The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing FIM Motocross World Champion and 2024-2025 AMA 250SX #1 explains how he learnt to deal with one of the most difficult aspects of Supercross.
By Adam Wheeler
Nine, 3ft equally spaced ‘washboard’ bumps form one of the most feared areas of a supercross circuit. The ‘whoops’ is a section of track that can be worth almost a second a lap to the most accomplished and bravest racer who can plough across. AMA Supercross is a component of the Supermotocross championship and is arguably the United States’ most popular motorcycle racing series. It takes place for 17 rounds in less than 20 weeks and combs the length and breadth of America, drawing crowds up to 60,000 in some states and TV/Streaming audiences of around half a million per race.
Red Bull KTM have two riders in the 450SX class (with the KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION), and one each in the 250SX divisions (KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITIONs) that contest 8 events orientated to the east and west regions of the country. Tom Vialle, a 24-year-old from Avignon, France, moved to the U.S for 2023 after winning the 2020 and 2022 FIM MX2 World Championships. Tom progressed swiftly and grasped the 2024 250SX East title and recently defended the #1 plate. Vialle had to stare at the difficulty of the whoops and hone his skills quickly, compared to a legion of homegrown racers who had developed the technique at a young age. Considering his swift induction and acclimatisation from motocross, Tom is ideally placed to provide some relatable context for supercross ‘skimming’…
“Whoops are a big part of any supercross track and there are many different types…
Also, the dirt: if they are dry or tacky, and then this changes the traction. If they are dry then you need to come into the whoops as fast as possible and you cannot give too much gas otherwise you’ll just wheelspin. If they are tacky or soft then you can enter with normal speed and open the throttle more to avoid that wheelspin. Every rider wants traction. The best approach is to hit them as hard as possible but that’s pretty hard to do! When the whoops are brand new then they are more fun but the reality comes in the main event when they are rougher and unlevelled, then you have to adapt your technique.
What technique for whoops?...
You can jump through them or skim them. Last year, in 2023, I jumped a lot and this year I’ve been skimming. When the whoops are brand-new it is easier to skim and stay on top. I prefer skimming but it depends a lot on the dirt. If the whoops are breaking down but the dirt is grippy then jumping is good. If they are really dry, then skim them. The build of the whoops is a factor too: by that I mean the shape and the length. You need time to learn and to understand how the bike will react. If you miss one, then you need to know how to handle it. I think my story is pretty good because two-three years ago I couldn’t do whoops at all and now I’m pretty OK! It’s a lot of time and training. Understand the bike first and once you have that then you can work on your own technique to be better.
I think the best body position is to keep your head above and perpendicular to the bars, and your elbows high…
You should try to put your body more towards the back of the bike but it cannot be too far or you’ll miss some whoops with your front wheel. If you watch videos of the best guys from the past-and-present then they have this action stance of their head over the bars and their ass as far back as possible. The placement of your feet is really important for traction and again they want to be back on the pegs and tucked in. I think some guys even fix their footpegs by 5-10mm more to the rear for this.
Why does it take so long to get them right…?
I don’t know…but maybe it’s because the whoops can be so different. For instance, if you look at a supercross triple jump then there is more-or-less one way to build it, or they are the same every race: we could almost close our eyes and jump it! But that’s not true for the whoops. You need to get used to how to ride them and then must adapt on the night. You can train as much as you can for whoops, and I do, but usually for mid-week practice there are only a couple of us on track whereas at a race there are maybe 80-90 riders and they get beat-up very quickly. You can only ‘find out’ about whoops at the races.
Getting a whoops section right can win time…but they can also be a nightmare…
If you are struggling then you start to doubt them and it becomes even harder but if you are skimming and feeling good then it gives confidence. Of course, you can save a ‘moment’ but you will crash at some point in the whoops and I have crashed a lot! That’s important to understand the limit and the limit of what the bike will handle. We’ve all seen the best guys crash in the whoops, so it shows how tough it is. It’s quite a mental game, and you have to commit to go through them.”