~ Auto Buzz ~: VIDEO: Watching Superprestigio Making sense of all the fast-moving action.

I don’t know anything about dirt track, so when I watch these races, I am studying hard, trying to make sense of the fast-moving action before me. Just as I so often saw Miguel Duhamel first across the line at Daytona, emerging from the chaotic drafting pack accelerating from the chicane, so in Superprestigio last December I saw the top men again and again “solve” the tight starting pack to emerge with the lead, usually in half a lap. When it happens, it looks like luck. But then it happens again. And again. No, it’s not luck. What are they doing? What do they see, and what do they act upon? As I watched, I began to get a glimmer. Quite often such a rider lines up, not on the inside, but two or three places to the right. When the gate drops, the inside rider has to accelerate hard enough to keep those to the right from being first, and that extra speed carries him just a bit wide, creating a gap through which our strategic thinker takes the lead.

This reminded me of the strategy of boarding a bus. If you can’t be at the head of the line as the bus stops and its door opens, it’s best to be either to the right or left of the door, not in the middle of the crowd. People in the crowd move slowly, but those to the sides of the door move faster. So I suspect there are “plays” in dirt track that everyone learns, small deck-stacking moves that those with presence of mind can use to improve their odds. Having the presence of mind to apply them is another matter. Was it Wally Shirra who registered a heart rate of just 88 beats per minute on his Apollo mission liftoff? Once a rider took the lead, the next task was what commentator Chris Carr called getting in the rhythm, arranging oneself on the bike optimally, managing the transition from high-angle sliding two-thirds of the way through the corner to high-traction acceleration. And doing it smoothly, with no upset as tire grip kicks in as the rider lifts the bike. Like a drag racer, managing the end of tire spin in such a way that hooking up doesn’t disturb his drive.

Once with a clear track, a top rider might face no challenge other than the need for consistency. If challengers appear to the outside, “Oops, real sorry about that; somehow my rear wheel got loose just then and bunted you wide. That’s racin’!” When the bike loses grip, the rider helps it to regain it by moving the upper body to momentarily unload side grip. Sometimes the future leader appears boxed in mid-turn yet miraculously comes through. Carr called this “threading the needle,” using any opportunity to assemble a path through others. And other times, you get caught in a chain reaction as someone to your left runs wide, drives others wide, and you are trapped inside a mess. It doesn’t matter then who you are, you’ve had bad luck.

“Sometimes the future leader appears boxed in mid-turn yet miraculously comes through. Carr called this “threading the needle.”

There were contrasts. Three-time Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss brought a very powerful KTM 450 on which he got exceptional starts. Momentum carried him wide, letting competitors through under him. Carr commented that in this sport you can easily have too much power. When Marc Marquez got free, you could see that his line early in the heats (track roughness forced style changes later in the evening) was a wide oval, running the bike out to the fence on corner exit so as to turn less tightly and thus faster at each apex. By optimizing this line, he could win a heat by several seconds. This shouldn’t be surprising; those in the pursuing pack were slowed by having to give attention to each other. This stops you from optimizing much besides not getting squeezed out.

Carr noted that 2014 AMA Pro Flat Track Champion Jared Mees used almost a roadrace technique, running the bike in, getting it turned off throttle, and then accelerating. Despite the best plays, chance plays a big part. Last year’s winner, Brad Baker , dislocated his left shoulder in morning practice. He appeared on camera, arm in a sling, looking wan. But he managed a smile for the lens. As you play your rules of thumb and work to stack the deck in your favor, all the cards can come tumbling down. Then, with those “plays” and rules of thumb in mind, I thought of what Kenny Roberts said back in 1980: “My reflexes aren’t all that quick, so I have to get a lot of my thinking done ahead of time. I think of my mind as like a big Velcro board, and hanging on it are all these little packets. There’s one for each situation—what I should do to cope. When that situation comes up, I don’t have to think. I just do what’s in that packet.” I could see it work at Superprestigio.