motorcycle racing

Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and bike racing) is a motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major genres include road racing and off road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and land speed record trials.

Road racing is the racing of motorcycles on tarmac. Races can take place either on purpose built racing circuits or on closed public roads.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing refers to the premier category of motorcycle road racing. It is divided into three distinct classes:

Moto3: Introduced in 2012, motorcycles in this class are 250 cc with four stroke engines. Previously it featured 125 cc two stroke motorcycles. This class is also restricted by rider age, with an upper limit of 25 for newly signed riders and wild card entries and an absolute upper limit of 28 for all riders.

Moto2: Introduced by Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of the competition, in 2010 as a 600 cc four stroke class. Prior to that season, the intermediate class was 250 cc with two stroke engines. Moto2 races in the 2010 season allowed both engine types; from 2011 on, only the four stroke Moto2 machines were allowed.

MotoGP: is the current term for the highest class of GP racing. The class was contested with prototype machines with varying displacement and engine type over the years. Originally contested by large displacement four stroke machines in the early years it eventually switched to 500 cc two strokes. In 2002 990 cc four stroke bikes were allowed to compete alongside the 500 cc two strokes and then completely replaced them in 2003. 2007 saw a reduction to 800 cc four stroke engines to unsuccessfully slow things down a bit before finally settling on 1000 cc four strokes on 2012

Superbike racing is a category of motorcycle road racing that employs modified production motorcycles. Superbike racing motorcycles must have four stroke engines of between 800 cc and 1200 cc for twins, and between 750 cc and 1000 cc for four cylinder machines. The motorcycles must maintain the same profile as their roadgoing counterparts. The overall appearance, seen from the front, rear and sides, must correspond to that of the bike homologated for use on public roads even though the mechanical elements of the machine have been modified.

Supersport racing is another category of motorcycle road racing that employs modified production motorcycles. To be eligible for Supersport racing, a motorcycle must have a four stroke engine of between 400 and 600 cc for four cylinder machines, and between 600 and 750 cc for twins, and must satisfy the FIM homologation requirements. Supersport regulations are much tighter than Superbikes. Supersport machines must remain largely as standard, while engine tuning is possible but tightly regulated.

Endurance racing is a category of motorcycle road racing which is meant to test the durability of equipment and endurance of the riders. Teams of multiple riders attempt to cover a large distance in a single event. Teams are given the ability to change riders during the race. Endurance races can be run either to cover a set distance in laps as quickly as possible, or to cover as much distance as possible over a preset amount of time. Reliability of the motorcycles used for endurance racing is paramount.

Sidecar racing is a category of sidecar motorcycle racing. Older sidecar road racers generally resembled solo motorcycles with a platform attached, modern racing sidecars are purpose built low and long vehicles. Sidecarcross resembles MX motorcycles with a high platform attached. In sidecar racing a rider and a passenger work together to make the machine perform; the way in which the passenger shifts their weight across the sidecar is crucial to its performance around corners.

Sidecar racing has many sub categories including:
Sidecarcross
Sidecar trials
F1/F2 road racing

Historically, road racing meant a course on closed public road. This was once commonplace but few races have survived, mostly in Europe. Races take place on street circuits. Two championships exist, the first is the International Road Racing Championship, the other is the Duke Road Racing Rankings. The latter accounts for the majority of road races that take place each season, with an award for the highest placed rider. Prominent road races include the Isle of Man TT, North West 200 ant the Ulster Grand Prix. Ireland has many road racing circuits still in use. Other countries with road races are the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, New Zealand and Macau.

Motocross (or MX) is the direct equivalent of road racing, but off road, a number of bikes racing on a closed circuit. Motocross circuits are constructed on a variety of non tarmac surfaces such as dirt, sand, mud, grass, etc., and tend to incorporate elevation changes either natural or artificial. Advances in motorcycle technology, especially suspension, have led to the predominance of circuits with added jumps on which bikes can get airborne. Motocross has another noticeable difference from road racing, in that starts are done en masse, with the riders alongside each other. Up to 40 riders race into the first corner, and sometimes there is a separate award for the first rider through (see holeshot). The winner is the first rider across the finish line, generally after a given amount of time or laps or a combination.

Supercross (or SX) is simply indoor motocross. Supercross is more technical and rhythm like to riders. Typically situated in a variety of stadiums and open or closed arenas, it is notable for its numerous jumps. In North America, this has been turned into an extremely popular spectator sport, filling large baseball stadiums, leading to Motocross being now termed the outdoors . However, in Europe it is less popular sport, as the predominate focus there is on Motocross.