Track owners and track builders don’t cause a track to be “One lined”. Riders cause that to happen. Most tracks are 25 to 30 feet wide, or at least they should be. We just ride in that one line all the time and then complain about it.

Here’s the skinny: take a group of 200 riders. 75 of them will be minibikes, another 75 will be beginners and novices, 20 will be vet riders and 20 will be peewees. That leaves 10 riders that are intermediate to pro level. Who do you think develops the lines in practice? Who causes the berms to form? It certainly isn’t the 10 most experienced riders on the track. If more riders would move off that hot line in practice, there would be more lines when you are racing throughout the day.

Practice and racing are two totally different actions. In practice, you go where you want to go. When you are racing, you go where you have to go. Don’t follow. If you slow down because another rider is in your way or in your line, you aren’t racing anymore.

You have to move off that hot line and ride where no one else is riding. So do that in practice too. Then there will be more lines and more berms develop during practice and that equals more lines for racing.

There are several combinations to choose from when negotiating most corners. They are:

Inside/inside outside/outside inside/outside outside/inside.

You have to visualize how these choices will affect you and the riders around you for each corner. There are some corners where you only have one choice. An example would be a corner that has a large jump right out of the corner. To clear the jump, you might have to rail the outside to have enough speed to get over the jump. Inside/outside may work, but you have to make the decision.

You can select one of these options to set up another rider for a pass. If the rider in front of you chooses the outside/outside, you can take any one of the four, except outside/outside. Take that line and you are following. When you follow, nothing good will happen. The rider in front of you may fall down, slow down or brake check you. Outside/inside would be a good choice. You follow the rider into the corner, then knife inside and try to get on the gas sooner.

Again, it’s a rider decision. Pick a corner on the track and watch other riders to see what they are doing. If they are following, they aren’t racing. The inside/outside is the “Blockpass” choice. If you use that, be prepared to force the lead rider into something he may not be ready for.

Remember

Don’t follow.

If a holes develop on a jump, move over.

If braking/acceleration bumps develop, move over.

Ride the whole track, it’s a lot wider than you think.