Flat Track Racing Mega Thread - INCLUDES SPOILERS!

Map8

I want nothing
Staff member
Since FT is usually just discussed by me and some other gray hairs, I'd thought I'd start one big thread for discussion of everything flat track: pro and amateur races, the racers, history, rumors, technique and how to get a taste of flat track as a racer or spectator. With the AMA Pro Flat Track series (two classes) and three active series in Northern California (AMA District 36, California Flat Track Association and NorCal Short Track), there is no shortage of opportunities to race or spectate. We're also lucky to have a few practice tracks along with Flat Track schools such as California Supermoto Schools FT classes, Rich Oliver's Mystery School, Garrett Willis's Grab-a-Handful classes and American Supercamps visits to the Northern California area.

FT is doing well from grass roots to the pros.

Discuss.


NOTE: This thread includes race results spoilers.
 
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latindane

Learner. EuroPW, NaPS
Maybe here is the right place to ask why flat track is not just the two-wheeled version of NASCAR? Round and round, always turning left... Some insight into its nuances (which I guess it must have) might make a good start for the thread and help me understand what it is that I'm missing
 
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Hammerstime

Well-known member
If you want to see 4 or more guys drafting each other into a flat dirt turn at 130+mph, on 300+lbs. motorcycles, elbow to elbow every lap! then you watch dirt track. When done right, it's one of the most beautiful forms of racing.
 

latindane

Learner. EuroPW, NaPS
So, is it the finesse needed given low traction? Other than equipment, is it pretty much like speedway, or is the technique different?
 

stangmx13

not Stan
its def like Speedway, just bigger and longer generally, faster on some tracks too. the differences in machinery probably impact the skill set, but i wouldnt be surprised if a pro from either Speedway or FT wasnt awesome at both.

on the surface, FT is def like NASCAR. but there are so many actual differences that the two arent really comparable. the main differences for me are limited traction, sprint distance races, and the heat/semi/main race structure.... oh and half the wheels :p
 
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latindane

Learner. EuroPW, NaPS
Thank you. Let me ask about technique now (or physics?) I understand why the front wheel is tracking away from the direction of the turn as the rear is sliding
110417_Rye_House_FT_02.jpg

(same as with four wheels)
scrp_0704_01z+young_race_car_driver+race_cars.jpg


Is this related to why the riders are "on top of the bike" (leaning the bike under them) rather than hanging off (leaning "under" the bike)?
 
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budman

General Menace
Staff member
I love the flat track stuff. Wish I took some time to try it when I was in my youth.

It is a mix of balance and traction that is unique in the 2 wheel sport.

For those have never really paid attention I would suggest watching "On any Sunday".
It really does a good job of getting the vibe of the series and it remains so close in terms of technique and equipment. Of most of the two wheel racing series it is probably the most unchanged. Trials and speedway are similar, but neither involve the elbow to elbow action at speeds above 100mph that flat track does.

Plus add the stars of our sport that found their roots in FT or simply made a good career from doing it and you have something very very unique.

Sliding a bike is really a cool feeling. Doing it with 10 of your good friends within 10' and at more than legal speeds is the bomb!!
 

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flying_hun

Adverse Selection
Enrique, when you get over here again, go do a camp at Rich Oliver's. And if you don't think it's the real deal, check out the track that Rossi has put in, or the event in Spain last winter that Marquez competed in. If those guys think it's the real deal, maybe there's something to it. ;)


youtu.be/MR2T4yTsT7Y


youtu.be/ZsYwOGBiLxk

The best racing I've ever seen in the flesh, ever, has been flat track. They're bringing back the Calistoga Half Mile this year. Check it out.


youtu.be/bVK56C39wBo


youtu.be/fIqvMdkdOQ8
 

budman

General Menace
Staff member
Calistoga :party

Seeing Stevie Bonsey win it upon its return as a treat.
1/2 miles are a great combo of speed and finesse week within the fans eyesight.
 

firstbuell

GO! 04,16,23,31,64,69,95
Calistoga :party

Seeing Stevie Bonsey win it upon its return as a treat.
1/2 miles are a great combo of speed and finesse week within the fans eyesight.


there've been only 2 recent Calistoga events - 2010 & 2011

tho' Dennis Pearson prepared both years' racing surfaces, they were quite different - the first year was extremely tacky & somewhat banked, meaning the racers were W-A-Y into T1 & T3 before backing off

the 2nd year, the flattened dirt was more normal, even slick in places

this means that no one has any idea yet what it'll be like this time, which evens the field & increases the excitement for the Final
 

firstbuell

GO! 04,16,23,31,64,69,95
BOOM !!

Marquez & Baker - Dirt Track rematch in December

"......Somehow, back in January, the fight for the #1 dirt tracker finished inconclusively, as Márquez fell following a contact with Baker, two laps before the end of the race, handing the victory to the US rider.

In front of 8.000 spectators, after shaking hands, Brad Baker and Marc Márquez agreed for a second edition of the Superprestigio Dirt Track with the aim to have another try of that unfinished Fina
l......"


http://www.roadracingworld.com/news...baker-to-have-dirt-track-rematch-in-december/
 
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Johndicezx9

Rolls with it...
Maybe here is the right place to ask why flat track is not just the two-wheeled version of NASCAR? Round and round, always turning left... Some insight into its nuances (which I guess it must have) might make a good start for the thread and help me understand what it is that I'm missing

Try to remember back to the days before traction control, it was flat track racing that produced world champion roadracers Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, KRJR, and John Kocinski.

I'll say you missed something.... :laughing
 

firstbuell

GO! 04,16,23,31,64,69,95

bikeama

Super Moderator
Staff member
Lodi tomorrow night. Come out support a local club and see the best on a the short track.

a310ea254a999e5d25cbdd6db66efda7


Posted by an Stockton MC Member in support of the Lodi MC
 

Hammerstime

Well-known member
Dirt track and Speedway are night and day different. Just like someone else said, you speed up when you let off the throttle. The handle bars are bent in a way that they are flat when sideways. Going straight feels very weird when you first jump on one and your dirt track skills don't carry over very well.

I can remember seeing a national# dirt track guy try to get his speedway license at Fremont/ Baylands raceway one night and he failed the test badly. He looked like he had never ridden a motorcycle before. Man you should have heard the crowd laughing at him. They had 3 or 4 guys get their license and he was the only one who didn't.
 

bikeama

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dirt track and Speedway are night and day different. Just like someone else said, you speed up when you let off the throttle. The handle bars are bent in a way that they are flat when sideways. Going straight feels very weird when you first jump on one and your dirt track skills don't carry over very well.

I can remember seeing a national# dirt track guy try to get his speedway license at Fremont/ Baylands raceway one night and he failed the test badly. He looked like he had never ridden a motorcycle before. Man you should have heard the crowd laughing at him. They had 3 or 4 guys get their license and he was the only one who didn't.

Speedway is for show, and a good one it is.

Flat track is for speed and is faster. I was at the Houston Astrodome AMA races early 1970's.:afm199 Barry Briggs was over to run his speedway bike in an exposition race with the AMA flattrackers. We all had stopwatches and could not believe them, he looked fast but the clocks don't lie. He just ran some laps by himself, he would have been lapped. This was a flattrack surface and not a speedway surface.
 

Hammerstime

Well-known member
My dad went to Houston every year back then. He's got quiet a few stories from the trips. I've heard a story about a group of European Speedway riders putting on one hell of a show at the Astrodome one year. I also remember him coming home one year with a big band-aid on his noes. I asked how it happened. The after race party was going strong at the hotel. He and some of his buddies were riding the elevator. Someone opened a beer, flicked the cap and he got it across his nose:wow:rolleyes:rofl.
 
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