I don’t know if what I am about to say happens where you live, but if you’re riding at any track in Southern California, you will hear the sound of a four-stroke revving its guts out in earnest. Not because the rider’s front end is too low off of a jump, but instead the brutal sound of 11,000 RPM is used to get slower riders out of the way. Some may say this is motocross. Most others getting revved at become pissed off at the rider doing the revving. This has somewhat become an epidemic here in Southern California, and I am not always innocent of doing the right thing, but I do know the unspoken rule of “The Rev” that I would like to share with others in hopes to make the motocross track a little less tense.
There are several factors to revving your bike, and if you’re one the guys riding a YZ250F or YZ450F, you sound pissed off at all times no matter what you do, so all of you are screwed. Something about a Yamaha just sounds like you’re in deep hatred with everyone on the track. I have been yelled at a time or two from others “thinking” I was revving at them but in reality, I was just riding the damn bike as fast as I could. Another element of revving is the type of rider that revs their bike constantly like a teenage Justin Barcia on cocaine, which seems to happen a lot near my neck of the woods. Finally, there is the revver that revs at you when he is 10 bike lengths behind you because he thinks he owns the whole track and you’re in “his” rut coming into the corner. (There are quite a few of those as well!) The latter is the one that usually gets into some kind of fight or argument with a mini parent or construction worker trying to enjoy his Saturday at the track working out his arm pump. This brings me to “The Art of The Rev” and what is acceptable in motocross terms. If you don’t know about this unspoken rule, I am here to help! I guess this Art of The Rev is kind of like the movie Fight Club, except now I am breaking the first rule and talking about Fight Club.
There are two ways to rev: to let the rider in front of you know that you are going faster and you’re on a heater, but you would like to let him or her know that you’re coming like a bat out of hell. One way to do so is to politely give a quick rev that allows your engine to spool up to the highest rev limit ASAP, without holding it there for a long duration (think of a quick loud blip of the throttle). Another way is the “I am an [insert explicative here] and I am going to hold on my throttle at the top of its rev limit for a couple seconds to let you know I will punt you off the track type of revver guy.” Again, this is not optimal to do to a construction worker that wears size 12 Tech 10s with size 38 pants and a XXL jersey: it’s just not good math. Sure, you might be a badass on your bike, but hopefully you’ll be able to fight once you’re off the track. Now I do think it is acceptable to rev the crap out of someone if they are a safety hazard. For example, cross jumping, getting off of the track from one side all the way to the other, if the rider is doing sections and cuts you off while you’re riding the complete track, etc. There are moments sometimes when you have to let a person know that what he or she is doing is not acceptable on an open practice day. Think of it this way if you can’t understand: you’re at a stop light and you’re the second car in line. The light turns green and car one just sits there. Now you have two choices, right? Beep the horn quick to let car one know it’s time to go, or lay on the horn for three to five seconds to really lay into him or her. Which one is less evasive? If it was me, I would be going with option one! Why? It’s just a nice way to let someone know that they are in the way and need to get going. Why escalate the situation, right?
Okay, so now that you kind of understand more about the “Art of The Rev” I will tell you a story about an incident I recently had at the track, and a sticky subject around Southern California. I have had two grown, older men (one pointed at me every lap while doing my moto, and one pulled me over on my way back to the truck), very upset with me over the fact that I revved at their younger kids while doing my moto. Having 50s/65s on the track with a ton of big bikes and top professionals seem to be a problem at most tracks near here. I am a parent of a kid that has ridden since he was on 50s and I would have never stuck him out on a track full of big bikes. NEVER! There are exceptions to the 65cc rider rule as there are some really talented 65cc riders that can hold their own on a public/open ride day (ON A MAIN TRACK). However, some of these other kids are put out there by their parents without any regard of their safety. One of my latest instances I had with a younger rider while doing a moto was when she (yes, she) went from the right side to the left side of the track by a matter of 30 feet that had me almost T-boning her. She was on a bigger bike, but I could tell she clearly needed a little more help with the bike skills before she jumped out into the abyss of a busy open practice day (ON THE MAIN TRACK). I did, however, give her the quick “hey, watch out rev,” not the “I own the track rev." Though that didn't matter to one father, as he walked out onto the track almost every lap to point at me to show me his displeasure. So, after the third walk out/point stint he had going, I had had enough and turned around to see what he had going on. To my surprise, he was mad at me because I scared said rider. Ehhhhhh boy. I tried to tell him that I wasn’t trying to scare her, but she needed to know to hold her line on a busy track, FOR HER SAFETY! Of course, he didn’t want to hear it and thought I was being mean. I understand people make mistakes and squirrel out, hell I do it as well, but this could have been bad for her as well as me. If there are other lower-level tracks available, get your skills up on those before heading out to a main track on a busy day. If the main track isn’t busy, then by all means, go ride the main track!
What gets lost in translation with these revs is that most top professionals do this to A LOT of people on open practice days and it pisses the people off that pay money to ride. It’s crazy that riders actually get mad at a motorcycle sound, right? Most top professionals ride like they are ENTITLED to the whole track when it’s an open practice day. I preach to my kid ALL THE TIME, that when we ride on a Saturday or on late evening at Glen Helen Raceway, that time of day is a working persons crowd, not a professional practice day. You, as the experienced rider, have to act accordingly; we all have to act accordingly. This is a dangerous sport, and we don’t need to make it more dangerous by making dumb decisions. I have seen my kid act entitled and I have given him a mouth full when he's back at the van, trust me!
The point of this article is to let some of you know (that may not know) what type of rev means what. Once you learn that a quick rev can save you from a big crash or a run in with a faster rider, the less pissed off you may get with another rider. If you got some rider death revving at you just because you’re in his or her way, feel free to do what you feel is best! If your local track doesn't split practices, learn to co-exist on a busy track with all. There will always be a mix of levels out there, so be courteous and do the polite rev and not the death rev, because you might not like what you get when you get back to your pit!
Oh, but if you’re in a race, let her rip! Rev all you want in order to break the concentration of the rider in front of you, but still be prepared when you get back to your pit! I hope this PSA has helped, or at the very least made you think. See everyone out on the track!