Track Walk: Jacksonville
For this week’s Smith Optics Track Walk, Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs Honda’s Wil Hahn guides us through a lap on the Jacksonville Supercross track.
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This weekend in Jacksonville we have a long start with a small, rolling single halfway through. The guys have two main choices here: pick up their front wheel and wheelie to make sure they catch the least air they can, or just hit it wide open.
1. The track curves slightly left into another single, which will be tricky. Riders are going to have a lot of speed coming into this turn. I'm thinking right by the doghouse is the hot spot for the Spike Holeshot. But this start looks very fair, and the holeshot can come from anywhere on the gate.
2. Out of the left on the start, we have kind of a standard section. The line here, depending on traction, will be triple-double or, if it’s slick, double-triple. Next is the standard triple jump leading into a nice left-handed bowl turn.
3. This section is going to be a tough one, especially for Lites riders. The ideal line will be jumping from the first table onto the second and then going off and going from the big face and landing onto the next table and off. In a perfect world, that’s what you would do, and the 450s probably won’t have any trouble doing it.
4. After the next right you will go three, then into the whoops.
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5. After the whoops, you take a hard left and head back up the start straight right back into the single. Next we have a nice right-hander into a small step-up double, then the finish-line double.
6. After the finish, you hit a left, right into the second triple jump. Through the small jumps following the triple, I think the best line will be triple-triple, getting you to the top of the staircase so you can pop off the top of it.
7. Next we have some single jumps going around the turn, sending you back on the start straight and back into the single in the first turn.
This track looks like one of the most fun yet, and I’m glad I could walk through it with you. This is one of my favorite towns, mainly because I got my first podium here!