I like the US Flattrackers but the Slider Framed bikes dominated Aussie Short Circuit history for close to 3 decades, we changed the name of our sport to fit in more with the US DT influences.
I agree, it's imperative that the slider remain a part of our dirt track (
or short circuit if you prefer) heritage but somebody has to start the ball rolling. For the last three or four years I've been hearing a big whinge about the lack of sliders and that "
something needs to be done". Absolutely something should be done, but it's no good sitting around waiting for the mythical other bloke to set something up, if it's important to you (
not you specifically Steve, I'm speaking to everyone) and you know someone with a slider, chase him up and find out just why he's not riding it.
In reality though, we need to set something up at
vintage club level first, mainly because there are precious few modern laydown sliders. The main slider era was the sixties through late eighties, the upright era, so perhaps its time to repeat what we originally did with Penrith Club when we originally set up classic dirt track back in the late 80's.....cater specifically for sliders by including two classes for them, 2valve and 4 valve engines in upright frames. Regs should be as basic as can be.....as long as the slider's an upright and features swingarm rear suspension and working brakes, it's eligible. When the 2v slider class was at its peak in the mid to late nineties we were getting up to twenty 2valves spread over two, sometimes three age groups and that was not counting TT Yamaha powered bikes which were barred at the time. If a proposed Upright slider class was set up and promoted enthusiastically, there's no reason those nineties entry numbers can't be matched. I know that Alan Jones has been missing for a couple of years due to business and health concerns but he's currently getting a couple of sliders ready for this season. I also know of another two or three that are hot to trot but we need more, many more. Penrith club has made a good start by including specific slider classes in its upcoming Sydney Dirt Track Series but more effort has to be done to get the garage queen sliders out of retirement and back on the track where they belong. Whingeing and whining about how it used to be ain't going to achieve anything for the future.
SORRY FOR THE SLIGHT THREAD DEVIATION
