Posts
25
Joined
11/13/2011
Location
Maineville, OH
US
Racerx had an article how grass roots racing is shrinking. Few places to ride, no track time , too expensive. These are current reasons i dont race like i used to also
How can we improve the sport ?
Some suggestions on local racing
1. Split program-quads, 50's, 65's, 80's race 8am - noon. Big bikes and vets start at 1pm. Hour break for some workers and time to water track Lots 18 and older people work saturday mornings and its less sitting around for majority of people. If you race vet class and your son races 50's your there all day anyway and now you wont be scrambling working on both bikes.
2. Elimate some classes and add 3 new B classes -17 and under, 18-29 and 30 plus B classes for bikes that are at least 8 years old. Any 125-450 bike. No one Iikes racing their 2006 crf450 with 800 hours on it and old tires against the rich kid with the 2017 with a pipe and suspension mods
Thoughts?
How can we improve the sport ?
Some suggestions on local racing
1. Split program-quads, 50's, 65's, 80's race 8am - noon. Big bikes and vets start at 1pm. Hour break for some workers and time to water track Lots 18 and older people work saturday mornings and its less sitting around for majority of people. If you race vet class and your son races 50's your there all day anyway and now you wont be scrambling working on both bikes.
2. Elimate some classes and add 3 new B classes -17 and under, 18-29 and 30 plus B classes for bikes that are at least 8 years old. Any 125-450 bike. No one Iikes racing their 2006 crf450 with 800 hours on it and old tires against the rich kid with the 2017 with a pipe and suspension mods
Thoughts?
Local tracks must cut the number of classes for racing (give more seat time via laps)
Local tracks must stop trying to follow LL pricing methods and classes
AMA needs to allow all bikes at equal displacement
AMA needs to enforce lower sound regulations
Manufactures need entry level bikes and lower priced kids bikes
Tracks need to stop building 150ft jumps and think more about safety for all not air time for a few
Local tracks need to try to work together more for racing schedules
Local tracks should always allow vendors to setup and sell parts and services for free giving riders more support at the track
Pro riders should visit a local track at least once a month to show their support for the industry! After all this is the industry that pays them.
That is just a few and not a full list by no means.................................
cheaper bikes.not everyone wants a high tech bike. entry level 125cc..$.4-5 k range
safer jumps. make big tables instead of peaked doubles. or forgiving landings on doubles triples.
responsible riders.street riding,loud exhaust,etc. I hate when I see people riding where they shouldn't or leaving a mess where they should be riding.all they are doing is creating more mx haters.
don't charge the same for a little kid gate fee as an adult. people are more likely to race if they can spend the day with their family.most are but if your racing gate should be cheaper.
local tracks taking advantage of social media.
I love it when the tracks packed. I would rather leave a little later then have nowhere to ride/race.
The Shop
I hate when I see 4 rider motos back to back. all for combining classes. what do I care if someone is way ahead or behind me getting scored separate?
LL pricing,lol. exactly not all of us are going pro. we just buy all the products that make the industry run.
The split program idea has merit and has been tried here in the past. Not sure why it never caught on. Btw, we don't run quads at all.
Lack of places to ride is not an issue here. Plenty of good tracks.
As far as eliminating classes go, that's not easy. Many of the riders at our tracks run 2 classes and sometimes 3. So in order to give riders that option you need all the classes. But if a promoter gets creative with stagger starts you can shorten the program quite a bit. Plus, everybody want classes eliminated, just not theirs.
I agree 100% we need more entry level bikes. More oem's making a 125 would be a good start.
As far as the track fees go, trust me the promoters aren't getting rich. The one's I know do make money, but a big part of the reason they do it is the love of the sport.
Most tracks around here try to keep the prices pretty decent, but they have bills to pay. You'd be surprised how much money it takes to put on a race. Insurance, ambulance, fuel, labor, trophies and a ton of misc stuff. Hell our insurance is $1300 for race day and $325 for Sat practice. Plus initial investment for equipment alone is a bunch. And don't forget equipment repairs and maintenance.
As far as track time. We do 2-15 minute practices before we race. Then its usually 5 laps for most classes and 6 or 7 for the A riders. I don't hear many guys complain about track time here. One of my favorite tracks is LTM in Casey IL. Guy does and awesome job and runs about the same way we do. Plenty of track time.
But I can only speak to our area.
Imo, there's a larger reason mx isn't as popular. I think it has more to do with society in general. Too many kids like things easy and would rather stay inside on a computer or video game with their parents blessing. Plus they don't want them to get hurt at all.
Our kids are all in their 30's now. But we had to force them to come in when the weather was nice. Now I don't see near as many kids playing outside, riding bikes or throwing the baseball or football around.
You have to have a passion for this sport and embrace the fact that one of the things that makes it so fun is that it's not easy and you have to be pretty tough to do it.
I'm interested in possibly trying it here.
Even though we've been doing the promoter thing for a longtime, I'm always looking for a better way to do things.
Thanks in advance!!
Over here 125cc is the class for 12-17 year olds (no alternative), and there is enough supply and alternatives with those 3 makes (+TM). Its just loss of market share and sales for honda kawa and suzuki.
Other suggestions/questions for promoters.
What if for sunday races you had practice on saturday and it was cheaper if you signed up for the sunday race? Would that bring more people out?
What if you charged one price for one person who came in the gate and a second carload proce for 2 or more? I agree can get expensive to brimg whole family.
Not trying to start any arguments but how can we be part of the solution to grow the sport
TM's are nice but really expensive. Plus the KTM/Husky 125's are a bit pricey too, and not easy to find.
Good used 125's are rare anymore.
I was wanting one just to play around on and ended up buying a 2015 Husky used. I was on Craigslist and searched damn near every state this side of the Mississippi. I was surprised how few were out there.
Plus around here a lot of guys are loyal to their local dealer for a number of reasons. They want to buy what their dealer sells. I also think just the idea of more oem's selling a 125 will help steer more kids coming of 85's into that class.
My brother has 2 grandsons in that exact position right now and he was just saying yesterday he hopes Kaw and/or Suz build one soon and price it right.
Pit Row
And as far as classes go, please go back and read my post. I ride too, but you have to see things from the promoters side as well.
All the the things people are mentioning here play a part.
Unfortunately, I think the biggest issue is that kids just don't dig dirt bikes as much as they used to.
And it pains me to say that!
So I avoid local races like the plague for over a decade now vs practice days. Practice days are cheaper get more track time generally safer too. Unlike a 5 lap moto I don't have some c class rider trying to take me out for a piece of plastic.
I think all c classes shouldn't be scored and all c n b classes don't get trophies. As an adult that doesn't mean anything to me it matters to little kids and mini parents only. Which still shouldn't matter maybe at the end of the series you might get a recognition letter.
Reason number 3 the redundant classes which mostly exist because of the lack of track time.
Reason number 4 signing up for the same class as your buddies that you want to race against. Only to get stuck in moto 2 and they all got moto 1. I know it's a pain to control but it ruins the experience for some say something to the promoters and it's like sorry so sad not my problem. Unlike video games you get to race your buddies all the time.
Spectators, or the lack of spectators at the local races is the biggest thing that is killing the sport. No new interest from common people. Just 2nd and 3rd generation riders from the 70's through the 90's.
Why is this so hard for the industry to see?? We need casual spectators. A shorter day is also needed for these spectators. The lost revenue will be made from more spectators. The promotion of local motocross is dictating to society what they( the promoter) want. Society dictates what works.
Anybody that does a business model can see this............
get your moneys worth on sat.$ 25. I'm usually beat after 4-5 20minute sessions anyway,lol. 2 - 5 lap motos on sunday or sign up for 2 classes. that's a good weekend of riding.
big plus one for kids are allergic to outside. I tell my kids the power plant called.their running out of juice. they know its means get out and get dirty.
The thing with so many classes is this, 8 to 10 years ago we had less classes and large turnout. Then as the economy/4 strokes came a knocking. Some tracks and promoters came up with this idea that in order to make the same amount of money they would try to get racers to pay for more classes. Thus many cut practice and race laps in order to push riders to ride more classes. Now this takes place all when costs were increasing on bikes and maintenance as well as people were making less money.
The reason I bring this up is as a business you should not raise prices during a bad economy or bad turnout period for your track. The time to raise prices is when you have a high turnout and high demand. However, many tracks have raised prices by forcing riders to race two to three classes in order to get seat time. Thus rider turnout drops.
Indy mxer, you do not sound like you did all the same things as you said you give riders two 15 minute practices per race day. I used to see that 10 years ago but I have never seen it again. Locally here you get 3 practice laps and two motos of 4 laps. It is nice you are on here talking to other racers asking what you can do better in the future! Good for you!
Until a kid can make 150 a week and afford to go racing the sport will not grow, until then rich kids and vets will be the only guys buying new bikes.
But the good news is, side by sides and quad sales are at an all time high
We put on races but we all ride too. So we see both sides. every race we do we give the riders 2 practice sessions. If we're running on time they're 15 minutes each. Then we combine classes as much as we safely can and stagger start.
As far as classes go we run pretty much the same ones we did 10 years ago.
I would disagree with you though on why riders ride multiple classes, well here anyway. We very seldom get complaints about not enough laps. A lot of riders just plain like to race a lot.
Even most of the the 50cc riders run 2 classes, some 3.
LTM in Casey IL is an awesome track and he does pretty much the same thing. Tim the owner is always out riding around on his SxS talking to the riders. Like any business you have to know your customers and what they want.
But it sounds like some of the promoters out there have no idea what the riders are thinking. Not good.
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