fact that 250s usually go fi rst,
so the track is not as defi ned—
or rough—as it is after the 450s
race. When the classes get
fl ipped for the sake of network
TV programming, it tends to
throw everyone a little off.Ruts vs. Bumps
No rider among the dozen or so
that I spoke with had an issue
with bumps. Bumps are part of
the deal in motocross, so when
a track gets bumpy, riders admit
it’s tough but rarely ask for less.
“Eli [Tomac] has come in
from a lot of motos this year
saying ‘man, that track was
gnarly,’” Kawasaki Racing senior
manager Dan Fahey says. “But
he never complains about it.”
As for the ruts, Ayers says
you can’t separate them from
bumps, especially in the era of
450s, which dig much deeper
than any bikes from back in the
day. The track crew
cleans up ruts in
specifi c areas—like
jump faces and the
start—for safety rea-
sons. Beyond that,
it gets tricky. It you
lose the long ruts on
some of Unadilla’s
fast straightaways,
the track gets really
fast, which can be
more dangerous.
Track soil is
another topic that
comes up often. A lot
of people asked what
happened to all the
hard-packed tracks.
“RedBud used
to have really crappy
dirt, but Tim Ritchie
mixed it in with the88 http://www.racerxonline.com
only format was requested by
teams to cut back on travel days;
they could get an extra day at the
shop, and riders could get extra
time training at home. That’s a
positive step for all, and one few
would be willing to give up.
As for a change to timed
qualifying, nearly every racer I
talked to mentioned the old days
when practice was practice
and not qualifying. Back then,
riders could search for insides
and outsides throughout the
day without worrying about the
clock. Occasionally, the AMA
would even put hay bales down
in corners to block the insides,
forcing the riders to venture
wide. But timed qualifying has
advantages—for one, when rid-
ers had to race their way into the
show with a brief Sunday morn-
ing gate drop, the start made
a bigger difference than actual
speed or skill. And one fi rst-turn
crash could ruin the weekend for
even the best riders.
Ayers, then, has to try to get
as many lines open as possible,
as quickly as possible: “What
I say to the track people is, we
have to have the second and
third line ready, because they’re
all going to hammer that inside
line in qualifying.”
Look closely at most of the
tracks before the fi rst moto
and you’ll see a small groove
with a dozer blade, designed to
become a secondary, outside
rut. This is a trick Osborne in
particular says he really likes.
“Ryan Villopoto is the one
who really got us to widen the
tracks,” Ayers says. “He was
one of the fi rst to really look for
outside lines.”
And then there’s the simpleNavigating the
tracks of Lucas
Oil Pro Motocross
can be as much
a challenge as a
chore, as riders
like RJ Hampshire
(above right), Alex
Martin (26), Chris-
tian Craig (48), and
Mitchell Harrison
(45) would attest.FREDRICKSON