robwbright
Member
- Apr 8, 2005
- 2,283
- 0
As most of you know, I've not personally noticed a huge difference in lap times between 2 strokes and 4 strokes at my local track which is tight and has basically no elevation changes. 2 or 3 of my friends went from late model 2 strokes to late model 4 strokes this year and they basically kept finishing in about the same places in their classes - they weren't getting faster any quicker than I was. Sometimes I'd beat them and sometimes they'd beat me.
The one exception was my friend who went from a 1996 KX 250 to a 2006 KX450F. He moved up a whole class in 2 races - finishing about the same place in the higher class as he was in the lower one. I credited the suspension and handling of the decade newer bike as much as I credited the motor.
However, I recently went to another track nearby to test my injured wrist and see if I was going to be able to race. The track is hardpack and is built completely on a pretty steep hillside and has 4 pretty large doubles - one is uphill out of a 180 corner and measures 56 feet with a blind takeoff. The others are between 43 and 50 feet. There are also two uphill step-ups that require really getting on the gas to even come close to clearing them on my RM - and I usually didn't make it.
Anyway, the only one of the 4 doubles I have attempted in my two visits to the track was the 43 foot one. The others are just too difficult to get sufficient traction on the RM and are too risky.
On their 1st or 2nd visit, my buddies on the 4 strokes - 250s and 450s - were all jumping most or all of the doubles, and clearing the uphill step-ups.
Note, again, that we are all within about one half second per lap on the flat local track - but I simply cannot do what they are doing on this hard, hilly track.
So, I guess that means I'm one step closer to moving over to the "dark side". ;)
You were right Okie (and others).
And no, I can't race. I reinjured the wrist at the track on one of the step ups and finally went to a specialist. He found a scaphoid break that my chiro couldn't find in two different visits with x-rays. The Ortho could only find the break on one of the 7 x-rays I had previously had taken. Thus, I'm in a pretty neon green cast for 5 and a half more weeks.
The one exception was my friend who went from a 1996 KX 250 to a 2006 KX450F. He moved up a whole class in 2 races - finishing about the same place in the higher class as he was in the lower one. I credited the suspension and handling of the decade newer bike as much as I credited the motor.
However, I recently went to another track nearby to test my injured wrist and see if I was going to be able to race. The track is hardpack and is built completely on a pretty steep hillside and has 4 pretty large doubles - one is uphill out of a 180 corner and measures 56 feet with a blind takeoff. The others are between 43 and 50 feet. There are also two uphill step-ups that require really getting on the gas to even come close to clearing them on my RM - and I usually didn't make it.
Anyway, the only one of the 4 doubles I have attempted in my two visits to the track was the 43 foot one. The others are just too difficult to get sufficient traction on the RM and are too risky.
On their 1st or 2nd visit, my buddies on the 4 strokes - 250s and 450s - were all jumping most or all of the doubles, and clearing the uphill step-ups.
Note, again, that we are all within about one half second per lap on the flat local track - but I simply cannot do what they are doing on this hard, hilly track.
So, I guess that means I'm one step closer to moving over to the "dark side". ;)
You were right Okie (and others).
And no, I can't race. I reinjured the wrist at the track on one of the step ups and finally went to a specialist. He found a scaphoid break that my chiro couldn't find in two different visits with x-rays. The Ortho could only find the break on one of the 7 x-rays I had previously had taken. Thus, I'm in a pretty neon green cast for 5 and a half more weeks.
