Rail Rutted Corners And Berms Like A Motocross Pro

fast out', brake as late as possible but stay in control as you enter the turn.


Corners can be roughly divided into 3 types - bermed, smooth and rutted.


Berms.
Berms come in all shapes and sizes and because you can carry more speed through them, so many motocross riders instinctively head to the berm. Whilst cornering around the berm can quite often be faster, particularly in wet conditions when traction is hard to find, a lot of the time the inside line around a motocross track whilst feeling slower will actually be quicker.

Take a good look at the berm, does the corner have a wide apex meaning is it a long way out to the berm from the inside of the corner? The extra corner speed you carry will be lost if you're travelling 3 times the distance of the guy who took the inside line through the same corner.

Having said that, the fact that berms allow you to lean the bike into them and carry more speed through the corner means that you can get a good flow happening from one corner to the next.
The steeper the angle of the berm the more you can lean the bike into it.

The best line is usually to enter the berm high and then turn and drive down the face as you exit. Stay smooth through the berm, squaring off by locking the back wheel to slide it around and then driving down the face is slower than holding a smooth flowing line.

The exception to this is when you need to avoid a rough section on the outside of the berm where you would normally exit or if you need to square up your line to get good drive to a jump straight after the berm.

Squaring off in berms can be good for block passes, these are done by outbraking the rider in front of you and taking the inside line into the berm and going under the rider you want to pass, brake slide your back wheel onto the higher line on the berm and the rider who is now behind you will have to brake or take evasive action to avoid hitting you from behind.

You probably won't make a lot of friends at motocross races with block passes but they are an acceptable, legitimate form of passing.


Smooth Corners.
Because of the neutral or off camber in smooth flat corners, body positioning on a motocross bike is crucial to get the most traction and drive. As you finish braking for the corner slide forward into the cornering position on the bike.

This should be seated with your inside leg out towards the front wheel. You should be up on the corner of the seat so that as the bike is leaning over for the turn your body is still vertical. Lean heavily on the outside footpeg, this will help weight the bike for increased traction.

Rutted Corners.
Cornering in ruts takes a combination of skill and confidence. Ruts psyche out so many motocross riders because the technique requires the rider to allow the rut to steer the bike. Because of this learning to corner well in ruts can make a huge difference to your lap times.

Entering the rut is the most important part of the whole process, dropping into a rut partway through a corner certainly is not the best option.
Again brake hard into the corner and approach the entry to the rut at a steady pace. Enter the rut with your weight forward, your elbows up and your head over the cross brace, lean with the bike into the rut weighting the outside peg.

Allow the rut to steer the bike, if you try to fight it the front wheel will climb out and you'll get out of shape. As you pass the apex of the rut start accelerating, the more speed you can carry through the more centrifugal force you'll exert on the bike causing it to really stick in the rut and allowing you to accelerate hard out.


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