positions are reve rsed. aut o m a tically ace ra cer number o ne. Sorry 'bout th at. You are not d o ing it $.,-~c " " , ' / II.lU-'" Seasons~~~~ Greetings to our customers & friends ~'f.Adng/ne. 440 Belden Ave. A ddiso n, IL 601 01 312·543-524 7 my way when yo u are d oing it some other way. So you are OUI there o n th e tr ac k do in g it all righ 1. And the gu y wh o always beats you is out th ere d oi ng it wrong. And he is still beating you to day. Shakes your co nfidence, do esn 't it ? Think about this : You have ju st start ed do ing it righ t. You have to learn to do it righ t just as y o u learned to d o it wrong. You have built in a bunch o f habits and a tti tudes th a t you may now be tryi ng to cha nge or im p ro ve. When you h ave t a ken the tim e and pu t in th e work to lea rn to do it right, yo u will race fast er th an you ever did before . THE ~. INTERAMA WINNER Th at 's a fact! When I h ave given a schoo l and stay over for th e next races a t that track , I wa tc h th e students wh en I can. Sometim es a rid er comes up to m e aft erwards and say s, " Hey , Gary , I won my class !" Natu rall y I am pleased . MACHINES THAT WIN AT COMPETITIVE PRICES more th an th at? lr's the rid er w ho says , "lIey , Gary, I go t a better sta rt tod ay . I :¥~ ~ Wanl Coast Mota Cycle 2334 Newport Blvd . Costa Mesa, CA 9262 7 714 ·645 ·8008 Race on racetra cks. 10 kn ow what pleases me mu ch used th at insid e line o n th e d ownh ill turn and passed a co uple o f riders nea rly every time. I be a t my buddy by o u tbraking him at th e end o f th e lon g straight. " li e didn't win. He go t a third or a fourth - o r even a ten th. I d on 't care and he doesn't care righ t now be cau se he knows he is learn ing to race . I thin k he's gonna win a nd it won 't be very (714) 894·2623 lon g. So let's say yo u are at the tra ck for Penton, Monark & Tyran & Rupp Fun Machines the first time a fte r you got so m e new id ea s a bo ut h o w to rac e . You r main ohje ct should be to go out th ere and Sales Service Parts Accessor ies apply th ose new ide as and meth ods. . D&R Cycles 14 '- 7181 Westminste r Ave. Westminste r, CA 92683 \Vi nn i n ~ c o m es later. Walking the track ./ When y o u get to the tr ack , th e fir st thing you sh o uld d o is wal k aro u nd it A fte r yo u wal k th e t rack yo u sh ould ma ke three o r four slow laps jus t to ge t the feel of th e d iffer ent lin es yo u saw and th e d ifferen t places to rid e. You will ge t so me good id eas wh ile walking th at you will never see while rid ing. Th en yo u have t o test th ose ide as by riding. Some o f them won ' t work so you d o n 't use them in the race. So me of th em will and y o u have so m e se cret weapons. The slow laps arc hard to d o. Yo u want t o do what we all c a m e for - ride fast. I d o it myself. I h ave a hard tim e doi ng slow laps aro und th e t rack even though I preach it wee k a fter week. B UI you have to do it. What to look for When yo u are walking th e tra ck, there arc a lot of things 10 think about. th er e , or d own in th at ditch ? What if yo u get forc ed off th e trac k where it turns a t th e top of a hill ? What 's o n the o ther side o f tha t hill ? What if? Suppose yo u ca tch a bunch of riders ganged up in a tum during th e race and you decide 10 go insid e - off the bea ten pat h. There are so me weeds there. You don't want to waste time tryi ng to decide whether you should ride o ut th ere or not, And you do n 't want to ride o ut th ere and fin d a big h ol e in the gro un d or a big ro ck hiding in th e weeds. So, you lo o k in the weeds while yo u ar e walking th e track . What if? Not o nly do you h ave the two kinds of what if to co nsid er, y o u have to develop at least two lines th ro ugh ea ch co m er. Ign ore th e groove. You are not out there to dis cover that - it is plainly written on th e ground. Th e groove is my

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