Race Strategy : Hare Scrambles and Cross Country Tactics

Wrong.

But isn't that what the pros do? I mean, you've seen, or raced on the same track with, Scott Plessinger, Scott Summers, Rodney Smith, Tommy Norton, and it's obvious that those guys are haulin' it every second of the race. They never let up until they get the lead, and then they never let off until they've won the race, right?

Wrong.

"I remember one race in Ohio where I had the lead early in the race, and didn't really want it," said Scott Plessinger. "Rodney (Smith) was behind me, so I kind of pulled over and waved him around, but he shook his head 'cause he didn't want it either. Eventually Tommy Norton came along and zipped past us before he realized what we were doing, and Rodney and I tucked in right behind him and let him lead. It may sound weird, but there are a lot of times when us AA riders kind of argue about who has to lead."

The Psychology of Off-Road Racing

"It's more work to lead than follow," said Scott Summers. "The leader has to read the trail, decide the lines, and the guy behind him can kind of key off him and take it easy. It saves a lot of energy in the first half of a race if you can get in second or third place and let somebody else do the hard work."

"You're rarely going to win the race in the first laps anyway," said Smith, "so why burn yourself out trying to lead?"

There are two, maybe three, exceptions to that policy. The first is when a rider is able to break away from the pack in the early laps. Scott Plessinger was reluctantly in the lead on the first lap at the Kahoka, Missouri, national hare scrambles last summer when Summers and Smith tangled and went down.

"I kept expecting them to catch up to me on the first lap and then we'd decide who was going to lead, but they never did," said Plessinger. "When I came around and my pit told me I had a pretty good lead I decided to really get after it, build as big a lead as I could, and then save my energy in case they caught me in the last few laps. They never did, and I won the race by a couple of minutes."

The second exception to the "let somebody else lead" policy is if you are on a small-bore bike, like Tommy Norton. While he too would like to conserve energy by cruising in second or third place in early laps, Norton admits that his choice of bikes means he has to be considerably more aggressive than other pro riders.

"On a 125, I've got to take the lead anytime I can get it," he laughed. "I can't out-drag race the 250s on straight-aways, and I can't power up big hills like they can. My advantage is in really tight, technical stuff, so I take the lead whenever I get it and then try and get far enough ahead in the tight stuff so they can't catch me on the more open sections."

A third situation where the pros might be willing to take an early lead is in a dry, dusty race. "If dust is going to be a problem you'll see the AA riders really drag racing off the start, trying to get the lead so they won't have to fight the dust," said Smith. "That's a situation where it's worth expending the energy to get and keep the lead early, because it is so hard to try and move up and pass people when you can't see the trail because the dust is so thick."

Know Thyself, and The Others Too

"Summers is probably the best in the rocks, Smith is hard to beat when it's wide open, and I'm probably the best in the mud," said Plessinger. "Knowing that, and knowing the course because I've walked it or because I've raced it before, I'll try to pass Summers before any rocky sections, and Smith before we hit a high-speed section. Even if they pass me in their "specialty section", I've still kept closer to them than if they had been leading and really put some time on me."

Knowing exactly what you and your bike can or can't do allows a rider to minimize his weaknesses and maximize his strengths. For example, Summer's big XR600 has the torque to climb small mountains without breaking a sweat, and Summers uses that confidence to his advantage.

"I've gained a lot of time in races because I knew I could climb a monster hill that everybody else was detouring around," he said. "On the other hand, I also know that my XR doesn't like deep, deep ruts in really sticky mud, so I may decide to take a longer line around a mudhole rather than risk getting stuck. You've got to plan ahead and know how to use the course to your advantage."

The Intimidation Factor

"Summers and I are probably the best at pressuring people into making mistakes," said Plessinger. "That XR is really annoying when it's roaring behind you...you lose your concentration for just a second and boom, he's around you and gone. But I can get on his nerves too, if I want to. I'll just keep it a gear lower and really let it scream when I'm behind him. I can see him glancing back and I know I'm getting on his nerves."

Bluffing is a subtle part of off-road racing, but offensive "bumping" is not. While motocrossers constantly bump and threaten each other in corners, off-road racing's pro riders consciously try to ride as "clean" as possible.

"I may show somebody my tire in a corner to see if I can break their concentration," said Plessinger, "but we don't go in for that bumping stuff. If two of us are going for the same line it can get a little physical, but that's just racing, and nobody gets upset about it."

"Yeah, me and Summers have tangled a few times, trying to go for the same line," said Norton. "You can probably guess how it turned out...little bitty me on a 125 against six foot-tall Summers on a 280 pound four stroke? I usually just bounce off him and then pick myself up out of the weeds, but both of us know that it's part of racing and nothing personal. None of the pros will do something to intentionally knock down or hurt another rider."

The Pros' Real Mental Advantage

"It almost sounds too easy, but the absolutely most important mental aspect is simply being ready," said Norton. "You have to know, and believe, that your bike is mechanically perfect, the suspension is right for the track, and that you are in physical condition to ride the race without getting worn out. If you have doubts about the bike or yourself, you've already lost the race."

Norton also noted that he "doesn't think" during a race. "You have to be so used to your bike and how you and it work together that you don't have to think about, for example, pre-loading the forks to jump a creek. I think that most of the AA riders would say that during a race they are riding by instinct...their mind and body and bike are working as a unit without conscious thought. You only get that by lots of training, lots of riding, and lots of preparation."

A few final strategy tips from the pros include:

• Pass lappers fast and with little warning. "The cleanest passes are when I can catch and pass a lapper before he knows I'm passing him," said Summers. "If a lapper hears me coming he will try to pull over, and there's a 50-50 chance he will turn to the side I'm passing on." And in case you lappers were wondering, the pros prefer that you don't pull over to "help" them pass. "By the time you hear us coming, we've already decided which side we're going to pass you on, and probably committed our bike to that side," said Plessinger. "If lappers will just hold a steady line, we'll get around them and there'll be less chance of a crash."

• Use pit stops to your advantage. If you have the tank capacity to stretch an extra lap when everybody else is pitting for fuel, use that lap to put time on the competition. Conversely, consider pitting a lap early if your fuel capacity is borderline. "Ride that lap when everybody else is pitting as hard as you can," said Summers. "You can build a nice lead because you're kind of riding alone, and know that you only have to go all out for that one lap."

• Always save something for the end. All the pros estimated that they ride the majority of their races at around 80- to 85-percent and save 100 percent efforts for the final laps. "It may not look like it, but a lot of the time we're just sort of cruising during the middle of a race," said Summers. "Yeah, we're focused, and we're getting around the course pretty fast, but we're all keeping something back for the last laps. It only matters if you're leading at the checkered flag."

• Slow down and go fast. "If you could ride with us for a couple of laps at race speeds, you'd be surprised how slow we go in some spots and how fast we go in others," said Summers. "There's no point in blasting into a mudhole and getting stuck, or hammering through a bunch of rocks and crashing and losing lots of time. I'll almost stop at big mudholes and watch lappers to see where the deep spots are. Tommy (Norton) and I walk our bikes across rivers sometimes because the bike is two inches higher when we aren't sitting on it. It may take us ten seconds longer to walk it across, but we don't drown out and lose five minutes. Slow down in the right places and you'll actually have faster lap times, and that's what it's all about."