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I just kind your chartered club section, but there is no where on the website I found where it explains how to become a chartered club. Looking for guidelines and benefits of becoming a ama club and an explanation of what each affiliation is.
Not a question but a statement. I think the class structure should be simplified. There doesn't need to be a, b, c, d,... z classes. I am sure the massive number of classes helps the bottom line at an event like LL's but it has gone way too far imho. For instance, the A class has been like a red headed stepchild for years now. Then there is the crazy amount of age group classes that overlap with everything else. A melt and repour of the whole structure with some simplification could help make sense of things.
And while you’re at it, sort by speed, via qualifying. 🙌
Keegan from Tx. Races a yz125 at LL every yr in 45,50 . Double checking can a promoter pay amateur racers with debit cards ? I wanted to promote a 125 race with unpaid wages owed from Chicago 1099,s. Aprox 250k from 2 of the 12 but I got smoked in court .
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I tried my best to read through over 3 pages while at work, so if this has been asked, sorry.
Why do we allow people into area qualifiers that aren't actively trying to go to LL? And why do we allow people into the regional that didn't qualify from the area? It seems like this has been an on-going issue for years
North of you in MI, in the Enduros, we dropped displacement classes for the most part.
We have <29 A,B,C, 30+ A,B,C, 40+ A,B,C, 50+ A,B,C, and and OPEN A,B,C.
That along with a AA that is truly Open covers pretty much everything.
Several years ago David Jones won 45+ at LL on a KX125
David differed between racing either his KX125 and KX250 2 strokes during all his years racing LL
With all the faithful vet racers that have raced LL for all these years its time to add 55+ and 60+ classes like they did making 50+ into a full class.
LL could easily make a 2nd week at LL with just the 25+ and up Vet classes.
Its pretty simple Because of the number of racers that are showing up and signing up.
It used to be regional was only the 40 that had qualified through the area races. If You didn't make the cut you couldn’t race. Then they started adding in more and more area races.
As TFS always said … Follow the $$$
Female riders we already have limited opportunities in the sport. Smaller females regardless of age should not be limited in participating because their body size. Elimination of the super mini in the women’s class at local AMA events will be counter productive to women’s racing and limit the number of females who currently participate. Also changing the age for Amateur riders from 12-14 will also have a negative impact on women and the sport of motocross. We hope that these considerations will be taken in to account before changes are made. We do not speak for ourselves but we represent many young females in the sport.
Respectfully,
Platt Briscoe Racing.
That AMA bulletin sounds more like a description than a reason.
He should go into a little more detail.
The AMA's class structure is pretty simple. See it on page 40 here:
Racing Rulebook - American Motorcyclist Association
The extra classes are promoter supplemental classes designed to maximize entries and give as many people as possible a class to be competitive in.
Not gift cards that can be turned in or used at an atm for cash. Gas cards, rocky mt parts cards etc are ok.
A trophy for everyone?
We allow them to ride the areas without trying to qualify because it helps the promoter with the success of the event. Out west and mid south many of the qualifiers are not huge numbers, probably because of the expense to get to Tennessee.
The regionals are built around 72 riders. 8 riders from each qualifier, 9 qualifiers per region (west coast is different and never fills any classes). 72 riders gives you 2 heat races per class and 1 lcq. Riders qualifying ride the second 2 motos and all three count. A rider must ride at least one moto and have a numerical finish to be able to register for the regional as alternate. If all 72 don't riders don't enter a class, the next person in line gets the spot. On the east coast if you do not qualify in a top 8 spot there is a real possibility you wont get in some classes. If you want to make it so there are no qualifiers at a regional, you would have to drop 1 AQ and only take 5 from each. That would be potentially 35 riders who would not get to experience the regional.
Before someone jumps on the they are just greedy bandwagon, consider a few things:
1. The qualifiers for many tracks are what help keep the doors open the rest of the year
2. Many tracks use the income from a regional to make improvements to their facility (NCMP is a good example)
3. How many of us are in business to not make as much money as we ethically and legally can. In this case the money is spread around a bit between many different independent promoters.
4. Think of how many people get to experience a regional that would just be out of luck.
5. I hear a lot of complaints about divisions at a regional but most are anonymous. I cant ever recall someone who qualified complaining about qualifiers at the regional.
Should the C class be a national championship class? I think that locally c should be the beginner class. You race it a half dozen times and you advance to A or B. B is Amateur and A is Expert/Pro. 4 lap motos are another ridiculous thing. I'm an old get off my lawn kind of guy lol. Back in the day nobody had plans to camp out in the lower classes just to get a trophy. When I started racing vet 30 we would have a massive turnout and there was no A or B or C or beginner. We had full gates and you raced with who you were competitive with within that structure. I was more proud of cracking the top ten in that scenario than I ever was winning against 12 guys in 40 or 50 +.
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.
Not moto specific, but I'll ask anyways.
Why is there no AMA Supermoto series this year? Does the AMA not have the rights? I can't imagine that there isn't at least a handfull of promoters out there that would jump at the opportunity. SMEC, Cascadia, Utah and NASS seem to have full grids, so the racers will show up if there is a series. I did the full series in 2023 and it was the funnest year of racing I've ever done.
4 lap races is wild. Motocross is 30+2.
At the Olympics a 400m race is 400m. In junior high 400m race is 400m.
Having 4 lap motos is insane. It isn’t motocross.
And then we wonder why turnouts are bad.
Pit Row
Fair enough. To an extent. I'm all for supporting the promoters and could understand at the AQs. I'm not even against alternates at a RQ, but more than a full gate seems unfair in a way. I will say your response is the best answer I've seen to this.
We really struggle to find a promoter who can make it work. Our last one really struggled.
Isn't there just an overall lack of supermoto tracks around the US as well? I'm out in the southwestern desert and MX tracks themselves are already 4 hours away usually, as epic as Supermotos are I feel like they are even more hard to find.
Thank you Mike, appreciate your response and your time...
I also want to thank you for even doing this. I've been passionate about this sport since I was a kid and I mean no disrespect in any of my comments. Make Motocross Great Again and Forever!
the c class is a joke. always has been and always will be. eliminating that class on the national level would help even the local races im sure as the sandbagging would PROBABLY decrease.
however, that's a ton of money out of the pockets of mxsports.
Mike, why they always water the track when I’m on the gate ? Mike, why they always put the oldest classes latest in the day ? Mike, why didn’t they disc then water instead of watering then disc ? Mike, why does late practice only get one lap ? Mike, why do I get arm-pump at sign-up ?Mike- Why did they put my 40 plus class in with the pro class (stagger start) at Kenworthys in the brutal summer of 2002, forcing me to go 7 laps, vice the normal 4, which almost killed me ? Mike, why do C riders have the hottest girlfriends ? Mike, did you like it when Penny ( Big Bang Theory) cut her hair short in a sassy manner ? Mike, why don’t the many tracks that solely offer hot-dogs as sustenance, provide chopped Vidalia sweet onions ? Mike, what you know about that Kaw 2 stroke ?
The regional has been 64 - 72 riders per class since at least 2003
A few things:
The difference between Pro and Amateur is MONEY! Anyone that receives money as a prize in racing is a PRO! It's really that simple. I have a shelf 120' long in our store with trophies from end to end from me, and both my sons. When you get older you tend to enjoy looking at history and your time racing rather than get $10 or $15 in place of a trophy.
I have seen local Pro's that have run C class at Ponca and at Loretta. It's cheating just like the parents that recently entered a PW50 with a big bore at Loretta's, it's cheating.
I have worked as tech/ref at some of the Loretta qualifiers and regionals in our area and you would be surprised what came to tech for stock class. My son raced a regional in Illinois many years back and the top six riders where all illegal for stock class.
The AMA in my opinion sometimes gets lost but each competitor has the ability to protest another rider which helps keep as level a playing field as possible.
Any plans to tweek the pro ams ? Or add a 2nd teer pro series. Matty B does a Great job filming the races . His Amateur AX races are so funny .
Yea, SM tracks are not plentiful, that's for sure. I'm in Arizona and we have two kart tracks, and only one has a dirt section and it's poor at best. That being said, Stateline in Nevada was one of the biggest events on the west coast, and it was ran in a parking lot with a badass dirt section built on the side. In 2022 and 2023, we raced at a mx track in Sturgis as part of the AMA series too, with no asphalt. Everyone threw on rain tires and sent it!
Perhaps the answer to the perennial "C" class dilemma being offered as a National class is to require the trophies to be custom engraved SANDBAGS for all those 5th year (or longer🙄) racers that mysteriously DNF races to avoid getting moved up to race with their peers. They could take them back to their training facilities and proudly display them for all their friends.
Or maybe advancement points should just be paid on individual moto finishes instead of overalls...
Post a reply to: Ask the AMA About Amateur Racing