Urgent - Vintage Class at The Sydney Dirt Bike Spectacular September 10th

[Curly3]

EVO MX or Dirt Trackers would be best suited me thinks.
There isn't enough dirt on the track to turn a Slider, pretty much all clay and way too grippy for Sliders, unless it's real wet of course, then its like ice skating.
I hope something happens as I'll have an open license for next year.

[JAP 454]

This was emailed to me yesdy,


Subject: Sydney Speedway Cancelled



Regrettably, the Motorcycle Rescue-sponsored Sydney Dirt Bike Spectacular at Sydney Speedway has been cancelled.

The forced cancellation for the event that was slated for Saturday, September 10, was due to lack of nominations from Dirt Bike competitors.

As the time of closing of nominations for dirt bike competitors (Thursday, September 1), the entry numbers were less than half of the inaugural event held in August, 2010, despite lower nomination fees.

Race Secretary, David Smith, was at a loss to explain why nominations for the event were so low.

“The competitors, particularly the seniors, always want more race meetings, and here there is one right in the heart of Sydney, and the response has been underwhelming,” said Smith.

Sydney Speedway Assistant Manager, Rod Britton, was naturally disappointed.

“I thought we had a bright future with the dirt bikes. We listened to the dirt bike fraternity and provided a much more attractive nomination structure for competitors, but sadly, the response was not favourable.

“For the competitors that did nominate, I apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank them for their support. As soon as we were aware of less than favourable numbers, we made a decision as soon as possible to minimise the impact on competitors who had commitments.

“I would like to thank the support from the likes of Matthew Haynes at Motorcycle Rescue, as well as Allan & Georgina Fulton at Motorcycle Accessories, Castle Hill, who threw their support behind dirt bike racing in Sydney.”

Three practice events are set for speedway competitors on Saturday, September 17 and 24, as well as October 8.

The next scheduled race meeting is the charitable season opener – the “Skidz 4 Kidz” Gold Coin Night on Saturday, October 15, with 100% of all donations going to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

Foss   

[dirttracker]

i think its only a money grabing exercise, why would you go and pay $170 for 4 rounds when you can go to kurri on the same weekend and pay $30 for 5 rounds, aint it all about value for money,fun, and bike time. i think most of the entrants at the last meeting only entered so could get their mugs on the idiot box.

[Taka 100]

maybe it had something to do with short notice and entry cost ... do you think . post this stuff early and youll  get the results and i will donate to the skids 4 kids where do i send the money

tel the promoter dont spool off on the dirt bike fraternity that bs , surely  the event could run without a handful of old bangers and mash where's all their stars surely they had them G'd up , it sounds like a politians spool to me and probaby to  a lot of others , you dont need many riders to entertain a crowd , match them up in pairs , of equal ability , or have some good old hadicap races , with a couple of stars showering the crowd to finish off the evening , wow i would pay big money to see that

[JAP 454]

I have had entry forms for this meeting for some weeks now, so they were in circulation in time enough.

As I see it, the promotors were trying a last ditch attempt to get enough riders, by programing another class, much too late in the day, however I did remove some private comments from the email , from riders from previous events held there, regarding the racing surface, cost of entries and a couple of other issues, so the cancellation of the meeting comes as no big surprise to me.

Foss

[firko]

I'm pretty sure that the unsuitability of the clay mix surface was a deciding factor in many riders opting not to enter. Previous bike events on Parramatta's smaller 400m infield track have met with overwhelming dislike by the majority of competitors. The surface is tacky and dangerously drivy when dry and like an icy lake when wet. It'd be difficult enough to set up a modern 450 for the surface and it'd be virtually impossible to set up a slider to handle the tacky dirt. On 86's 'advice' I rang around a number of modern and classic racers that I thought might be interested and every one of them to a man quoted that they didn't want to ride on the clay/dirt mix and pay $170 for the privelege.

I suspect (but may be wrong)that the promoters are dirt track promotion newbies who see a dirt surface as a dirt surface, unable to diferentiate between what's suitable for a dirt track/short track event and for 800hp sprint cars. Just because it's brown doesn't make it right.

[JAP 454]

I suspect (but may be wrong)that the promoters are dirt track promotion newbies who see a dirt surface as a dirt surface, unable to diferentiate between what's suitable for a dirt track/short track event and for 800hp sprint cars. Just because it's brown doesn't make it right.

You've hit the nail on the head , Firko
Foss

[Shaun G]

Just a small correction. Senior entry fee was to be $120 not $170. Still way too expensive for what was on offer.

From the rider's I spoke to who rode the event last year the track surface didn't come up. What was the main reason for them not entering was the exorbitant entry fee for only 3 or 4 races on a tiny 440 metre track when you can ride at tracks like Nepean all day for around a third of the cost.

This event looks to me to be a Junior meeting with Senior support. 3 classes for Senior Solo's and 8 junior classes. The fact that the press release singles out senior riders indicates that they were the main classes under subscribed. If more effort was put in to making it attractive to older riders (more classes + more races) then the entrant numbers may have been a bit higher I reckon.

Cheers
Shaun

[Curly3]

Dissapointing but not surprising, I originally quoted the $170 because I was factoring in $50 for a one event license.
I doubt they'll try again, as Firko said, they probably think dirt is dirt.
I rode there once when they first opened up as a demo and it was diabolical.