In Ama Pro Racing, World Superbike And MotoGP there's been a shift in riding styles. From the days of '80s and '90s heroes like Kevin Schwantz and Mick Doohan who were forced to wrestle powerful, unruly beasts to their will, a younger generation of riders typified by Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner took over, rising from the high-corner speed ranks of 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix machinery to the more refined, better-behaved MotoGP bikes of today with their complex engine-management software and traction control. Actually Rossi's career dates from the final days of fire-breathing 500cc two-strokes (he won the last 500CC World Championship in 2001, then piled up consecutive MotoGP championships from 2002 to 2005), which likely contributes to making him the most versatile and perhaps most talented roadracer of all time.

I like to think one of THE reasons I'm an effective riding instructor is that I'm not blessed with much natural talent. Consequently I've had to learn nearly every aspect of high-performance riding firsthand and often from my mistakes. It's good to learn from your mistakes, but it's even better-and often less painful-to learn from those of others whenever possible.

Elsewhere in this issue is my coverage from the Ducati 848 world press intro (page 40) in the south of Spain at the Circuito de Velocidad de Almeria. Because I was new to the circuit, with its many fast blind corners, some cresting hills and others sweeping off into the distance, I found myself frustrated with the task of learning the new track, something I'm usually pretty good at. The answer lay in the lack of easy reference points.

One of the most frequent questions heard among riders centers around which gear to be in for a given corner. Often you're torn between high revs in a low gear or pulling a taller gear at lower rpm. Naturally, different engine sizes and configurations behave differently, and occasionally you'll find the perfect gear that pulls smoothly and strongly off a particular corner.

With the ever-narrowing gap between modern production sportbikes and actual racing machines, it's only natural that noncompetitive, open track days are gaining widespread popularity. Not so long ago, the thrill of experiencing the unbridled freedom of an open racetrack came only after earning that right by becoming a racer. This entailed the completion of a novice race school and then slapping a set of competition numbers on your bike to do battle with your inexperienced yet adrenaline-charged peers. The time-honored novice racer rite of passage is made up of varying percentages of excitement and sheer terror that is best experienced in your early years before realizing your own mortality.

1. Many times we have stressed the importance of looking ahead into a corner so that you can formulate a riding plan well in advance. Another benefit of looking where you want to go is that it can help save you when things get a little out of control; like when you're caught unaware in a corner going a little too fast. Obviously, these steps won't do you much good if you totally screw up and blast into a 30-mph corner at well over 100 mph, but if you find yourself running into a turn that tightens up unexpectedly, these points can help keep you rubber-side-down during a situation that probably qualifies as the number one trap for novice riders.

Ten years ago I signed on at Motorcyclist magazine and began commuting to work on a motorcycle over the busiest freeways and streets of Los Angeles. In those 10 years of commuting, two staff members had commuting accidents, neither of which caused significant damage or pain. That's five to seven editors riding to work every working day for 10 years. If we were the survey panel, the conclusion would be that commuting on a motorcycle is an extremely safe way to get to work. And with the proper skills, it can be.

We know we're constantly harping on this subject, but we've seen one too many accidents lately that were caused by a rider getting into a corner a little too hot, locking up the brakes and/or straightening the bike, then running off the road. We can't emphasize enough how important it is to not only look where you want to go, but also to scan far enough ahead of yourself; this is basically a recital of the racing mantra, "Don't ride the front wheel." Riding a sportbike well means being in control, and although it may not appear that way, it's vitally important for a racer to constantly be on top of his motorcycle's handling. Since racers are more often than not traveling at warp speed, they must anticipate what their racebike is going to do long before it happens-which means looking far ahead of their present location. This is why racers seem to be checking out spectators on the side of the track when entering hairpins. Instead, they're looking at where they'd like to be in a 10th of a second. Yamaha 500 Grand Prix rider Norick Abe demonstrates.

As someone who's been lucky enough to ride some of the top superbike and grand prix machinery on many of the world's finest racetracks, let me assure you that there's still nothing more pleasurable than riding on a favorite road in a group of familiar partners. Fortunately for me, as a frequent guest tester for Sport Rider, it's also a common occurrence.

Once its fundamental theory is understood, the skill of clutchless upshifting is typically mastered in a matter of minutes. For first-timers, snicking slickly through the gears without the clutch brings a smile of wonderment, as if they just learned a new magic trick.

A motorcycle's brakes are both its most powerful component and the most difficult to master. In nearly a decade of teaching high-performance riding on racetracks all over the United States, Germany, France and Japan, I can say with confidence that even those riders serious enough to go to high-end schools have difficulty getting much more than 50 percent of the braking potential from modern sportbikes.

Really nailing a corner is one of the more thrilling experiences you can have on a motorcycle; but getting it wrong can be one of the more painful.

Once its fundamental theory is understood, the skill of clutchless upshifting is typically mastered in a matter of minutes. For first-timers, snicking slickly through the gears without the clutch brings a smile of wonderment, as if they just learned a new magic trick.

In the previous RSS (Dec. '06), we discussed how our sense of speed can be impaired by panic, causing us to think that we're entering a corner too fast. This often leads to the desperate-and false-sense that we need to stay hard on the brakes as we lean into the corner. In my eight years of instructing thousands of students of all ability levels on racetracks across the country, I can tell you without reservation that this panic situation causes more crashes than all others combined.

Learn to ride by taking an MSF Basic RiderCourse or Experienced RiderCourse. Visit www.msf-usa.org to find the schools in your state.

One dictionary defines panic as "a sudden, overpowering, often contagious terror." That's a remarkably accurate description of panic as it applies to motorcyclists. From the countless motorcycle crashes I've witnessed and investigated over 25 years of street riding, 14 years of road racing and nearly a decade of full-time motorcycle track instruction, I can tell you that panic is by far the greatest cause of crashes. Ironically, it's an instinct programmed into our minds back when we were defending ourselves against saber-toothed tigers that's the culprit, not panic brought on by the more commonly feared left-turning vehicles, lack of traction, etc., that are usually listed as the greatest dangers to our motorcycling well-being.

1. We know we're constantly harping on this subject, but we've seen one too many accidents lately that were caused by a rider getting into a corner a little too hot, locking up the brakes and/or straightening the bike, then running off the road. We can't emphasize enough how important it is to not only look where you want to go, but to also scan far enough ahead of yourself; this is basically a recital of the racing mantra, "Don't ride the front wheel." Riding a sportbike well means being in control, and though it may not appear that way, it's vitally important for a racer to constantly be on top of his motorcycle's handling. Since racers are more often than not traveling at warp speed, they must anticipate what their racebike is going to do long before it happens--which means looking far ahead of their present location. This is why racers seem to be checking out spectators on the side of the track when entering hairpins. Instead, they're looking at where they'd like to be in a 10th of a second. Yamaha 500 Grand Prix rider Norick Abe demonstrates.