When Steffi Laier, Red Bull Teka KTM factory rider and two-time Women's MX World Champion takes to the track in the pre-season MX races in Valence, France, this weekend it will be her first competitive ride for 2011. Steffi has been training hard on the bike since mid December and in Valence tests herself against a field of male riders.

At the French pre-season special, she faces off with a strong lineup of riders including those from the Nestaan JM Racing KTM squad led by Joel Roelants, Yentel Martens and young talents like 125 European champion Jordi Tixier of France and Austrian Pascal Rauchenecker. Also in the field are other KTM riders like British rider Nathan Parker (PROPPA-COM KTM and French riders Loïc Leonce (B G R KTM) and Loïc Larrieu (WOLFF KTM). But these and other top riders hold no fear for Steffi who his very well known for her toughness, skill and courage when attacking any MX track.
Gerard Rond Jean Sebastien Roy Alex Salvini Donny Schmit Fritz Schneider
The RCT is now available in Black/Grey/White & Maroon/White.
Buy Now!Source: http://etnies.com/blog/2012/7/30/etnies-presents-euro-style/
Michael Byrne Antonio Cairoli Trey Canard Håkan Carlquist Ricky Carmichael
This year's AMA Motocross Banquet & Season Celebration was held in a magnificent banquet room at the Pala Resort & Casino. The room was decorated beautifully, lined with motocross décor, as well as a stage decorated with the championship bikes and awards. The line-up of food, appetizers, desserts, and beverages was very elegant and delicious.
After dinner, the awards ceremony began. Jason Weigandt, along with Tim Cotter hosted the show. And of course Jason started it just like he does many of his shows - after slamming down an energy drink.
Jason went on to talk about each round of this summer's AMA Motocross Nationals, with a list of funny jokes pertaining to all the good and bad situations at each of the races. After that, the awards and trophies were handed out.
The night was filled with special memories, good times, and laughs. One poignant moment was when Kevin Windham accepted the award for 'Sportsperson of the Year'. Kevin always has a great way of expressing himself, but made a great comment towards his friend & the team manager, Mike LaRocco. He commented on Mike's motivation, that pushed Kevin to work hard and do his best ... it was touching, but at the same time very funny.

Kevin Windham accepted the award for 'Sportsperson of the Year'
John Banks Mark Barnett Jonathan Barragan Andrea Bartolini Willy Bauer
With heart rates constantly through the roof, moto is no doubt one of most physically demanding sports on the face of the planet. Your heart is pumping just from the adrenaline, but throw in a rough track, huge jumps and some whoops, you will definitely work every energy system in your body. Although it is still hot as hell down here in the Deep South (not hell, just Florida), things seem to be cooling down for the rest of the country. However, just because it is not as hot, fatigue will creep up on you before you know. Save yourself some pain and read on!
One of the most important things to remember is to stand up. I know this is probably a no brainer, but some people will still ride as though the track is still smooth. Most of the time, you will have to stand up later into corners and then get up sooner when exiting. For rougher corners, it is even a good idea to stand up through the whole turn and look to the edges of the track for smoother lines. Many European riders will do this because the course gets so brutal, if you sit down; your back will take all of the impact. This is not the best idea because your back could tense up and result in some serious pain.
This next tip goes hand and hand with standing up: gripping with your legs. I have said many times before that you will save yourself from arm pump and getting tired quickly if you squeeze the tank. The quadriceps are large enough to take the impact from a rough course and they can handle this stress much better than your forearms and biceps/triceps. You almost want to think of your arms as hinges to your core. Relaxing your grip on jumps will also keep your “hinges” from cramping and pumping up too much. To help get through extra tricky sections; you can even apply pressure to one side of the tank with your leg to help steer the bike.
If you watched the 250’s, then you saw Barcia killing it everywhere. Other than his crazy style, he was doing something that caught my eye more than a few times during the second moto. If you notice, he was riding on his back wheel, a lot. The deep holes and moguls were not as bad when he could get the front wheel up. The back wheel would just roll over the bump and the rear shock absorbs the tire’s vertical travel. If you go through a rough section with both wheels down, it just rocks you back and forth. I am not saying to do a full blown wheelie here, but just getting your front tire to skim or get over the rough stuff will make life much easier. Remember that riding in a high gear will help the suspension work properly in the chop and provide you with more traction to get the front tire up.
One final tip is to just relax! If you know that the track is rough, just accept it and ride. When you tense up, any bump and hole you hit is sent throughout your entire body. If your breathing is deep and even, you should be able to roll your shoulders back and ride smoother. By your rolling them back, you can keep that attack position much easier and you open up the diaphragm for this more efficient breathing. Like I said earlier, this is not hard stuff. Keep it simple and remember the basics!
Source: http://www.mxtrainingblog.com/riding-techniques/saving-energy-on-the-track/
John Draper Doug Dubach Ryan Dungey Vic Eastwood Daryl Ecklund
2nd edition of FMX Team. With downhill, big jump, new tricks, custom bike tuning and much more!
Source: http://www.superfreestylemotocross.com/blog/fmx-team-3/
Rick Burgett Jimmy Button Michael Byrne Antonio Cairoli Trey Canard
I thought you might want to know a little bit more about what many of of current and former supercross / motocross are into these days - off-road truck racing. This video below is a highlight package of the 2011 TORC series, which features a little bit of a rivalry between me and Johnny Greaves. Hope the video gives you a little insight into off-road truck racing, and that you enjoy it. It's a very well produced video.
Source: http://www.supercross.com/rj-says/rj-says-off-road-truck-racing-video-of-torc