The whip

The most prestigious trick in racing is the whip. I'm going to tell you the way I do the whip and hopefully it will help you.
Picture of Justin Barcia whipping available at http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/PhotoGallerys/Justin-Barcia-unadilla.jpg

When going up the jump your body should be slightly forward on the bike. Being forward on the bike helps in bringing the back of the bike up and around. When approaching the jump let off on the gas. And begin to preload the suspension.


Next, start angling your bike towards the left side of the lip. If you are going to do a right turn your bike is already leaning towards your right foot. When you are at the base of the lip, you’ll want to twist the throttle throttle quick and then let go. This will give you more pop off the lip instead of powering through the lip like you think you would need to do. It is also important to let off the throttle right before the lip and preload the suspension to give you more lift.

Just after you leave the lip of the jump your head and shoulders will choose where your bike is going to go. As with any trick your body and bike will follow where your head and shoulders are aimed.

You should already be starting to look at your landing. There is no throttling here at all.
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Your bike should start to lay over easy now. You should not have to muscle a whip. It is more of a flow kind of thing rather than a muscle thing. Only your hands should be controlling the whip; it should flow the whole way through. Holding onto the bike with your right foot will help ensure you don’t lose the bike. Still, there is no throttle in this section of the jump.

Now you should be focused on your landing. Right when you get ready to land the whip, give it gas which will help straighten the bike up

Ricky Carmichael Riding Tips: Starts

Ricky Carmichael Riding Tips: Starts
Great tips for the starts

The Holeshot

The holeshot refers to the first person to the first corner in racing. The holeshot is the key to the race. If you are last to the first corner, but you’re the best rider you still might loose. So you want to be the first person to the first corner. So im going to tell you the way I do it so maby it will help you inprove your starts.

The importance of a good start is accurately addressed by Gary Simics:

There are two races in motocross ; one is from the starting gate to the first corner. The other one is from the first corner to the checkered flag. When you do well in the first one the second one is normally a lot easier

First I choose a good gate to start at. I like to be in the middle or the left side. That puts you closer to the first corner because most of the first corners are right turns, because it allows you to keep you right foot on the back break.

Second I pack down the dirt were im starting to help me get more tracktion. When it’s a concrete start I sweep my gate and make sure there isnt any dirt on it because it will make you spin.

Then I slide up so that im sitting on the gas tank so that the bike want flip. By the time you do all this they should have the 30 second card up. When it goes sideways it means the gate could drop anywhere between 5 and 15 seconds.

When the card goes sideways I put the bike into second gear by clicking uo on the gear shif once. Then you turn the throttle about three fourths of the way and wait for the gate to drop. While im waiting I watch the pen that holds the gate up because it has to move before the gate drops.

Then when the gate drops you drop the clutch and hold it wide open. During this I don’t let out of the throttle until I get to the first corner. Once you get there you want to use your front and back brakes. The front brake stops a lot faster then the back so if you use it you can stay in the gas longer. If you use my tips you should be able to grab the holeshot and it will make your race results a lot better.