My old thread that pertains to the "interesting read" thread

john lilly said:
I just got off the phone with a guy who raced at East Bend and he was sharing with me that the total race time for all the bikes was 3.5 hrs and they were all done and heading home. He said they always raced two classes at a time and there were no 4 wheelers/quads, just a little more info.. Also, he said the classes were decent size. So here's my question for the track owners and each organization; what could you do differently to speed up the race day (actual time spend at the track)? Btw, I think the enormous amount of time spent at the track is one of the biggest topics of conversation (frustration) that I hear being discussed at the track. People are getting tired of spending 12 hours at the track for 20 to 40 minutes of actual race time. Btw, this is not any type of bash session, actually to the contrary, I would like to see how many good ideas that we can come up with to see how we could maximize our time and efforts and yet minimize the actual time spend at the track. So, here are a couple of my thoughts:
1. Break the racing into superminis and below, starting at 9am. Two classes for almost every gate and if three groups could go at once and be safe by MX standards then let it rip. Then the next class comes at say noon and that would consist of 125's up to 450 A riders. Again group them with two class and two gate drops if possible. Then say at 3:00 pm the quad riders show up and finish up the day.
I think by doing this there would be less track prep and less bitching between the two groups. For example how the bike riders say the quad riders break down the ruts and vise versa.
Here again this is where transponders would help keep everything straight while there may be 1,2 or 3 classes out on the track at once.
Also, for the people that want to hang out there all day they could still do this but for those of us who would like to get in and get out because we have other things we need to get done outside of mx, this would be a welcomed change.
I think you would also get some people who would like to come and watch a friend or family member race but don't want to stay for 12 hours to see 40 minutes of track time but if you could sell them that they will see their friend race within a 3 hour window, you might get more people to come through your gates. I can personally say that my wife and daughter would show up more if the race day was cut down. More people through the gate equals more money for the track owners and happier riders, which makes for more pleasant people and probably more complements about the staff, the track and the promoters which gets people to come back more often and talk up how you do things right!!!!
Click to expand...


The only way I can come close to describing how difficult this type of thing is to do is by saying this.


In nursing school all I learned was theory on how to be perfect. Come to find out in real life, all that theory I learned gets flushed down the "terlit." All these great theories on how to shorten up the race day usually fall flat on their face and end up having the race day longer.
 
The first obvious problems I see with it is, who ever is last is not going to be happy. Then it turns into rotate the schedule. That starts confusion and people show up early, show up late. Now we have more upset people because of course it's my fault they didn't understand the new format.

Next is this scenario, first group of the day and everything goes perfect but we are 30 minutes ahead of schedule. We absolutly can not start group 2 early, people who are not there yet will be upset. So we sit and Waite burning the 30 minutes we gained. Group 2 gets going and it is one of those times when we can't seem to keep the ambulance off the track. This is the type of thing Georgie is describing where the day ends up longer.

It really is a tough situation.
 
We have tried this at Amherst in the 2014 season with mixed review. We run quads 1st. Both Motos, then bikes..Most people liked it, but you cant please everyone. We will continue this in 2015.
It seems to work best if you do not Alternate Bikes and Quads. We will run Quads 1st then Bikes as it cuts down on track maintance, which means it cuts down the time waiting to Race.
 
Amherst Meadowlarks said:
We have tried this at Amherst in the 2014 season with mixed review. We run quads 1st. Both Motos, then bikes..Most people liked it, but you cant please everyone. We will continue this in 2015.
It seems to work best if you do not Alternate Bikes and Quads. We will run Quads 1st then Bikes as it cuts down on track maintance, which means it cuts down the time waiting to Race.
Click to expand...

I remember back in the 90's you guys tried a split program. Ran half the classes 2x in the beginning of the day and the other half at the end of the day 2x. I didnt work out for me because I had a class in each group.

There may be a way that works but it would take a season or two before everyone got used to the program and gave it a chance to work.
 
I remember a split schedule at COCR with quads and 50's in the morning session that worked well. It seems like it may be easier to run quads first just based on less classes giving you a better chance of hitting a time goal to start the afternoon session.

I also remember Chillitown doing a split program (2011 maybe?) where there were quads (B/C/minis) in the morning session with bikes and quad A was in the afternoon session. That day there was about a 2-hour fog delay right from the beginning. I can remember people showing up for the afternoon session before the morning session was done with practice.
 
Victory-Sports has it down to a science. I am not a big fan of the track layout at Muddy Creek but I have never left the track later than 5 p.m. and was the last moto. The race order is already posted when you sign up. In my opinion that's a huge plus cause if +40 is last then I can ride something else if I want. The start and finish line are in the same area which lets them safely start the next moto while the previous class is finishing. Track prep rolls out right behind the start of each moto along with a spotter for safety. I could go on all day but I'll shut up.
 
Downtown T. Brown said:
Victory-Sports has it down to a science. I am not a big fan of the track layout at Muddy Creek but I have never left the track later than 5 p.m. and was the last moto. The race order is already posted when you sign up. In my opinion that's a huge plus cause if +40 is last then I can ride something else if I want. The start and finish line are in the same area which lets them safely start the next moto while the previous class is finishing. Track prep rolls out right behind the start of each moto along with a spotter for safety. I could go on all day but I'll shut up.
Click to expand...

We tried a race order before the event a few years ago, it actually hurt us. Some people didnt show because they knew they were toward the end.

Or do you mean just at sign up, not posted online, right?
 
john lilly said:
I just got off the phone with a guy who raced at East Bend and he was sharing with me that the total race time for all the bikes was 3.5 hrs and they were all done and heading home. He said they always raced two classes at a time and there were no 4 wheelers/quads, just a little more info.. Also, he said the classes were decent size. So here's my question for the track owners and each organization; what could you do differently to speed up the race day (actual time spend at the track)? Btw, I think the enormous amount of time spent at the track is one of the biggest topics of conversation (frustration) that I hear being discussed at the track. People are getting tired of spending 12 hours at the track for 20 to 40 minutes of actual race time. Btw, this is not any type of bash session, actually to the contrary, I would like to see how many good ideas that we can come up with to see how we could maximize our time and efforts and yet minimize the actual time spend at the track. So, here are a couple of my thoughts:
1. Break the racing into superminis and below, starting at 9am. Two classes for almost every gate and if three groups could go at once and be safe by MX standards then let it rip. Then the next class comes at say noon and that would consist of 125's up to 450 A riders. Again group them with two class and two gate drops if possible. Then say at 3:00 pm the quad riders show up and finish up the day.
I think by doing this there would be less track prep and less bitching between the two groups. For example how the bike riders say the quad riders break down the ruts and vise versa.
Here again this is where transponders would help keep everything straight while there may be 1,2 or 3 classes out on the track at once.
Also, for the people that want to hang out there all day they could still do this but for those of us who would like to get in and get out because we have other things we need to get done outside of mx, this would be a welcomed change.
I think you would also get some people who would like to come and watch a friend or family member race but don't want to stay for 12 hours to see 40 minutes of track time but if you could sell them that they will see their friend race within a 3 hour window, you might get more people to come through your gates. I can personally say that my wife and daughter would show up more if the race day was cut down. More people through the gate equals more money for the track owners and happier riders, which makes for more pleasant people and probably more complements about the staff, the track and the promoters which gets people to come back more often and talk up how you do things right!!!!
Click to expand...

John, give Big Game and TV land a try this year. They run a pretty fast day. Two practices (4 laps) and races are 4 laps. Normally the day is done around 4PM. Also went to Red Bud acouple of times this year. Two practices (5 laps) and races are 4 laps. We were done by 4PM. One thing about Red Bud, if they say practice is at 9 you better be at the starting gate at 9.
 
To many classes!!! Do we really need four 50cc classes and 65 classes? How about us old guys? Why don't we stop at 30+? Do men over 40 really need there own classes, every one could ride the 30+ class and make a good size class out of it, same with 50 and 65. Its like everyone has to go home with a trophy. WTF? no wonder its aways a 12 hr day with 4 lap races. Sucks
 
BriarcliffMx said:
We tried a race order before the event a few years ago, it actually hurt us. Some people didnt show because they knew they were toward the end.

Or do you mean just at sign up, not posted online, right?
Click to expand...
It's posted at signup but it's always known because it rotates in 3's. If you were first last race you will be fourth this race and seventh next race. It works great and If your finished by 5 p.m. everyone is still going to show up. Riders meeting before practice is another good idea. Once the day starts it never stops, rider don't have to slowly meander to riders meeting while the promoter is struggling to come up with a one off race order that doesn't conflict etc. I have seen situations where practice ends and it's 90 minutes before racing starts.....ridiculous!! That's 90 minutes sooner I can be in bed.
 
I just got back from a riding trip in Florida. One thing I said to my husband on the way home is I am thankful for the amount of tracks we have in Ohio. We have way more to offer here, so why can't we be happy with what we have and continue to support what our track owners are doing. We have never left the house on a sunday morning to go to the races worried about what time we will get home. . I have raced when I was little and always recall a decent amount of classes. Maybe more not then back in the day but we like the option of being about to run more than one class. Often times the tracks do discounts for three and we will run three. Everybody on here wants shorter days, longer motos and more people on the gate. All three of those together are not possible. If there is a lot of people on the gate (ex. battle of ohio races) its def going to be a long day. We enjoy our days at the track even if it's a long one. I don't get on here much anymore because all people do is complain and have a better solution. Maybe we should all step back and take a minute to appreciate what we really do have here in ohio with the amount of tracks and hard work the track owners put into what they do.
 
Back in the day it was a lot better. A full day at the track is aways fun but 4 lap motos? It use to be 85, 100, 125, 250, open, sr. That was it, full gates, good competition and if you went home with a trophy, you had worked ur butt off to get it.
 
I get that but its different today for many reasons. Racing then was cheaper for racers and track owners. Our end wasn't as expensive and track owners really didn't prep like they do today. People raced on what was in front of them and didn't complain. If any track around here has a bad day they are put down for the rest of the year for one bad day. We can't compare then to now, it's like comparing apples to oranges.
 
Downtown T. Brown said:
It's posted at signup but it's always known because it rotates in 3's. If you were first last race you will be fourth this race and seventh next race. It works great and If your finished by 5 p.m. everyone is still going to show up. Riders meeting before practice is another good idea. Once the day starts it never stops, rider don't have to slowly meander to riders meeting while the promoter is struggling to come up with a one off race order that doesn't conflict etc. I have seen situations where practice ends and it's 90 minutes before racing starts.....ridiculous!! That's 90 minutes sooner I can be in bed.
Click to expand...

we did the riders meeting before practice at the BC Battle this year, i liked it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top