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I know this thread is about the Australian series but what about Sweden, Ireland, Russia, etc. Guys from those country feel free to chime in. Are people able to watch those series at all?
I know we can watch the US, MXGP, Canadian, Australian and South African series via stream. Just curious if other countries provide that as well or if the series are too small for them to make the effort.
We roll on throughout the summer and practice on a dusty track and just live with it. We do water and prep occasionally to keep the dust settled and especially when we get a large dose of rain before/near an event we take advantage of that and rip the track up as it will retain moisture deep down for some time. My local has its own irrigation system so we don't relay on people to consistently water the track.
One thing I will add is that largely in America because of the scale the sport is over there people run them tracks as a business and live of that. The Australian mx scene depends on volunteers that run all the little clubs that keeps the sport going. I'm not saying America don't have that but its much easier to gain access to a better facility because of that. I know Australia has a couple of facilities like this and would like to make the trip over and ride them tracks.
I know its tough here and in Tasmania especially since my dad in the complex coordinator and used to be president of my local. This club depends on half of a dozen people to keep the place going and they would spend all their time after their jobs in the day to keep the club going. I just would like to thank all the people that put in countless amount of hours to keep the club running and they don't have to do it, it's easy to turn up to race and go home and without the volunteers we won't have a track to go to race and practice at. Keen to see the direction of my local is heading in as we are hosting the Australian Junior MX Nationals for the first time since 2004.
It's worthwhile taking notice of what's going on in the practice track scene. In Victoria we have ride park, Kruisic's, Park 4 and another one in central vic who's name I can't remember. There will be another one opening very soon near Glenrowan, so that's 5 privately operated Moto facilities all with watered and prepped main tracks.
The operators of these facilities run on a skeleton staff and operate to make a profit. They have no involvement with MA, are not subject to any of MA's rules and regulations. Value for money , track time , track preparation and ease of participation totally blow away anything a club can offer....What's holding clubs back? MA! End of story in my opinion.
If the ride parks should decide to start holding races.....I for one would never bother going to any MA involved races again...
I don't know what the answer is for clubs other than perhaps for clubs to find a way to lease out their facilities to private operators to run as a profit making business . What do clubs make out of a practice day? I'm guessing it's next to nothing! What do clubs make out of an average race day? I keep hearing that it's difficult for them to even break even...why? MA takes the lot....
MA will actually punish a club if it finds out that their track has been ridden on without the club applying for a practice day permit and providing the required officials and flaggers....The club cannot even change anything about the design of the track without having to re register their track , this includes having it re inspected for compliance by an MA official and all the exorbitant fees that go with all that bs...
I went to Park 4 in Melbourne on a Thursday a while back and they had more than 80 riders there at $50 per head so that's an income of $4k for the Thursday, Boydy might have say another 150 riders through there on Sat / Sun ( I'm guessing here ) so that's another $7.5 k. He pays for the insurance, the water , the track prep , his machinery expenses etc . He works very hard at it and makes a living from it.
Riders go there, sign the indemnity, pay their money and ride as much as they want.
They don't need to be a member of a club, they don't need a race license, they don't need to bring their own personal flag marshal, they aren't paying a rider levy, they aren't paying a flag levy, they aren't paying a medical levy.
Boydy isn't paying MA a cent, no permit fees , no officials fees or expenses etc.
So my little theory for how clubs might proceed....de affiliate from MA ( if possible... Some clubs operate on ground owned by someone else that may require affiliation ).
Put out the feelers to find an operator willing to lease their facility and run it as a professional operation , open for practice most weekends and even a day through the week if practical .
Clubs themselves then combine human resources to form an organisation that can replace MA as a race controlling / operating / facilitating organisation on a not for profit basis.
This organisation would co ordinate motocross racing and nothing else...not off road, not road racing, not trials, not speedway,not classiic, nothing else.....just motocross ....
That's my theory...obviously more complicated than just that, but the ride parks are proving that MA are not necessary and while clubs are mostly all struggling the ride parks appear to be thriving
As for MA, the only thing they really have that other ‘black’ clubs don’t is insurance.
We have a enduro club in Tasmania and it’s not affiliated with MA. We also have one that is affiliated. Point is that at a average club day we get probably 50 or do riders turn up while this enduro black club in the same area gets over 200 people turn up for an event. Because this is a black club fees are a little cheaper but if you injure yourself badly they don’t have the insurance and you have to cover yourself. That’s the only thing I can see in worth keeping MA but that doesn’t stop people turning up to the black club or the ride parks. I’m not saying like it’s a bad thing, just really the only positive and that you must be affiliated to hold an event in a series that has championship status.
The Shop
I say if you want to ride at these parks alternate with your local club and park keep all running as in the end we are better off.
MA also need to have a good look at themselves our local clubs need to apply for permits to open and I bet that is associated with a fee this in itself is unfair against the affiliated clubs.
Anyway the NRGTV free coverage is awesome
Every club practice day I've been to bar the Deniliquin club , you have to give up one of your sessions to go out and flag or provide someone to do it for you.
Interestingly, I was passing though Broadford on Saturday so I called in to the track. It's been pretty much disused for a long time, but they've just formed a club to take over operations of the MX track and there seemed to be maybe 60 bikes there. The track looked really good and even more interesting...I looked as closely as I could and I could not see one flag marshal anywhere ....far as I know everyone lived...
The ride parks are giving back to the sport in that they are providing low cost easily accessible top notch tracks for racers to go practice on on the weekends and even through the week in some cases, you gotta practice seriously if you wanna race seriously and that's hard to do given the current club operated framework.
Where will we race if the clubs die? And I believe that they are dying? I don't know, it's why I put foward my suggestion above . I will not back away from my opinion that for at least amateur level racing to not only survive but thrive again ....
MA has to go....just go and leave us alone..
Yes and back to this thread...it's great to have the NRG coverage...I was told that WEM pays for it...nice!
From what I saw there didn't look to be any spectators at all... I hope the club didn't lose money, but you gotta be dedicated to stand around at the Wonthaggi track on a day like last Sunday!
If you went to a "working bee" at one of the tracks, they said you could sneak in and practice. Had to basically go off-roading through the bush in order to get in.
No wonder our region hasn't produced anymore Anderson's and Reed's.
Practice days MA takes $2.50 per rider - Most decent clubs should make 500-750 profit running a practice day based on $20 practice fees.
A general club race day MA take about $6.50 per rider. The fees only go up when you hold open/state/national events. Normally the ambulance is your biggest cost at around $800 per day. Our club charged 30 for junior and 35 for senior and we needed about 40 riders before we broke even.
The problem with the clubs and MA is similar to owning a shitty franchise buisness and getting no support from the owners and them making rules which make it hard for your club to make enough money to run.
Closed to club =Have to be a finanical member of the club/s
Open event= Anyone with a MA licence (day or yearly) can enter.
The issue is an open event requires a seperate steward and clerk of course where a closes to club you can combine the roles. So you need another fully qualified person + extra fees to MA + you lose the income gained by club memberships so technically there is no benefit to the club to make it an open event.
Pit Row
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