Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/853132
VOL. 54 ISSUE 29 JULY 25, 2017 P117 more about putting weight where it's needed not just to avoid falling, but to achieve a desired traction level depending on whether you're accelerating, turning, braking, jumping or what have you). Line choice (the vision to see and feel detailed terrain in three dimensions, often as it changes, and adjust). Coordination (four limbs not only balancing, but handling front and rear brakes, throttle, clutch and steering). Throttle control (the ability to adjust the amount of throttle you're giving in order to achieve the level of traction you want; sometimes a lot of traction, sometimes very little). Seat-of-the-pants feel (the ability to be able to precisely, and intuitively, tell exactly what is going on underneath you, where the tires meet the track and then use the skills listed above to adjust accordingly). These things truly do make motocross racers into people with a uniquely versatile base of abilities. Seven-time NASCAR champ Jimmy Johnson has a background in motocross, as does former road racer Colin Edwards. Remember when Jean-Michel Bayle abruptly retired from motocross and then immediately went road racing at the very top of the sport? Or when Jeff Ward jumped in Indy Cars and nearly won the Indy 500 right away? Or when Ricky Johnson went out and domi- nated in closed-course off-road racing, and even won a NASCAR Late-Model Championship? Or when Ricky Carmichael—not exactly known for his throttle control—went out and competed in the NASCAR truck series right out of the chute and did pretty darn good? There's just something about it. You can take a motocross racer and, in a short period of time, make them really good at any kind of motor racing, but it never works the opposite direc- tion. Sure, Bayle went from moto to road racing, but have you ever heard of a road-racer who decided to go race motocross, having never done it before? Not a chance. You can go from moto to dirt track, like Steve Wise, but have you ever heard of a dirt-tracker who decided to go race moto- cross? Nope! You can go from moto to winning an American Rally Car championship, like Travis Pas- trana, but have you ever heard of a Rally Car racer deciding they were going to go race moto- cross? Of course not! You can go from motocross to racing Australian V8 Supercars, like Shane van Gisbergen, but would a V8 Supercar racer ever be able to go compete in moto- cross? No way. You can go from motocross to racing Formula One, like Kimi Raikkonen or Mark Blundell, but have you ever heard of an F1 driver becoming a motocross racer? Not a chance! No other motorsport produces people who can then go and race motocross, but motocross- ers can go compete in literally any other motorsport. My bet is that you cannot name any major motor sport that doesn't have motocrossers suc- ceeding in it. And the reason for this is be- cause the skills that are required to do well in motocross are so vast that no other motorsport in the world requires them all. Almost no other motorsports require the ability to jump the machine, for example, and in any kind of auto racing, all of the motocross-related skills in the area of balance and weight distri- bution are completely unneces- sary. And, in fact, this can be a bit of a stumbling block for some motocross racers when they switch to a four-wheel sport. For example, Ricky Carmichael had trouble with not being able to use his body to influence the behavior of his vehicle. But I can say with near-certainty that Kevin Windham, Chad Reed, Stefan Everts, Broc Glover, Cole Seely, Jake Weimer, Davi Millsaps, and a bunch of other racers like them would likely excel in any other motorsport in the world if given the opportunity. CN