Moto getting it's NASCAR wish?

Ask your local dealer // track owner about the health of this sport.

seems typical...see the same here in north fl...the biggest class is the vets, very few 85's 65's, not a bright future...

Amateur motocross is struggling bad. Sad really.

The top talent is there in Amateur mx. Smaller gates but these kids today are faster then ever.

I know the expense part is the biggest reason my lil man and me have cut back on the racing and choose to get good practice days instead. Sad really, I work at a dealership and still can't afford to go play. My wife made a good point, why waste 12 hours at a race for 20 minutes of racing when i can get a full ride in a couple of hours.

New bikes are too expensive. Kids can't save up for a new bike every year like we did back in the day.

I can't wait for the two stroke bandits to chime in on this thread....I'm going to spectate tonight at an amateur track that always had good turn outs "back in the day." I wont hold my breath about getting to see any full gates.

as a 16 year old who used to race a lot. I don't anymore because the general population at the track has gotten more arrogant and less friendly, money, and bicycling. I ride my dirt bike every once and a while now but i have fully transitioned into cycling.

Wow, that's too bad. My son is now a Junior on 125. Going thru the classes from 50's to 65 to 85 7-11 and 85 12-16 there were only about 7-12 racers. As of right now the 50 classes have almost 20 bikes, and both the 65 and 85 classes are way up in numbers. The 85's are a split start and the gate is usually almost full. The Junior class (albeit with fart box 250f's) is well into the mid 20's. This has only happened over the last couple of years. The local Victoria track is really big on new riders and have a great learn to ride program. It took a couple years to see the outcome but it is really noticeable.

I raced Pala's Lazy Sunday race last Sunday and it was the opposite. The series is a late start at 2pm and races the Vet track and $30 with $10 second class. There were 10 motos all with 2 gates and plenty of riders.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I looked up the results from a day at the Ponca National and only saw a handful of riders in each class there too. I remember going to Ponca when I was a kid and there were 80-100+ riders in every class. I rode 80cc expert and we had 3 qualifiers with 30 riders each. Just making the main, i thought i was a baddass haha!

Good paying middle class jobs are gone. So you have upper level salaries or McBudgets. That's why Moto at the local level is dead.

Add to that the increased cost of four-stroke maintenance and showroom prices for essentially factory race bikes and well.. duh.

The used market will thin out in the next few years, then whatever is left of the local MX scenes will die away leaving well maintained priviate practice tracks and pro race tracks.

Best bang for your buck is and always will be offroad racing. Spend $35 on entry free/race fee and get to practice for an hour if allowed and race for 2+ hours.

Win Win.

How much was your cable TV bill in the 80's? Cell phone bill? High Speed internet bill?
How many times did you eat dinner out a week in the 80's and how often do most of us now?
Then throw in the economy for people that would normally be racing and you will see why things are where they are.

Things are different now and kids entertain themselves in other ways. I have offered and offered my two girls, 6 and 9 years old motorcycles, karts or bmx racing or just riding and they have no interest. Im not pushing them, and they both are on cheerleading teams and travel throughout the Southwest/east competing 6mo. of the year (and you thought mx was $$$$). No biggie, just want them to have fun and enjoy life and also know how to win and lose with class. None of the kids or should I say boys in my girls school classes race or seem to have much interest either. We have my nephews ttr50 in our garage and I have spent more time draining bad gas and cleaning the carb than I have taking them to ride in the past two years that it has been here. Again, no real interest in riding. All this and these girls have been going to races since birth. In the 9 years of my oldest girls life, she has been to Kart, motorcycle roadraces in the Midwest and East coast, hare Scrambles, sprint car and formula car races that I have been racing. They both have camped at Glamis the last two Thanksgiving hollidays weekends and go to the Geko drags and out to the hill at night. In other words, they have been exposed and still have no real interest.

Kids these days.

Yes but if your parents don't have the big $$ and rig/practice bikes....you're SOL.....imagine how many bright stars are getting overlooked because of a unfair playing field. Cheaper more fun races are the way to go. With an emphasis on making it affordable for more kids in general it is a win win situation. As someone said earlier four strokes have really hurt this sport, but the mini classes are still 2 stroke classes. At the end of the day, it's about fun.

Read the old cyclenews archives to know what a dive the weekly amateur racing has taken. It has become a rich mans sport for anyone not talented enough to receive full support as an amateur. A rider our son wrenched for has a family spending in excess of 200,000 a year on his amateur program and that is above what freebies he receives from sponsors. And this is for a rider struggling to make top ten at the big races.

Huge rig for the thousands of travel miles, 6 bikes, full time mechanic, trainer, tutor, training facilities etc

When I started racing I bought a DECADE old $400 125 2 stroke knowing the worst case scenario was rebuilding it for $120.
It did blow up and I fixed it for $120. 25 years later I am still racing.

There are no decade old 4 strokes and if there are, they are not $120 to rebuild.
People know this.
There are no more decade old 125's for $400. They are $1200 now because of the lack of decade old 4 strokes.
People know this.

Now you have to buy a new or newer used bike and get a loan for the bike at the entry level. When it blows up you may be playing golf the next weekend. You could buy a used 2 stroke and endure being called Taliban or the vocal few on an old tech vintage bike.

Not good options for the 16 year old doing this on his own.

it sounds like somewhere is getting it right, I was just telling my wife how i've seen 125c gatesgo from full every time and split full gates quite a bit to c being about 20 riders at the most.

I definitely agree its a money deal. I started racing in 2002 on a brand new 2001 yz125 that we picked up around new years of 2002 for $4100. Every race we went to there was qualifiers in the 125 novice class. The 85cc classes (they had them broken down 85a, b and novice at the time) each would have 15-30 riders every week. Now, were lucky to see 25 125 novices (now called 250 novice) and more normally see 10-15, the 85 classes have almost disappeared completely, pulling maybe 20 kids total between the goofy age groups, and the vet, senior, and super senior classes are the only ones pulling a decent rider count.