Stuck in a rut

BriarcliffMx

BriarcliffMx

PR Founding Father
I think many people like current state of motocross is stuck in the same rut. Does anyone have any realistic ideas to help bring new life to the race day. Without limiting the class structure, making the races free, or running 5 hour motos
 
Sweet, another 10 pager rager! We need a kickstart around here.

If you got 300+ bikes to a practice day and crammed them all on one track practice days wouldn't be that appealing to me either. It's still a 13 hour day with all the classes but why does it have to be 13 hours for everyone? Run big bikes the first half of the day and minis the second or run a one moto format but twice the laps or run minis on one track and big bikes on another. Stripper poles wouldn't make much difference without the strippers;)
 
I think one of the Oma biggest problems is having quads and bikes race on the same day, granted both sides are paying customers and BOTH deserve a place to race. But it's not hard to see how much more work and time it is on the promoter to try and keep the track prepped,and also adds so many extra motos on the day....we have been to two local races this year and this is easy to see....I watched a promoter work his ass off trying to give both classes the best track he could but it's a fine line in what a great prepped track is compared to doing the best you can giving the two different animals....I wish there were way more quads where the owners could maybe have races for 2 and 4 machines on different days....again this is not against any machine....but they just don't go to gather on the same day....it is what it is! So after all my slight rant I think all owners are doing the best you can and that's good enough for us!
 
Well said, but "good enough for us" isn't going to grow the sport.

$35 OMA Card membership; No gate fee for RACERS (refund racer on his way out of the track to prevent liars from getting free entry) $30 first class. $10 each additional class.

Need manufacture sponsors though. Transworld just had an article about how racing was dead out west. Everyone was just practicing. So they started thw TWMX race series. They have some HUGE sponsors, but transworld magazine is definitely a bonus for manufacturers to get on board with it's popularity. So OMA is probably limited there, but the more sponsors the more you can give back to the riders and entice them to race.

From MAY 2014 Transworld mag: "in an effort to maintain a smooth-running program for so many racers with nice, long motos, we incorporated a mojor change for 2014: two tracks!. . . we moved the beginner classes to the less-challenging courses and kept novice through pro on the main circuit. The result of our concurrent moto strategy has been safer racing for the introductory classes, an increase in beginner participation (can you say, growing the sport?), and a race day program that lets you get home in time to wash your bike and mow the lawn." Not sure how you can entice people to race, but it can be done....

As for practice, Allow X amount of riders on the track, everyone enters and leave at same spot. Track worker has counter, when counter reaches that X number, allow no more to enter until a rider exits. Keep that same X amount of riders on the track or less at all times. When they are grouped not everyone stays out for the full 15 minutes. This would allow people to still go out and come in whenever they want, giving the practice an open feel with slight restriction. And allows riders who want to stay out for an extended period (say the guys training for longer motos for Loretta's) to do so as well.

Somehow Delta Raceway provides Rocky mtn atv $10 gift cards (race gas program) even on practice days.....not sure how they got that deal, but that would be INSANELY awesome if we could figure out how to do that in OMA.
 
Participation at OMA tracks is not an issue. BC had 200 last sunday for practice, and Chilitown had 371 entries for their race, the same day. I was the 2nd moto after all the quads, and honestly, the track was fine. Had ruts in the corners still, and no issues.

At the end of the day (JO don't listen), there are too many classes. So many of the classes could go by the way side, and those riders would ride another class.

I have always thought it was crazy that riders paid at the gate. But if we didn't they would just bump registration up another $10. In my opinion, the OMA is already doing things different than before. Giving away the Rocky Mountain gift certificates, well prepped tracks, monster at the races, chilitown even had a DJ playing good music up by registration (not needed, but a cool touch). CTMX had an awesome idea having the race number on a board down by the first turn.

Treaty City had like 123 riders on a crappy prepped track. OMA had 371. So who is moving in the right direction. I just wish some of the tracks were closer to me. CTMX is the only close one. But I will be going to BC and Malvern also for sure. Because if I am going to spend $200 to go race, I want to race a decent facility.
 
For me it has nothing to do with the sport and/or how it's run really. It's not the lack of desire, just the lack of something else.

I'm not sure how I did it so much back in the day. I have nothing specific to give you, but just keep trying and putting "profits" back into the track, etc. I like to see that my entry fees, etc. are being used for a better race facility, etc. I don't ever remember a track promoter going out and getting the sponsorships, etc. as you are.

Just keep doing what you, the OMA, etc. are doing. Trying. I'm cool with that and I thank you. And once I fix my muck up's, I'll be at the gate more often...
 
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007DAD said:
I think one of the Oma biggest problems is having quads and bikes race on the same day, granted both sides are paying customers and BOTH deserve a place to race. But it's not hard to see how much more work and time it is on the promoter to try and keep the track prepped,and also adds so many extra motos on the day....we have been to two local races this year and this is easy to see....I watched a promoter work his ass off trying to give both classes the best track he could but it's a fine line in what a great prepped track is compared to doing the best you can giving the two different animals....I wish there were way more quads where the owners could maybe have races for 2 and 4 machines on different days....again this is not against any machine....but they just don't go to gather on the same day....it is what it is! So after all my slight rant I think all owners are doing the best you can and that's good enough for us!
Click to expand...

007, i would be lying if that wasnt my silent goal. Realistically its a ways off. The glmx tried and failed at it. Just not enough of the four wheeled racers. Its just way more expensive. Or like i have mentioned before, a lot of the serious racers just save there tokens for nationals, and skip local racing. If crew fest draws more than 150, i may just go for an ATV only race in 2015 to try and kick the ball down that alley. Im not holding my breath.

Now lets assume you could grow it so that there was enough.....so then, is it quads saturday, bikes Sunday, or a complete weekend for each?
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
Well said, but "good enough for us" isn't going to grow the sport.

$35 OMA Card membership; No gate fee for RACERS (refund racer on his way out of the track to prevent liars from getting free entry) $30 first class. $10 each additional class.

Need manufacture sponsors though. Transworld just had an article about how racing was dead out west. Everyone was just practicing. So they started thw TWMX race series. They have some HUGE sponsors, but transworld magazine is definitely a bonus for manufacturers to get on board with it's popularity. So OMA is probably limited there, but the more sponsors the more you can give back to the riders and entice them to race.

From MAY 2014 Transworld mag: "in an effort to maintain a smooth-running program for so many racers with nice, long motos, we incorporated a mojor change for 2014: two tracks!. . . we moved the beginner classes to the less-challenging courses and kept novice through pro on the main circuit. The result of our concurrent moto strategy has been safer racing for the introductory classes, an increase in beginner participation (can you say, growing the sport?), and a race day program that lets you get home in time to wash your bike and mow the lawn." Not sure how you can entice people to race, but it can be done....

As for practice, Allow X amount of riders on the track, everyone enters and leave at same spot. Track worker has counter, when counter reaches that X number, allow no more to enter until a rider exits. Keep that same X amount of riders on the track or less at all times. When they are grouped not everyone stays out for the full 15 minutes. This would allow people to still go out and come in whenever they want, giving the practice an open feel with slight restriction. And allows riders who want to stay out for an extended period (say the guys training for longer motos for Loretta's) to do so as well.

Somehow Delta Raceway provides Rocky mtn atv $10 gift cards (race gas program) even on practice days.....not sure how they got that deal, but that would be INSANELY awesome if we could figure out how to do that in OMA.
Click to expand...

For Rocky Mountain cards, we would just need to hold sign up for practice, and make people have OMA cards for practice. They don't care.
 
Exactly GP! We all want to grow this sport in Ohio...my comment about being good enough for us comes from the "at least we have a place to race local" it does not mean that were 100 percent happy about the program! We travel and travel like a lot of others....all the other states we've raced for whatever reason haven't had the quads on the race day....I'm sure if I was a quad rider I wouldn't want to hit the second corner with 4 10 inch ruts in it....bikes be like who wants to hit any corner without lines!

I am glad it's not me trying to keep every single person/class happy, because it is impossible!

I will say that there's not enough quads to have weekends just for them where the owners can break even or make a profit so basically my words mean nothing!! But if there were.....people/racers would be happy happy jack!!
 
BriarcliffMx said:
007, i would be lying if that wasnt my silent goal. Realistically its a ways off. The glmx tried and failed at it. Just not enough of the four wheeled racers. Its just way more expensive. Or like i have mentioned before, a lot of the serious racers just save there tokens for nationals, and skip local racing. If crew fest draws more than 150, i may just go for an ATV only race in 2015 to try and kick the ball down that alley. Im not holding my breath.

Now lets assume you could grow it so that there was enough.....so then, is it quads saturday, bikes Sunday, or a complete weekend for each?
Click to expand...

Why not keep it quads sat and bikes Sunday....this might be a stretch but even with a lower turn out with quads you could notify some of the minis who don't really want that monster of a rough track to run in with quads on sat.

With the smaller race order it's still possible to give all bike a good practice on sun and still be done before 6 o'clock...

But kinda like John 250 said...all owners are doing a better job then say the later distict 11 and none sanctioned events...WAY BETTER!!!
 
Yeah, like Im not going to chime in on this one...
Even thou you tied my hands with the limit classes and long moto's I will still toss out a few idea's
1. Quads and bikes don't mix. Run them before or after the bikes... NO MIX
2. Try a grass race. Red Bud has one every year and they get like 15 million bikes.
3. If you have the room, Build a Supercross type track and run a two day event. Super on Saturday and Moto on Sunday.
4. Stop having morning practice. You get 2 laps before your moto. Line back up and race. May not work but at least it is different.
5. Team up with a manufacture. Lets say KTM. Have them bring the "free ride" bike to the race and you give 3 to 5 NEW people the opportunity to race for free on those bikes. If you get 200 for practice im sure 5 of those guys have not raced before. They catch the racing bug, Go to a KTM dealer and buy a new bike then come back for your next race and every race after that on there own dime. Dare I say "win, Win".
6. 24 hour Team race. It works in Cali. Try it...Cant hurt.
7. Forth of July race. (if its a weekday) Everyone is off. I would rather go to a race over setting in the back yard eating hotdogs and getting fatter.
8. Have a different form of motorcycling event on the same day. Ever seen a trials event during intermission at a Motocross? Me either. But it would be cool.
9. The Idea Chillitown had offering free pro racing is great. Try it with a different class each race. Maybe 250 B is free this week then Schoolboy the next race.. (any class that has historically low turn out. May drive new people to try your track that will come back later)
10. OH YEAH, go to no more then 17 classes and run 15 min motos. A 6 min moto after setting around for 4 hours should be criminal.
I could go on and on... but lets let those soak in for a little while.
 
One more thing and I will stop annoying y'all...I'm sure some of you have heard of glory hog, if not...basically what they do is shoot lots of pics and vids through out the weekend, they take interviews, race highlights,starts and much more...to me this is very cool...no matter what the class it's cool to see what a rider has to say after a moto!

This could go straight to PR and everyone could enjoy each other's interviews on Monday and then try to get there 2 mins of fame the next week....it's stuff you can show your kids later on or you can show them, them down the road...

But it takes more then one person taking pics...it's a team! And that's not cheap....maybe if gate fees are 10 you could charge 11 dollars and the photographer could make monies no matter if peeps bought pics or not!

I and my son would watch a Gibby interview or a Trevor Maley or even a p-dub 50 rider thinking he just won LL's
 
ck1racerx said:
Yeah, like Im not going to chime in on this one...
Even thou you tied my hands with the limit classes and long moto's I will still toss out a few idea's
1. Quads and bikes don't mix. Run them before or after the bikes... NO MIX
2. Try a grass race. Red Bud has one every year and they get like 15 million bikes.
3. If you have the room, Build a Supercross type track and run a two day event. Super on Saturday and Moto on Sunday.
4. Stop having morning practice. You get 2 laps before your moto. Line back up and race. May not work but at least it is different.
5. Team up with a manufacture. Lets say KTM. Have them bring the "free ride" bike to the race and you give 3 to 5 NEW people the opportunity to race for free on those bikes. If you get 200 for practice im sure 5 of those guys have not raced before. They catch the racing bug, Go to a KTM dealer and buy a new bike then come back for your next race and every race after that on there own dime. Dare I say "win, Win".
6. 24 hour Team race. It works in Cali. Try it...Cant hurt.
7. Forth of July race. (if its a weekday) Everyone is off. I would rather go to a race over setting in the back yard eating hotdogs and getting fatter.
8. Have a different form of motorcycling event on the same day. Ever seen a trials event during intermission at a Motocross? Me either. But it would be cool.
9. The Idea Chillitown had offering free pro racing is great. Try it with a different class each race. Maybe 250 B is free this week then Schoolboy the next race.. (any class that has historically low turn out. May drive new people to try your track that will come back later)
10. OH YEAH, go to no more then 17 classes and run 15 min motos. A 6 min moto after setting around for 4 hours should be criminal.
I could go on and on... but lets let those soak in for a little while.
Click to expand...

Red Bud could draw 15 thousand for a 24 hour figure 8 race challenge.
 
2 day format like your qualifier. Quads, 50's 65's 80's Schoolboy 125 class. Everything else on Sunday, Of coarse this is up to you on classes run on a given day, BUT. Your laps could double then people will get what they pay for. Then this whole Quad, Bike Crying thing will Hopefully stop. You get 8 laps of race time on quality tracks. It's a win-win situation..
 
mikeschaefer said:
2 day format like your qualifier. Quads, 50's 65's 80's Schoolboy 125 class. Everything else on Sunday, Of coarse this is up to you on classes run on a given day, BUT. Your laps could double then people will get what they pay for. Then this whole Quad, Bike Crying thing will Hopefully stop. You get 8 laps of race time on quality tracks. It's a win-win situation..
Click to expand...

With a flavor of this thought, would it be possible to carry a Friday evening practice? Sure, banking on 3 days in a row of good Ohio weather, getting enough bang for the buck to pay for extra equipment fuel/time/effort, and that track crew can help out, but anyway.

Just throwing it out there. My not be something for every race. I guess at some point, peeps just have to suck it up and decide what do they really want to do? Ride? Practice? Race? Sit on the couch?

Yeah, that will never happen. Some folks like peeps like Obama telling them what they can do instead of making decisions for themselves then complain about it. Never mind....
 
ck1racerx said:
Yeah, like Im not going to chime in on this one...
Even thou you tied my hands with the limit classes and long moto's I will still toss out a few idea's
1. Quads and bikes don't mix. Run them before or after the bikes... NO MIX
2. Try a grass race. Red Bud has one every year and they get like 15 million bikes.
3. If you have the room, Build a Supercross type track and run a two day event. Super on Saturday and Moto on Sunday.
4. Stop having morning practice. You get 2 laps before your moto. Line back up and race. May not work but at least it is different.
5. Team up with a manufacture. Lets say KTM. Have them bring the "free ride" bike to the race and you give 3 to 5 NEW people the opportunity to race for free on those bikes. If you get 200 for practice im sure 5 of those guys have not raced before. They catch the racing bug, Go to a KTM dealer and buy a new bike then come back for your next race and every race after that on there own dime. Dare I say "win, Win".
6. 24 hour Team race. It works in Cali. Try it...Cant hurt.
7. Forth of July race. (if its a weekday) Everyone is off. I would rather go to a race over setting in the back yard eating hotdogs and getting fatter.
8. Have a different form of motorcycling event on the same day. Ever seen a trials event during intermission at a Motocross? Me either. But it would be cool.
9. The Idea Chillitown had offering free pro racing is great. Try it with a different class each race. Maybe 250 B is free this week then Schoolboy the next race.. (any class that has historically low turn out. May drive new people to try your track that will come back later)
10. OH YEAH, go to no more then 17 classes and run 15 min motos. A 6 min moto after setting around for 4 hours should be criminal.
I could go on and on... but lets let those soak in for a little while.
Click to expand...
Number 6 is a badass idea , not to mention the cliff is a good venue for it....unless it severely pisses of the neighbors .
 
Ok, Im breaking my personal rule here for this post only......

All the OMA tracks have saturday practice except OIR. What are there, 6 quad classes? Race them on saturday in 2 sessions with a break between. Practice from 8 or 9 am till 11. 1st moto quads at 11 sharp. Prep then Practice following till 2 pm. 2nd moto quads at 2 pm sharp. Practice following till 6pm. Track prep for the next day after.

BC could do the TWMX idea with 2 tracks since they are set up already. Use the C track for beginner classes. True C class riders need to be there. Isnt the Class a non triple class anyway? ( offer an open D class), trail bike and 4-6 50cc shaft drive. Everyone else on the big track. Track prep there doesnt need to be deep so watering and prep would be minimal.


Ok, I will shut up now and go back into hibernation.
 
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