Reading the track

 Now that we've covered the very first key which is routine. Lets talk about reading the track. If you look at the starting lane of each lane you will see two flat black lanes that divide a shiny black lane. Its important to understand what these two shades mean and important to understand how tracks prep. The flat black areas of the track are where rubber builds up from cars racing on the track. The middle of the track that is shiny is glue. Often times if you walk on the track you'll notice that the center of the track is the stickiest part. Most people would assume to automatically line up in the stickiest part right? Not quite. 

To get a good bite on the track a tire needs a combination of rubber and VHT glue. VHT is a glue that is dilluted with alcohol to reach certain consistency levels. If you were to line up in the middle of the shiny stuff where its nothing but VHT your hot tire will pull up the glue with it and 9 times out of 10 your bike will spin. Now, if you line up in the flat black part of the track where a lot of rubber is down with a light VHT mist, youll hook for sure on that right? Well, sometimes. Track conditions change throughout the day. The track you race on at 10AM is different than the track at 2PM and the track at 8PM is different than the track at 10AM and 2PM even if conditions are similar the track is not. 

A slick tire bike is always going to stick the best in middle of the flat black rubber. As temperature drops you may need to reduce air pressure to prevent from spinning. On a street tire bike the best place to line up is typically right on the edge of where the flat black meets the shiny black. I always try to put my rear tire right on the line where the two meet. This gives a street tire bike a decent amount of rubber and VHT to get down. Now with that being said a street tire bike lining up in the flat black can get down but tire pressure will have to be reduced. The benefit of lining up on what I call the fringe (where the flat and shiny meet) is you can run a higher air pressure. I run 12.5 pounds of air pressure in my rear tire with a Shinko hookup. Most guys use 9-10 lbs. Why does it matter that I run 12.5 pounds? Wheel speed. Wheel speed allows the bike to react faster and picks up speed from the starting line. 

What I suggest, is find a place on the track that you like, set your tire pressure, and then check that lane before each round because like I said, the track is constantly changing. find a spot as close to the fringe where your foot is getting a good stick on it. set a cone where it feels good and be ready to go. Adjusting yourself and your bike to the track is what makes us motorcycle riders not motorcycle sitters. More often than not I see racers go round after round without changing anything. If the track is changing, we need to change as well. You cant expect the track to come to you.