Want To Rail Rutted Corners And Berms Like A Motocross Pro?

Article Provided by: motocross-racing-tips.com

Of all the passing maneuvers executed in a motocross race, the majority are done in corners so learning to corner properly is a crucial skill. Just follow these tips and you'll be the berm master at your local motocross track.

As you approach a corner be looking well ahead, the entry to most corners will be rough with braking bumps so try to pick the smoothest entry line.

You should be standing up in the attack position to brake effectively and also to allow your legs and arms to soak up some of the bumps.
As you finish braking move smoothly into the cornering position in one fluid movement, that is with your inside leg out and forward to weight the front wheel.

Never lock your knee and try to keep your foot parallel to the ground to allow it to skim along. Keep your toes pointing ahead, if you let your foot turn out or in and it catches on a rock or some other obstacle on the track you'll give your knee an awesome tweak, trust me it hurts!

With your leg out weighting the front wheel also put as much weight as you can on the outside footpeg, this is especially important on flat and off camber turns.
As you're in the corner you should be looking through the corner picking the exit line you want to follow.

One of the tips to remember when cornering in motocross is 'steady in, fast out', brake as late as possible but stay in control as you enter the turn.

The fastest line through a corner will usually be a sweeping line across the apex similar to a road racers but this line can leave you vulnerable to an inside pass if you have a rider right behind you. In that case a better line would be tighter and closer to the inside of the corner so as to not leave an opening.

Corners can be roughly divided into 3 types - bermed, smooth and rutted.

Berms.
Berms come in all shapes and sizes and because you can carry more speed through them, so many motocross riders instinctively head to the berm. Whilst cornering around the berm can quite often be faster, particularly in wet conditions when traction is hard to find, a lot of the time the inside line around a motocross track whilst feeling slower will actually be quicker.

Take a good look at the berm, does the corner have a wide apex meaning is it a long way out to the berm from the inside of the corner? The extra corner speed you carry will be lost if you're traveling 3 times the distance of the guy who took the inside line through the same corner.

Having said that, the fact that berms allow you to lean the bike into them and carry more speed through the corner means that you can get a good flow happening from one corner to the next.
The steeper the angle of the berm the more you can lean the bike into it.

The best line is usually to enter the berm high and then turn and drive down the face as you exit. Stay smooth through the berm, squaring off by locking the back wheel to slide it around and then driving down the face is slower than holding a smooth flowing line.

The exception to this is when you need to avoid a rough section on the outside of the berm where you would normally exit or if you need to square up your line to get good drive to a jump straight after the berm.

Squaring off in berms can be good for block passes, these are done by out braking the rider in front of you and taking the inside line into the berm and going under the rider you want to pass, brake slide your back wheel onto the higher line on the berm and the rider who is now behind you will have to brake or take evasive action to avoid hitting you from behind.

You probably won't make a lot of friends at motocross races with block passes but they are an acceptable, legitimate form of passing.

 

Smooth Corners.
Because of the neutral or off camber in smooth flat corners, body positioning on a motocross bike is crucial to get the most traction and drive. As you finish braking for the corner slide forward into the cornering position on the bike.

This should be seated with your inside leg out towards the front wheel. You should be up on the corner of the seat so that as the bike is leaning over for the turn your body is still vertical. Lean heavily on the outside footpeg, this will help weight the bike for increased traction.

Look through the corner and aim for the line that you want to exit on. Once you pass the apex of the corner you should be accelerating just enough that both wheels of the bike are starting to drift. Exercise good throttle control, because flat corners have so little traction it's very easy to be over-zealous with the throttle and have the rear wheel step out.

As you exit the corner, straighten the bike up to get better traction and increase the amount of throttle.

 

Rutted Corners.
Cornering in ruts takes a combination of skill and confidence. Ruts psyche out so many motocross riders because the technique requires the rider to allow the rut to steer the bike. Because of this learning to corner well in ruts can make a huge difference to your lap times.

Entering the rut is the most important part of the whole process, dropping into a rut partway through a corner certainly is not the best option.
Again brake hard into the corner and approach the entry to the rut at a steady pace. Enter the rut with your weight forward, your elbows up and your head over the cross brace, lean with the bike into the rut weighting the outside peg.

Allow the rut to steer the bike, if you try to fight it the front wheel will climb out and you'll get out of shape. As you pass the apex of the rut start accelerating, the more speed you can carry through the more centrifugal force you'll exert on the bike causing it to really stick in the rut and allowing you to accelerate hard out.

Look through the turn and focus on the exit, not down over the front guard. As you exit the rut the bike will start to sit up and you can accelerate harder into the straight. Practice really is the key to cornering in ruts, with confidence the whole process becomes so much quicker and easier.