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Cornering Straight Talk

Written by AllAboutBikes Editor April 14, 2009 0

Cornering Straight Talk

Olaf Wolff

AllAboutBikes Sr. Staff Writer

If it’s an extended straightaway that flexes a motorcycles’ might – then it’s in the corners where you’ll determine the sincerity of its soul. Every racetrack or winding canyon road has it’s own rhythm of turns. Some quick like a Texas two-step. Others graceful and familiar like a hypnotic waltz. Others still may rock-and-roll, back and forth, switchback to off-chamber, loud and unpredictable. Exist exactly in the pristine clarity of the moment so that music of the road resonates throughout every fiber and it will become the dance you’ll never forget.

What separates mere racers from champions then is how well they dance. Okay, that may have been one musical metaphor too much. My point is that a rider’s talent for going through corners faster then anyone else, at the end of the day, determines championships. Sheer brute horsepower alone won’t do it.

Cornering without waste requires an artist’s finesse and a fighter’s reflexes. It necessitates precisely honed peripheral vision that can at once focus straight ahead and 180 degrees left and right, at the same instant employing a highly developed mental algorithm to adjust entry and exit lines at speeds that would have the mightiest of computers blowing smoke. Cornering well is what turns a nerve-rattling, white-knuckle, back roads detour – into a harmonious, friendship-bonding, adventure with pals.

Happy Anniversary

Written by AllAboutBikes Editor April 01, 2009 0

Stateside MotoGP fans Rejoice!

Ron Lieback
AllAboutBikes Staff Writer

On August 30, you’ll be able to get within distance of Valentino Rossi’s dominating YZR-M1 at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). But besides us two-wheeled racing fans celebrating the second year of another stateside MotoGP event besides Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, IMS is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.

Although IMS’s heritage is based around automobiles, its history begins with motorcycles. The first motorsport event ever held at the facility in 1909 consisted of seven motorcycle races, sanctioned by the Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM). This was originally planned as a two-day, 15-race program, but ended before the first day was completed, due to concerns over the suitability of the track surface for motorcycle use. Remember, back then Indiana had no paved streets, and the lack of experience with track surfaces led to the laying of somewhat inadequate riding material.

Family Affair

Written by AllAboutBikes Editor March 30, 2009 0

Family Affair

Olaf Wolff
AllAboutBikes Staff Writer

Does an older brother relentlessly out muscling his younger siblings for the last flaky dinner biscuit inspire them to move quicker? Will family competition for mom and dad’s pat-on-the-helmet produce faster lap times? Beats me. All I can say for certain, and statistics are with me on this, is that keeping it all in the family creates a fertile environment for growing Superbike champions.

Bostrom Brothers

Take the Bostrom’s for example. Brothers Dave and Paul enjoyed successful AMA dirt-track careers in the ‘70’s. Dave sired Ben and Eric. Ben followed his father’s tire tracks by winning the AMA National 600 Dirt Track Championship in 1993. He moved to road racing in 1995. In 1999 Ben was the reigning U.S. Superbike champion aboard a Honda, the Holy Grail of American road racing.

Younger brother Eric is no slouch either, statistically his best season was in ‘01. Riding for Kawasaki, Eric finished a close 2nd to Mat Mladin in the AMA Superbike series and won the AMA Supersport Championship.

Years ago both Ben and Eric discovered bicycle training, then bicycle racing, as a means to keep fit mentally and physically. Peddling appears to be working for them, as of ‘07, Ben and Eric are both still riding motorcycles for Team Yamaha in the U.S. Eric is riding the Superbike class and Ben is on a Superstock bike.