[Kurlon]

I've got a CRF70 that I street race for fun. Despite it's heritage, I ride it GP style, not motard style. Ran on a VERY tight track last night and just couldn't figure out how to deal with the tight stuff.

Anyone got any pointers for body positioning, lines, anything to help me carry a bit more speed?

The turns in question are both tight 180 degree hair pins, one right after the other. I'm coming off a banked left hander running topped out in third, grabbing a quick downshift into second in the short straight before the first right hand 180. (It's actually closer to a 210 degree turn.) This right hander has a median radius of about 1.5 times my wheelbase. It has a 1 bike length straight before dumping you into a 180 degree left hand clone of the right hander. From there there are a couple connected right handers that I can build speed through, but those 180s are killing me. I'm racing against 50s and stock wheelbase 110s and they kill me in those sections. I can make up time elsewhere as I'm much more stable in high speed sections, but it's not enough to counter my losses in those two turns.

I've taken to just running the outside edge of the first turn, making it as wide as possible and not trying to cut in for the apex. I'm off the bike fully, and it just doesn't feel like I can cut in any tighter without loosing the front end.

I usually loose enough speed that the second turn becomes a couple quick pivot - squirt, pivot - squirt combos, not smooth at all. I can sometimes catch newer riders here and get on their inside, but I also get ridden around at much higher speeds by 'the fast guys.'

I'm open to whatever pointers I can steal. : )

[SVRACER01]

late apex. start wide. finish tight.

[OreoGitorio]

from riding/racing fiddies a few times (I'm mostly a knee down guy as well) & watching the pro's (most notably the Jeff Wood/Doug Henry battle last year), it looks to me as though foot out gives you a higher entry & exit speed in the tight stuff, where knee down gives you more cornerspeed...

So I'd say give foot out a try in the really tight corners where entry & exit is more of a priority than outright cornerspeed.

[Kurlon]

Looking at pics and vid from the race, I can see I've got some major body position problems compared to the fast guys. I'm hanging off ok, but my upper body is leaning back in... I need to get my whole body leaning out there. Plus I see where my lines were faulty now.

[a13x]

Knee down is superior to foot down when roadracing pitbikes (especially 10" wheels) in everyway.

[RyanNicholson]

haha that reminds me....i saw a guy at the track in full leathers on a 50 with his knees sticking out, and he kept just zigzaging back and forth whacking each knee on the ground haha it was hilarious

[a13x]

That could very well have been me.

[OreoGitorio]

Originally Posted by a13x

That could very well have been me.

... but can you do tight circles on a tennis court as good as I can?