The whoops are commonly known as one of the most challenging sections on a supercross circuit and it’s one of key areas of the track that can easily make or break your race. Being able to master the whoops lap after lap can play as huge advantage, particularly when there is a lack of passing opportunities. With US experience under his belt, current SX2 points leader and DPH Motorsport rider Hayden Mellross guides you through six important steps when skimming the whoop section – obviously a piece of Advice for only the most experienced of racers at an elite level.

Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

1. Approach:
As I’m exiting the corner prior to the whoops, I don’t want be focusing too much on the first whoop, I like to be looking further through the section towards the end – if you focus too much on the first one, it can throw your balance off. You can’t hesitate exiting the corner, as we saw at Toowoomba, the whoops can bite you from behind very easily – so you need to ensure you’re confident heading into the section with no hesitation on the throttle.

2. Gear selection:
Gearing will vary for each track, depending on whether it’s a long or short whoop section, I will choose between third or fourth. My gearing is a tooth lower than pretty much everyone else out there, which is what I prefer. So for instance, at Toowoomba I was hitting the whoops in third – there were only six or seven of them. For a longer set like Jimboomba, I would usually try to hit them in fourth. Generally, the higher the gear the better, just because you can carry your speed a lot more. If you’re five or six whoops in, the bike won’t run out of power and slow down, which would cause the front wheel to dive.

3. Body position:
I really try to stay ‘light’ in the whoops. I come in very aggressive, but as I take off the starter whoop to get into the second and third whoop, I stay nice and light and I’m not pushing down aggressively. You want it to feel like you’re floating above them by not putting too much load on the suspension – let it do its job. Keeping your arms nice and bent with your chest forward is probably the most important thing that I could say when you’re hitting the whoops.

Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

4. Maintaining momentum:
In a longer whoop section, a lot people tend to get three or four whoops in and lean back. The reason they want to lean back is because they’re running out of power. It’s really important to stay central to the bike and to keep your head forward, letting the bike do its thing. As soon as you lean back and straighten your arms, you’re allowing your front wheel to drop. Obviously, when your front wheels drops in the whoops, it doesn’t end pretty.

5. Correcting:
Every situation is different, but say if you were to come in and your bike stepped out to the right, the best thing to do is to stay on the throttle and not back off. As soon as you back off and panic, the bike is going to keep going around on itself or it’s going to grab and want to come back. If you’re gripping really tight with your legs, looking forward and being aggressive on the throttle, the rear of the bike can dance and do whatever it wants and it should pull through as long as you don’t stress out.

6. Completing the section:
It all depends on the last couple of whoops and the obstacle that is following them. I’ve watched a few guys in the US and if the corner is close to the whoop section, they will use their clutch to jump out, so instead of hitting the whoops, they will jump out from the second last one into the corner to try and set themselves up a little earlier. If you have more of a gap, you don’t really want to focus on the last whoop, just focus on the corner and just drive through them all. That split hesitation where you start to back off for the corner, the bike will slow down and get a little unsettled. You want to make sure that you’re really controlled and on the throttle until the last one so you don’t give your bike the chance to slow down and drop the front wheel.