What do you look at while watching Pro racing?

I’m curious if I’m the only one that studies body position, foot position, hand position and race craft (along with other stuff) while watching the races? I love the battles, but even the single rider by himself I find educational.

 

timing and scoring

 

Body position and race craft.

 

The TV

 

Brolly girls

 

Don't forget fork compression!

 

Cristy Lee

 

Oven timer for pizza.

 

Body movement and setting up the body for whatever is next, try to watch the front wheel as much as possible. One thing i notice is a lot of riders upshift going into turns, is this so they are at lower rpm levels to put the power down.

 

GP shift.

 

At Road America last year, after Q1 we all went back to the AirBnb and watched the MA Live+ video of qualifying. Kaleb, Me, Garrett Gerloff. Garrett was pointing out every little thing Kaleb did that cost him time- even a few thousandths. You need to run over that white line on this exit, stay tucked in longer, wait until here to downshift, Get your elbows in on the straight, don't jerk the bike up so quickly on the exit, etc. It was very educational. Even when setting lap records there's still time left on the table if you do everything perfect.

By pausing and backing it up you can get a good idea of the brake markers and turn in points too. Not that I'm going to go out there and immediately start using someone else's turn in point, but it gives you an idea of how they are putting that corner together.

You can learn a lot by watching what the pros are doing. Often you don't really know the whole story from the TV feed, but it's a piece of the puzzle. Most of these guys are pretty efficient with their movements, they don't do things for no reason. Wether or not you can adapt and use it too is another question!

 

The racing and the BBS. Not really studying all the minutia much anymore.

 

I really don't watch BP all that much. Everyone has a different style and most of them seem to work great.

I tend to look for control inputs the most and how that translates to their lines and speed. Any time I can see their brake hand on corner entry, that get's my full attention. Mid-corner I'm looking for when they get off the brake and when they pick up the throttle. And corner exit I'm looking for how much they spin the tire to maintain their line. If I can't see their hands, I'm looking at the fork height to infer their inputs.

IMO, a lot of people have no idea how hard it is to race at the pro level. Near-inch-perfect for 15 corners over 20 laps is what it takes to win in some championships. In club racing or barely in the points in MA SS, I'll be lucky to get each corner that perfect once per weekend.

 

Liar. You know where every sponsor sticker/patch is placed, and at what angle.

 

i understand its gp shift but it seems they are all shifting into the turn , going up a gear and didnt know if they wanted to be at the lower end of the rpms in the next gear than the higher end of the gear before

 

It's not that unusual, especially going around long and/or increasing radius corners. Gets the engine where you prefer to have it in the torque range.

 

Nah, I've already looked them up before the race.

 

Umbrella girls.

 

People who haven’t paid attention much for awhile for $500, Alex……

 

Alex?


Pot: kettle... Kettle: pot