Mcgrath speaks again.

[miedosoracing]

Watched the CBS show today, and he said something like. "The tracks have changed, because it is hard getting those big 450F's stopped."  Something like that, and they just blew it off without any acknowledgement what so ever.

[snook620]

Watched the CBS show today, and he said something like. "The tracks have changed, because it is hard getting those big 450F's stopped."  Something like that, and they just blew it off without any acknowledgement what so ever.

I dont agree with everything McGrath says anymore but I gotta admit the sx tracks have changed. A full factory 450 puts down 65hp, those guys can seat bounce over an entire section right out of a turn, no problem. Its getting hard for track builders to design rythem sections for good racing when most of the top guys can just jump over everything. It pains me to admit but the torque, traction, and raw power to the ground of the new 4 stroke's has definetly changed sx tracks.

Outdoors it seems only the lines have changed. Riders tend to go straight in and straight out of the turns now on the 450's were back in the 90's they would sweep around turns to maintain speed.

[westsiderippa]

i couldn't agree more...... mx tracks for the most part are the same track that has been there for years but like you said its the lines that hve changed. its the same old thing with the 4 strokes, the ride wide and dive inside and make some stupid turn around the hay bail and then drift all the way wide again. thats why every race i go to theres 1 f-ing line around the track, dive inside drift wide repeat........... and they all jut follow each other around the track like a f-ing conga line......... so boring!!!!!!!

[miedosoracing]

We are mainly speaking about supercross. Those tracks have definitely changed. Less 180 turns for sure.

[snook620]

I like the newer SX style tracks. When I watch an older race now the tracks dont seem to flow like they do now.

i couldn't agree more...... mx tracks for the most part are the same track that has been there for years but like you said its the lines that hve changed. its the same old thing with the 4 strokes, the ride wide and dive inside and make some stupid turn around the hay bail and then drift all the way wide again. thats why every race i go to theres 1 f-ing line around the track, dive inside drift wide repeat........... and they all jut follow each other around the track like a f-ing conga line......... so boring!!!!!!!

Its the same way here, everybody races to the turns now instead of through them, back when it was all 2 strokes there would be 6 different lines through every turn.

It wont be long and the outdoor tracks on the mx championship will have to start changing to. I cant remember the exact track but they were clocking the top 450s at 75 mph through a fast section..... soon itll be 85.

[motoman356]

I like the newer SX style tracks. When I watch an older race now the tracks dont seem to flow like they do now.

i couldn't agree more...... mx tracks for the most part are the same track that has been there for years but like you said its the lines that hve changed. its the same old thing with the 4 strokes, the ride wide and dive inside and make some stupid turn around the hay bail and then drift all the way wide again. thats why every race i go to theres 1 f-ing line around the track, dive inside drift wide repeat........... and they all jut follow each other around the track like a f-ing conga line......... so boring!!!!!!!

Its the same way here, everybody races to the turns now instead of through them, back when it was all 2 strokes there would be 6 different lines through every turn.

It wont be long and the outdoor tracks on the mx championship will have to start changing to. I cant remember the exact track but they were clocking the top 450s at 75 mph through a fast section..... soon itll be 85.

with the sx tracks of course they have better flow. a four stroke cant handle a cut and dice kind of track. and if you haven noticed but outdoors have been affected also. i never saw unadilla with so many big jumps a track that was mainly just natural terrain and the quad at the des nations??? and the big double in the middle of high point also. i never saw anything this big 5-10 yrs ago. they are building the tracks bigger because the bikes are going farther.

[snook620]

They have changed some but not as much as the supercross tracks. I agree there are more big jumps now but there have always been big jumps outdoors. Remember Kenworthy's? Gainsville?



 

[motoman356]

true there are other tracks that have had big jumps like laroccos leap. i was more pointing to how some tracks that have changed from natural to 'un'. but probably the biggest change tho is how tracks break down now. i heard how at a supercross the rut got so deep it went to the panels under the dirt. and how few lines seem to develop now in turn. also rut dont seem to build up as much as they use to. i mean you still get them but it use to be alot of guys would work on the same lines so much where as on the 4 lines dont get used as regularly as often.

[miedosoracing]

true there are other tracks that have had big jumps like laroccos leap. i was more pointing to how some tracks that have changed from natural to 'un'. but probably the biggest change tho is how tracks break down now. i heard how at a supercross the rut got so deep it went to the panels under the dirt. and how few lines seem to develop now in turn. also rut dont seem to build up as much as they use to. i mean you still get them but it use to be alot of guys would work on the same lines so much where as on the 4 lines dont get used as regularly as often.

Laroccos leap had to be changed for the 4 strokes as well. Just an FYI.  B and C riders were jumping it. I was a pro and didn't do that jump. So for a lower class am to do it, is just stupid. But the 450's have done that. Made it easy for even the worst riders to jump crap, just pin it to win it>  And they wonder why there are more injuries.

[opfermanmotors]

I rode with a guy who just got into dirt bikes, probably a year and a half ago.  He really wanted to push himself and he would beat the crap out of his bike to do it.  I've seen him hit head first into a tree, go flying through the air after hitting a large rock head on.  He was riding a YZ426F. 

He went to a track for the first time I remember, and he said he was just following everyone else and he went off a triple.  He said it was so easy, you have no choice just going up with with some speed, no needing to hit the throttle like the little jumps in the woods (and he would do big air off these jumps in the woods).  So he was going around this track, only a few months of riding experience and hitting triples.  He said "The only thing was my face hurt because every time you land I would smash my face off the handle bars.  Apparently there's a way to land so that doesn't happen but I didn't know how to do that yet". 

I was thinking he should slow down a bit, I mean he was also throttling through the woods.  Not sure what happened to him.

[ACMX]

I'm lucky here in Washington. We have a good 25-45% smokers in the C+ classes. (below its just mostly 85s and 65s) So its not all 'single lined'. But in my class I'm one of the few two strokes and I don't mind it. I work it to my advantage and take lines others cant take.