C class advice

Bump up to “B.”   One step closer to winning purse money 

Some of those kids need to be forced to move up. Talk to the track owners. The ones that win C over and over again are a disgrace. Sometimes there will be 10-15 guys in c and 1 -2 in B class. The AMA should do something 

Especially when they did that in D class. Guys clearing every jump and style over every jump, they are sandbaggers 

Schoolboy classes are going to be your safe bet. Will be free of 25 year olds who have been racing for 18 years.

I second this. It’ll get his feet wet in a fast class, and he’ll be able to bump up to B when he’s ready. Also, look into some riding clinics. Some A level/local pro riders in your area may offer them. Having someone watch/critique and teaching some technique can help quite a bit. 

It’s insane to me this isn’t addressed from the top down. C Class at Loretta’s is like a local A race. 

$$$

Best thing that ever happened to me was getting out of C class and started racing the age-appropriate classes. I started racing at 19 so I was late, and getting thrown to the wolves in a group with 16 year olds that have been racing for 12 years that claim "I'm trying to qualify for Loretta's bro" really sucked. Once I started racing +25 B/C I felt much more comfortable since we all have to go to work the next day. There's much more respect. Now I'm 29 and racing B. B class will be very overwhelming for him, especially since our local districts usually do a split gate drop with A and B

That's because it's a national championship C class vs. a local race.  If C was faster than B at Lorettas I would be with you, but it's not.  I think people misunderstand it's the absolute best in each class from across the country.  I am sure a number of those kids race B locally.  

It's no different in mountain biking.  Many guys race "pro" locally, but they race Cat 1 at a National level races.  When the pool is larger, the competition is stiffer.  

C class is not faster. It may appear that way because of the gap in talent from 1st to last.

C class on a national level is a LOT different that C class on a local level. If your kid isn't winning consistently on a local level he won't even be competitive on a national level.

That's just the truth of it and it applies to basically every class. It's a tough pill to swallow for most.

Best thing you can do with a 14 year old is get him off that 250 and put him on a 125.  Unless he is elite level shouldn't be on it.  Ride the 125 and run schoolboy.

Well said, but this is a GOOD thing!  Get him to a level where he is winning on a local and area level and then try to qualify.  

Loretta's is the best in each division nationally, so if he isn't the best at Chicken Licks raceway, don't waste your $.  Just be glad it isn't like cheerleading where anyone willing to write a check can go to "nationals" in Orlando.  Of course, they have like 50 "nationals" every year down there, but somehow the kids keep believing it and Mom and Dad keep writing checks.

I’ll also add that I don’t think you should sign him into a straight skill class like 250B. He’ll race with guys who will not go easy on him and have 10 years experience on him and nobody cares that he’s 14 when the gate drops. The thing with skill based classes is that it assumes that everyone’s “there” and if he gets shook up jumping a triple 3 wide next to some dudes who are banging it off the limiter the whole time it may be a little much for a 14 year old. I was in that position before and can remember thinking “these guys are going to kill me if I let them”

C class is funny and very eye opening when you go from local to national level. My kid is easily competitive in the C class locally and wants to try to qualify for Loretta's this year. Even with the crazy progress he has made, he will get his ass handed to him at regionals. If all goes well, he should hopefully make it through area qualifiers this weekend. But beyond that, those kids are stupid fast. 

Pay attention though. You rarely see a kid not crack the top 10 in C class at Loretta's and make it back in SchoolBoy or B class. The top few in C are capable of making that jump, but the overwhelming majority are 1 and done at that level. 

Race AMA races, you will get bumped up without having to think about it.

I hope he makes it, but either way will be great learning for him in riding and life in general.  

I went from being guy making some top 5’s and winning just 1 race and even sometimes battling to the death for 8th in C class, to winning B class races, to realising I should have been in the A class all along. (All in the same season)

Waaaay too many people Sandbag the C Class, then many B riders want to move to A class, so B ends up being a great class to ride. 
The B class is much safer too.

just whip out your stopwatch next time, time him and then the guys in B and see where he would fit.

Suicide C class, move up or race age classes

Check lap times on the slowest B class riders, if your son can hold his own with them without riding over his head put him in there and avoid the C class carnage. Much safer to be surrounded by experienced and predictable riders on the race track, assuming he will fit in with them.

Totally agree, In our area, He could ride (3) 2 stroke classes a day and not have to deal with the normal C class sandbagging. I got tired of listening to the local fast kid Sunday. I gotta stay in C for Lorettas, Sadly I'm pretty sure he isn't going to make to it LL. I tried telling a couple of sets of parents Sunday the same as above posted earlier, If your not dominating your classes at home, No need to waste all of that money for LL

B class at national amateur events is made up of roughly 50% guys who will be national pros next season, and 50% of guys who are 1/10th a second slower and thus won't be national pros. Well, I'm exaggerating, but it's intense. 

If your 14 year-old is insanely fast but simply hasn't raced much, fine. Put him in there. However, for a better long-term experience, have him race C for a season or two to get his feet wet. 

Move up not very cool to even say you won a C class championship anyways and it’s safer 

The ama came up with an advancement system and it has a lot of unintended consequences.

Mainly, because of the focus on everything loretta lynn's, it has really hurt local racing.

Riders from areas that don't have a lot of ama sanctioned racing do not have to worry about building up ama advancement points by running local races.

Ama does not have access to those non sanctioned event results or a way to verify a riders identity. If the rider uses a slightly different name (nickname, initials)  and a different riding number it would especially be hard.

However if you race your local ama series, your finishes accumulate points that can get you advanced. 

Because of this riders minimize their local racing. Training facilities are full of c riders that only race national level events.

It is a flawed system, but honestly, people would probably exploit about any points based system.

Personally I don't Like that a local race with less than 20 riders in a class can earn a skewed number of points and get you advanced.

Perhaps in the future as transponders become more common racing could be set up with an algorithm that would flag riders that are in a certain percentile of lap times of the next higher class would be considered for advancement.

Sure there would still be sandbagging, but if a c rider falls or gets a bad start and proceeds to put down some laps that are 5 or 10 seconds a lap quicker than everybody else or are comparable to the fast laps of the b class, it would throw up a flag that result in them being monitored closely for advancement.

As a disgraceful C-Class championship winner....  lol  

I disagree with a lot of the hot takes above but take my advice with a grain of salt.  

School boy 2 (four stroke) is the premier class that isn't A.  Yes, it's age limited but stacked with the premier B class factory racers on mod factory machines that aren't easily beat.  Typically, some of the fastest laps of the week at any National.  

Two strokes are not the premier bike after supermini.  It is in fact another sandbagger avenue to poach championships just like the C-Class before you move up to the B-Class.  No one in the professional world races them.... I mean.. treading lightly... Race what is being raced professionally.... yeah...

Race 250C limited, 250C junior limited and 450C limited.  All of these classes have rules that help to keep it as level of a playing ground as possible, Junior is age limited to 17.  You may get smoked in these classes but much less than B limited anything.  If you get smoked in C limited classes you will be lapped by any B class nationally.   My kid got worked the first year, and won the next.  He's now B class getting his ass handed to him, all part of the journey.

It rarely happens for any of them, so first off... go have some fun with your kid.