Traditional road racing

Historically, "road racing" meant a course on closed public road. This was once commonplace but few races have survived, mostly in Europe. Races take place on street circuits. Two championships exist, the first is the International Road Racing Championship, the other is the Duke Road Racing Rankings. The latter accounts for the majority of road races that take place each season, with an award for the highest placed rider. Prominent road races inlcude the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 ant the Ulster Grand Prix. Ireland has many road racing circuits still in use. Other countries with road races are the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, New Zealand and Macau.

Motocross

Motocross (or MX) is the direct equivalent of road racing, but off road, a number of bikes racing on a closed circuit. Motocross circuits are constructed on a variety of non-tarmac surfaces such as dirt, sand, mud, grass, etc., and tend to incorporate elevation changes either natural or artificial. Advances in motorcycle technology, especially suspension, have led to the predominance of circuits with added "jumps" on which bikes can get airborne. Motocross has another noticeable difference from road racing, in that starts are done en masse, with the riders alongside each other. Up to 40 riders race into the first corner, and sometimes there is a separate award for the first rider through (see holeshot). The winner is the first rider across the finish line, generally after a given amount of time or laps or a combination.

Motocross has a plethora of classes based upon machine displacement (ranging from 50cc 2-stroke youth machines up to 250cc two-stroke and 450cc four-stroke), age of competitor, ability of competitor, sidecars, quads/ATVs, and machine age (classic for pre-1965/67, Twinshock for bikes with two shock absorbers, etc.).

Supercross

Supercross (or SX) is simply indoor motocross. Supercross is more technical and rhythm like to riders. Typically situated in a variety of stadiums and open or closed arenas, it is notable for its numerous jumps. In North America, this has been turned into an extremely popular spectator sport, filling large baseball stadiums, leading to Motocross being now termed the "outdoors". However, in Europe it is less popular sport, as the predominate focus there is on Motocross.

Supermoto

Supermoto is a racing category that is a crossover between road-racing and motocross. The motorcycles are mainly motocross types with road-racing tyres. The racetrack is a mixture of road and dirt courses (in different proportions) and can take place either on closed circuits or in temporary venues (such as urban locations).

The riding style on the tarmac section is noticeably different from other forms of tarmac-based racing, with a different line into corners, sliding of the back wheel around the corner, and using the leg straight out to corner (as opposed to the noticeable touching of the bent knee to the tarmac of road racers).

Enduro and Cross-country

Enduro

Enduro is a form of off road motorcycle sport that primarily focuses on the endurance of the competitor. In the most traditional sense ("Time Card Enduros"), competitors complete a 10+ mile lap, of predominately off road going, often through forestry. The lap is made up of different stages, each with a target time to complete that stage in exactly, there are penalties for being early and late, thus the goal is to be exactly "on time". Some stages are deliberately "tight", others are lax allowing the competitor to recuperate. There are also a variety of special tests, on variety of terrain to further aid classification, these are speed stages where the fastest time is desired. A normal event lasts for 3 to 4 hours, although longer events are not uncommon. Some events, particularly national and world championship events take place over several days and require maintenance work to be carried out within a limited time window or while the race is running. To prevent circumvention of the maintenance restrictions, the motorcycles are kept overnight in secure storage.

There is a World Enduro Championship (WEC) that has events across Europe, with a few excursions to North America. The most significant event in the Enduro calendar is the International Six Days Enduro (formerly the International Six Days Trial), where countries enter teams of riders (i.e. Enduro's "World Cup"), as well as club teams – the event combines amateur sport with the professional level sport, it also takes place in a much more geographically dispersed range of locations.

In addition to traditional Time Card Enduros held over a long lap, a variety of other forms of sport have been taken up; notably "Short Course Enduros", a shorter (in lap length) form of Time Card Enduros Hare scrambles and "Hare and Hounds".

Hare scramble

Hare scramble is the name given to a particular form of off-road motorcycle racing. Traditionally a hare scramble can vary in length and time with the contestants completing multiple laps around a marked course through wooded or other rugged natural terrain. The overall winner is the contestant who maintains the highest speed throughout the event. In Florida, Hare scrambles start the race with a staggered starting sequence. Once on the course, the object of the competitor is to complete the circuit as fast as possible. The race consists of wooded areas and/or open fields.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 783