Hired guns at Aussie titles.

[09.0]

A good friend ( Noel Harker, living legend!) who does come on here from time to time had a bit to say regarding the young hired guns that turn up for the titles and just as quickly disappear again.
The later it got on Sunday after the meeting the less coherent on the subject he was. Might have had something to do with the alcohol. He did a mighty fine job of tuning the bar maid as well.
His idea very basically was to have a form of qualifying by making them ride some Vmx meetings in the lead up to the titles. Thought it was a good idea.
Please think your ideas on this subject before hitting the keyboard to put your two cents worth in.
I hate reading dribble that obviously has not had any thought put into it. 
I personally like the competition and like it more if I can beat them. But thought it worthy of a chat.

[SON]

I agree with it,
They only win their age group,
And I like seeing the old bikes ridden like they should,
Until Craig Anderson's injury last week I have been waiting for Craig and Danny Ham to return to their battles at Lakes.

[bazza]

We have similar at Mustang car shows,guys turn up for trophies at the annual car show and you dont see them to next year (no support for club or marquee) Not an easy one as like vmx it raises the standard when they are there,I can see both sides,not an easy one to resolve.Car club looked at the "do so many meeting to be eligible "idea and that will come up at the AGM.Probably only affects  2-3 in each class at the front end of the field,while the joe blogs hired guns having a ride at the back go un noticed.

[Nathan S]

After young Dougy* wasn't allowed to ride the MrVMX meetings, a few of us kicked around the idea of:
"For anyone under 30 to be eligible to ride, you must have competed in at least two VMX meetings in previous years."
You'd prove it with a letter from one of the recognised VMX clubs, and/or net published photos from VMX meetings.


*Doug's been actively involved in VMX for as long as I have (maybe longer?), but he's still under 30. He's quick, but he is certainly not a "hired gun"/Trophy hunter/young lunatic etc.

[TM BILL]

Its a hard one , as Graeme said its good to see the bikes ridden / raced as they were intended but it leaves a bit of a bad taste to some when they only front for the titles .

I think the you must have ridden other events prior to the nats would be hard to police 

Only letting them race in their own age group is one solution, but if they hold an MA licence i dont know how you go about excluding them from open title events.

Its always going to be controversial , maybe if EVERYONE was made to wear period riding apparell that might put them off riding 

[JohnnyO]

Yeah we talked about this on Sunday night and thought it would be a good idea for under 30's to have to ride 4 VMX meetings through the year to qualify for the Nats.
A lot of these young guys never ride or show any interest in vintage mx through the year and have no intention of owning a VMX bike then turn up at the titles on borrowed bikes to take home a trophy.
The presentation on Sunday night certainly looked different to previous vintage titles with many young guys taking home the silverware.
It makes it hard for us 50+ year olds... There are only age groups in pre 75.

[Slakewell]

I for one was surprised by the pace of some of the races. Pre 78 open was really quick and I'm sure Noel was a little taken back to find out even thou he was ridding ok he was dicing for last place with me. I still enjoyed the racing and at least I had someone to dice with.
Hired guns are a fact of racing if you dont like it stick with aged classes. 

[bazza]

Bill is on to it,ban fluro bling riding gear......lol

[Ted]

I totally agree. I would be calling for at least 12 months commitment.
Very easy to check. Just look at his pointscore from his respective club. Accompanied with a letter from the club secretary. It would be just like footy, you have to play a certain amount of games to be eligible for the finals.

The young guy I had on my bike in Pre 78  125 is Liam Beverly. He is 16. Liam started racing in VMX at 12 years of age with Heaven alongside his elder brother, father and grandfather. In the last 4 years he has not missed a meeting ( that's over 30 meets ) aside from say Noël Lewis nobody at Heaven would ride more races than Liam. He turned senior this year and has not missed a meet. Are we to say to Liam now that you can play with the big boys, you can't .

8 weeks ago Liam won the Premier Pre 78 Heaven title, Crawford River Cup, on my 125. The cup is a Pre 78 All Powers race. There were absolutely no complaints from anyone in the field regarding Liam's age.

Maybe Liam should be questioning the commitment of others, regardless of their age or standing.

We are kidding ourselves if we don't encourage these kids to come through the ranks, just like footy, if we are to survive. Setting age limits , just as MR VMX did will only alienate the young ones and eventually it will go the way of MR VMX. Dead as a Dodo.

[JohnnyO]

Ted kids are the future of modern mx not vmx, they can ride moderns and be competitive till their 30's THEN go to vmx. In the 20+ years I've been in vmx we've never relied on kids to make up the numbers.
It's not like footy where your finished, game over at 35...

[jimg1au]

here we go again you guys wanting to change the rules
this has been going on for the last 4 years I know off in cdt.
some of the young guys stay some don't get their title and off to something else
so if you put stumbling blocks in front of our sport it will fade away to just club days
its a national open not a club day open to anyone who wants to enter
if you are good enough to beat them great if not suck it up
I for one like to see the old bikes go realy fast as they should be

[redrider1]

There may not be much difference between sponsoring a young fast rider (less than 30 years old) and sponsoring a fast ex A grade MX rider, pro class enduro rider or pro class desert rider in their 40`s for the titles. They are sponsored to do what they do best and that is to ride a bike fast and bring some excitement to the VMX sport for the other competitors and the viewing public. If any rules are put in place that stipulate that a certain VMX race schedule must be undertaken for the younger riders (less than 30 years old), then that must transfer across to ex state and australian listed A grade mx riders etc as well, regardless of age.

[kdx 175]

why is this so important to sum of you guys its just a hobby or interest in life so your not bored be for we die my 18 year old son is just starting to race vmx cos  no money for modern mx

[supersenior 50]

At 2012 Classic Nats MA (by design or accident) only gave medals in Pre75 for the age groups that had the numbers, not the open. If the young guns "just love riding the old bikes" as the proud fathers often say to me, it makes you wonder why the
medal is so important.
I think young guys who are into VMX and not just at the Nats should be welcomed, but it would not be hard to contol if the wish was to avoid the Nats only jockeys. We had one at least this year who you only ever see at the Nationals.
Regarding Pre78, after last year when we had nearly full grids in 250 and 263 +, and 23 in 125, I intended to propose to MA that age groups be introduced. Numbers were down this year in Pre78 but I'll submit it anyway.

[FourstrokeForever]

I did say in another post somewhere that we need the young guns to come out and play. Having the younger guys and gals racing is what will keep the sport of VMX ticking along in the future when all of us are super seniors.
I personally love seeing a bike being used to it's full potential by someone with little or no fear.... reminds me of my younger days 
I did also make a suggestion that maybe having to compete in at least 3 VMX club meetings a year could be the way to go. But the rule would have to apply to everybody, not just the younguns. We as a sport cannot be seen to discriminate against anybody.
The forms we sign at the beginning of each race day could be used as proof of attendance. I'm sure most club secretary's would have some type of filing system for the indemnity forms we sign so it would be easy enough to get copies to present at title races. Or.......
Maybe a race log book. Something simple that gets dated and stamped/signed at every event sign in.