Posts
11493
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Somewhere, CO
US
Fantasy
1568th
lostboy819
4/8/2015 2:13pm
4/8/2015 2:13pm
Edited Date/Time
4/9/2015 8:18pm
Anyone know why they Cancelled or postponed the NMA world mini at Glen Helen.
looks like its going to be tough going on the amateur scene.....
The Shop
And I will not mention the Moorewood name without a shout out to the patriarch. RIP Ted, you are still missed.
Yeah, it's crazy to me that the World Mini has lost it's luster. Before Loretta's, the World Mini was Loretta's. If you were going to hit one amateur National a year, that was the one. I remember when it all started at Indian Dunes. I'm proud to say my pops literally carved the first World Mini Bike Grand Prix track with a C4 Grader. I guess times have changed because the World Mini is gone and a C4 Grader couldn't make it past the first turn of a modern day MX track.
I'm not positive the above pic was from the World Mini at Indian Dunes, but I think so. It's at least 100% an NMA race at Indian Dunes, just not sure it's the World Mini
Saddleback sucked too but was cool for its history.
Definitely not like farm dirt loam.
So no it's got nothing to do with the track. It wasn't good don't get me wrong. But you take away parents night life and it dwindled. Most motor homes and trailers were empty of anyone over 18 shortly after the final moto of the day.
We lost the track after a lawsuit and the rest is history. It would've been hard to move it anywhere outside of vegas after the amount of parents and families that used it as a vacation(it often landed during spring break fyi).
The other thing that killed the world mini and the Nma in general was the economy. Ponca became 2nd place behind Loretta's long ago. And with people unable to afford to do all of the "big 7-8", that trip got weeded out. It happens. It's business. It sucks. I had great times at the world mini and Ponca. But the Nma is seemingly done unless we get a huge kick in the balls with the economy.
-Jake
If its the economy, why is LL, Mini O's, and other big AM races surviving?
As far as why are other big races surviving with a garbage economy, that's pretty easy. If you can only afford to do 3 big time week long races a year, you have to cut out some races. and if you're staring a 25+ hour drive in the face and a new track you've never ridden plus lack luster contingencies and trackside support, you probably wouldn't mind having to cut out the world mini. First year not as many people show up and then it starts to snowball.
There's also something to be said about the ups and downs of series/big races. When I was 13, the series you had to do was golden state. 2 years later 250B only had 14 people in it and Gold Cup had 3 full divisions. So that's also a factor. Things lose luster after something new a shiny comes along.
But again, it wasn't the tracks. The track at the speedway wasn't good and they still held it there for what, 15 years?
Pit Row
Rodney at OMC works his ass off for that event, the NMA not so much.
Virtuallly No Presence anywhere else except for Ponca Qualifiers.
The AMA and the districts is Nationwide, although AMA Motocross in Dist 36 or 37 or whatever it was in CALIF, was Non existant for Motocross(All Desert racing), other than Qualifiers for Lorettas. And that was a stretch.
The NMA Sanction had 2 events maybe 3(Texas?).. World Mini and Ponca(And the qualifiers) All at Tracks in CALIF sanctioned By the Above "C" sanctions. Usually the NMA Qualifiers were ran in conjuction with CMC, CMMC, or CRC events or ran as one and scored accordingly.
They just didn't have enough presence.
Same for AMA Motocross in Calif. Whats the point if you arent running Lorettas or are a PRO.
It seems the only people racing nowadays are kids who have parents who pay for everything and well-off vet riders. If this is the case amateur motocross will get smaller and smaller. People will still ride but not show up to the races and buy a new bike every 5 years. This will hurt the OEMs and aftermarket.
Post a reply to: Why was world mini gp cancelled ?