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Appleton, WI
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Edited Date/Time
6/24/2015 12:48am
Good article on Racer X by Weigandt
http://racerxonline.com/2015/06/18/redux-the-influencers
I know I've fallen into the practice day rider scene because of the long days/short motos. Still hit up a race or two each year to do it and see buddies I only see on race day, but local scene is pretty dead...
http://racerxonline.com/2015/06/18/redux-the-influencers
I know I've fallen into the practice day rider scene because of the long days/short motos. Still hit up a race or two each year to do it and see buddies I only see on race day, but local scene is pretty dead...
I also finally read Jody Weisel's article on "practice racers" last year some time, and he can suck it. I still throw a leg over a bike, and I'm entitled to do what ever the fuck I want with my time, and my bike.
I always chalked it up to age and attrition, but through the years out of the 20+ riders in the crew. There's me and maybe 3 guys left that still ride/race. All the rest are either special occasion 2x-3x a year trail riders, or have completely sold everything and retired. I'm still at it and ride 2-3x time a month, including REM this past Saturday. There were 6 guys in the 40 INT class.
The mtn. bike scene is hot right now in SoCal, too. Most of my outdoor "social" activity is riding the local trails with mtn. bike friends. Have you been to a Over The Hump race? Madness!
I sure do miss those days of tying down 3-4 eze-ups, and lining up 6-10 450s at Glen Helen and racing the GPs, World Vets, 4-Stroke Nats, and VET Xs....
Doug
1. All of my buddies have quit racing and moved on. Racing weekly years ago was always more about hangn out with my friends than taking home $6 worth of cheezy plastic.
2. The people that do race are crazy hardcore. I am tired of all the continuous bitching by them.
3. There are fewer tracks that i like around. I have always liked hilly natural terrain tracks, not flat ones with a triple after every corner. If i dont even like riding a track, there is no way i am gonna pay to race there every weekend.
And yes, a half dozen of my former racing buddies own those fuckn side by sides. I cant stand the things.
The Shop
His point of paying all the money, the time the travel...to ride a 10 minute practice, and two 4 lap moto's (what my local motocross series runs for all but the pro classes) then go home wishing you had more seat time.
Our local moto series is struggling ...but our local off road series is booming! Show up in the morning, the race is at noon...two or three hours later you've gotten all the riding in that day that you want.
Our local off road series runs hare and hounds, hare scrambles, GP's, and even a couple enduro's. So there is a TON of variety and something for everyone...and way less "in it for the image" bro's.
Man, I miss Carlsbad. Frank ran somewhat long practice, 7-8 lap motos and you were outta there by 2:00 at the latest.
I still race SRA at Glen Helen once a month. Ride two classes, 1.5 hours of racing, done by noon. All good. Do wish there was something closer, though.
But FOR SURE those four-hours-between-two-four-lap-motos schedules just completely suck ass. Fuck that. I'll never do one of those again.
and I still do...
I get more moto in a $15 practice day than I do spending $80 to go racing. I still enjoy racing from time to time, but it just makes for a long and exhausting weekend.
I totally agree that 2 4-lap motos separated by 4 plus hours is very lame. The amount of overall seat time low and dollars/minute of seat time is very high, and as stated, it eats of a whole day. After a while it just gets old.
What if instead of 2 short motos, you had a single 30 minute moto, at a prescheduled time-say 10:30am as an example on one day, and 1:00pm on another race day, etc., with the schedule being published well in advance of race day. And if you could sign up and pay online would shorten the wait at the track even more. You could have a morning practice for the morning motos and then an afternoon practice for the afternoon motos, and maybe allow a sight lap also. Seems to me that would cut your time from a full day to a half day at the track.
Then you know when your moto is going to be, and you show up, practice (or not), race, then load up and head out. Not be held hostage ( as was mentioned) to the track schedule for the whole day.
I've gotten to the point where I'm considering selling my low hours 2013 CRF450 and buying a KTM for some off-road racing and trail riding with friends and my little guys. I've also considered just selling the whole shooting match (bikes, trailer, gear, etc.) and buying something like a used 18' Bayliner for the price of my '13, some tubes, water skis, etc. and switching over to something the whole family can enjoy, without the per event fees and costs.
The sport has certainly evolved, and I think the format at many local tracks really needs to change as well to be more rider friendly. I know the things I talked about above would certainly help draw me back to racing, versus the same old thing event after event.
Thoughts?
I think one of the biggest things is that the Baby boomers KIDS are out of the sport, myself included. I'll race 4-5 times a year and call it good, and like Weege said hit up practice days or private tracks on the wekend. It makes sense for me as a young professional to not risk myself getting hurt against 15 year old kids who are convinced that they're going pro.
Off road, for me, though I was very hesitant to give off road racing a try, met all of my competitive needs without needing to do all the jumps. So laid back and just fun. There is still a "danger factor" that at some level we all crave, though...
I love a good practice day as much as the next guy, but I could never see going to practice only. Practice riding is fun, but it seems like every time I back away, after a few rides that little something in me HAS to know where I stack up and then I start craving that feel of a gate drop.
I think as you get older, you start to see the whole sport as a hobby as opposed to just racing. So... if I'm in the garage piddling with a project bike, or practicing, or watching on TV or even chatting with the esteemed Vital collective, I feel like I can stay connected to it without necessarily being out there racing every weekend myself.
My rule of thumb on the mainland is to try and stick to tracks that are within 1.5 hours, and race maybe 8-9 times a year? But do those races prepared and with plenty of practice : ) !! Here in Hawaii it's once a month, no more, no less, all year round. It actually feels really weird when you are used to having an off season with some downtime.
Pit Row
http://www.scramblecross.com/
There are videos on their facebook page, looks like dudes on dirt bikes having a good time.
Natural Terrain , no huge hucks and 2 half hour motos. Looks like that racing is done around 1:30 or so then he rolls out a late program for ATVs and UTVs once the Bikes are done for the day.
They got rained out a bunch in the beginning of the year but I hope to catch the next one, This sounds like the answer to what everyone is complaining about. Would be cool to see it take off in other areas.
Nothing more annoying then your class having 3-7 riders and being staggered behind 43 C riders.
I'll give you an example. One local sanctioning body:
-Gate Fee, per head (15.. +2 if you bring your old lady)
-Charges individually for two separate pre-race practices. 15 for the first, 10 for the second. Each is 10 minutes long. (seriously, have you ever had to pay extra to ride the track a couple laps before your first fucking moto?)
-Requires AMA (publicly admits it is so each of the participating series tracks can get their AMA numbers up so they can have LLQs)
-Mandatory transponder rental, (15) but.. Still uses folding table with two teenage chicks to keep score/finishes...
-35 per class
So, if you have your AMA already, you are at 70 bucks BEFORE you register for one class. Racing two classes, bringing your old lady, and need to renew your AMA? 190 bucks before you unload your bike.
Yea, it's cheaper than racing Porsche Cup in your GT2 911. But damn...
1) mx you do not get your money's worth of riding compared to woods races.
3) waiting around forever to get out on the track.
2) seems like every jump has to be sx inspired and natural layout inspired tracks are a thing of the past.
3) quads absolutely ruin the track. They basically turn the track to concrete and the jump faces get rediculous lips in them. Easily one of the most frustrations developments and makes the track unenjoyable.
Everyone pitches in to help get a competitor's bike going so they can make the race.
Now that I've bought some EVO bikes - '78 YZ250's, I'll race some vintage MX...
I strongly believe if you cloned Frank's format and tracks and put them elsewhere in the country the gates would be full.
Now in the mid west, most tracks are 2 -3 hours away, they run tons of motos so i would need to leave at 5 am, and I am more scared of driving home for 3 hours starting at 5-6pm and falling asleep than racing.
REM never had anything that was do or die either.
As for Jody, in terms of motocross, he has a privileged position, and i am sure many of us would race every weekend....but I am not sure if we were in that position that we would look down and condescending upon others that don't race because of geography, race format and moto finances.
we are professional practicers. And I usually stick to private places.
I also run a private MX club. We practice only. It keeps it fun.
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