Motocross - Extreme Sports | Extreme

Motorcross is off road racing for motor bikes and is also known as 'MotoX' or MX.

A powerful off road bike, some big jumps and one daredevil rider make up this high adrenaline sport. These riders are highly experienced, so please don't just get on your bike and just go full throttle into the nearest jump... mmkay?!

There are a number of different types of Motocross; SuperMoto, Motocross, Supercross, Freestyle and Mini-Motocross.

Motocross is the outdoor off road racing part of the sport. The racers all line up at the start line and shoot off at trouser messing speeds around a sand or dirt track. The winner will gain points that go towards his overall postion in the leader board.

Supermoto is just taking the off road bike and modifying it to race on both dirt and concrete tracks. This type of racing can also still involve jumps and obstacles.

Supercross is raced by high performance off road bikes on indoor man made dirt tracks consisting of steep jumps and sharp turns.

Pit bikes/Mini-Motocross is the same as normal motocross but on smaller bikes. Not just smaller engine size but smaller wheels, frames. Whole bike.

Freestyle is the crazy jumps and tricks part of the sport. This is the extreme sport that was borne from MotoX. Riders compete against each other by trying to perform the hardest tricks to gain points. There are many different tricks in Freestyle that are evolving into harder and harder tricks all the time. The body varial 360 is considered to be the most difficult trick at the moment. But, pushing the limits all of the time, is a rider called Travis Pastrana. In the 2006 X Games, Travis performed the first double backflip and now is said to be working on the first Barrel Roll. It still hasn't been done.

There are hundreds of tricks to perform whilst in the air. Here are just a few of the most popular:

-Backflip - Flips backwards obviously.
-Double Backflip - The same as above but twice.
-Frontflip - Same as a backflip but forwards.
-360 - Rider spins 360 degrees.
-Can Can - The rider kicks their foot over the seat.
-Double Can Can – Same as can can but with both feet.
-Cliff Hanger - The rider hooks their feet under the handle bars and stretches up.
-Dead Body - Similar to a cliff hanger but, instead of reaching up, the rider lays down along the bike.
-Double Grab - The rider grabs the seat with two hands and puts his legs up towards the sky.
-Fender Grab - Rider grabs front or rear fender.
-Heel Clicker - The rider puts his feet through the space between his arms while holding the handle bars and clicks his heels.
-Superman - The rider holds there body out horizontally while holding the handle bars.
-Superman Seat Grab - Same as superman but holding on to the seat.
-Nothing - Rider lets go of the bike completely.

Supermoto is where a motocross bike has been converted to ride on a road racing track or man made dirt tracks.

Where to go, Cost and Equipment

Where

Check out the link for dates and up coming motocross event info. www.acu.org.uk/

For motorcross bike dealers anywhere in the UK www.dirtbikerider.co.uk/website_content/bikes/dealer_directory/index.html

Cost and Equipment

Motorcross Helmet - These vary a lot from £80 right up to £400+.

Race Shirt, Trousers and Gloves - These are sold as a combo most of the time to keep all the designs on them the same. Look at spending from £70 to £210.

Goggles - From £15 to £90.

Boots - These are around £100 to £200.

Body Armour -

Protector Jacket (full upper body protection) around £80
Knee and shin guards are around £30 to £50
Neck brace is around £35

Bike - Middle of the road bikes are around the £3500 mark.