Aussie MX Turnouts,

Yes very hard to understand considering the numbers at junior MX events, in QLD, not sure what the other states are like.

All down to $$$ mate, nothing more nuthin less,

cool to see your comin over though, tip my hat and beer into a glass, for your effort,

after you get through juniors and a few senior senior seasons, funds dry up unless your top 3 or so, or can afford to

pay to ride for a team with sponsors help or the like, so many great riders with potential not only here but in Europe and the

good o'l USA that are in the same boat.

With the younger generation into more moto sports hopefully it grows over all and media help launch what is demanded via the

interest generated and taken noted of by the industry for potential sales etc.

Your definitely from the lucky land Scotto, produced a heap of legends per capita, and should be proud as we are in Auz,

See sir Rupy has a great plan for the privates and hope we all come out of the wash spinnin laps together all over the globe,

Kevy has done enormous work over the years for Auz mx and it was great to finally see 30 min + 2 added this year, albeight tl,

To me it started when ma brought in 5hr compulsory coaching for u/15's each year, clubs making you join to ride even if you

only ride there once for praccy or club day, sit around all day for 3 10 or 15 min races, plus higher $ for a bigger race with

same time on track. Just a hobby for most waiting for a call, pickup, not a bad thing just the way it is bro,

Keep on keepin on mate, happy daze,

cheers

money.

for example myself, and i am in no way shape or form a pro but ive been in the sport all my life and know whats up. im 18 and 3/4 through my 1st year as an apprentice, on base wage which is $350 per week. i live on the gold coast and to go for a ride at the closest track i have to travel to qmp (queensland moto park) at boonah or tivoli which are a good hour hour and a half away give or take. riding costs at qmp are about $45. plus lets say $20 in fuel for the bike, then fuel for the car. it ends up being a good 100- $150 day to go for a ride. adding that on top of the price of commuting to work paying off car loans ect. it is literally impossible to fund maintaining a bike and being able to ride/race every weekend. and there are alot of people in the same boat as myself.

i would also like to mention our messed up gold coast city council have closed and crippled our two clubs, reedy creek which was good because they catered for night riding, and stanmore which is still running for juniors and i believe they only allow a few 250fs on the track at one time, so there is no where to race on the gold coast and you would have to travel to say warwick, the port of brisbane or tivoli atleast.

so between the cost of riding the the councils not being fair on the clubs that would sum up why we arent getting full gates at national events.

yeah it really sucks, because theres been so many people that have just given up and sold their bikes off because theres no tracks. heaps of them are getting into go karting now.

Its not dead, just all the Aussies come here to post now

No one in Aus is willing to speak their mind on an Australian forum any more lol.

I have spoken to a few privateers over the past couple of weeks, all have said the same thing, to expensive and they are right.

With the size of Australia it just cost to much for a rider to stick a bike in the back of a van and travel the country. 10 rounds traveling Australia taking everything into consideration,

Bikes, Fuel to travel, Accomodation, parts, gear and everything else that goes along with it would cost close on $50,000 for a season if not more. All for no return at all.

OK, maybe not $50,000 but would be pushing $25,000 at a minimum.

It means a privateer has to work full time to cover their costs, leaving them no time to ride. Also the series is spread over what 6 months, it is not like a rider can work hard for 10 months then dedicate 2 months to racing then go back to work.

I have seen first hand how hard it is for a privateer from SA to do the whole season, with some good support, not great but at least a couple of bikes, support at the race and some parts covered. He still has to work full time leaving him no time to ride during the week once day light savings finished and it has showed in his results, well sort of, with numbers dropping his position is the same!

At the start of the year he was not getting lapped and was just a fraction off the pace of the guys at the back of the top ten, once it got to a point where there was no day light to train after work, he has slowly slipped back off the pace.

If you look at the other National championships around the world apart from the AMA, four - five rounds seems to be the norm and all rounds close together.

If we want full gates in Australia we need to make it affordable for the privateers, quickest and easiest way to cut costs is to cut the number of rounds, cutting travel costs. Travel costs in Aus are probably the biggest killer.

The series its self is very well ran and looks great, WEM do a great job of running the events and race day. obviously there is the timing issues, but that can;t be to hard to fix.

The decision just needs to be made, either we stay with a long series over 10 rounds that privateers can not afford and put up with small gates but knowing most of the best riders are on the line, or have a short series that makes it financially possibly for a rider to do it out of the back of his van by himself.

MXD will always have good numbers, it is full of 16-19 year olds with the parents footing the bill and doing the travel, 19 year and older most riders are fending for themselves and paying their own way,

Have to add - In my opinion

Riding is not that bad in Aus, just takes a little research to find out what tracks are open when, I could ride nearly every day up here in Queensland for the week and a half I am staying here. There is a ride park open five days a week up here to start with, A good one to.

In SA i live 18Ks from the city. Have two tracks and a ride park within 25km, another two tracks and another ride park with in 100km then another 3-4 tracks within 200k.

Plus there are always private tracks. Bike sales in the country (Off-Road) are on the rise, plenty of riders at every practice day I go to, bikes and rider numbers in general is not the problem.

How about allocating 10 spots on the gate for all classes for the top 10 A graders from the hosting state of that round. Have free entry to rider and mechanic. Family and friends that come along to watch the round and support that rider would create more gate takings. More than likely each rider will drag people along that usually wouldnt bother coming to an event.
We were going to road trip to the swan hill round but it didnt eventuate thankfully. A guy i usually go to all the nationals with that i can make,paid the $30 entry and was 500ks from home was very dissapointed at the lack of riders.
somethings got to be done, our sport is too good for this.