MRA General Meeting Minutes
August 14th 2024

Board Attendees:

  • President - Bob Hasenhundl
  • Vice President - Blair Harness
  • Secretary - Deborah Bingham
  • Treasurer - Noel Ross
  • Race Director - Katie Rayburn
  • New Rider Director - Dan Spurlock
  • VP Rules & Tech - Dustin Pfeiffer
  • Rider Rep - Rulebook - Dennis Stowers
  • Rider Rep - Trophies & Class Sponsors - Steven Racz
  • Rider Rep - PR & Events - Tim Ellis
  • Rider Rep - Press & Contingency - Codey Chewning


Estimated Voting Members in Attendance: 20 in person and 13 online
Location: Nite Owl Sports Bar and Grill and Zoom
Start Time: 7:30 PM MT
End Time: 8:45 PM MT

Club Announcements

  • Bob noted that while the MRA Round 7 has been canceled; Legion is hosting a race weekend and track day at the end of August.


Bob Hasenhundl - President

  • The majority of attendees agreed the last round went smoothly.
    • Bob noted this largely thanks to the members who came prepared and ready to race in a safe manner.
    • He noted that lower numbers resulted in less riders on the track and a lower chance of incidents, but it was still a smooth weekend of racing.

  • Bob updated that the rationale behind a change in the lap count for the full course was to allow the schedule to remain on target.
    • He noted that there was a similar ending of the day for Round 5. By not running the crash cart on a hot track, and reducing the laps, it allows the race weekend to stay on track.
    • For the North and West course, the lap count will remain unchanged. Round 8 will remain at 6 laps.


Blair Harness - Vice President

  • Race licenses remain available for pick up. Blair will bring the banquet trophies from last year to the next General Meeting and Round 8.
    • In response to a question, it was confirmed that discussions are ongoing for this year’s banquet.


Deborah Bingham - Secretary

  • The points for Round 6 and Clubman have been updated. Racers were requested to let Deb know if there are any questions.
  • Racers were asked to confirm their information in MSR is correct. This relates especially to transponders.
  • Novices were reminded to send completed novice cards to Deb. Hours can still be completed by attending meetings or assisting at race weekends.
    • Novices have 10 days after the last race to complete their hours. If they cannot complete their hours, there is an option to buy them out.


Noel Ross - Treasurer

  • Noel was able to collate the requested information regarding financial statements.
    • Printouts were provided to Mike and Tiffany.
    • She noted that per discussions in previous meetings, there was a ~$6K deficit for Round 2, however an invoice is still awaited from Pueblo, Rounds 3 and 4 have been combined due to the cancellation of the Pueblo round, which resulted in credits towards racers in the HPR round. Most of the invoices for Round 5 have been received but we are pending HPR cashing their check. Lastly, the invoice for Round 6 was just received and not accounted for in the printout.
    • The 2023 tax return has not yet been finalized. There is a meeting being scheduled with the accountant.

  • As of the 8/14 meeting, it was estimated that the club would be ~$10K in the negative. This amount will likely increase as the season reaches its conclusion.
  • The current accounts are: Ops $42,704.96, Safety $1,172.00, and Reserve $15,247.35.


Dustin Pfeiffer - VP of Rules and Tech

  • Dustin thanked the racers for being understanding of the recent weather delays during tech. The MRA will try to make announcements in future if tech is going to be delayed due to inclement weather.


Dan Spurlock - New Rider Director

  • We are limiting the number of attendees, as appropriate, for SuperStreet. This is due to a lower pool of available instructors. There were two volunteers on Zoom to assist with instructing (Lew Bosson and Erik Shable).
    • Dan has been adapting his approach to asking people to instruct based on previous experiences. By asking the instructors early, it can help avoid disrupting their race program.
    • From Saturday’s SuperStreet class, there were three attendees planning to license up.
    • Dan confirmed that new racers could complete the appropriate number of SuperStreets and license up to race the next day.
    • New racers could do evaluations to confirm their ability to license up instead of completing two SuperStreet classes.


Katie Rayburn - Race Director

  • Katie sent her thanks for the racers’ understanding and flexibility during Round 6.
  • Round 8 is Safety Crew Appreciation. The MRA would appreciate any donations, from members including monetary and physical gifts. She will make a crew wishlist available, once collated.


Codey Chewning - Rider Rep - Press & Comms

  • The Roadracing World article for Round 6 was submitted.
  • If any of the novices want to get hours, they could take notes for Codey during Round 8 for ROR.


Steven Racz - Rider Rep - Trophies & Class Sponsors

  • Steven introduced himself and asked the racers to connect him with individuals they know who may be potential sponsors.


Dennis Stowers - Rider Rep - Rulebook

  • The comment / suggestion period has opened for proposed rule changes and will close on September 11th. Racers were encouraged to submit their proposals to any Rider Rep or the VP of Rules and Tech via email or on the MRA Forum.
    • There are two topics on the Forum relating to general rule changes and then changes to schedule/classes.
    • A master document will have the submitted suggestions collated for other racers to review.
    • Dennis noted that this process is restricted to members.

  • Dennis thanked the racers for putting the efforts into preparing their bikes appropriately for racing.
  • Dennis confirmed that the double points incentive was a board decision last year to encourage racers to continue to participate through the end of the race season.
    • Dennis noted racers have approached him about randomizing different approaches for points through the racing season.
    • Si noted that this could be implemented by surprising racers at the end of the season, as they would be blinded to when double points were allocated.


Questions

  • In response to a question on creating a YouTube channel, Sarah indicated media for a channel or for long form content is in-depth work. She has identified a videographer, Corey, who loves attending MRA rounds and is willing to work more on videos.
    • Sarah also noted that they are considering putting on a workshop over the off season on attracting sponsors, maintaining sponsors and best practices. Corey could also work with racers on camera settings.
      • Racers indicated a willingness to attend a class to learn, especially relating to onboard camera settings. However, there was concern relating to not working on the camera settings when the device would be in situ.

  • As a sponsor of AGTU, Sarah provided an overview of the services she provides through Valley Creative.
  • Racers were encouraged to send video clips of important or exciting racing moments to the board. These would be used to create MRA promotional materials or videos for the banquet.
  • In response to a question from Tiffany regarding training materials for safety crew, Noel will email the materials to Deb to send to Tiffany.
    • The board will discuss an appropriate medium to make the materials available to MRA members.
    • For SuperStreet, attendees are placed on a waitlist if the predetermined cap has been reached.

  • Regarding FaceBook marketing for SuperStreet, Bob confirmed that the MRA has used some paid ads but this will focus more on registration for Round 8.

General Meeting Ticket

  • J. De Vincenzo received in person $50 MSR Credit
  • M. Applehans received the Nite Owl award
  • R. Reasoner received the online award of 2 hours of novice hours completed