Vital Thread - Mike Burkeen answers questions regarding amateur racing

mshafer62

mshafer62

PR Addict
FYI...In case you don't follow VitalMX
He's the Deputy Director of Amateur MX racing

www.vitalmx.com

Ask the AMA About Amateur Racing

I may regret this but I want to give all of you a chance to ask any question about AMATEUR AMA racing. My only request is that questions about Outdoors and SX not be asked.
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Ladies all spun up on eliminating suoerminis for women.

Typical Loretta vet class distraught. Grandiose “epic” lines for a 125 vet class.

HIPPA excuse for prohibiting collection of injury data. It can be done. Doesn’t make it impossible. How do you suppose we collect data in treatment in healthcare ? There’s process. There’s ways. Hippa violations aren’t as common as people think. And it’s not as prohibitory as people think.

But also allot of good stuff in there. I like how burkeen favors stiffer penalties for cheating at the ranch. But that’s 1% of the AMA members. The focus is the other 99%. Which I think is cool.
 
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GeorgiePorgie said:
What’s he protecting ?

And whose tad dewalt ??
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No clue what. But people come on with legitimate concerns and he basically just says that's the way it is.

I know it's beating a dead horse but the C class absolutely needs fixed. The kid that was in one of austins classes lives full time for a few years at a facility. Look at the c class riders, tons of Cairo GA, Chesterfield SC, Grey Court SC ect addresses. Kevin Whidham had at least 1 C class rider on our gate. Austin trains a decent amount with Whitcraft. This Jan he started training on the bike as much as possible. We ride 3-4 days a week from feb til LL. Has been lifting and off bike training with Gavin Gracyk for almost 2 years on and off and we joined Alex Martin at troll training in Jan. Worked out 5 days a week til LL. He went from mid pack C kid at Mini Os last year to easily qualifying at Ironman. Had top 10 laptops at LL but the mental side got him. Point being putting that kind of effort and time into LL to make it isnt C class. Not by any stretch. And Austin isnt a C class rider by any stretch. The rules need fixed. Burkeen defended the rules claiming it was good as is and fair.
 
That’s not new though. I’m 38. And c class was the sandbag full gate of non c riders when I was 18.

But really if the c class is eliminated you’ll all be doing the same for B. I dunno what the fix is for national level. I guess there’s no fix. If you got the resources you gotta use them. And someone’s always gonna have more resources than you got I guess.
 
Tad dewalt suggested the women’s class change. Looking at his fb doesn’t look like the guy even rides moto.
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
That’s not new though. I’m 38. And c class was the sandbag full gate of non c riders when I was 18.

But really if the c class is eliminated you’ll all be doing the same for B. I dunno what the fix is for national level. I guess there’s no fix. If you got the resources you gotta use them. And someone’s always gonna have more resources than you got I guess.
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There absolutely is a fix but it's too much work and a money loser
 
I am surprised that motocross STILL is as popular as it is with the price of bikes and pros making nothing (seriously, they make next to nothing just to be someone at the race) and all the sandbagging that goes on with 58 classes with 3 riders each!

"How old is you child racing that 80?"

"Oh, he's AMA 13, he's been racing 10 years, but only this year seriously!"

Who talks like this? Motocross parents that ALL think there kid won't have the same hurdles as 99.9 percent of the ones that came before them.

When I started racing, like 50 years ago, EVERYONE wanted to get to the A class. In Eastern PA, it was common to qualify down to 40 A riders in 3 classes, 125, 250 and Open. Everyone wanted the money. It was opposite of sandbagging........everyone wanted points to go A! The NESC had a series similar to the AMA in just New England and a bunch of talent came from there. I raced it some and it was big, unlike now, it's broken, like every district in the AMA.

This all changed with DC in 1983. He took Ponca City and expanded it to include C, B and A big bikes, stock and modified, and made them important. Ponca City was NMA ( Nation Minicycle Association) so minibikes were the priority. And minis were big in the 70's out in CA Prior to Lorettas, an AMA championship like Mark Hinkle won was an amateur championship raced by A riders in the US. You couldn't be a B or C ( C didn't even exhist in D6 or the NESC) and race that event. That was your carrot to go A.



It is my opinion, mx is becoming a small entitled rich kids sport. SX Futures training started this week at Club. Nobody in a van and a motel. Non of that BS. First time I've gone over there in 10 months. Most of those kids have no prayer of ever racing pro. I know it's new and all, but it really takes a special kind of person to excell at SX.

So many will be busted up here shortly. It's all ready started......
 
When i started racing mx in the early 90s, I was older than most. Did my first year in C class, my friends and I all wanted to move to B class. Nobody though C class was glory. The boy followed the rules and did LL in C class. He isnt remotely close to a C class rider but there is no way he would make it in B class to LL either. So you follow the broken rules and do what everyone else does. He wants to move to B class now instead of waiting til next year, I raised him right lol.

I agree that the sport has evolved to a rich kid sport. In the 90s you saw tons of people racing mx on bikes held together by coat hangers (exaggerating of course but you get my drift). Today races are filled with 500k rigs and trailers with 4 bikes. The best is when you see that rig set up with 2 PW 50s.

Its still the cheapest motorsport you can do and still the best one. Still meet fantastic people and make great friends. Its flawed but still worth it.
 
Matthew moved from Mini Jr. To 125 Schoolboy at 12 years old. Mainly due to height. He was then the youngest on a 250 and as soon as he was old enough for a 450 moved to a 450. He rode C class, spanked them locally most of the time, but yet could not qualify for Loretta's. Moved to B. Spanked them locally and still could not qualify for Loretta's. So last year he moved A. I questioned it at first, but riding A class has built his speed. He is competitive and usually always top 3 in collegeboy.

The game has changed a ton since I went to Loretta's for sure. It absolutely is not a cheap sport any longer. Gear, bikes, racing. All expensive. I laugh at the people with 15 and 16 year old C riders living at training facilities. Those guys are never making it in pro motocross. Time has passed them. And the people the mortgage their whole life to live in a facility with a 50 rider is a joke too. 99% of them will be burnt out by the time they are 15 and start driving and seeing girls.
 
They just held a Karting championship in Sweden and the pressure that is being put on the young drivers and parents has reached such a high level that a mental facility has been set-up at the track.

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