Racer Round-table: Race weekend schedule

[random hero]

Let me start off this round-table discussion by saying I have nothing but a huge amount of respect and appreciation for all of our current and past board members, as well as our other racers. I'm not starting this thread to make anyone angry, hurt any feelings.... Lets PLEASE keep this positive and not turn into a bash fest one way or another.

I just wanted to talk about my observations for the first two rounds, and just see if anyone else had any thoughts. I'm going to use PPIR as my main example, just because it was our last round... I do know attendance is generally a bit lower there than HPR, but my observations are across the spectrum.

I noticed two major things about this last round.
A) We had a LOT of races that had very few bikes entered, some as few as 6 bikes total on track at once. The majority of the expert races saw 10-15 entries, twins classes averaged 8-10 entries, novice 30 riders.
B) Sunday, the pits were a ghost town, and the race entries seemed low to me. It was shocking to wake up and have the pits feel like Friday morning. Also Sat evening, no festivities, seemed awfully quiet.

My issue so far this season has been driving 6 hours one way (I live in Alamosa, CO) one way, spend $300 in fuel only to race one day. Now, who's problem is that.... MINE! I'm not bitching, moaning, or looking for donations, I knew the schedule when I signed up to do the season. But it seems to be a trend this year, a lot of people are racing ONLY Saturdays races, some doing Sunday am practice and then leaving. It seemed like last year participation was a bit better on Sunday. For me, it's not worth waiting around to be the 4th to last, and last race of the day on Sunday, especially when those are the two races that have the least amount of competitors.

The other major thing I've noticed @ both rounds, is we seem to have a lot of "niche" races, where the entries are low (10 bikes or less) and it seems those same bikes race their "niche" classes multiple times, where other guys, especially novices on standard machines have 2-4 races to chose from per weekend.

I guess my questions are, is there something we could do in the future to even then playing field, maybe make the long hauls for the weekends a tad more worthwhile. I envy you Ninja 250's guys, and even thought maybe that's a formula that you could carry over with the rest of us. I know "double-header" weekends have been discussed in the past. For me, a guy who travels a long way, I would love something like that... where I could come and get in 5-6 races a weekend spread out over 2 days. But how do we do this.... Combine some of the races, maybe eliminate some classes where participation is low, or combine those races... I don't have the answers, but I'm going to be the a-hole that asks for answers...

Anyone else have questions, comments, concerns. I don't want this to turn into a flame fest on anyone. Tony, Rybo... rest of the board, I think very highly of you. I personally think the MRA is the best, funnest, friendliest org I've ever raced with, 2 or 4 wheels. You guys have done great. I'm just voicing some questions, hope others chime in.

[rybo]

Hey Luke,

Some perspective from this side of the fence.

There simply is no perfect schedule, but this is the best we've found in years. One of the reasons for the arrangement the way it is is that some people can only afford one day due to family or other constraints. Also, SuperSport and SuperBike races being separated by day so that riders with different sets of wheels don't have to swap them out between their races.

Even at the WSBK races at miller, by the time the last race went off the paddock was a bit of a ghost town. Many of the AMA teams were packing up or already had packed up and left by the time the last SBK race started. This is a function of being the last race.

That being said, you raise a valid concern. The average lifespan of a racer in the MRA is about 3 years. Many of the fastest novices never make the conversion to expert. As an expert that's stuck around for a while I can say that the "niche" classes are the reason I stick around. I can't afford a new bike every few years to stay competitive at the ROR / SuperSport /Superbike levels so having some classes like Modern Vintage and Twins to race in make racing both possible and fun for me. In most of the cases of the niche classes they are paired with other niche classes so that there are more than 5 bike on track at the same time.

The double header idea has it's merits, and it works well with the 250's because the cost of running the 250 bikes is so low. They are extremely easy on tires, can only run pump gas and have very low parts costs when damaged. Spreading this across more classes in the MRA will likely reduce participation rather than increase it. In classes with 600 / 1000 cc bikes this will mean extra sets of tires, additional race gas and greater wear and tear on the machines, which are more expensive to fix. It also forces the exclusion of riders that can only commit to one day in a given weekend. They miss one day (say the second half of the double header) they could be out of the championship right away. This may prevent them from choosing to run for the rest of the season if they miss a day early in the season.


We are open to ideas and suggestions - please bring them, but as you do it please also consider the cost / benefit analysis. The best proposals for new classes / class changes have always come with a suggestion of what the benefit to the club is. A good example was Wyeth's proposal for the F40 class this year. She looked a the demographics of the club, determined that a large percentage of the club was over the age of 40 and proposed the class based on making another place for those racers to race, the benefit to the club and it's compatibility with other race clubs racing classes. The result has been a well attended new class in our race schedule.

Scott

[oldtimer]

Also know these are frequently asked questions, we had a discussion last year about classes and lots of people brought ideas. We have a process for adding/eliminating classes, changing club rules, etc--it's the MRA Annual Rules Committee Meeting. Historically rule change proposals are fielded from July 1-Oct 1, then your fabulous rider rep in charge of rulebook, Shannon Moham, will assemble all the proposals and organize the meeting. Usually it's in October, all members are strongly encouraged to attend as we vote on each idea.

So discuss away, and know you can make a rule change proposal if you feel there's something that would benefit the club. Even if you don't have a proposal of your own, plan on attending the rules committee meeting. :)