Protest (me) Form for Download!

[dave.gallant]

Hello Friendly MRA Novices (and experts that don't like me):

Although I may technically be a Novice with this fine racing organization, I have been known to file my fair share of protests in my racing youth. As a service to you all, I have created a "Protest MRA #31" form which you can download and print for use at the next MRA race weekend at Pikes Peak. It seems last weekend there was some confusion for a few of you in your attempts to protest me, so I wanted to help:

http://www.motosix.com/pdf/Protest31.pdf

As you will see, it has all of the appropriate spaces for the required information you will need in protesting me, and I have even gone ahead and filled in my name on your behalf. Be sure you print out and have your copy of the MRA rulebook by next weekend, and that can be found here:

http://filezilla.mra-racing.org/file...RARulebook.pdf

Why would I do this for you?

Because I like you. And I admire your spirit. But, ultimately, it is misguided and I will share why.

< SOAPBOX >

Now, this is simply my opinion, but I will share it with you.

You are being used. (Yes, you.) You are being milked for funds by those that have a vested interest in selling you all of those parts or services you don't really need. You have tire guys, and suspension guys, and tuners, all in their Sunday best lined up on the pit wall telling you how wonderful you are, how talented you are, and how -- if you step up to the latest tire/pad/fuel/gizmo -- you may just win that Novice race.

Wow oh wow oh wow! Then you will be going places!!! You will get free tires and free leathers and chics will dig you because you won the plastic trophy!

So, you dig deep. You blow the budget. You rack up a credit card bill that would even impress me. You have the 190 slicks and the latest GPS lap timer and the double clear coat paint. You have the mag wheels and the traction control and the self mapping wideband O2 sensor.

Surely you will win now! You should! You must! You have done it all right!

Then some Expert-in-Novice clothes starts dead last on the grid, running tires from 2007 on stock brake pads (and a whole lot of suspension setup), and runs around the outside of you in turn 2, waving. You dice for a bit, but even people on the pit wall can see he is short shifting the stock-motored motorcycle from 2006.

WTF? BURN HIM! PROTEST PROTEST PROTEST! SANDBAGGER!! And, right you are! You "paid" your dues and deserve that $15 plastic trophy!

"OK OK -- Get on with the moral of the story here" I hear you say:

You are the future of the MRA.

Right now, you might be a vengeful sad sack of a roadracer, but you are the future of roadracing in general. Our current winning new experts were slower than you once, and now they seriously haul the mail. You do the MRA, the sport, and yourself no good by burning through your finances in 2 years and contributing to the ~30% turnover the MRA experiences each and every season. You will get fast, and most of you will be faster than any current expert dreams to be. But, you won't do it in 1 or 2 seasons, and you won't do it by setting your sights on a "Novice Championship".

Ignore the shiny objects that compete for your finances. Ride your motorcycle. Learn how to set up your motorcycle. Run pump fuel, the best tires you can afford, buy laps and suspension. Ask Brownie for advice. Ask any MRA Board member for advice. Ask any ROR guy for advice. Race against those which will actually teach you how to go faster and not just those that are still learning themselves.

Stop contributing to the turnover.

Prove me wrong and be a part of this club 5 years from now. Stop the cycle of "winning NovU only to find out everyone in MWSS is too fast and end up quitting the sport". Mind your budget, hone your craft, then kick everyone's ass come race day on equal terms, not as "a novice".

< / SOAPBOX >

These are, of course, just my opinions.

As I have done in past years, I will once again suggest at the rules meeting this fall to remove the novice championship. That suggestion will not likely be adopted, but until then, I will see everyone on the NOVU grid at Pikes (and I am coming for your contingency).

I will have copies of the protest form in my pits. Stop by and say hello; I would love to meet you guys and I would be happy to give you a copy then.

[Clarkie]

But why would I spend $200 on having someone set my bike up even though it doesn't have $1500 cartridges in it to go 5 seconds a lap faster, when I could spend $2000 on a sweet motor build and go 1 second faster? Then buy a new set of tires each day and watch them year themselves apart after one race?

Stupid novice rider! :roll:

[jmaher]

Not to hijack the thread, but since you brought it up....what is a "self mapping wideband O2 sensor"? Seriously.

Joe

[graphite675]

Ok, I'm going to be the dumb new guy and ask the stupid question. I assume you were expert at some point and now have to race Nov this year?
'

;

[LordLosh]

I have read this a couple times and still can not make sense as to what you want or are trying to really accomplish here? Please explain why you feel Novice championship is bad? Just trying to learn or understand your point not trying to be a dick.

[dave.gallant]

Ok, I'm going to be the dumb new guy and ask the stupid question. I assume you were expert at some point and now have to race Nov this year?

Yes, and yes.

The Rulebook is like the force. It is elusive until it is actually read from front to back.

[dave.gallant]

I have read this a couple times and still can not make sense as to what you want or are trying to really accomplish here? Please explain why you feel Novice championship is bad? Just trying to learn or understand your point not trying to be a dick.

I am of the opinion that the purpose of a novice class should be to introduce racing to new individuals in the most controlled manner possible, not as a means for "Championships" (then disappointment and quitting the sport). It is my opinion that our rule structure promotes "staying a novice as long as possible", which I believe is counter productive to <you> as a rider.

These are just my opinions, and I really want more of our novices to stay racing with us than less; spending less and learning more.

[LordLosh]

I guess i need to look at it more, but i do agree it seems like there is a considerable group of riders in NGTO and U that are running lap times comparable to the top riders in Amateur. But how long can they really feel good and brag about winning or dominating a Novice race every year?

[dave.gallant]

Once the laptimes are posted, you will notice that I do not have the fastest time in the NovU race.

If I am sandbagging, what are the rest of the riders on the same second doing?

(chasing contingency and trophies)

[JWinter]

Dave, I couldn't have said that better. In fact I laughed and peed myself.

[Clarkie]

You have to understand Mr Gallant, chicks dig guys who spend $15,000 a year racing (bike, tires, hot engine mods from people that shouldn't be in business, and even hotter mods they read about on the interweb) to win a couple of $20 trophies. The best thing to impress your fan base with is when the hear you traction control cutting out as you go past the it wall........with the bike perfectly upright.

There is no way there could be a chance that with the TC you are going slower than if it wouldn't cut out, is there? Nah club racing is all about keepng up with everyone else off the track. So as long as you spend 4 years worth of racing budget in the first 6 months everything should work out fine :lol:

My broken old ass could line up next to you on the Novice grid as well as per the rule book 8)

[gsnyder828]

:lol:

Nice to have you back Dave!

[dave.gallant]

:lol:

Nice to have you back Dave!

At least a few of you see the humor and oddity in this. I was welcome to the track my first weekend back by being hugged by some and protested by others. Even though I did not ask for it, I am in somewhat of a unique position to test the theory:

Would "fast" novices move up if there was no incentive to stay? followed closely by Will the MRA retain more racers if Novices became Amateurs or Experts faster?

I honestly do not know the answers to the above two questions. Possibly we would retain less because fast novices would not even do an entire season. Possibly we would retain more because fast novices would learn to budget sooner rather than later. I honestly do not know.

(And, for those of you new to me, this would not be the first rule in the rulebook specifically for/because of me)

[dave.gallant]

My broken old ass could line up next to you on the Novice grid as well as per the rule book 8)

Yes, indeed. Travis Graham, Doug Vickery; there is a long list of wicked fast guys that could do the same.

The rule that allows experts to come back and race as a novice is done with good intentions. I used it to allow me to stay out of the fast classes like MWSB and the like when I have not been on the track in literally years.

What I found when actually out there however only strengthened my opinion formed over previous years that the novice designation is being abused by those interested in selling products and by those who are already able to podium in Amateur or Expert classes. (Why Hello Mr National Tire Distributor standing on the wall during the NovU race. How nice to see Novice wins being used in press releases promoting your brand!)

Protest away Sheeple. I even created you the form to use.

[Rockstar]

I don’t have the history that most of you do with Dave, but when I heard (second and third hand) about his actions on Saturday I must say, I applauded him for such a classy act towards those like myself in Novice that are trying to enter the support.

I can’t speak for everyone obviously, but I am here to have some fun and apparently so is Dave. So at the end of the day, after you (Dave) beat the sh** out of me and my fellow novice riders, let’s have a beer and some laughs about some of the crazy things we saw out there. No one here is going Pro anytime soon so let’s have some fun with it.

Cheers mate!

[R1-2NV]

Dave this made me laugh so hard I almost spit on my PC..

Good to have ya back. Funny perspective from the old school.


The rules are the rules.....good or bad. Funny how everybody wants the MRA to enforce the rules then when they do its a issue. I will come by and grab one of the forms even tho I'm a expert just so you can get banned or whatever they do to you.

[mra908]

I actually moved out of Novice as soon as I could so guys like this effing goat loving cheater could hopefully teach me a thing or two on the way past instead of racing with forty other newbies for the "Best Beginner" trophy. Seemed sort of pointless to me. (Disclaimer: I was, and am still not, anywhere near fast enough to have been in the running for "best beginner" anyway. I just wanted to run with more experienced racers.)

I wholeheartedly agree on not blowing the budget on a couple of seasons, either. Of course I've taken it to the other extreme of only making a couple of races a year on an old SV, then when the kids are out of college maybe I can step it up to five races :roll: . But at least I'll still be enjoying the club and sport I joined in 2004 rather than having totally quit back in 07 had I tried to win the cubic dollar contest. There's a middle ground: spend on riding schools, safe tires and a reliable bike with decent suspension, and skip the "must have" widgets and motor work til you're racing for enough money to make that stuff pay for itself. And sit out a weekend now and then to save money if you have to. Now the old slow guy will shut up.

Dave, missed your posts. If I can get my broke ass (not broke back) back down there, I'll have to pit near you just for the humor. And so I don't have to walk very far to pick up a protest form.

[mkdiehl]

Edited.....but I feel better now.....

[Rockstar]

I guess I am little confused about the Novice championship comments. There are tiers of success in every form of racing (and most professional sports). You have to start somewhere, and everyone should have a goal to strive for, even if said goal is really just an acceptance into a larger structure where winning becomes less and less likely.

[kfm61]

hmmm,,,,,

Guess I should get my act together and plan a race or two this year, that way I can come back as a novice, 'cause we all know I'm just a grid filler in either white or yellow plate !

Good to see you're back on the track Dave!

[Wayniac]

So I should feel better about my performance knowing I'm going up against a bunch of sandbaggers out for easy money? So when I finally hone my skills I could just blow off my novice hours to stay a novice and sandbag too?
Or am I missing the point all together?

[dave.gallant]

Let me very clear for just one moment:

Matt D is a truly gifted rider and gentleman racer. I do not direct my comments towards him although I do hope (and expect) to see him kicking expert a$$ in RORU sooner rather than later because he is capable of doing just that.

My comments are directed towards the culture we as a race organization have created where being the fastest novice is as important as being the fastest racer; to those who believe building a superbike motor is more important than understanding the basics of suspension setup; to those who protest me without even reading the rulebook.

Odd as it may sound, I want to retain all of our racers. (Yes, even you who won't read the rulebook), and am baiting you guys into an argument in hopes that some form of consensus can be found down the road this fall. I don't just do this for the club. I do this for very personal reasons: I want an MRA to exist so I can race too.

But, pretend you didn't read any of that.

Instead, tell me why I am full of shit. Tell me why having vendor pressure, championship pressure, and contingency pressure is all a good thing for retaining novice racers and contributes to their continued success and retention in our club.

[Wayniac]

Interesting. I think I see the point you are making now. So if we removed the novice championship, would that remove all contingency from novice racing? I was pretty excited to find out that a win would get me a 100 bucks from my "tire" sponsor. Or 50 from a "brake" sponsor. I'm very new to this form of racing. I'm doing it as cheap as possible as well. No quick shift, kit ecu, exotic rear set, 10,000 dollar cheater motor, 10 sets o' slicks etc....etc.... Just my desire to compete, race and win. So that being said, I'll print out a stack of protest forms. Can I borrow the $25 though? :wink:

[Clarkie]

A lot of contingency I'd paid per race event not for year end positions so if I get what Dave if saying send race event placings into contingency companies which they need, but don't tally the points up over the year.

This way racers still get contingency to help them keep racing but leave it at that.

[Wayniac]

I remember similar things happening back in my mx days, especially at the youth level. A lot of 80 riders at the amateur level would pull off track at the last minute to avoid getting "marks" and having to move to the 80 pro class. Then come arenacross season under the AMA they could register as a novice. There was a good chunk of cash up for grabs, cherry picking at it's finest. I remember being so pissed off that I had to race against my local "80pros" at those events and never getting any YZ bucks. Regardless, I kept at it, I got better and had some moments of glory.

This brings me to a thought, what if we dropped the novice championship and put the actual novice in that class and made a real Amateur class where the "fast" novice would go to compete for championships, money and other fabulous prizes?