Soaked track dilemma...scrape it or leave it tack up?

The Rock
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The Rock
Edited Date/Time 8/20/2014 1:58pm
In the mid 70s were were racing at Highland Hills I believe it was Memorial Day Weekend. HH the site of the epic Tony D Jammer photo was completely soaked after days of heavy rain. Bikes were getting stuck and it was a mud bog. My dad AKA Big Art suggested to the club they scrape the track. They had a bit of a lively discussion and ultimately disagreed and my dad came back to our pits but within an hour they put equipment on the track and scraped off the top layer of muck.

The track actually turned out nicely and this guy from the HH club Ed somebody rode for Puch of Springfield came over to my dad to thank him. Not sure why or how my dad came up with the idea but it turned out to be a good one.

I see pros and cons to scraping as well as to just leaving things be. Do you have experience in this area?

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Bwhite327
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Bwhite327 8/19/2014 12:07pm
8/19/2014 12:07pm
It's more aerodynamic when it's all packed on like that
Tracktor
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Tracktor 8/19/2014 12:08pm
8/19/2014 12:08pm
Depends on dirt type, drainage & when the last time the dirt was worked. If you leave it sealed up until the last minute scrape and/or rip can work great after any puddles are drained. If it's been worked recently then putting any heavy equipment on it can just make things worse and you will fight an never ending battle....................
IWreckALot
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IWreckALot 8/19/2014 12:22pm
8/19/2014 12:22pm
Tracktor is absolutely right. That clay stuff in Indiana, you gotta scrape or there will be 40 stuck bikes on the track. Sand tracks like Southwick, leave them. They're better with more water. I'm sure it gets more difficult to make a call at some point.

I think they made the right call to scrape it this last weekend.

The Shop

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JB 19
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JB 19 8/19/2014 6:07pm
8/19/2014 6:07pm
Maybe part of the problem was the all of the top soil and sand that was applied along with the deep ripping. When it rained that bad it was like a perfect storm for track condition disaster. We had this happen at a big race in Ohio last year and the track never really recovered all weekend.

Before the days of chisel plow ripping the water just laid on top of the surface.
teggers
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teggers 8/19/2014 9:10pm
8/19/2014 9:10pm
I raced the LL mudfest a few years back. Not like Daytona.........har.........but they scraped the track. Had to or no more racing that day. It was hell when someone went into the scrapings.......
mx317
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mx317 8/20/2014 5:17am
8/20/2014 5:17am
I remember racing at Lincoln Trail MX in Casey IL one year after it rained. They turned us out for practice and you could hardly make it around the track with the mud sticking to everything so bad the bikes would hardly roll. Probably much like the photo above. They pulled us off, scraped muck off the track, and then plowed the drier dirt underneath and it was perfect. Granted not all tracks have the same dirt and if you go down more than a couple of feet you are into rocky subsoil. So I guess my thoughts are that it would be on a case by case basis.
hillbilly
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hillbilly 8/20/2014 1:58pm
8/20/2014 1:58pm
The racer in me says leave it muddy,I used to practice here in rain a lot,really enjoy the muck.

But,for the fans it needs to be scraped ,they come to see bikes o by fast.

They should have scraped the run up to the big step up entirely clean so it could be cleared .

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