Cornering Reference Points
 By Kevin Schwantz and Lance Holst
 

 As your speed through a given corner rises, it becomes
 increasingly more important to be precise with your cornering
 lines. If you´re riding slow enough, any number of lines is
 acceptable and you have a relatively broad path measured in
 feet or even yards to choose from. But as the speed
 increases that line gets narrower and narrower. Whether
 you´re riding on your favorite road or lapping Road Atlanta
 at the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School, the faster you go the
 more important it is to be precise and consistent with where
 you place your bike in the corner - down to a matter of
 inches.

 Consistency comes from picking out specific points to
 reference (hence the term reference point or RP), thereby
 slotting your bike in the same place each time through the
 corner. For your favorite road, you may make one pass a
 week. On a track day, it´s more likely to happen 50 or more
 times a day.

 Elevation changes and blind corners increases the importance
 of reference points. The first lap of Road Atlanta, with its
 numerous blind corners, leaves most riders wide-eyed with
 exhilaration. When newcomers see track veterans wheelie
 over the blind crest under the Suzuki bridge in Turn 11,
 they´re left slack-jawed in awe. How are riders able to carry
 such speed in corners that they can´t see through? Reference
 points.

 As soon as we teach students to use their vision more
 effectively, get their body position and steering techniques
 addressed, we teach them to look at the track in more detail.
 Specifically, we ask them to find a number of reference
 points for each corner. For turns that require braking to get
 down to cornering speed, the first RP is a beginning braking
 point. The next RP, which every corner has, is a turn-in point.
 From the turn-in point, the bike arcs inward to the tightest
 (innermost) point in the corner, or apex. The final RP, the exit
 point, is typically already determined at this point but it´s an
 excellent indicator of how effective your cornering line is.

 The things that make Road Atlanta such a challenging track
 also make it an excellent place to learn riding technique. Its
 blind rises force riders to use reference points. Take Turn 11
 for example: When a rider hits the turn-in point accurately
 and stays consistent with steering inputs, he clears the crest
 with confidence and awareness that the yellow line denoting
 the apex just past the bridge puts the bike on an arc that will
 carry it to the outside edge of the ...

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