Body position into a corner: the order ChampSchool uses

Chris Peris, president of Yamaha Champions Riding School, uses body position to run less lean angle, so you have more throttle and brake available at a given radius. Knee-down comes later, as a by-product of carrying more speed and lean angle into the corner. In a ChampSchool video he goes through corner entry in the order he rides it.

Reset on the straight

Every straight is a reset. Peris uses the outside knee as the gauge for how far back to sit: it should settle into the cut-out in the tank. That usually leaves about a fist's width between you and the tank, not your body pressed against it. When you tuck in, slide your backside back a little rather than hunching forward.

Move the hips before the brakes

The first movement, still tucked in, is a small shift of the hips towards the inside of the corner. Peris suggests half a cheek to one cheek off the seat. Hang off further and your chest and shoulders rotate the wrong way, which makes it harder to see through the corner and puts more of your weight on your hands.

Sit up and slow down

Next, sit up as you brake. Peris says this mainly tells the riders behind you that you are slowing, and it also opens up your view of the corner. Rolling off the throttle and onto the brake is one motion. Downshifts follow.

Then reset your feet. The ball of each foot goes on the peg, with the boot pressed into the outside edge of the peg, so your upper body's mass has a solid platform. Under braking, momentum pushes you forward. Peris compares holding yourself back to the top of a push-up.

Steer with your head and upper body

Your head and upper body control the turn-in rate. The more you move them towards the inside, the more the bike steers, and the faster you move, the faster it steers. Turn your head and look where you want the bike to go: the apex on track, the corner on the road.

With your hands loaded from braking, a moment of countersteering comes as you start to move. After that, take weight off the inside bar so the front can turn down into the corner. Keep the inside elbow more bent than the outside one, and never lock your arms.

From there you balance brake pressure against steering. Peris's rule is that radius equals speed: slow the bike a little more and the line tightens, or move your upper body further and the bike steers more. Once the bike is tipped in, lighten your grip so you can feel the front end. He suggests resting the outside arm on top of the tank as a touch point while your upper body moves down and towards the inside.

Head lowest on the exit

Keep a little movement in reserve and drop your head as you pick up the throttle, so it is at its lowest on the exit. Less lean angle means more of the tyre is available for acceleration as you drive out.

The rider is one of the largest masses on the motorcycle. In Peris's words, "we weigh more than the motorcycle's motor". ChampSchool notes that these steps can be practised on the bike in the garage, the paddock or a car park.