Throttle and traction control on the Stark

[Philip]

Also love that Hicks is racing both his Yam and Stark in AMA AX and his laptimes on the 2 bikes are very very close (if maybe not "made" the same way).

Yes, Hicks is awesome. Wins a heat, does the post-race interview, them walks over to the starting gate when his other bike is already waiting for him.

I was planning watch his lap times on both bikes, but when I started playing attention, I think he had the worst start ever on the Stark and wasn't pushing as hard as he usually does. But other fast guys in the e-bike class were in the high-22-second lap times, while the ICE guys were in the low-22-second lap time. This info is probably on the Arenacross website. A half-a-second on a tiny 22-second lap is a lot.

 

[Beagle]

Yes, Hicks is awesome. Wins a heat, does the post-race interview, them walks over to the starting gate when his other bike is already waiting for him.

I was planning watch his lap times on both bikes, but when I started playing attention, I think he had the worst start ever on the Stark and wasn't pushing as hard as he usually does. But other fast guys in the e-bike class were in the high-22-second lap times, while the ICE guys were in the low-22-second lap time. This info is probably on the Arenacross website. A half-a-second on a tiny 22-second lap is a lot.

I kept track of his fastest times in qualifications and mains, here are for the past few rounds. At Prescott he was clearly faster on the Yam but that was not the norm. Also bear in mind he had little to no experience on the Varg before that.

AMA Arenacross, Hicks counter,
Guthrie, round 7
X (Stark): quali 46.662, M1 45.551, M2 44.942
AX (Yamaha): quali 44.041, M1 44.184, M2 45.022
Reno, round 8
X (Stark) quali 28.887, M1 29.325, M2 29.543
AX (Yamaha) quali 29.122, M1 29.126, M2 29.180
Reno, round 9
X (Stark) quali 30.314, M1 30.613, M2 30.416
AX (Yamaha) quali 29.930, M1 30.465, M2 31.117
Prescott, round 10
X (Stark) quali 22.870, M1 23.888, M2 23.125
AX (Yamaha) quali 22.363, M1 22.081, M2 22.968
Prescott, round 11
X (Stark) quali 22.595, M1 24.287, M2 22.866
AX (Yamaha) quali 22.066, M1 22.370, M2 22.653
Daytona, round 12
X (Stark) quali 22.371, M1 23.393, M2 23.906
AX (Yamaha) quali 22.744, M1 23.577, M2 23.577

 

[Philip]

Let's geek out on statistics!

 

[Philip]

Conclusions:

- Gurthie and Prescott didn't work for Hicks on a Stark very well.

- Reno was a mixed bag.

- Daytona was great for Hicks on a Stark.

- Hicks on a Stark is less consistent than Hicks on a Yamaha.

- All the trendlines are towards faster lap times for Hicks on a Stark. In the next two rounds, he should become faster on the Stark!

 

[Beagle]

Let's geek out on statistics!

View attachment 13263

Nice
Laptimes are quite close but also really depends on track layout ! At Guthrie and Prescott the Varg was clearly slower, at Reno and Daytona it was super close or a bit faster. Hicks probably knows why, if it's whoops or a certain kind of turn, jump or whatever.

Damn now I need to complete this with the first rounds! At first Hicks was really learning to ride the Varg and not dominating nor even winning the electric races so obviously there's more spread, I feel the latter races are more representative of the capabilities of the bike, he was finally at ease. Just look at the difference between Reno 1 and 2, and Reno 8 and 9!

Reno, round 1
X (Stark) quali 34.006, M1 34.516, M2 34.488
AX (Yamaha) quali 33.994, M1 34.213, M2 34.000
Reno, round 2
X (Stark) quali 32.034, M1 33.053, M2 33.309
AX (Yamaha) quali 32.201, M1 32.492, M2 32.796
Nampa, round 3
X (Stark) quali 23.157, M1 22.655, M2 22.949
AX (Yamaha) quali 22.469, M1 22.705, M2 22.912
Nampa, round 4
X (Stark) quali 22.172, M1 23.188, M2 22.733
AX (Yamaha) quali 21.916, M1 22.316, M2 22.849
Loveland, round 5
X (Stark) quali 24.511, M1 23.961, M2 24.194
AX (Yamaha) quali 24.282, M1 24.323, M2 23.678
Loveland, round 6
X (Stark) quali 23.367, M1 23.195, M2 23.071
AX (Yamaha) quali 22.791, M1 23.066, M2 22.765

 

[Theo]

Not that I feel like doing it right now, but I think that another important piece of data to use for statistics is the total time of the races. We all know how motocross is also about stamina and at least IMO and from my limited experience, since I haven't ridden many bikes for long durations, the Varg is less tiring than a gas bike. A rider may do for example 44.00 as a best lap for one lap, but not for ten consequent laps. Surely the total time is affected by the interaction with other riders and by falls, which should be kept in mind.

 

[Beagle]

Not that I feel like doing it right now, but I think that another important piece of data to use for statistics is the total time of the races. We all know how motocross is also about stamina and at least IMO and from my limited experience, since I haven't ridden many bikes for long durations, the Varg is less tiring than a gas bike. A rider may do for example 44.00 as a best lap for one lap, but not for ten consequent laps. Surely the total time is affected by the interaction with other riders and by falls, which should be kept in mind.

That's why I chose to compare fastest times, assuming there would be at least one lap where he could give it all, removing shenanigans from the races and different races durations.
Electric races were much shorter, plus it was really just 1 qualifying and 2 mains while gas races were qualifying, 3 heats, 2 mains (plus LCQs!).
In all he had MUCH more seat time on the Yamaha, which he already knew well, but had to be completely exhausted racing both classes at all rounds. Nordstrom tried that at one round but couldn't really carry on, not sure anyone else tried that!

 

[Philip]

Alright. With more data, it now looks like only the fastest laps are improving.

What that means, I think, is that when he sees/feels the advantage of the Stark, then he goes for it. Otherwise, he settles and plays it safe.

 

[Philip]

However, the trend from the last 6 rounds also matters. Maybe there was a breaking point after which everything started improving and will keep improving. We will see...

The two Prescott rounds were clearly his two worst ones. It must be the slippery dirt that I saw.

 

[Beagle]

However, the trend from the last 6 rounds also matters. Maybe there was a breaking point after which everything started improving and will keep improving. We will see...

The two Prescott rounds were clearly his two worst ones. It must be the slippery dirt that I saw.

Ok you got me intrigued... but I'm picky!

I don't know the day schedule but you've been there, given how the track may evolve during the day, and assuming main 1 for both classes, then main 2 for both classes, were run in close succession, I would rather not do a cross comparison between fastest times in qualifying, main 1 and main 2, held at different times during the day but rather the difference between both classes for similar sessions (i.e. fastest qualifying lap X and AX, fastest lap in Main 1 X and AX, fastest lap in Main 2 X and AX).

And among these 3, fastest laps in mains would probably be most relevant given how Hicks tended to improve between qualifying at the beginning of the day and races later on (on the Varg at least) and I would think wether he was dominating or defending or in hot poursuit he'd manage at least one hot lap per race.

Also because he was managing much less laps in X qualifying compared to AX, and it feels to me like maybe he was getting closer in laptimes later in the event (maybe bigger difference in qualifying, and maybe even smaller difference looking at M2 compared to M1?)

Gotta say having a pro riding Stark and gas bikes in races on the same track same day, at a very high level (wining races in both classes, winning championship in electric class and 3rd overall in gas class) is really nice to geek it out!

 

[Philip]

I don't know the day schedule but you've been there, given how the track may evolve during the day, and assuming main 1 for both classes, then main 2 for both classes, were run in close succession, I would rather not do a cross comparison between fastest times in qualifying, main 1 and main 2, held at different times during the day but rather the difference between both classes for similar sessions (i.e. fastest qualifying lap X and AX, fastest lap in Main 1 X and AX, fastest lap in Main 2 X and AX).

Done. I have added more metrics and colors to the data summary above.

 

[Beagle]

Done. I have added more metrics and colors to the data summary above.

Awesome, thanks!

Now if you look at some of the worst rounds for the Varg, like Guthrie or Prescott 1 and 2, M1 the Varg is really off for M1 (3%, 8%, 9%) then for M2, basically last race of the event, difference dwindled under 1%.

If you average for 12 rounds your difference percentage for Q, then for M1 and finally for M2 you'd probably see that M2 is the closest (varying from -2% to +2%) and showing more speed for the Varg (than average diff for Q or M1).

On this admittedly very limited set of data, to me this suggests that Hicks was still improving all the time on the Varg, especially so at the rounds/layouts were it was initially tough for him on the electric, at the end of the day he was typically getting closer as he had more laps under his belt.