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MACA Rider Tip # 2

24/08/09

This is a really great shot of GMR Motorex KTM racer Jay Wilson and newly crowned QLD Motocross Champion, at his team photo shoot. Even though it’s only a small rut to work with on the ultra hard pack surface, Jay has used every inch of the rut to his advantage and on top of it he has close to perfect body position.

Jay’s upper body is relaxed, yet poised and ready for action. He has a firm yet supple upper body stance through his shoulders to his elbows, with one finger on the front brake and controlling the clutch with two fingers on the left hand.

Jay is dragging the front brake ever so slightly to give greater control and stability through the front end of the bike as he goes through the rut. This is a great tip to master and can considerably improve your speed through ruts.

You can also see how he is gently using clutch control to manage the power to ensure he has stability and getting power through the rear end of the bike, maintaining smooth and consistent power through the turn.

Jay is also keeping his head balanced over the bike and looking ahead to where he wants to go through the top left hand corner of his vision area.

Jay is also holding his inside leg nice and high, with a slight bend and out of harms way. Ideally, his toe could be pointed a little, but given his size on the KTM85SX he is doing an exceptional job. Not only is keeping the inside leg in this position good for safety, but the position would allow for Jay to ‘save it’ and pick the bike back up with his inside leg if he tipped it too far over.

The weight of his leg toward the front of the bike also helps give greater stability through the front wheel. Combined with the very slight dragging of the front brake, he is totally in control of this rut – its not controlling him.

You can also see from this image that even though this is a very shallow rut, Jay has found the sweet spot in terms of the outer wall of the rut to ensure he is getting maximum surface coverage on the tyres. The more dirt your tyre can touch – the more grip you get. You can see from this image that ¾ of the front tyre width has contact area with the rut.

Jay also has his outside leg firmly planted on the foot rest, weighting the outside peg. What this technique does is help to push weight to the inside of the rear wheel which in turn again gives greater stability and more power to the ground.

It’s not a high speed or aggressive action shot, but it proves that working on the small things are the best way to ensure you have it 100% sorted when you hit the gnarly stuff and that it is a combination of techniques that provides you with optimum rut control.

Jay Wilson, who is based in northern NSW, just won the Queensland Motocross Championship in the 14-15 years Mini Lites class and placed second overall in the 13-14 years Lites. This is one junior rider to watch.

MACA coaching wishes Jay the best of luck at the World Junior Championships and Australian Junior Nationals later this season.

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