Throttle control is the most important technique you need to master in order to take seconds off of your lap times and be able to hang with the fast guys.  Ever wonder why you spin out in the corners?  How about when you’re coming into the first turn off a long straight and you start chopping the throttle instead of easing off of it.  These symptoms and habits are due to lack of throttle control.  In the next few paragraphs I am going to explain some of the ways that throttle control can make or break your next race.

 The first and might I say the most annoying bad habit is blipping the throttle while going through corners.  This really isn’t the way to go for starters as it causes wheel spin and the bike is harder to control when you keep getting thrown back every time you hit the gas.  What you need to focus on is easing the throttle on and off.   Dumping the throttle is ok, as when you start getting faster you will be able to go into a turn at full speed all the way until you have to hit the brakes so you don’t overshoot the turn.  This takes a lot of balls to master as it is hard to judge when to get on the brakes (and when you do it’s both the front and the rear as hard as you can without locking up the tires).  You can hear riders execute this technique when they hold the quad wide open down a straight away, when they enter the corner it sounds like the engine shuts off, as they exit the corner its back to wide open as soon as they are pointed in the right direction.  A more beginners approach to this would be to practice easing off the throttle when entering a turn while you are down shifting and setting up your body position on the quad.  As you exit the corner apply a steady even pressure to the throttle, you will notice that you can pull the quad through the corners allowing you to go into the corner a gear higher.  Less shifting lets the engine do the work for you this makes for a much smoother riding style.   You will start to notice that the quad becomes easier to ride and that you don’t have to put so much effort into keeping control. this will keep you from getting tired as quickly keeping you going the entire race. 

 Once you get the corners mastered you can move onto throttle control over jumps, sweepers, and smaller high speed corners.  I suggest that you start by just focusing on easing the throttle in and out.  Never completely letting off the gas, you will start to be able to control the speed of the quad more easily.  You won’t have to use the brakes as much or at all in you learn how to allow the engine to slow you down.  I like to use the front brakes and the throttle for most of my speed adjustments.  I usually use the rear brakes when I am going hard into a corner to make a pass or getting the front end down in the air.  Once you start getting better at throttle control you will get faster.  You also will gain a lot of confidence in your abilities as you now have the quad under control instead of it controlling you.

 Throttle control will take a lot of time and practice to master.  You will need to be conscious of it at first but once you get it mastered it will become second nature to you.  I may post a short video showing the basic theory of throttle control but I will have to do it on my three wheeler as I still haven’t been able to get a new quad yet.   Check back soon as I will be posting another riding technique article about passing on one line tracks.  Until then work on THROTTLE CONTROL!!!