Arizona cycle park affected by insurance

joekarter wrote:

I know I'm gonna get flamed for this but we're a large part of the problem.  Many of us on this forum were around in the...

I know I'm gonna get flamed for this but we're a large part of the problem.  Many of us on this forum were around in the early days of the sport.  Think back to what tracks looked like in those days and compare that to what your local track looks like now.  Most sports look at injuries as something to address through rules changes, equipment improvements, and changes to the facilities.  The moto community just shruggs it off as a cost of participation and it's just a stupid way to do business.  Riding a dirt bike at 100% is no less fun on a safe and sane track than it is on something filled with jumps that seemed designed to weed the less skilled out through attrition.  Stand at the fence at your local track and think like an insurance rep for a second, does the risk you see in front of you make ANY sense for you and your company to want to be involved with?  We, the riders, the track owners, and the industry need to wake up and stop seeing moto as a sport of who has the biggest balls and more like a real sport that gives a damn about the participants.

Eric7oneone wrote:

AMA negotiates group pricing through a preferred provider resulting in significantly cheaper event insurance than a track can get on its own. They also provide risk management...

AMA negotiates group pricing through a preferred provider resulting in significantly cheaper event insurance than a track can get on its own. 
They also provide risk management training to promoters that clearly tell organizers how to avoid the situations creating these cases. 
Not to mention a rule book, fighting to keep non or low ethanol fuel at the pump, protecting and expanding public riding areas 

Are they perfect, no. But they do a lot more than any other group.  I would like to see annual releases for minors to obtain an AMA card. I think that solves a lot of the problems with minors and having both parents present at every race is unrealistic. 

Eric7oneone wrote:

AMA negotiates group pricing through a preferred provider resulting in significantly cheaper event insurance than a track can get on its own. They also provide risk management...

AMA negotiates group pricing through a preferred provider resulting in significantly cheaper event insurance than a track can get on its own. 
They also provide risk management training to promoters that clearly tell organizers how to avoid the situations creating these cases. 
Not to mention a rule book, fighting to keep non or low ethanol fuel at the pump, protecting and expanding public riding areas 

Are they perfect, no. But they do a lot more than any other group.  I would like to see annual releases for minors to obtain an AMA card. I think that solves a lot of the problems with minors and having both parents present at every race is unrealistic. 

LungButter wrote:

Please show me an example of the AMA “protecting and expanding public riding areas”. 

Your response is appreciated. 

GrapeApe wrote:

I know that jackassery in the pits is a big thing with insurance companies right now, and I'm all for limiting pit vehicles, but I've never...

I know that jackassery in the pits is a big thing with insurance companies right now, and I'm all for limiting pit vehicles, but I've never actually seen or heard of a lawsuit against a track for someone getting hurt in the pits. 

cmotodad wrote:

I'm old and know it. Individual responsibility needs to be stressed from an early age and through adulthood. It seems that following rules and guidelines is...

I'm old and know it. Individual responsibility needs to be stressed from an early age and through adulthood. It seems that following rules and guidelines is not something enforced or respected by many these days. It's amazing to me the number of minors I see riding, ripping around the pits without even a helmet. Where are the parents that allow this? I think if a few people were escorted off the premises for not following park rules, regardless of age, we as riders make it known to others of these removals, Word would get out and the appearance when insurance companies did inspections, would create a more professional environment and be more insurable? JMO Also my own pet peeve, as I wander the pits I make a point to pick up items of others trash and deposit it a can. Visual environment makes a positive statement.

cmotodad wrote:

I'm old and know it. Individual responsibility needs to be stressed from an early age and through adulthood. It seems that following rules and guidelines is...

I'm old and know it. Individual responsibility needs to be stressed from an early age and through adulthood. It seems that following rules and guidelines is not something enforced or respected by many these days. It's amazing to me the number of minors I see riding, ripping around the pits without even a helmet. Where are the parents that allow this? I think if a few people were escorted off the premises for not following park rules, regardless of age, we as riders make it known to others of these removals, Word would get out and the appearance when insurance companies did inspections, would create a more professional environment and be more insurable? JMO Also my own pet peeve, as I wander the pits I make a point to pick up items of others trash and deposit it a can. Visual environment makes a positive statement.

Sandusky26 wrote:

Were seeing parents who have never touched a bike letting these kids loose without any knowledge of how dangerous this sport is. Parents are more concerned...

Were seeing parents who have never touched a bike letting these kids loose without any knowledge of how dangerous this sport is. Parents are more concerned with Instagram clout than teaching children how to be safe on the track.

 

blakey32 wrote:

I see a lot of parents use tracks as day care - unload the bikes and let the kids roam free, zero supervision.Like you said, no...

I see a lot of parents use tracks as day care - unload the bikes and let the kids roam free, zero supervision.

Like you said, no respect for the dangers of the the sport.

blakey32 wrote:

I see a lot of parents use tracks as day care - unload the bikes and let the kids roam free, zero supervision.Like you said, no...

I see a lot of parents use tracks as day care - unload the bikes and let the kids roam free, zero supervision.

Like you said, no respect for the dangers of the the sport.

MxAddic wrote:

And they are the first ones to lawyer up..

bvm111 wrote:

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding...

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding double on his 450 and is riding the mini track. It’s just so frustrating seeing this after three major tracks in the southwest are closed down due to this type of entitled behavior 🤦‍♂️ 🤬

ML512 wrote:

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's...

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's a little fitting to the situation.

At the end of the day, I sorta get it when insurance rates are going through the moon at these tracks and I'm sorry to say this, but in my opinion a good chunk of this blame is on riders and track operators.

As one user here has mentioned, the poor quality of riders and their actions at local tracks continue to blow my mind. I went to Fox Raceway yesterday with friends and I wanted to at least go rip four riders asses mid-day for stupid decisions. Kids on surons doing wheelies through pits and crashing, riders getting off tracks on the landings of jumps for no reason, people running into each other getting on and off the track not paying attention. It's shocking how far some people's heads are up there you know whats.

Then add in the terrible quality of flaggers and staff at some local tracks. In the past three weekends, I've picked up or had to run out on the track to save someone's ass from getting landed on about six times. I'm averaging twice a weekend of dragging bikes off the track, getting riders off the track, and flagging people on jumps. Well before any of the track staff actually get there or even have a clue what's going on. Most of these, myself and our buddies have already cleaned up the incident then have to go find staff to help the injured rider.

Tracks are typically under-staffed when it comes to flaggers and medical crew.

Just a couple weeks ago I watched my girlfriend's father and his buddy in a situation where I'm on the other side of the facility, look over and see a goon of a rider rolling a large tabletop...grab a hand full of throttle and just whiskey out onto the landing. Bike laid out, the guy just runs off and leaves it. Myself and another buddy grab our bikes to get over there and by the time we get there, three people have landed on said bike. No flaggers, and two riders totally out cold, one of them being the aforementioned gf's father. Other riders who landed on the bike are the ones back on top now flagging. We're dragging bikes off the track etc. Said guy who started it, finally picks his bike up after we drug it off the track and leaves the scene. Doesn't check on the two guys who are out for about 5-10 mins each.

Early this year I'm at Perris Raceway, and some dude cross-jumped my gf and cleaned her out in mid-air, she crashed pretty bad, and goes into a seizure. Dude who causes it immediately went to the pits, loaded up and left. EMT shows up and wants to just yank her helmet off on the spot. I stop them from doing so, wait till she comes to, and release cheek pads before we even attempt. Guess what, we get to the hospital and she has a broken neck. Thankful nothing worse came of it, but the lack of care from medical staff was mind-blowing to someone who had a seizure for over a minute, had five broken ribs, and a broken neck. They just wanted to get her off the track without much worry about the condition, even though she was complaining of pain in her back and neck.

I've gotten into at least five arguments with mini-dads this year that are sending little six year old Johnny onto the main track of Fox Raceway when it's packed to the gills and people are dodging their kid left and right. Their so small that the mud when rolling in between the jumps sends them left and right. I crashed myself once this year dodging one and doing my best not to destroy the little guy. Go talk to the dads in a calm peaceful tone about it and they just go balistic how they paid to be there and it's one everyone else to watch out for their kid...

We also have one local track that is pointless to warn the owners of safety issues, they just get pissed off.

How about the race three weeks ago at Perris with a start that doubles back over itself, and the race operators dropping the second gate of the race before the first gate had crossed back over? Causing a head on collision between the two gates and multiple riders being transported to the hospital with some pretty gnarly injuries.

The amount of times I've gone to track crew with "Hey, your water line is broken, there are guys landing in a few feet of water off this jump and almost dying" is comical. The water line has been broken for at least ten to fifteen mins, no one notices. Glen Helen was the best for this, broke between two tables on the main. About five laps goes by, no flaggers, no staff. I go grab a guy and tell him, warn them that dudes are literally flying into it and nearly crashing. Do they send a flagger over? Naw, they just run around on a mule going god knows where. About another 10 mins goes by and finally, they set a flagger there, after everyone has already figured it out for themselves it's an issue.

I spend nearly as much time dragging bikes off the track, picking little kids up and starting their bikes, and watering the track (some weekends these places just give up and let their tracks go away in the first hour to straight powder, it's amazing) as I do riding myself on the weekends.

No split practices really boggles my mind. I was born and raised in Southern California, we had them when I was a kid, and now Barona is the only place I've been to in a while that actually does it.

I'm not saying all tracks and riders are to blame, of course not. But as with most things in life these days, bad eggs who have no common sense screw up the fun for all us paying attention and trying to enjoy our hobby.

I could go on and on about shit I've seen in the last 12 months alone. From track workers, to local riders, etc. This insurance situation SUCKS, but the community itself needs to take a hard look at itself and take some accountability for what's been happening.

To those who want to complain to me about not doing something about this:

As I stated above, I don't know enough about litigation, liability, and insurance to give an opinion or educated article on why prices are going up. As I wrote above, I can give my opinion on watching pure fuckery at the track three days a week, but that's about it. 

My job is to run this website, cover racing, personalities, etc. Manage this forum, advertising clients, manager for the rest of the staff, content conception, scheduler manager, build project bikes, shoot phoots, website testing, developent meetings, shoot videos, expense reports, travel agent, etc etc etc.

I don't claim to be a journalist by trade, I do journalistic work when I can such as bike reviews, interviews, and some investigation when its in my wheelhouse. The Lawrence / Deegan story I did about the Ausx Open was very light in terms of journalistic research and it still ate up 15-20 hours between interviews, research, editing, etc.

I do my good deeds where I can. Currently helping a race team find financing and a new race trailer after massive fire damage has rendered there's questionable. Played agent for an amateur rider who was getting screwed five ways to Sunday and got him his first pro ride. Bought an engine for another struggling privateer, find sponsors and parts for other privateers. Spent 5k of my own money on camera gear to give a young guy who comes from a pretty shitty upbringing a chance to have a job in the sport he dreams of. Finally finished paying off the 150k plus debt I had from a race team to help riders realize some dreams and got screwed by sponsors and people along the way.

Weekly threatening emails, DMs, and other social media messages from people who have been banned from the forum, IG, YouTube etc. Viewers who want me fired because they find my voice annoying, users who email me that want Lewis fired because they don't like his accent...and don't even start me on the guy who has a youtube channel who throws me in weekly rants.

Happy holidays everyone, appreciate all you who view our site, read/watch our content, and go ride your dirtbikes on the weekend. Keep the good times rolling. As most of you feel, I just hope our little sport keeps trucking along, I really enjoy riding.

PS, I'm not even going to spell or grammar check my post, so expect some mistakes, I'm just ranting and rambling.

bvm111 wrote:

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding...

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding double on his 450 and is riding the mini track. It’s just so frustrating seeing this after three major tracks in the southwest are closed down due to this type of entitled behavior 🤦‍♂️ 🤬

JazzyJJ wrote:

What was his response when you went and talked to him?

bvm111 wrote:

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding...

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding double on his 450 and is riding the mini track. It’s just so frustrating seeing this after three major tracks in the southwest are closed down due to this type of entitled behavior 🤦‍♂️ 🤬

JazzyJJ wrote:

What was his response when you went and talked to him?

bvm111 wrote:

I went to the track owner who was watering the track at the time and let him know. He is frustrated that people keep doing it...

I went to the track owner who was watering the track at the time and let him know. He is frustrated that people keep doing it and it’s a weekly issue for some reason as it’s clearly marked 110cc and below at both locations you can enter the track. I recommended to him just incorporate the area of the mini track into the main track and break down the practices, 20 min big bikes, 20 minutes 80s, 20 minutes minis… he wasn’t receptive to that and i just shrug my shoulders… it’s just an idea! 

bvm111 wrote:

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding...

currently at a local track that has a mini track, dad thinks it’s a good idea to put his looks like 4 year old kid riding double on his 450 and is riding the mini track. It’s just so frustrating seeing this after three major tracks in the southwest are closed down due to this type of entitled behavior 🤦‍♂️ 🤬

ML512 wrote:

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's...

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's a little fitting to the situation.

At the end of the day, I sorta get it when insurance rates are going through the moon at these tracks and I'm sorry to say this, but in my opinion a good chunk of this blame is on riders and track operators.

As one user here has mentioned, the poor quality of riders and their actions at local tracks continue to blow my mind. I went to Fox Raceway yesterday with friends and I wanted to at least go rip four riders asses mid-day for stupid decisions. Kids on surons doing wheelies through pits and crashing, riders getting off tracks on the landings of jumps for no reason, people running into each other getting on and off the track not paying attention. It's shocking how far some people's heads are up there you know whats.

Then add in the terrible quality of flaggers and staff at some local tracks. In the past three weekends, I've picked up or had to run out on the track to save someone's ass from getting landed on about six times. I'm averaging twice a weekend of dragging bikes off the track, getting riders off the track, and flagging people on jumps. Well before any of the track staff actually get there or even have a clue what's going on. Most of these, myself and our buddies have already cleaned up the incident then have to go find staff to help the injured rider.

Tracks are typically under-staffed when it comes to flaggers and medical crew.

Just a couple weeks ago I watched my girlfriend's father and his buddy in a situation where I'm on the other side of the facility, look over and see a goon of a rider rolling a large tabletop...grab a hand full of throttle and just whiskey out onto the landing. Bike laid out, the guy just runs off and leaves it. Myself and another buddy grab our bikes to get over there and by the time we get there, three people have landed on said bike. No flaggers, and two riders totally out cold, one of them being the aforementioned gf's father. Other riders who landed on the bike are the ones back on top now flagging. We're dragging bikes off the track etc. Said guy who started it, finally picks his bike up after we drug it off the track and leaves the scene. Doesn't check on the two guys who are out for about 5-10 mins each.

Early this year I'm at Perris Raceway, and some dude cross-jumped my gf and cleaned her out in mid-air, she crashed pretty bad, and goes into a seizure. Dude who causes it immediately went to the pits, loaded up and left. EMT shows up and wants to just yank her helmet off on the spot. I stop them from doing so, wait till she comes to, and release cheek pads before we even attempt. Guess what, we get to the hospital and she has a broken neck. Thankful nothing worse came of it, but the lack of care from medical staff was mind-blowing to someone who had a seizure for over a minute, had five broken ribs, and a broken neck. They just wanted to get her off the track without much worry about the condition, even though she was complaining of pain in her back and neck.

I've gotten into at least five arguments with mini-dads this year that are sending little six year old Johnny onto the main track of Fox Raceway when it's packed to the gills and people are dodging their kid left and right. Their so small that the mud when rolling in between the jumps sends them left and right. I crashed myself once this year dodging one and doing my best not to destroy the little guy. Go talk to the dads in a calm peaceful tone about it and they just go balistic how they paid to be there and it's one everyone else to watch out for their kid...

We also have one local track that is pointless to warn the owners of safety issues, they just get pissed off.

How about the race three weeks ago at Perris with a start that doubles back over itself, and the race operators dropping the second gate of the race before the first gate had crossed back over? Causing a head on collision between the two gates and multiple riders being transported to the hospital with some pretty gnarly injuries.

The amount of times I've gone to track crew with "Hey, your water line is broken, there are guys landing in a few feet of water off this jump and almost dying" is comical. The water line has been broken for at least ten to fifteen mins, no one notices. Glen Helen was the best for this, broke between two tables on the main. About five laps goes by, no flaggers, no staff. I go grab a guy and tell him, warn them that dudes are literally flying into it and nearly crashing. Do they send a flagger over? Naw, they just run around on a mule going god knows where. About another 10 mins goes by and finally, they set a flagger there, after everyone has already figured it out for themselves it's an issue.

I spend nearly as much time dragging bikes off the track, picking little kids up and starting their bikes, and watering the track (some weekends these places just give up and let their tracks go away in the first hour to straight powder, it's amazing) as I do riding myself on the weekends.

No split practices really boggles my mind. I was born and raised in Southern California, we had them when I was a kid, and now Barona is the only place I've been to in a while that actually does it.

I'm not saying all tracks and riders are to blame, of course not. But as with most things in life these days, bad eggs who have no common sense screw up the fun for all us paying attention and trying to enjoy our hobby.

I could go on and on about shit I've seen in the last 12 months alone. From track workers, to local riders, etc. This insurance situation SUCKS, but the community itself needs to take a hard look at itself and take some accountability for what's been happening.

To those who want to complain to me about not doing something about this:

As I stated above, I don't know enough about litigation, liability, and insurance to give an opinion or educated article on why prices are going up. As I wrote above, I can give my opinion on watching pure fuckery at the track three days a week, but that's about it. 

My job is to run this website, cover racing, personalities, etc. Manage this forum, advertising clients, manager for the rest of the staff, content conception, scheduler manager, build project bikes, shoot phoots, website testing, developent meetings, shoot videos, expense reports, travel agent, etc etc etc.

I don't claim to be a journalist by trade, I do journalistic work when I can such as bike reviews, interviews, and some investigation when its in my wheelhouse. The Lawrence / Deegan story I did about the Ausx Open was very light in terms of journalistic research and it still ate up 15-20 hours between interviews, research, editing, etc.

I do my good deeds where I can. Currently helping a race team find financing and a new race trailer after massive fire damage has rendered there's questionable. Played agent for an amateur rider who was getting screwed five ways to Sunday and got him his first pro ride. Bought an engine for another struggling privateer, find sponsors and parts for other privateers. Spent 5k of my own money on camera gear to give a young guy who comes from a pretty shitty upbringing a chance to have a job in the sport he dreams of. Finally finished paying off the 150k plus debt I had from a race team to help riders realize some dreams and got screwed by sponsors and people along the way.

Weekly threatening emails, DMs, and other social media messages from people who have been banned from the forum, IG, YouTube etc. Viewers who want me fired because they find my voice annoying, users who email me that want Lewis fired because they don't like his accent...and don't even start me on the guy who has a youtube channel who throws me in weekly rants.

Happy holidays everyone, appreciate all you who view our site, read/watch our content, and go ride your dirtbikes on the weekend. Keep the good times rolling. As most of you feel, I just hope our little sport keeps trucking along, I really enjoy riding.

PS, I'm not even going to spell or grammar check my post, so expect some mistakes, I'm just ranting and rambling.

ML512 wrote:

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's...

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's a little fitting to the situation.

At the end of the day, I sorta get it when insurance rates are going through the moon at these tracks and I'm sorry to say this, but in my opinion a good chunk of this blame is on riders and track operators.

As one user here has mentioned, the poor quality of riders and their actions at local tracks continue to blow my mind. I went to Fox Raceway yesterday with friends and I wanted to at least go rip four riders asses mid-day for stupid decisions. Kids on surons doing wheelies through pits and crashing, riders getting off tracks on the landings of jumps for no reason, people running into each other getting on and off the track not paying attention. It's shocking how far some people's heads are up there you know whats.

Then add in the terrible quality of flaggers and staff at some local tracks. In the past three weekends, I've picked up or had to run out on the track to save someone's ass from getting landed on about six times. I'm averaging twice a weekend of dragging bikes off the track, getting riders off the track, and flagging people on jumps. Well before any of the track staff actually get there or even have a clue what's going on. Most of these, myself and our buddies have already cleaned up the incident then have to go find staff to help the injured rider.

Tracks are typically under-staffed when it comes to flaggers and medical crew.

Just a couple weeks ago I watched my girlfriend's father and his buddy in a situation where I'm on the other side of the facility, look over and see a goon of a rider rolling a large tabletop...grab a hand full of throttle and just whiskey out onto the landing. Bike laid out, the guy just runs off and leaves it. Myself and another buddy grab our bikes to get over there and by the time we get there, three people have landed on said bike. No flaggers, and two riders totally out cold, one of them being the aforementioned gf's father. Other riders who landed on the bike are the ones back on top now flagging. We're dragging bikes off the track etc. Said guy who started it, finally picks his bike up after we drug it off the track and leaves the scene. Doesn't check on the two guys who are out for about 5-10 mins each.

Early this year I'm at Perris Raceway, and some dude cross-jumped my gf and cleaned her out in mid-air, she crashed pretty bad, and goes into a seizure. Dude who causes it immediately went to the pits, loaded up and left. EMT shows up and wants to just yank her helmet off on the spot. I stop them from doing so, wait till she comes to, and release cheek pads before we even attempt. Guess what, we get to the hospital and she has a broken neck. Thankful nothing worse came of it, but the lack of care from medical staff was mind-blowing to someone who had a seizure for over a minute, had five broken ribs, and a broken neck. They just wanted to get her off the track without much worry about the condition, even though she was complaining of pain in her back and neck.

I've gotten into at least five arguments with mini-dads this year that are sending little six year old Johnny onto the main track of Fox Raceway when it's packed to the gills and people are dodging their kid left and right. Their so small that the mud when rolling in between the jumps sends them left and right. I crashed myself once this year dodging one and doing my best not to destroy the little guy. Go talk to the dads in a calm peaceful tone about it and they just go balistic how they paid to be there and it's one everyone else to watch out for their kid...

We also have one local track that is pointless to warn the owners of safety issues, they just get pissed off.

How about the race three weeks ago at Perris with a start that doubles back over itself, and the race operators dropping the second gate of the race before the first gate had crossed back over? Causing a head on collision between the two gates and multiple riders being transported to the hospital with some pretty gnarly injuries.

The amount of times I've gone to track crew with "Hey, your water line is broken, there are guys landing in a few feet of water off this jump and almost dying" is comical. The water line has been broken for at least ten to fifteen mins, no one notices. Glen Helen was the best for this, broke between two tables on the main. About five laps goes by, no flaggers, no staff. I go grab a guy and tell him, warn them that dudes are literally flying into it and nearly crashing. Do they send a flagger over? Naw, they just run around on a mule going god knows where. About another 10 mins goes by and finally, they set a flagger there, after everyone has already figured it out for themselves it's an issue.

I spend nearly as much time dragging bikes off the track, picking little kids up and starting their bikes, and watering the track (some weekends these places just give up and let their tracks go away in the first hour to straight powder, it's amazing) as I do riding myself on the weekends.

No split practices really boggles my mind. I was born and raised in Southern California, we had them when I was a kid, and now Barona is the only place I've been to in a while that actually does it.

I'm not saying all tracks and riders are to blame, of course not. But as with most things in life these days, bad eggs who have no common sense screw up the fun for all us paying attention and trying to enjoy our hobby.

I could go on and on about shit I've seen in the last 12 months alone. From track workers, to local riders, etc. This insurance situation SUCKS, but the community itself needs to take a hard look at itself and take some accountability for what's been happening.

To those who want to complain to me about not doing something about this:

As I stated above, I don't know enough about litigation, liability, and insurance to give an opinion or educated article on why prices are going up. As I wrote above, I can give my opinion on watching pure fuckery at the track three days a week, but that's about it. 

My job is to run this website, cover racing, personalities, etc. Manage this forum, advertising clients, manager for the rest of the staff, content conception, scheduler manager, build project bikes, shoot phoots, website testing, developent meetings, shoot videos, expense reports, travel agent, etc etc etc.

I don't claim to be a journalist by trade, I do journalistic work when I can such as bike reviews, interviews, and some investigation when its in my wheelhouse. The Lawrence / Deegan story I did about the Ausx Open was very light in terms of journalistic research and it still ate up 15-20 hours between interviews, research, editing, etc.

I do my good deeds where I can. Currently helping a race team find financing and a new race trailer after massive fire damage has rendered there's questionable. Played agent for an amateur rider who was getting screwed five ways to Sunday and got him his first pro ride. Bought an engine for another struggling privateer, find sponsors and parts for other privateers. Spent 5k of my own money on camera gear to give a young guy who comes from a pretty shitty upbringing a chance to have a job in the sport he dreams of. Finally finished paying off the 150k plus debt I had from a race team to help riders realize some dreams and got screwed by sponsors and people along the way.

Weekly threatening emails, DMs, and other social media messages from people who have been banned from the forum, IG, YouTube etc. Viewers who want me fired because they find my voice annoying, users who email me that want Lewis fired because they don't like his accent...and don't even start me on the guy who has a youtube channel who throws me in weekly rants.

Happy holidays everyone, appreciate all you who view our site, read/watch our content, and go ride your dirtbikes on the weekend. Keep the good times rolling. As most of you feel, I just hope our little sport keeps trucking along, I really enjoy riding.

PS, I'm not even going to spell or grammar check my post, so expect some mistakes, I'm just ranting and rambling.

ML512 wrote:

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's...

Okay, I have some pent-up anger and thoughts on some situations I've dealt with in just the past 12 months I'll lay out here since it's a little fitting to the situation.

At the end of the day, I sorta get it when insurance rates are going through the moon at these tracks and I'm sorry to say this, but in my opinion a good chunk of this blame is on riders and track operators.

As one user here has mentioned, the poor quality of riders and their actions at local tracks continue to blow my mind. I went to Fox Raceway yesterday with friends and I wanted to at least go rip four riders asses mid-day for stupid decisions. Kids on surons doing wheelies through pits and crashing, riders getting off tracks on the landings of jumps for no reason, people running into each other getting on and off the track not paying attention. It's shocking how far some people's heads are up there you know whats.

Then add in the terrible quality of flaggers and staff at some local tracks. In the past three weekends, I've picked up or had to run out on the track to save someone's ass from getting landed on about six times. I'm averaging twice a weekend of dragging bikes off the track, getting riders off the track, and flagging people on jumps. Well before any of the track staff actually get there or even have a clue what's going on. Most of these, myself and our buddies have already cleaned up the incident then have to go find staff to help the injured rider.

Tracks are typically under-staffed when it comes to flaggers and medical crew.

Just a couple weeks ago I watched my girlfriend's father and his buddy in a situation where I'm on the other side of the facility, look over and see a goon of a rider rolling a large tabletop...grab a hand full of throttle and just whiskey out onto the landing. Bike laid out, the guy just runs off and leaves it. Myself and another buddy grab our bikes to get over there and by the time we get there, three people have landed on said bike. No flaggers, and two riders totally out cold, one of them being the aforementioned gf's father. Other riders who landed on the bike are the ones back on top now flagging. We're dragging bikes off the track etc. Said guy who started it, finally picks his bike up after we drug it off the track and leaves the scene. Doesn't check on the two guys who are out for about 5-10 mins each.

Early this year I'm at Perris Raceway, and some dude cross-jumped my gf and cleaned her out in mid-air, she crashed pretty bad, and goes into a seizure. Dude who causes it immediately went to the pits, loaded up and left. EMT shows up and wants to just yank her helmet off on the spot. I stop them from doing so, wait till she comes to, and release cheek pads before we even attempt. Guess what, we get to the hospital and she has a broken neck. Thankful nothing worse came of it, but the lack of care from medical staff was mind-blowing to someone who had a seizure for over a minute, had five broken ribs, and a broken neck. They just wanted to get her off the track without much worry about the condition, even though she was complaining of pain in her back and neck.

I've gotten into at least five arguments with mini-dads this year that are sending little six year old Johnny onto the main track of Fox Raceway when it's packed to the gills and people are dodging their kid left and right. Their so small that the mud when rolling in between the jumps sends them left and right. I crashed myself once this year dodging one and doing my best not to destroy the little guy. Go talk to the dads in a calm peaceful tone about it and they just go balistic how they paid to be there and it's one everyone else to watch out for their kid...

We also have one local track that is pointless to warn the owners of safety issues, they just get pissed off.

How about the race three weeks ago at Perris with a start that doubles back over itself, and the race operators dropping the second gate of the race before the first gate had crossed back over? Causing a head on collision between the two gates and multiple riders being transported to the hospital with some pretty gnarly injuries.

The amount of times I've gone to track crew with "Hey, your water line is broken, there are guys landing in a few feet of water off this jump and almost dying" is comical. The water line has been broken for at least ten to fifteen mins, no one notices. Glen Helen was the best for this, broke between two tables on the main. About five laps goes by, no flaggers, no staff. I go grab a guy and tell him, warn them that dudes are literally flying into it and nearly crashing. Do they send a flagger over? Naw, they just run around on a mule going god knows where. About another 10 mins goes by and finally, they set a flagger there, after everyone has already figured it out for themselves it's an issue.

I spend nearly as much time dragging bikes off the track, picking little kids up and starting their bikes, and watering the track (some weekends these places just give up and let their tracks go away in the first hour to straight powder, it's amazing) as I do riding myself on the weekends.

No split practices really boggles my mind. I was born and raised in Southern California, we had them when I was a kid, and now Barona is the only place I've been to in a while that actually does it.

I'm not saying all tracks and riders are to blame, of course not. But as with most things in life these days, bad eggs who have no common sense screw up the fun for all us paying attention and trying to enjoy our hobby.

I could go on and on about shit I've seen in the last 12 months alone. From track workers, to local riders, etc. This insurance situation SUCKS, but the community itself needs to take a hard look at itself and take some accountability for what's been happening.

To those who want to complain to me about not doing something about this:

As I stated above, I don't know enough about litigation, liability, and insurance to give an opinion or educated article on why prices are going up. As I wrote above, I can give my opinion on watching pure fuckery at the track three days a week, but that's about it. 

My job is to run this website, cover racing, personalities, etc. Manage this forum, advertising clients, manager for the rest of the staff, content conception, scheduler manager, build project bikes, shoot phoots, website testing, developent meetings, shoot videos, expense reports, travel agent, etc etc etc.

I don't claim to be a journalist by trade, I do journalistic work when I can such as bike reviews, interviews, and some investigation when its in my wheelhouse. The Lawrence / Deegan story I did about the Ausx Open was very light in terms of journalistic research and it still ate up 15-20 hours between interviews, research, editing, etc.

I do my good deeds where I can. Currently helping a race team find financing and a new race trailer after massive fire damage has rendered there's questionable. Played agent for an amateur rider who was getting screwed five ways to Sunday and got him his first pro ride. Bought an engine for another struggling privateer, find sponsors and parts for other privateers. Spent 5k of my own money on camera gear to give a young guy who comes from a pretty shitty upbringing a chance to have a job in the sport he dreams of. Finally finished paying off the 150k plus debt I had from a race team to help riders realize some dreams and got screwed by sponsors and people along the way.

Weekly threatening emails, DMs, and other social media messages from people who have been banned from the forum, IG, YouTube etc. Viewers who want me fired because they find my voice annoying, users who email me that want Lewis fired because they don't like his accent...and don't even start me on the guy who has a youtube channel who throws me in weekly rants.

Happy holidays everyone, appreciate all you who view our site, read/watch our content, and go ride your dirtbikes on the weekend. Keep the good times rolling. As most of you feel, I just hope our little sport keeps trucking along, I really enjoy riding.

PS, I'm not even going to spell or grammar check my post, so expect some mistakes, I'm just ranting and rambling.

8tensolutions wrote:

This is not about Honda trying to save Chicken Licks raceway or Tomac's responsibility to open a track.  It's about the owners getting together and creating...

This is not about Honda trying to save Chicken Licks raceway or Tomac's responsibility to open a track.  It's about the owners getting together and creating scenarios where they are insurable and can run an actual business.  So many tracks are run like Mad Max it's no surprise underwriters run from them altogether.

This is a great step in the right direction IMO.

https://dealernews.com/Home/post/mx-track-owners-unite/?fbclid=IwY2xjaw…

8tensolutions wrote:

This is not about Honda trying to save Chicken Licks raceway or Tomac's responsibility to open a track.  It's about the owners getting together and creating...

This is not about Honda trying to save Chicken Licks raceway or Tomac's responsibility to open a track.  It's about the owners getting together and creating scenarios where they are insurable and can run an actual business.  So many tracks are run like Mad Max it's no surprise underwriters run from them altogether.

This is a great step in the right direction IMO.

https://dealernews.com/Home/post/mx-track-owners-unite/?fbclid=IwY2xjaw…