Budds Creek MX Today - MX Turnouts... what do we do?

Spagina767
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912
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8/27/2013
Location
Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Edited Date/Time 3/27/2019 9:28pm
It is 59° right now, with a high of 63°. Not a cloud the sky. Rain last week, so great moisture on a pro national race track.

Round 1 AMA D13 and they’re are MAYBE 110 riders here. I don’t see anyone from PA, OH, NY, WV trying to get some track time in good weather.

I’ve been racing on/ off for 25 years. I remember turnouts in 125c and 250c combined being larger than the entire turnout today, especially in spring where riders cave from all over chasing good weather.

What the hell can we do?

RACE!

I know everyone wants bike time, but race tracks need turnouts. Instead of being pro particles, we need to race our damn dirt bikes. Less classes for a shorter day? Then everyone doesn’t get a trophy - doesn’t work for some people. I don’t really have an answer. But, I have decided that if I have a day to ride, I will race if it is at all possible. I feel that’s the best I can do.

I love this sport. I fear where it will be in 20 years.
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77Moto
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512
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Location
CA
3/24/2019 10:05am
I agree, but it's on life support.
I too remember the days of a local race having 2 full gates of 125C and B, at least a full gate of 125 Pro and the same for 60's 80s, 250s and at least 1 full gate of C,B, and A open bikes.

I blame costs, and for most, not many places to ride on non race days anymore close by, stuff like that.
And then to go racing, more money.
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cool_hand
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Location
Bear Creek, NC, USA
3/24/2019 10:23am
The obvious problem, and it effects every area of our society, the breakdown of the family!

A single mom with 2-3 kids,..how in the world is she gonna get her kids into racing? With divorce approaching 6/10 marriages no wonder less and less kids are getting involved.
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STLSharky
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Edwardsville, IL, USA
3/24/2019 10:25am
Everybody thinks practice seat time equals better rider. Not true. Get a trainer and race
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STLSharky
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Edwardsville, IL, USA
3/24/2019 10:30am
77Moto wrote:
I agree, but it's on life support. I too remember the days of a local race having 2 full gates of 125C and B, at least...
I agree, but it's on life support.
I too remember the days of a local race having 2 full gates of 125C and B, at least a full gate of 125 Pro and the same for 60's 80s, 250s and at least 1 full gate of C,B, and A open bikes.

I blame costs, and for most, not many places to ride on non race days anymore close by, stuff like that.
And then to go racing, more money.
Liberals. Lawyers and lawsuits
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The Shop

Eddieg15
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232
Joined
1/26/2018
Location
Pontotoc, MS, USA
3/24/2019 10:36am
Gotta have turnouts to buy this stuff. My track is 24 years old this year. Good turnout track gets stuff. No turnout track gets nothing. Saw way too many tracks close in my time
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Gravel
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1855
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2/22/2014
Location
Ridgecrest, CA, USA
3/24/2019 10:38am
Medical insurance.. life insurance.. fix the insurance industry so they pay without the battle.

Many policies try to deny payments if you sign up to race and get hurt.

Also our culture has gone way soft.. testosterone is being shunned in more and more places..
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Gravel
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Location
Ridgecrest, CA, USA
3/24/2019 10:44am
Also the lack of cheap bikes and easy access to places to ride. A $200 Hodaka and the riverbed at the edge of town used to be how people started.. now it’s a long drive to ride for many of us, that kills it for a beginner.
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mxb2
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Bowie, MD, USA
3/24/2019 10:45am Edited Date/Time 3/24/2019 11:28am
Practice days $20-50. Ride when you want. As many laps as ya want. Raceday 12hr days $200 ride 12-15 laps.
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3/24/2019 10:55am
It's hard to justify all that money and time for a 10 minute practice at 7am and two 5 lap (maybe 4 lap) motos.
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3/24/2019 10:59am
cool_hand wrote:
The obvious problem, and it effects every area of our society, the breakdown of the family! A single mom with 2-3 kids,..how in the world is...
The obvious problem, and it effects every area of our society, the breakdown of the family!

A single mom with 2-3 kids,..how in the world is she gonna get her kids into racing? With divorce approaching 6/10 marriages no wonder less and less kids are getting involved.
That's a good point. So much moreso than most other sports, raising a professional dirt bike racer takes the kind of money, time, and commitment most intact families can't provide, let alone single parents.

A tight community of moto-minded parents all chipping in to raise a group of young riders together is the best solution I can think of. One parent takes care of homeschooling, parents take turns with the kids on different days of the week, funds are pooled to pay for travel/track time/insurance/etc.
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Schenk829
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79
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Location
Orrtanna, PA, USA
3/24/2019 11:04am
MDRA is at sleepy, this place has some good turnouts and only 4 hours from budds so take that into consideration
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Schenk829
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Orrtanna, PA, USA
3/24/2019 11:05am
nadeauracing229
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655
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11/27/2009
Location
Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
3/24/2019 11:10am
Probably sick of riding a non prepped track driven the 8 hours from Ny over ten times tracks always hard as a rock dusty. The national weekend prep and normal prep are not the same.
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agn5009
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Location
State College, PA, USA
3/24/2019 11:17am
Gates used to be full in almost every class 15 years ago even at local non AMA sanctioned events. You gotta go to a harescramble to see that kind of turnout these days.
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JustMX
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5276
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Location
USA
3/24/2019 11:19am
Well, it might not help that the SE LL area qualifier is at muddy creek this weekend.

Looking at their race order about 650 entries today.
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mxridr
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Location
USA
3/24/2019 11:20am
the electronic gadgets have taken over at a young age

I bet most of us when we were kids started on BMX bikes. BMX bikes led to nagging our parents until they couldn’t take it anymore finally caving in and letting us get a real dirt bike!

kids don’t rush home from school anymore to ride their BMX bikes around the neighborhood. They rush home to the iDevices, Playstations, Nintendos, and Xboxes. A lot of times the young kids just aren’t as excited about dirt bikes as we were
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zippytech
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Bethesda, OH, USA
3/24/2019 11:42am
mxridr wrote:
the electronic gadgets have taken over at a young age I bet most of us when we were kids started on BMX bikes. BMX bikes led...
the electronic gadgets have taken over at a young age

I bet most of us when we were kids started on BMX bikes. BMX bikes led to nagging our parents until they couldn’t take it anymore finally caving in and letting us get a real dirt bike!

kids don’t rush home from school anymore to ride their BMX bikes around the neighborhood. They rush home to the iDevices, Playstations, Nintendos, and Xboxes. A lot of times the young kids just aren’t as excited about dirt bikes as we were
Electrocics have done it to all over us, hell it's beautiful out side ,premo dirt and every one in this post is talking about it but we are all using the gadget thing instead of riding..
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mxb2
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22437
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Location
Bowie, MD, USA
3/24/2019 11:48am
mxridr wrote:
the electronic gadgets have taken over at a young age I bet most of us when we were kids started on BMX bikes. BMX bikes led...
the electronic gadgets have taken over at a young age

I bet most of us when we were kids started on BMX bikes. BMX bikes led to nagging our parents until they couldn’t take it anymore finally caving in and letting us get a real dirt bike!

kids don’t rush home from school anymore to ride their BMX bikes around the neighborhood. They rush home to the iDevices, Playstations, Nintendos, and Xboxes. A lot of times the young kids just aren’t as excited about dirt bikes as we were
zippytech wrote:
Electrocics have done it to all over us, hell it's beautiful out side ,premo dirt and every one in this post is talking about it but...
Electrocics have done it to all over us, hell it's beautiful out side ,premo dirt and every one in this post is talking about it but we are all using the gadget thing instead of riding..
Yea true all.depends on work, family schedules. But bottom line ,if you want to ride. You will find a way. And if you dont. Plenty of ways to make excuses not to.
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shortcourse
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361
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4/11/2013
Location
Lewiston, ID, USA
3/24/2019 11:53am
agn5009 wrote:
Gates used to be full in almost every class 15 years ago even at local non AMA sanctioned events. You gotta go to a harescramble to...
Gates used to be full in almost every class 15 years ago even at local non AMA sanctioned events. You gotta go to a harescramble to see that kind of turnout these days.

One reason people are going to hare scramble events is ride time. You get more bang for you buck.
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3/24/2019 11:54am Edited Date/Time 3/24/2019 11:55am
We don't need to race. We need to get to the track and ride. I can pay less and ride the whole day vs pay more and ride far less. I am busy with family/work and can't get out as often as I want. To maximize my ride time it's the practice days. Problem is in our area we don't have any tracks that are open on a regular basis. That's killing the sport.
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3/24/2019 12:02pm
I hear you, OP. That’s the mentality I started last year with. I had my bike dialed, bought a can of race gas, fresh goggles, tear offs, all this shit. First ride of the year for me was the first race at one of my “local” tracks. I knew I was going to get my ass kicked, didn’t have any big expectations except a good time. I loaded up the fiancée and the dogs, drove three hours there, paid a $10 gate fee for each of us and $35 a class to get 3 laps of practice and 4 lap motos at what felt like 1’30” a lap for me, the slowest guy in my class. I rode practices the entire rest of the year. I want so badly to race, but we have to meet in the middle somewhere here. When only a couple hundred people show up, how can we not get more laps than that?! I think the biggest class that day was mine with like ten people. Combine some damn classes and give us more laps!

We had an event back in MI that was put on by the people from Baja MX in like 2011 and 2012 that was so sick. It was (I believe) 45 minute motos on a ski resort up north. Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had racing. I’ll put a link in here in a second. Baja also used to run a “GP” event at their facility, with the same format I believe.
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3/24/2019 12:13pm
more laps and or gp format.
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milliebays
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885
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Location
Afton, IA, USA
3/24/2019 12:18pm Edited Date/Time 3/24/2019 12:20pm
Sad to see threads like this. Theres a perfect storm of societal factors. Spirit of the west is more or less in decline.

One bright spot from my pov is mountainbiking is strong.

Its a younger sport that is still fairly accessible. Orgs like NICA promote highschool-level racing and it's a lifelong sport with multiple sub disciplines that can be enjoyed with little risk across generations.
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gambler8
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62
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2/18/2009
Location
Eastern, TN, USA
3/24/2019 12:19pm
653 entries here at Muddy Creek today is pretty impressive. Can’t complain about the weather plus getting to watch Mike Brown ride is a pleasure.
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Tarz483
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Location
Mankato, MN, USA
3/24/2019 12:20pm
more laps and or gp format.
What is GP format?
shortcourse
Posts
361
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4/11/2013
Location
Lewiston, ID, USA
3/24/2019 12:39pm

Talking to a buddy from back home, he said that Muddy Creek's opening race of the year with their Mega Series and it's a LL qual race to boot. So maybe some folks went south.
tk2stroke
Posts
269
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6/8/2016
Location
Park City, UT, USA
3/24/2019 12:50pm
Option 1: Get up at the crack, spend 10x more, and hurry up and wait all day only to get home late.
Option 2: Get to the track on my own time, $20-$30 bucks, practice race 40-50 laps with friends over the course of a few hours, home by the afternoon.

For those who prefer option 1, keep up the good fight until you realize no one gives a rats ass. The sport will evolve accordingly and fit the markets needs.
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