Does VMX in Australia need a refresh?

[TM BILL]

Thats a great initiative   Kens editorial in the lastest VMX mag talks about us not promoting vmx enough to the masses and hes right .
We all need to be proactive in promoting what we love to do and the Viper initative is a bloody good idea .

[Montynut]

The Heaven meeting at Lake Glenbawn 6/7 April. This meeting was an inter-club with Northern District MCC (Pre90 in NSW) we had 90 riders turn up with >97 riders entries. Only 6 of those were juniors.

Pre70 & Pre75 entry was down. This is somewhat normal for this circuit but also a few regulars for those classes were unable to make it for a variety of reasons.

EVO and Pre85 all powers races were over grid with 33 & 31 entries respectively fortunately only 28 & 25 riders fronted for the first races.

So NSW VMX is healthy at club level yet that has not transferred to the PC Nationals? Heaven has ran 15+1lap races at Lakes in the heat last November with good grids (it was an all powers race) and the attrition rate was not massive.

I agree that we need to get the sport more into the main stream MC media just from the point of view of making contact with non VMX riders followers.

[TM BILL]

Can i ask what the cost is to ride at a club day for say 2 classes

At our series here we pay $55.00 for one class and $75 for 2 or more classes , that include lunch and as we are not affiliated to anybody there are no licence fees or levies .

[Montynut]

Can i ask what the cost is to ride at a club day for say 2 classes

At our series here we pay $55.00 for one class and $75 for 2 or more classes , that include lunch and as we are not affiliated to anybody there are no licence fees or levies .

$60A  for as many classes/bikes as you want, two classes per bike maximum (this is to ensure flaggies) You can only ride in three of the four ERA session and you flag the other.

[Davey Crocket]

At QVMX we charge $55 for a club day, practice days are $30 I think....and you can ride as many bikes as you bring. We had half a dozen big signs made up last year to put out on the roads leading to the track saying "Vintage Motocross Today"....with arrows pointing>.....how many times have you struggled to find a new track?...might be easier now with GPS but it can be a pain in the arse. The bonus with the signs is it pulls in spectators....this is the more positive stuff we should be talking about.

[Montynut]

Forgot to mention the $60 covers a 2 day meeting. Some meetings (3 a year have racing Saturday PM plus Sunday) the other 4-5 meetings each year have free practice Saturday PM but some riders just show up Sunday for the races.

[GMC]

#1
Observations of a Cyber Racer
Cyber Racers are people too (as opposed to Cyberdyne Racers)

Who entered the 2013 Post Classic titles and who didn’t is irrelevant, looking for someone to blame is a pointless exercise, it will only help to see the whole scene implode further.
Those that didn’t enter don’t need to justify themselves, we only need to know the reasons why they didn’t enter so we can move forward with better ideas.
Looking to blame the forum because its 2000 odd members didn’t want to race is also a pointless exercise.
I still believe the forum is a good place to bounce ideas from, what you do with those ideas though comes back to you.
If a forum member recommends you jump off a cliff and you find yourself waking up at the bottom of a cliff with multiple internal injuries then the problem is how you interpreted and acted on the recommendation, not the recommendation itself.
When someone recommends a brand of spoke kit that fitted up fine and look good then I like to look deeper as to whether or not the spokes have ever been used on a track and for how long.
I’ve seen guys say they like to see bikes raced with original shocks but I note that these guys usually don’t ride.

So you thought the Post Classic Title thread was a big one and because it was a popular thread there would be lots of entries.
Well I went through the thread the other night looking for statistics.
By page 17 in April when it was announced that not many had entered there was only responses from 51 individuals and straight away I can pick 8 of those that never intended to enter, they were just offering input.
This isn’t a swipe at anyone as I am one of the 8
Another 2 have since said they never intended to enter as they were going to work the event.
It’s not like there were hundreds saying they were going to ride this event.
Just because someone makes 10 comments doesn't mean 10 people are going to show up.

The forum is a good place to get exposure and gauge opinions but you must analyze what you read

[Hardo]

I agree Geoff.... only the naive would truly 100% guage the interest in the PC Nats from this forum.


I will say this - my thoughts are that the actual cost of the entry fee would have prevented a few from entering.

I know sending a money order off for almost $300 was a fair slog in the hip pocket. ($150 bike1, $20 2nd bike, $50 for 2x transponders, $77 for licence upgrade...= $297.00 )
On top of this there's the travel and accom costs to boot.

Not sure what can be done there as I only presume MA take a large portion of that.

I'm not going to blame the economy etc - as I believe $300 is a lot in any language.

Hardo.

[matcho mick]

just did our state titles (tar) eastern creek,was $450 entry for 1st bike,the promoting club took a fair hit in the hip pocket,but rationale was "we" havn't had state titles for over 5 yrs,i inclined to agree with them 
you wanna race,you pay the money

[Simo63]

just did our state titles (tar) eastern creek,was $450 entry for 1st bike,the promoting club took a fair hit in the hip pocket,but rationale was "we" havn't had state titles for over 5 yrs,i inclined to agree with them 
you wanna race,you pay the money

$450!!!!  WOW ... and the promoting club didn't cover their costs?  No surprise to be honest as I suspect at that price people stayed away in droves and only the very serious entered. 

Wow with all due respect I would never pay that much to race.

[Shaun G]

I was told once that the hire fee the ARDC charge for Eastern Creek is $20K per day on a weekend. Non refundable so you race rain, hail or shine.

Go and ride a track day. Same sort of money to ride at a non-competitive event.

Can't really be compared to VMX,MX, DT et al.

Cheers
Shaun

[Nathan S]

That GMC bloke is making a lot of sense.

Hardo, the Supp Regs contradicted the entry form regarding transponders for multiple bikes.

[Rossvickicampbell]

Nathan - please don't compliment or agree with him - geeez!

[motomaniac]

#1
Observations of a Cyber Racer
Cyber Racers are people too

So you thought the Post Classic Title thread was a big one and because it was a popular thread there would be lots of entries.
Well I went through the thread the other night looking for statistics.
By page 17 in April when it was announced that not many had entered there was only responses from 51 individuals and straight away I can pick 8 of those that never intended to enter, they were just offering input.
This isn’t a swipe at anyone as I am one of the 8
Another 2 have since said they never intended to enter as they were going to work the event.
It’s not like there were hundreds saying they were going to ride this event.
Just because someone makes 10 comments doesn't mean 10 people are going to show up.

Carefull Geoff I can feel some brains starting hurt already.

[09.0]

Sorry but I don't agree with some aspects. I'm happy to point the finger and bear the brunt. The nsw guys are letting their own team down. With one week to go there were only thirty entries. None of this is rocket science. It seems that I'm the only one that wants to be the bad guy and say what needs to be said.
Fact: the majority has to come from the local pool of riders as obviously the greater the distance, the less likely one will travel.
Fact: 60 to 70 riders had to come from NSW.
Fact: Both mr Vmx events also had poor numbers.
So you guys don't support your own big events.
From where I'm sitting you guys want to be 'lord of the flies' and race in a club day. I say this as I was talking to someone that was walking through the spectators at mr Vmx looking at all the guys that were heaven members just watching. Saying they didn't want to ride against all the "fast guys".
I really think this should be a wake up call for the nsw Vmx community to get behind these events. They should be bigger than Ben Hur.
Obviously good on the guys that did enter.
I also cannot believe how people talk about the cost of entering and how expensive this and that are in Vmx. Wake up guys! This is a Motorsport. Relate it to ANY OTHER FORM OF MOTOR SPORT. It is the cheapest by far. Go road racing, motarding, enduro, modern mx etc etc. This shit is dirt cheap. Not to mention as cheap or as dear as you want by way of bike you own/purchase.