I cannot believe how fast they are going...

Hank_Thrill
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Hank_Thrill
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 5:23pm
During the recent motocross break, I probably watched a good solid ten to fifteen hours of motocross videos on youtube uploaded by "Vital's 2011 MVP" (most valuable poster), tblazier, which made watching yesterday's race blow my mind!

Did this happen to anybody else?
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WhKnuckle
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WhKnuckle 8/14/2011 7:56am
8/14/2011 7:56am
I've had my mind blown by how fast the best riders in the world go since I saw Bengt Aberg blast down a super rough sand straight pinned in 4th on a 400 Husky in '71...
MXR
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MXR 8/14/2011 7:56am
8/14/2011 7:56am
Todays riders like make those guys from the 80's look like squids . The sport , riding styles and bikes have come a long way in 30 years .
FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 8/14/2011 8:01am
8/14/2011 8:01am
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest guys have adapted their style to get what they can out of the bikes. That doesn't mean that the heros from back in the day wouldn't be competitive if you dropped them into today's world; IMO most of them would have tracked the same progression.
jleews6
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jleews6 8/14/2011 8:03am
8/14/2011 8:03am
I think this same thing all the time. I also think that alot of people don't realise how fast some of the amature kids are going. Sometimes when I watch my son (B class) ride I think to my self. Damn!! thats fast.

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rocrac
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rocrac 8/14/2011 8:08am
8/14/2011 8:08am
Yes I am blown away by the speed of today's racing yet everyone want's to blame the tracks for the rash of injuries from what I can see the tracks are tamer now than they were back then. Double the displacement was a bad idea from all aspects.
willie838
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willie838 8/14/2011 8:08am
8/14/2011 8:08am
the creativity to get speed amazed me at dilla yesterday, i didn't see it on the tv coverage but wilson had 2 little things he was doing way in the back, the uphill jump, turn then that stretch of track where pastrana wadded himself up a long time ago.


1st- over that uphill guys were clearing it, then breaking into what turned into heavy braking bumps then hitting the turn and going

on some laps wilson was able to purposely come up a little short on that jump and the mini case would slow him down and also make him hop the braking bumps right into the rut- then take off, he was shaving time on the field w/ that move for sure.

2nd- coming out of that turn there is a little drop off that guys were getting 10"to 12" of air from and wilson would somehow wash the back end slightly while under power and his rear wouldn't lose contact w/ the ground.


i forgot how fun it is to be at a live race and see all the best riders going super fast and then trying to analyze where the top dogs are doing things just a little different and seperating themselves from the pack cause the differences are so minimal w/ all of the guys absolutely flying.
Rob_Miller
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Rob_Miller 8/14/2011 9:19am
8/14/2011 9:19am
willie838 wrote:
the creativity to get speed amazed me at dilla yesterday, i didn't see it on the tv coverage but wilson had 2 little things he was...
the creativity to get speed amazed me at dilla yesterday, i didn't see it on the tv coverage but wilson had 2 little things he was doing way in the back, the uphill jump, turn then that stretch of track where pastrana wadded himself up a long time ago.


1st- over that uphill guys were clearing it, then breaking into what turned into heavy braking bumps then hitting the turn and going

on some laps wilson was able to purposely come up a little short on that jump and the mini case would slow him down and also make him hop the braking bumps right into the rut- then take off, he was shaving time on the field w/ that move for sure.

2nd- coming out of that turn there is a little drop off that guys were getting 10"to 12" of air from and wilson would somehow wash the back end slightly while under power and his rear wouldn't lose contact w/ the ground.


i forgot how fun it is to be at a live race and see all the best riders going super fast and then trying to analyze where the top dogs are doing things just a little different and seperating themselves from the pack cause the differences are so minimal w/ all of the guys absolutely flying.
Did you see how fast Poto was running that uphill before the skyshot? Only a few laps later and Dungey and Barcia caught the same line. But still werent running it as fast as Poto. He was coming down that straight to the inside of that small "double" and flying up over that up hill step up never missing a beat on the throttle. Crazy..
SMITH201
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SMITH201 8/14/2011 9:24am
8/14/2011 9:24am
I was blown away by Davalos' helmet cam ride from Dilla! and he isnt even a front runner! Shocked
FGR01
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FGR01 8/14/2011 9:33am
8/14/2011 9:33am
Hank_Thrill wrote:
During the recent motocross break, I probably watched a good solid ten to fifteen hours of motocross videos on youtube uploaded by "Vital's 2011 MVP" (most...
During the recent motocross break, I probably watched a good solid ten to fifteen hours of motocross videos on youtube uploaded by "Vital's 2011 MVP" (most valuable poster), tblazier, which made watching yesterday's race blow my mind!

Did this happen to anybody else?
Totally. Watching yesterday's race on TV and then watching tblazier's upload from 1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtQC0xLjiqo

The guys from the 80's look like totally local-yokels. And I was at that race in 86 and thought those guys were absolutely flying.

Granted, the track in 86 was deep and loamy with huge rolling grass whoops and yesterdays track looked like a freeway comparatively, but still, the speed difference is shocking.

Twice the cc's is not the whole story either. If you took Dean Wilson on his 250F right now and dropped him in that 250GP in 1986 he would have over a minute on the field.
aFACEdismembered 8/14/2011 10:17am
8/14/2011 10:17am
MXR wrote:
Todays riders like make those guys from the 80's look like squids . The sport , riding styles and bikes have come a long way in...
Todays riders like make those guys from the 80's look like squids . The sport , riding styles and bikes have come a long way in 30 years .
So has track design. They CAN slow it down... they choose not to some times. Example: Remember after the uphill stair step jumps at Unadilla there was a roller/drop off going in to the corner before sky shot? That roller is now gone making it a wide open straight all the way to the corner.
herbs906
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herbs906 8/14/2011 10:41am
8/14/2011 10:41am
The crackle on Hurricanes bike at the beggining of that show is what i fell in love with about dirtbikes in the 80's! They bikes just had the sound that made me want one soooo bad!
RACERX69
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RACERX69 8/14/2011 1:03pm
8/14/2011 1:03pm
I just watched Kenworthy's from 2004. There was a guy running the #4 on a CR-450 and he was going pretty fast! Went 1-1 for the day.

Seriously, if you want to see 450's riden on the ragged edge, watch a few of the Carmichael vs Stewart battles from 2006. It's scary!
Clutchy
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Clutchy 8/14/2011 1:17pm
8/14/2011 1:17pm
FreshTopEnd wrote:
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest...
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest guys have adapted their style to get what they can out of the bikes. That doesn't mean that the heros from back in the day wouldn't be competitive if you dropped them into today's world; IMO most of them would have tracked the same progression.
With that said................. Can you even imagine a 20 yr old Hannah, Magoo or Shultz on a factory 450 four stroke..?
Hank_Thrill
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Hank_Thrill 8/14/2011 10:17pm
8/14/2011 10:17pm
FreshTopEnd wrote:
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest...
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest guys have adapted their style to get what they can out of the bikes. That doesn't mean that the heros from back in the day wouldn't be competitive if you dropped them into today's world; IMO most of them would have tracked the same progression.
100% agree! I'm glad you mentioned this, because some get offended when you mention comparing eras (which I was afraid of, and almost didn't post the topic due to it). I really don't think you can compare eras, because each era has different styles of bikes, different styles of tracks, different bike technology, and progression of the sport level, which is kind of like riding technology in a way. Great riding is great riding no matter what the era.

I really enjoyed reading the replies, especially willie838's - cool stuff!
TG130
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TG130 8/15/2011 10:44pm
8/15/2011 10:44pm
FreshTopEnd wrote:
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest...
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest guys have adapted their style to get what they can out of the bikes. That doesn't mean that the heros from back in the day wouldn't be competitive if you dropped them into today's world; IMO most of them would have tracked the same progression.
X2. Guys like Hannah, Magoo, Bailey, Johnson, Ward, Stanton, etc, get no respect any more. They would have done well in any era. I can't believe these fools referring to them as "squids". They definitely were NOT "squids".
SCIENCE
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SCIENCE 8/16/2011 4:21am
8/16/2011 4:21am
FreshTopEnd wrote:
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest...
They definitely are going faster today. The bikes are much, much more refined than even the top works stuff back in the day, and the fastest guys have adapted their style to get what they can out of the bikes. That doesn't mean that the heros from back in the day wouldn't be competitive if you dropped them into today's world; IMO most of them would have tracked the same progression.
Clutchy wrote:
With that said................. Can you even imagine a 20 yr old Hannah, Magoo or Shultz on a factory 450 four stroke..?
Agree. All three of those guys would fit right in. Very hard to compare eras in any sport as many factors change. Smooth tracks and superior machines lead to the faster speeds. It is unfortunate that the tracks are so graded now. Look at Unadilla (and many others) , 25-30 years ago. The riders actually had to pick lines and use their technical abilities to manage a race. Today, there is one main line (for the most part) and a bunch of man made SX jumps. Get a good start and you podium.

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Propaganda!
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Propaganda! 8/16/2011 4:54am
8/16/2011 4:54am
Clutchy wrote:
With that said................. Can you even imagine a 20 yr old Hannah, Magoo or Shultz on a factory 450 four stroke..?
Wow! Yuck..... That's an ugly thought... Such talent wasted larding around on a Blumper Bike? Ewwwwww.....

If there had been Blumper Bikes around back then, maybe the classic hurricane quote about Howerton would have been, "I beat him fair and square because he was on a tub of shit, 50 or 60 pounds heavier than what I was riding...." That would've been funny.
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brocster 8/16/2011 5:38am
8/16/2011 5:38am
and that is what folks were saying back then as well. it is all realtive as to what era you are talking about and you cannot compare one to the other. too many differences in each. the hannahs, decosters, and weinerts were fast back then and were riding the wheels off of thier bikes on the raddest of tracks at the time just like the guys are doing today. it's only a snapshot in time and someone will be saying the same about some other kids in the years to come...
mccread
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mccread 8/16/2011 5:51am
8/16/2011 5:51am
I think the speed is much the same as far as riding standard goes, Windham was fast in 94, he is still fast now, Everts was winning in 1990, and he won in 2006 and even beat Stewart - and James is still winning races today. The main difference is the bikes and subtle techniques, the top riders 20 years ago would be top riders now too imo.

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