PADDOCK | TrackDNA Motorcycle Magazine

COACHES' CORNER

The track has a way of teaching through its people — the mentors who pull you aside, the riders who share what they wish they knew sooner.

This corner brings together those stories, lessons, and honest insights that make the culture stronger.
Take what the community has learned and use it to carve your own line.

COACHES' CORNER

The track has a way of teaching through its people — the mentors who pull you aside, the riders who share what they wish they knew sooner.

This corner brings together those stories, lessons, and honest insights that make the culture stronger.
Take what the community has learned and use it to carve your own line.

ALL THINGS PADDOCK

Tobias Gehrke on What the Camera Gets Wrong About Speed

Framing Part one – The dark foreground makes the subject stand out well. (Dennis Herzog Yamaha R7 Cup at Automotodrom Brno CZ) – Photo by Tobias Gehrke Tobias Gehrke is...

316 Superbike Camp

316 Superbike Camp Day 1 Priorities: What Coaches Teach New Track Riders First Beginners show up with the same two things in their helmet. A head full of highlight reels and hands tight...

Kayla Yaakov - American motorcycle racer

Kayla Yaakov on Patience, Pressure, and the Lap That Won’t Let Go

Photos courtesy of Rahal Ducati Moto Kayla Yaakov is a professional racer with MotoAmerica race wins and more than a dozen podium finishes, and she became the first female to win a...

Women sitting on the bike with number one next to her world champion

Maria Herrera and the champion season that starts before the lights

Maria Herrera is walking into 2026 as the defending champ, and that changes the temperature of a race weekend before the bike even rolls. I brought up what the first small thing feels...

a group of motorcycle racers chasing each other.

Factory Job, Superbike Dreams: Chris Durbin’s $20 Name-On-The-Bike Season

Photo by Nicole Paulich | Road Atlanta – MotoAmerica Stock 1000, Round 1. Threading the kink between Turns 3 and 4 with Jason Waters (#92) and Dylan Yelton (#118) On paper, it doesn’t...

a motorcycle racer and his team is celebrating the win

More Than a Click: Inside William Joly’s Trackside View

Photos by William Joly – King James as he called it. There are photographers who show up to a race weekend and start figuring things out on Friday morning. Then there are the...

Making Space: How Emily Bondi Is Redefining Where She Belongs

2025 – before Cremona’s first WorldWCR race, starting P11 on the grid | Photo by William Joly Emily Bondi — Top 15 world rider, FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship There’s...

Accidentally Successful, On Purpose

Steve Mandeville’s first race bike: a wrecked 1986 Yamaha FZ600 he turned into a track bike. This is ’89 or ’90, racing his “behind the curve” FZ against the much better ’87 CBR600...

marshals at Grand Prix - TrackDNA and Yvette

Life in Orange: Inside a Grand Prix Marshal’s Weekend at Yas Marina

Photos by Yvette From cold, grey Groningen to 4 am alarms and desert heat, Yvette takes us through a Grand Prix weekend from the marshal’s post, where unseen work, pressure, and camaraderie...

THE MAGAZINE

"I want you to try this on the next session. Imagine that you don't have the rear brake."

Paul Carter’s advice after the 1st session!

BUILDS & GEAR

Dave Moss’s test-day protocol

TrackDNA Note This session plan pulls from Dave Moss’s test-day protocol. Think of it as a baseline you can bend to your pace, your track org’s rules, and whatever the weather and surface are doing that day. The percentages...

Track Day Advice - For Your 1st or 50th

Photos by James Sheppard “I attended my first track day during the last century.” I had to let that sit for a second. A year into owning my first sportbike – a 1997 Kawasaki EX500 (work with me here) – I saw a...

Preseason Motorcycle Maintenance - Chassis and Suspension Review by Dave Moss

If you have an annual practice of draining the tank to winterize your motorcycle and walk away for 3-5 months due to a seemingly interminable winter and a ludicrously short riding season, this article will provide a perspective...

GET THE INSIDE LINE

Real stories, track insights, and paddock moments — straight from riders who live it. No noise, no fluff, just the DNA of the track delivered to your inbox.

MIND & BODY

Valentin Debise: The Work Behind the Result

When the Inner Voice Says “Don’t Pass” - My First Low Side

Photo by TrackDNA It was MSR Houston, four days before Christmas. One of those Texas mornings where the fog hangs low and the air feels soft. Seventy-two degrees, cool enough to be comfortable, warm enough...

Why We Keep Coming Back: The Track as a Second Home

Photo by Shaun Bexley – British Superbikes Test Day at Donington Park There are places in life that feel familiar the moment you step into them – like a piece of you has been there long before...

From Survival Reactions to Control: What I Learned from Keith Code

You don’t have to spend long in the paddock before someone mentions Keith Code. Hang around a few track days and you’ll see it in real time: a dog-eared book coming out of a gear bag, somebody quoting...

Taming the Nerves: A Mental Game Plan for Session One

Photo by J.F – Japan There’s a strange window of time right after the morning riders’ meeting — when everyone walks back to their pits and the paddock noise climbs again. Even with a few track days...

Between Sessions: Reset Routines That Helped Me Stay Sharp on Track Days

Photo by Ronnzy Moto By my second motorcycle track day, I realized something every new rider eventually discovers the hard way: the real riding happens between the sessions. The track teaches you lines...

Dealing with Plateaus: When Your Lap Times Stop Dropping

Photo by Ali Mahmoodi Every rider hits a wall at some point. You start dropping time quickly in the beginning, feeling that addictive rush of improvement with every session… and then one day the clock...

Chloe Jones: Built in the Deep End

Photo credit: Chloe Jones on pressure, coaching, quiet confidence, and protecting what still matters in racing. Racing does not always become personal all at once. Sometimes it happens so gradually you...

COACHES' CORNER

COACHES' CORNER

ALL THINGS PADDOCK​

"I want you to try this on the next session. Imagine that you don't have the rear brake."

BUILDS & GEAR

GET THE INSIDE LINE

MIND & BODY

ALL THINGS PADDOCK