My 9yr old son on his kx65
  • indianFighter
    Posts: 58
    Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2013 6:51 am

    My 9yr old son on his kx65

    by indianFighter » Thu Sep 19, 2013 6:19 am

    So we went to the track to get in some practice since it was a public holiday yesterday. It had rained all night and on reaching we saw the track was in a real bad shape. Not wanting to spend 2 hrs cleaning the bike for 30 mins of treacherous riding, I decided against practising. But my "wannabe Villopoto" didn't want to miss the opportunity and wanted to practice his clutch usage and turns as we have a local race coming up on Sunday.

    He's just ridden this clutched kx 4-5 times before, total of not more than 1.5 hrs I think. What do you guys think, any potential.

    Oh and back home that evening he was trying stunts on his 3 wheeled flicker scooter; tried to do a wheelie, the handle bar came off and he got a real bad knock on his knee. Initially he cried due to the pain, after that he cried a lot thinking that he'll miss the race. Luckily today knee seems just a bit sore but should be fine to ride on sunday.

    Ironically, his first time on the kx a few months ago; again there was a race the following sunday, he got hit by some and fractured his wrist and missed that race.

    He can't wait to grow up to ride a 2 stroke CR, 80 or 100 ish.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBR5mid8QSs
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUfG9DFn30Y
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    JimDirt
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    by JimDirt » Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:48 am

    Getting him to ride in the mud will build his confidence immensely , the only thing i noticed was he was kind of coasting thru the corner and accelerating out of it , you might want to try to get him to carry his speed thru the corner

    This is the main tactic that Villopoto uses to his advantage and what really gives him the ability to pull away from the competition by carrying his speed thru the corners, not just into and exiting , and by combining throttle and braking at the same time , the braking will set the bike to hold in the corner , the throttle will keep his momentum , it will take lots of practice to perfect the technique , but the final results will be a faster more confident rider that will be 1 step above the competition

    Other than that , i would suggest working on the shift/clutch timing , he is hesitating when transitioning from the clutch to actually shifting the gear (losing momentum with the gap in time from each movement) , but he is just learning , but focusing on these things now rather than later in training will get him more confidence and more aggression while riding , something that will keep him at the front of the pack on race day

    And please understand I am not criticizing him on his ability , all i am doing is pointing out some things that i noticed , that if mastered early while he is just learning to use the clutch and shifting and braking together , when and where needed , will give him a advantage over the other riders in his class and help him become the next Villopoto

    So yes , i think he has plenty of potential , he can only get better the more he rides , but if he wants to be like Villopoto , he needs to be very aggressive in his riding , he may hit the ground a few times learning this , but then he will know his boundaries on how far he can push it , doing this now , will make him so much faster when the competition gets intense

    I am by no means a expert on this , but i know how Villopoto is riding and what he is doing is being very aggressive ALL the time , his focus is to pull away right now , so he can take away the confidence of his competition , this alone is a huge advantage , that is how he was able to pull away from everyone that was on 450+cc bikes on a 250F at the MXDN several years back , he was on a smaller slower bike , but pulled away to i believe a 16 second lead , on a bike half the size , it was all due to his confidence and aggressiveness and his ability to carry momentum where others were not

    Being aggressive and confident is the key to going fast no matter how tricked out or stock the bike your riding is , the key is to ride it to its limits but not to go over the limits , learn how far to push it , and maintain that pace no matter if your riding alone just practicing or in the middle of the pack in a heated battle for position , always ride like you are being chased by wolves , because that is what the competition is , a pack of wolves trying to get to you and take you down , if he keeps that mentality he will be like Villopoto in no time
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    Weiser , Idaho
  • indianFighter
    Posts: 58
    Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2013 6:51 am

    by indianFighter » Fri Sep 27, 2013 3:52 am

    Hey Jim, thanks for all your advice, appreciate it.

    He's only been on this bike 4-5 times, total of maybe an hour. He still has to get used to the concept of clutching, braking, gear changes, throttle all at the same time. But he's picking it up really well. Before this he rode an automatic bike for not more than 30 mins total.

    The kx is too much for him, he's scared to open her up, and our track being really tiny and tight doesn't help in getting that confidence. Also we have had a heavy monsoon and the condition of the track for a kid is terrible. He just looks up to Villopoto; guys like him are one in a billion and I don't have any dreams of the kid being as good as him. Even if he's 50% of Villopoto or 25% it would be a great achievement. We don't get to practice a lot due to dearth of tracks and time but we do once a week at least.

    Anyway, last sunday was a race he took part in; he was against kids who were all on auto ktms, some of those ktms were lightning fast. He started slow and last due to his clutch but by the 2nd turn he was in 3rd. He was going very well and came into a really bad sandy sinky hairpin; the kid in front of him fell and he had a chance to go into 2nd. But he target fixated on the fallen kid and he sunk in to the sand and fell too. Next lap was an exact repeat of the first. Finally in the 3rd lap he managed to stay on the bike in that turn as no one in front of him fell.

    Sad for him, he could have been 2nd but this is racing, have to learn and move on. I have his helmet cam footage which I'm trimming to get rid of the excess irrelevant stuff. I'll upload on youtube next week hopefully. Have a look if you can.

    Thanks again man.
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    JimDirt
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    by JimDirt » Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:26 am

    No problem , glad he had fun , that the most important part , if he is having fun its all worth it !
    2020 CRF450R
    2006 CRF450X
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    Weiser , Idaho
  • indianFighter
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    Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2013 6:51 am

    by indianFighter » Thu Nov 21, 2013 4:22 am

    finally managed to edit the video of his race and upload to youtube. Here it is.

    http://youtu.be/fCjM8M_sNbM

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