Breakdown: Unadilla

Long-time pro Jason Thomas was dialed in during Saturday’s Unadilla National to catch all the action from round eight of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. We fired off some questions and here’s what he saw.

What has gotten into Ken Roczen at Unadilla?

I don’t know what the correlation is per se, but I do firmly believe that a track like Unadilla highlights his attributes. Kenny is a supremely talented rider in a group of the world’s most talented riders. Where he really stands out is in his level of balance and finesse. Kenny rides the motorcycle how it would be drawn up on a diagram. He doesn’t try to force the motorcycle to do things that it doesn’t want to do. Instead, he uses the forces already in play to further their effectiveness. When he’s already up to speed, he uses that motion and momentum to carry through a low traction section. Instead of applying heavy input via throttle and brakes, he takes himself out of the equation and allows the bike to naturally work. Not only does this avoid interrupting the forward momentum, it also takes any load off the suspension, freeing it to work to its highest potential.

All of these strengths lead to a performance like we saw Saturday. Unadilla rewards these talents more than other tracks often do.

Related: Unadilla used to belong to the tough men, like Hannah, RJ and Stanton, who could simply out will, out charge, and out muscle the competition. These days it seems to reward the precision guys. What makes that so? 

I think this is a result of the evolution of the motorcycle. In the ‘70s, ‘80s and even ‘90s, we were talking about relatively slow motorcycles (except for 500’s). A 250 two-stroke in the ‘70s or ‘80s was putting out fractions of the horsepower and more importantly, the torque of a modern day factory 450. Those motorcycles of yesteryear wanted to be ridden hard because the power was so much lower (think about someone ringing out a 125 for all it has, compared to riding a 450 four-stroke).

Today’s factory 450’s have so much power, they don’t have to be pushed hard to go fast. Riders like Roczen, as discussed above, use lower RPM and taller gears to maximize traction and avoid inefficiency. Unadilla’s inconsistent traction and flowing layout favors finesse when you consider the engines have almost double the power of motorcycles from 40 years ago. If you gave Roczen an engine that put out 40 horsepower and half the torque, you would see him pushing much harder to achieve the speeds he needs. Conversely, Hannah, RJ, and Stanton wouldn’t have to muscle Unadilla into submission if you doubled their power.

Related, 2: Can you please describe holding a bike in a 100-foot long rut at high speed through bumps?

It’s a huge test of balance, bravery, and confidence. The throttle is typically your biggest ally as the goal is to keep the front end light, allowing it to float without influencing direction too much. That’s where the confidence comes in as it’s not the easiest ask to keep the throttle on when entering long, deep ruts. Much like other low traction situations, staying light on the inputs (throttle and brake) is important. Don’t make any sudden movements and let the bike flow naturally.

Another change I liked to make with rutty tracks was to use an intermediate front tire that didn’t “grab” the ruts. Aggressive front tires tend to climb up the sides of ruts and make things a little more unpredictable.