Posts
1395
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
US
Edited Date/Time
8/21/2025 12:00pm
I may regret this but I want to give all of you a chance to ask any question about AMATEUR AMA racing. My only request is that questions about Outdoors and SX not be asked. Other than being down the hall from Pelletier and Canfield I have nothing to do with AMA Pro. Questions about racing, our office structure, personnel, membership, claiming, rules, protests, or membership are all fair game.
As a point of reference for those who don't know I am Mike Burkeen, and I am the Deputy Director of Racing and am responsible for MX directly and have discipline managers that work with me in Off-Road and Track racing.
I am working on a project that is very tedious so these distractions will be welcome breaks.
Let the games begin!
Could we please get a way to qualify riders based on speed instead of essentially zero objective data.
You have guys at the front of c class or b class that can qualify for nationals.
It makes local racing complete insanity.
Qualifying and grouping people based on lap times is how every other racing form does it, but moto we go by , eh I’m c.
It would be epic to race in a class of people close to my speed and could eliminate a ton of classes by only ranking by a few factors like maybe speed and a few age groups.
Instead now we have dozens of classes with speeds all over the place within each class. Many times people lapping folks in the same class because we don’t do any sorting for speed.
I understand there’s the occasional PPV where they get bumped up, but anyone with eyes and who can fog a mirror can see it isn’t effective enough.
Super rad of you to give this a go.
Thanks!
Can we let the super fast B kids race the pro class locally? I understand the stepping stone at the national races, but in futures/smx next and combines they race together anyway.
Might as well let them race A/pro locally without bumping them. Would get bigger pro gates at local races. Promoters get bigger gates for the fast class, and little johnny B class ripper gets to win some dinner money.
Pretty much works right into my question. Without sorting based on speed, you have like a 40 second gap on a 2 min lap time in what we call “b class”
Dudes literally saying hey let the fast b guys race local pro.
Is there not a clear issue here??
What are the top 3 things that you think the AMA could do to benefit amateur racing?
What areas for improvement do you see that are outside the scope of the AMA?
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I would be cool with index racing for sure off lap time, but that's so far from the history and norm of the sport. I don't know if that's realistic.
Is it possible for the AMA to develop a timing and scoring system for Amateur races that is affordable. And I’m curious why it seems most local race organizations don’t use AMA? Moto-4-Kids, AME, Swapmoto for example.
My family (4 kids) races casually. Between the entry fees, non-AMA membership fees, timing and scoring fees, and gate fees were priced out often. It seems that AMA could provide a better system.
Could we please get a way to qualify riders based on speed instead of essentially zero objective data.
Our current system advances riders based on results and number of riders in each class they race. We also only advance at the end of the year so as to not affect people riding in series that last all Summer. It uses results from Nov 1st thru October 31st and advancements take place on Jan 1st. If you did it on speed at an event riders would be bouncing back and forth all year depending on the track. Also, if you used laptimes think about how easy the system would be to circumvent.
You have guys at the front of c class or b class that can qualify for nationals. It makes local racing complete insanity.
The best B guys can qualify for a national but if they are 16 most point out in a year anyway. We are dead set against making kids go straight to A from Minibikes no matter how good they are. Even the best C class riders at Lorettas would have no chance at qualifying for an outdoor national. The best 450C Laptime was 14 seconds slower than the best time in Open Pro Sport
Qualifying and grouping people based on lap times is how every other racing form does it, but moto we go by , eh I’m c.
Riders dont get to pick, they have to go by the advancement system in our 2025 rulebook - page 9-15
It would be epic to race in a class of people close to my speed and could eliminate a ton of classes by only ranking by a few factors like maybe speed and a few age groups.
Instead now we have dozens of classes with speeds all over the place within each class. Many times people lapping folks in the same class because we don’t do any sorting for speed.
I understand there’s the occasional PPV where they get bumped up, but anyone with eyes and who can fog a mirror can see it isn’t effective enough.
At this point with all of the different promoters and organizations running races it would be chaos to let this be done on a race by race basis. It was done by the districts 20 years ago and it was horribly inconsistent. This way is not perfect and can be gamed, but at this point it is better than it has been since I started my involvement with AMA 25 years ago.
Super rad of you to give this a go.
Thanks for a great first question!!
Thanks!
Please establish a safety oversite committee with powers to make AMA tracks safer, set standards for promoters in regards to flaggers, race director, ect. , and rules for racers with penalties for dangerous racing. (Bring back the Black flag!) I'm tired of our boys dying "with their boots on"!😢
Would love for this to happen but our challenge is this:
Who decides what is a local race and where do you draw the line on which A class is OK and which is not? I dont have the staff or the personal bandwidth to make that decision on every local race in the country. 2 workarounds:
1. Drop A and B together from 1 gate at local races. They can all race each other but be scored separately
2. Get your local tracks to run A/B Allstar and give the B riders who place in the money gift cards for gas or parts etc.
Great reply one follow up and I’m done.
You said 450c was 14 seconds off open pro sport fastest lap to fastest lap. What about the fastest 450c lap time vs the slowest 6 finishers in open pro sport.
That’s where a large amount of the issue I have lies.
Million Dollar question:
Off the top of my head
1. Continue refining class structure to match the current climate in amateur and pro racing. For example what is the right age to race a 250F, 450F. What is the youngest age to ride an 85? All of the bikes are much more capable today that they were 10 years ago.
2. Do a better job of educating tracks in risk management. For example I had a track submit a 7-15 65-85 class. Obviously we said no. Imagine defending a lawsuit where a second grader got hit by a high school kid. It's unfortunate but in this litigious society we live it safety has to be on the top of everyone's mind. Everything from dead trees in spectator areas to fences that put spectators too close to tracks. We all have to be more proactive in this area to keep our sport insurable.
3. Concentrate on the 99% of riders that will never turn Pro. I say this constantly in our commission meetings. It is not our mission to create future pro riders it is to concentrate on the other 99%. MX Sports and Feld have done a great job on the top 1% rider development but our mission should be the other 99%.
4. We also have a lot of new technology to embrace from Stacycs to Starks. We will need to find a way to integrate new technologies into our program. The Stacyc generation is going to dwarf the Cobra generation!
Nothing really to add but Matt is awesome, well done raising him.
Killer outlook. The other 99% really does need the attention. Building tracks that cater to the 1% will continually scare people away and keep people hurt and keep tracks under fire.
Awesome having this convo.
Why do we have so many classes and do so few laps for motocross racing?
What value does the AMA provide/enable?
There were three Pro Sport guys slower than the fastest C rider but most, even the bottom 5 were still faster than C
There are always going to be outliers in every class. Using Lorettas for comparison, in 450 B moto 3 (random choice) 1st to 20th was about 5 seconds apart and 20th to last about another 3 or4 seconds off on 2:00 laptime.
Yes but that’s of the b class riders that made it to Loretta’s. Now compare those same top guys from “b class” to the local guy who is racing the same “b class”
They’ll absolutely destroy him.
What is District racing? What purpose is it intended to serve?
At the whim of a promoter, the Districts were apparently erased in Texas this year. What's the point of having them if they don't mean anything.
Pit Row
The AMA does not provide timing and scoring systems. We do, however, have an agreement with My Laps where the provide a copy of Trackside to AMA promoters little or no charge. The tracks still have to buy the decoder system and transponders to rent. On the east coast and the midwest most of the promoters use this system. I know out west it is a little different. There is a new system out there that uses rfid called Race Ready that is gaining traction.
How is it looking for electric bikes in Endrocross this year, will we be let back in or are we still ineligible?
I know the feeling. We have the AMA Medical / Safety Commission who are responsible for these types off things. Go here:
MedicalSafetyMembers25_26-1.pdf
For contact info for all of the members of this commission. They have the power to introduce rule changes with a focus on health and safety.
A huge chunk of the classes at a local race are supplemental classes created by the promoter or the series. They have this lattitude to cater to what they feel will make them the most succesful. Many promoters have tried to limit classes and run longer motos with limited success.
As to value:
1. The AMA insurance program is the best value on the market for comprehensive coverage of racing events
2. Standardized set of rules governing competition
3. Government relations department working with local entities to get legislation passed that promotes and protects the rights of motorcyclists. A perfect example is the lead law that would have made youth racing go away. We were able to get one of the only exceptions granted.
Hi there! Chiming in with my list of questions for you. Thank you for allowing this opportunity. I actually joined ama (kiddos and husband have been members) so that I could apply for a committee seat when open.
Issue: There’s no public pre-event safety inspection checklist that specifies jump lip profiles, landing zones, sight lines, fencing/bale placement, marshal post spacing, etc., for amateur MX. Much appears promoter-discretionary.
Question: Can AMA release a national MX track-inspection checklist (design + day-of-race prep) and require sign-off by an AMA-trained official before practice?
Issue: Limited public detail on audits, penalties, or probation for promoters who miss safety marks (medical/flagger/ERP). Riders/parents lack a clearly advertised channel to report safety concerns directly to AMA with feedback loops.
Question: What compliance audits does AMA run at amateur MX events? How many promoter sanctions or probations were issued in the past 24 months? Will AMA create a confidential rider/parent safety portal and publish aggregated outcomes?
Issue: There’s no public, universal standard for flagger-to-track-length ratios, certification, recert intervals, or live-hazard tools (e.g., light systems) for all amateur events.
Question: Will AMA publish minimum flagger staffing ratios, certification requirements, and retraining cadence, and require documented pre-race briefings?
Question: Is AMA evaluating digital flag/light systems for blind jumps and standardized adoption criteria?
Issue: For amateur motocross, there’s no clearly published, AMA-wide requirement for baseline testing or a uniform return-to-ride process equivalent to Pro/SX. Parents report confusion about who makes the call and what documentation is needed. (Contrast with clearly posted Pro rules.)
Question: Will AMA adopt and publish a uniform amateur concussion policy (baseline recommended/required, who can clear, graded exertion steps) and centralize enforcement across all promoters?
Issue: Public AMA pages don’t show clear minimums (e.g., EMT/paramedic counts, ALS vs. BLS, transport availability, response times). One sanction form for Competition/Skills Development mentions “minimum of one EMT-Basic,” but that’s a training/skills context, not necessarily race-day motocross.
Question: What are the minimum medical staffing standards (numbers/qualifications/ALS-BLS/transport) required at all AMA-sanctioned amateur MX races, and where are they published? If they exist internally, will AMA publish them?
Question: Will AMA commit to an annual, anonymized injury/concussion report (by discipline, region, age class) to guide prevention?
Thanks, but Im gonna give his mom most of the credit!!
Not in the pro class, but there is an option for the electrics to race the events.
How come amateur racers can't get a cash payout instead of a trophy? I'm talking about local races, not the professional "amateur" races like LL's etc.. I would've gladly taken cash value for any the trophies I was supposed to get. I've never really gotten a clear answer from anyone on this subject.
Not a question, but I received my AMA license today. Thank you for that and all you do that is good and for asking others if they have questions so you can improve AMA.
Compare a local Pony League U12 team to the teams in the Little League World Series. Same result. The top level of any sport is going to be elevated high above the local level. There will always be outliers at the top and the bottom.
Check out this book by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers: The Story of Success: Gladwell, Malcolm: 9780316017930: Amazon.com: Books
Why did the B/C vet classes go away at lorettas?
I remember around 2013-2015 the sportsman classes used to be B/C. The sportsman classes are now dominated by ex pro riders who were lucky enough to never score a point. Many with 20-30th place finishes at national outdoors races.
How much money have you been paid under the table
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