While I fully understand that times are really tough right now, seven entries is still a pretty poor roll up. As much as I respect the Tassie club and their enthusiasm in putting on the event, for the first time out under the new Nationals split format situating the meeting in a more user friendly location might have been a more sensible decision. The costs of the ferry journey and the long road distance from the strong Queensland and NSW Evo and Pre85 entrant pool really work against the Tasmania location.
If I'd been making the decision on where the meeting should be held I'd have opted for a mainland east coast location where you'd be guaranteed a strong roll up. I'd have been making sure that the first stand alone Post Classic Nats had as much potential support as it could muster, if only to prove the split concept works. The 160+ entries for the Classic Nats in Queensland showed that punters will most definitely travel to an event as long as it's not too difficult or draining on the wallet. Unfortunately that damned ferry makes Tassie a poor location choice for that reason.
Another reason for the lack of entries may be the close date proximity to CD9. CD9 is now a 'must do' on the VMX calendar and, as Andrew rightly pointed out, racers have only so much finance to travel to events, CD9 might be the more popular choice. It's easily accessed central location also makes it more attractive for the cash strapped punter.
