Ryan Hughes on handling corners with rough exits

Intro And Photos By Garth Milan

There’s an old rule of thumb when it comes to perfect bike handling skills: no matter what condition the track is in, there’s a time to sit and there’s a time to stand. Finding the correct combination of these two body positions on your bike isn’t always easy, but once you do, your speed will reach a completely new level.

Most MXperts will advise that for the majority of circumstances, sitting in corners with a single leg out for balance and stability combined with a standing, crouching attack position on rough straights is the best technique, but Ryan Hughes is here to tell you that there are certain situations when you need to break these age-old rules. Rough, sandy tracks with huge holes in the exits of the corners call for a completely different procedure than most. The reason? If you’re sitting rather than standing while entering colossal sand whoops, your bike will transform from a smooth-handling, technological marvel to a 10-buck pogo stick quicker than Big E can throw back an all-chicken burrito from Miguel’s.

The right-hand turn pictured here followed a long, bumpy downhill and preceded an extremely rough sand straight with two huge, curb-sized bumps right at the entrance. By keeping both of his feet on the footpegs through the corner and using his polished throttle and clutch skills, Hughes saved a ton of energy through the section but still maintained his blazing speed, all the while being set up perfectly for the next section of rough bumps. Here’s how he did it…

SETTING UP

“Directly out of this corner sat two huge bumps, so I knew I needed to be standing at the exit. Because the corner is slightly less than 90 degrees and is fairly fast, I was able to stand up through it without any balancing trouble. Most of the riders I saw this day were sitting down in the middle of the turn, putting their leg out, then trying to get back to the attack position before the big bumps. This takes far too much time and energy. It’s much easier to enter standing, crouch down or even sit down if you have to, and be able to be back into a standing position without having to worry about getting your other foot back on the bike. It makes for one quick, easy movement rather than several.

“I enter the corner just a tad slower than I would if I were planning on sitting, but I’ll make up for it at the exit. I come in slightly crouched, but looking forward and ready to attack. Once you’re in and committed, keep your balance and control the bike by squeezing hard with your legs, or more specifically your knees.”

CLEAN GETAWAY

“Another important thing to remember in a corner like this is to stay on the balls of your feet. The combination of that with the bending of your knees will act like additional suspension when you hit the first whoop and will also let you move back or forward on the bike as needed.

“As you round the corner, you’ll begin to make your transition to a full attack position. This is where keeping your feet on the pegs comes in handy. Stand up, and at the same time give your bike a quick clutch stab and some additional throttle. This will bring your front wheel up, which is exactly where it should be to handle the approaching sand bumps. I oftentimes use both the power of the bike and the first small bump out of the corner to get me up into my attack position. As always, don’t forget to look ahead."

Photos and Intro by Garth Milan

Flip through the pages of most motocross magazines, and in nearly every test photo you’ll notice one similarity. Whether the rider is wearing a back canteen, a leather supermoto getup, or even toting along his colostomy bag in the airbox, nine times out of ten the tester will be going through a left-hand corner while getting the quintessential “beauty shot.”

Click the image above for a larger version.

There are two easy explanations for this phenomenon: the first being that the majority of people on this planet are right-handed, and having your stronger right hand on top controlling the bike feels more natural and comfortable. The second reason is a bit more obvious: because the rear brake resides on the right-hand side of the bike, when you’re entering a right-hand corner your foot has no access to it, meaning that all braking must be done prior to entering. Once you’ve committed to the corner, you no longer have control of the bike via the rear brake.

With a little practice and the right technique, though, right hand corners can be tamed. This month factory Suzuki rider Sean Hamblin lent us his skills on the Suzuki test track in Corona. With plenty of top-five National finishes under his belt and one of the most promising futures in the sport, we figure that Ham-Bone needs no further introduction…

COMIN’ IN HOT!

“In a right-hand corner like this, all of your braking must be done as late as possible to keep your speed up, but soon enough to still make the corner. Right-hand turns are harder because you don’t have the brake to control your traction, so you have to slow down way ahead of time and have everything set up before the corner. That way, when you go around the corner you can use the power of the bike to make it tract, and in turn steer you. I let off of both of my brakes at the same time just before entering, and from here your throttle hand is now in control.”

KEEP YOUR MOMENTUM

“When you enter the corner, set up by scooting up near the front of the bike; this will allow your back end to pivot around the corner. Wherever you want to exit is where you should finally get on the gas. If you want to exit the corner sooner, get on the gas right away. If you want to exit it later, roll around the top for a second before dropping in and finally accelerating.

“The most important thing to remember in right-hand turns is never to stab the throttle or clutch. This will cause your bike to have uncontrollable traction that will screw you up for the next obstacle.

“In a big bowl turn like this one, you want to carry as much momentum as possible which means you will barely even use your clutch, if at all. I come in and roll around the corner smoothly, and when I’m ready I roll on the throttle and never stab the clutch. If I am touching it, it is to set up for a big jump or large set of whoops that are right out of the turn.”

Intro and Photos by Garth Milan

When you’re doing a moto with your buddy at the local track, nothing is more frustrating than a severe case of arm pump just as you’re ready to toss him/her over the next berm. The dreaded curse of arm pump is caused by a number of factors, but one of the biggest precursors to pumped veins in your forearms and hands are chopped up, rough braking bumps on the entrance of corners.

Short of jumping on the tractor and smoothing the track out yourself, unfortunately there’s not much you can do to avoid braking bumps; they’re a sad reality of motocross. If you’re sick of your arms looking like Popeye’s, though, there is a way to combat the “bump equals pump” syndrome. With the proper form and technique, stars like David Vuillemin are able to minimize their arm pump on rough sections by loosening up, using their bike’s suspension to their advantage, and soaking up the harsh jolts like a sponge.

We spied Team Yamaha’s David Vuillemin recently on one of the roughest sections of the bumpiest tracks we know, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask him for his advice. Cahuilla Creek is known for its brake chop, and the nasty bumps pictured were on the entrance to a corner with loose, sandy conditions. We’ll let the Cobra take it from here…

LOOSEN UP

“When coming up on a rough section like this, the first thing you need to remember is that you want your bike in a gear higher than you might think you need to be in. I enter this corner in third, whereas a lot of the riders I was watching came into it in second. This is no good; if you enter in a low gear, your bike will be doing too much engine braking. This will cause it to swap from side to side, make your front end go too low in the stroke, and your suspension will not react how it should.

“Besides being in a higher gear, the next best piece of advice is to relax and loosen up! If you’re coming in hot with a death grip on the bars, of course you’ll get arm pump. Instead, let yourself flow and be natural on the bike.”

GET ANOTHER GRIP

“It makes a huge difference if you consciously remember to grip the bike harder with your knees and legs. Squeeze it hard here instead of with your hands, and you’ll have much more control. Your legs are stronger and do a better job of stabilizing the bike, plus they don’t get pumped up as quickly.

“Make sure you are smooth with the throttle and brakes, too, and stay on top of the bumps as you come in. Keep your weight towards the back of the bike and try to never let your front end dip down too much; this can cause you to go over the bars.”

SHIFT!

“If you do all of the things I just mentioned correctly, your arm pump should be far less than it was. But don’t get too lazy out there. You still need to shift if you want to do the corner perfectly and have fast lap times.

“Since the turn that follows these bumps is pretty sharp, I need to shift down to second gear in the middle of it. As I mentioned, I enter the turn a gear high in third, but once in I shift to second in order to get plenty of traction in the sand. The trick is waiting. Once you get back up to speed and are exiting, shift back up again for the approaching straightaway.”

Daniel Blair's been scoring some great starts in '04 125 SX action, often from less than stellar gate picks. We were curious how he preps his spot on the starting line, and to see what other starting tips we could score from him, so we put that question to him after last Saturday night's race in St. Louis.

Daniel Blair (125) and his brother Vincent have been road tripping the entire U.S. SX tour, riding two classes every week. Here he slides into the first turn at St. Louis with Paul Carpenter and Bubba.

"I've tried using different techniques, but this year I just scrape all the loose dirt out of the rut, and run whatever's there. I roll in there, set my start device, click it into second, and dump the clutch when the gate drops."

"I've got my gearing set up (with a 51-tooth sprocket on the rear) so that I can do second gear starts wide open and drop the clutch. Even though sometimes on the track I wish I had a 50 on the back, with my weight, and my shifts, I have it figured out to where I can do the same start every time."

"A couple guys will beat me, like Carpenter and Stewart, but there are like 18 factory guys on the track and I'm beating like 16 of 'em to the first turn. My bike is stock with just a Yoshimura pipe and an ignition, and I'm killing these guys."

"Once you get it figured out and you're confident with your start procedure, you can do it every time."

With plenty of creativity and the ability to blend smooth style with a fearless attack, watching James Stewart ride is always a treat. When we were at Starwest last Saturday watching Bubba at Oakley's Big Day Out MX Holiday Jam, he was hitting a section as a triple that everyone else would do as a double-double, and even veteran observers (like David Bailey) were left shaking their heads. How did he attack that section? We grabbed a sequence so that we could break it down.

James had to rail the berm in the corner before this, and stay hard on the throttle up the face, and right up until the lip of the jump.

In the second shot you can see how fast he shifts his weight rearward, and how hard he's preloading the rear suspension... nearly bottoming it as he goes up the face of the jump.

By the third shot of the sequence, you can see Bubba leaned well forward, and reaching for the clutch lever to prevent the engine from stalling as he went for his usual brake tap that'd bring the nose of the bike back down into normal flight pattern.

Bubba shows how to get maximum pop on takeoff. Click the image in the article for a larger version.

From there it's an easy jump, with just minimal body English to set up for the landing. As he begins the downside of the arc, he also lets out the clutch.

The jump that he lands on is the takeoff for the second half of a double-double that most riders. After that it's a smooth roll-out over the last little jump.

That's the easy description of what's going on. Doing it jump after jump, and lap after lap is the hard part. If you give this one a try, be sure to ease into it. Bubba has a way of making the nearly impossible look way too easy.