Ironman Track

John250

John250

PR Founding Father
Reading different places and heard from a few people that Ironman's track looks much better in photos, than it does in person on a bike. Heard the dirt sucks. Hard baked by noon, slick when watered. Heard that it does not have good flow, and many people did not like the jumps. One Ohio guy said he would never go back unless they made serious changes. Not a lot of rave reviews on the track and the conditions. Any thoughts from those that went and raced the track?

Heard the viewing of the track was awesome, and the parking was great though.
 
Track was terrible, I don't wanna be a cry baby lol, but track didn't flow well and jumps beside one had real bad kickers. Definitely not a national track I would never drive 5 hours to race there again sucks. I had high hopes it would be kinda sweet, we got there and I'm like well looks cool till I hit the track Friday and I never really had fun, not a good track to pass on nor pull a tear off, call me a goon or what not but I didn't like it. It doesn't hold a candle to Red Bud. Viewing was Okay,
 
I'll say that the dirt sucks! They already added a bunch of stuff to it to make it better than what's there…… but it still sucks. Goes from wet and slippery to hard pack and dusty way to quick for a "National track". One practice they watered right before my group and it was an ice skating rink all the way around, friends were out 2 practices later and it was hardpack dustbowl again already…… 2 15 minute sessions later! It needs much more stuff added to the soil to be better…… and it's virgin soil, so it's not worn out already, it's just not great soil for racing, breaks into dust too quickly. Track layout was pretty good, but jumps were still soft and settling and had lots of holes in them making it hard to jump safely as they were changing quickly, changing faces for guys trying to go fast makes for crashes on the jumps, lots of guys down on jumps which at a regional usually isn't the case, those guys can ride. The facility is pretty good, lots of flat parking around, viewing will be fine, you can't see the whole track from anywhere, but that's most places anyway, but you can see a decent amount. It still needs work, and while you are fixing the dirt on the track, you need to fix the water truck roads too, as you might be riding on the track and come across a blinding dust cloud and be thinking where did that come from….. oh it was one quad running to check a downed rider made a dust storm so bad that it was unsafe on the track……. They did water the water truck roads during races, but Friday it was bad due to stuff off the track making sight hard on the track. I never really felt comfy on the track, and flow was not good…… seemed like they were trying to do too much all the time….. give us some nice elevation without all the weird jumps would be more fun and safer for all.
 
They sure were trying to tell us how great the track was all day.

They were announcing that it was amazing how well the track holds moisture but they were going to water again after our warm up laps on Sunday
 
Sounds like a lack of ripping and watering deep. I wouldn't point the finger too quickly at the dirt, rather the prep might be the smoking gun. Just my thoughts based on everyone's descriptions.
 
Double D said:
They sure were trying to tell us how great the track was all day.

They were announcing that it was amazing how well the track holds moisture but they were going to water again after our warm up laps on Sunday
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Ha. Giving you all some psychotherapy. If they tell you enough lies you'll start believing them.
 
DD said that very thing Georgie! I struggled there trying to find any kind of rhythm and just never got comfortable. I went downhill mentally pretty quick and once I learned of the unfortunate accident of Austin Mincey, I couldn't leave that place fast enough. On a good note, I met some really nice folks and bonded even more with the Ohio guys I pitted with.
 
DC said on Vitalmx that the track was fine, none of the jumps were sketchy and the dirt was good. You guys must all be wrong or not know what you are talking about. Kidding of course. Sucks that the place was not good and really, really sucks that someone lost their life.
 
They will figure it out. They need better equipment to rip it dirt deeper.
I think all they really had for ripping was a couple of little ford tractors with a 7- 8 foot wide fingers. some areas like this one stayed nice. The other half was pretty bad. All jump faces were sketchy.

IMG_3061.JPG
 
freeh said:
DC said on Vitalmx that the track was fine, none of the jumps were sketchy and the dirt was good. You guys must all be wrong or not know what you are talking about. Kidding of course. Sucks that the place was not good and really, really sucks that someone lost their life.
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The dirt is fine, they just need to figure out the prep. It takes more than one race to get it figured out. Especially the largest regional ever for your first event.

New jump faces got sketchy...believe me and every yard sale I drove by with bikes and bodies everywhere laying on the ground.
It will be good for the national, if they use what they learned from the regional. but DC is full of crap. He is sell , sell, selling it.
 
Let's not forget that this was the very first race at this track. Not the first Regional, etc, the FIRST EVER RACE on a brand new track.

When I saw it on the schedule I knew right away that the Regional was there to hammer the track in and work out the kinks for the National. Part of me wanted to go to it because of that, and another part of me wanted to stay away because of that.
 
950 bikes, X $50 regional fee, + $45 race fee, + $35 per person to get in the gate, +$25 to practice on Friday = $163,875 thanks to the Ginny Pig Amateurs they now have enough money to buy better equipment.
Some very smart guy said before... Reward EXPERICED local promoters at a PROVEN track with a Qualifier, Regional or Pro National. Not just a place that can make the most money for the organization.
Lake Elsinore, New track, first race was a national = turd.
Utah, New track first race was a national = turd
Indiana, new track, first race was a regional = turd

The business model is broken, Try a different direction.
 
Is MX Sports and the Coombs family not both connected to the new Utah and Indiana tracks? See a pattern?
 
I will go back to Ironman. The biggest turd there was me! The track will be better and so will I.

But there is a pattern between poor prep and racer production races. Hi point and Steel City , Ironman.
 
DC wasn't riding on the track, and talking to Aaron Plessinger who is killing it for an opinion isn't the best feedback. I'm telling you that I've never seen so many guys down around jumps (me included) at a regional race. Lots of crashing around the jumps…… and yes the faces were sketchy! Holes, ruts, and weird differences from one side of the track to the other on the same jump face made it hard to feel good about launching lots of the jumps. The National guys won't have a problem, the faces will be better and they have more skill than the huge group that was just there…….but this was a pretty good group of amateur racers that can ride and they were having trouble.

I like big races with lots of guys, but I found myself concentrating on the lines and each obstacle so much that I never felt the flow on the track or that I was racing, I was riding the track only while others were riding it at the same time, at Red Bud…… I race others, here I just rode. Prep can do a lot, but the dirt is still bad. They've already made it better by adding lots to it, but it needs more. The old guys that have been around a long time were talking in the gate area…… and all of us said the same thing. This dirt needs work. This is coming from guys like Jay Wagner, Rodney Carrier, Kevin Cozadd, etc etc who have all been around a long time riding at the top of the Vet classes for many years.
 
I also did not see any regional t-shirts or nice stickers like Baja gives out as you pull in.
It felt very Corporate. It was a weird atmosphere.

. DC was all over the place for sure watching everything.
Rita was in the sign up watching as well.
Tim Cotter was there, many of the main staff from racer productions.

Rocket, I could not agree more on the jump faces. I almost bit it on the little parking lot bridge rollers/double and the finish line little double.
I do think they could fix the jumps and make a good race with the dirt they have. Just needs some working.
 
They tried the little cultivators at Sunday creek for the last quad national in ohio. Those are highly ineffective. You might be able to work the ground up 8" at the most, it is kind of like when we do a disc only prep. You have to get it deeper than that, and then keep working the water in it deeper. Your essentially trying to create a moisture layer that is 12-16" thick. Then cover it up so it looks like a blanket of brownies. I would be surprised if it was just the soil alone that was the problem, given the picture of the lawnmower pulling a food plot cultivator.
 
I was there, I rode 6 motos, 5 practice sessions friday and practice sat am as well as sunday am. My opinion of the track from the view of a person that raced on the track is this.....

1. Fantastic facility! Great parking....no, PERFECT parking.
2. IMO fantastic spectator viewing. Lots of tall shade trees all over the track.
3. Lots of elevation changes on the track
4. Most of the track is very wide but some of the corners are narrow and/or too one lined
5. They had a great bike wash water truck! It had a 2" water pump and you could fill your barrel in 30 seconds
6. The announcer did a good job. We got tired of hearing how great the track was from his tower view and he needed to do a better job of telling us what the next 3 motos were going to be.
7. The program went smooth with little down time
8. The jumps were fun in concept but the faces made your gut knot up every time. The run to all the jumps was chisel plowed right to the face of the transition.
9. The pro national will be fun to watch the steep down hill section. There is a table top with a downhill landing that looks to be about 85 deg steep......
10. It was rough and rutted as to be expected but only the really really nasty stuff and jump faces should have been addressed during track prep sessions. In my 3rd motos sunday they seemed to have learned to try this on the straights and corners but not one jump face was cleaned up during the day that I saw with the exception of the uphill triple once. And on the over night preps it seemed like they may have even disced the jump faces.
11. Watering the starting gate so that you had puddles in your rut behind the gate was one of the stupidest things I have ever seen.
 
I forgot about watering the starting gate area and making puddles in the ruts of the gates….. stupid and made for a pain in the ass trying to get your gate ready…… water in front of the gate…… not behind it!

I'm by no means an expert of dirt prep for a MX race, I just ride what I'm given. The dirt itself there seems to be the kind that makes lots of dust very easily in it's natural state. The dirt on the track was already changed from the dirt everywhere else there, so they know the dirt isn't primo stuff as is. They needed to get the soil more saturated deeper down for sure, but the dirt still is an issue too. The pro section that we didn't run looked really gnarly!!!! Glad I didn't have to add that section in to my lack of flow on the weekend.
 
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