This sure is a difficult one... I don't know that it matters too much if the vote is to keep HEAVEN as Pre 85 only, after all that could be changed at a later date if need be. However, after thinking about it I am surprised at the need for this vote. After all, the actual suggestion was simply whether or not to have a Pre 90 demo class. It would have been much easier to leave things as is and just vote on that suggestion alone, given that Pre 90 already fits within the guidelines of the club. And fairer too I think.
To be honest tho, my own opinion is that we don't need a Pre 90 class. Although Gezza is a mate and I know what he wants, I don't know as how the demo class idea is really an idea whose time has come. Gezza's real reason for buying a later model bike is that he wanted something that worked more like a modern bike for racing in things like the ACT Pre 85 class and the Amcross series. The argument that the late 80s was still a time of evolution doesn't really hold water, after all the first half of the this decade had considerable evolution as well.
Vintage racing came about for a specific reason and it isn't really just that it is 15 or 20 years ago. It is because the 60s/70s was a time that we won't see again. So much was happening and dirtbiking in particular was part of that whole scene. It was different, it was naiive in today's context, it was a time of freedoms now lost and it was a time of social change. I think we'd be stretching it to imagine that the late 80s, or the 90s, were in any way similar (in fact I think I slept thru the 90s). Vintage racing is about recreating a time, a feeling, and a sense of youthful idealism. It isn't just about how old the bike is.
Sadly tho, 'true' vintage racing will pass as the people who were there pass. That's already happening. I don't believe Pre 75 will ever really take off again. I think Evo is where it's at now, and Pre 85 is also well and truly on the rise. Just look at Qld and Victoria. But... it hasn't passed just yet, there's still life in vintage and the people who do it, and the Evo and Pre 85 classes are a complement to that. But later classes... just aren't... in my opinion.
We don't need it, I can't see what it adds, and I don't see the need to try it to suit one person's interest.
Someone asked if there is much difference between a later model and an Evo/Pre 85. I have a 1984 Husky 500, I have ridden Gezza's 83 CR250, and last weekend I rode his new 86 CR250. The simple truth is that neither my Husky nor the 83 are in the same class. The 86 steers better, has better suspension, and has an immeasurably better engine for how I like to ride. I thought it the best bike I've ever ridden, tho of course I haven't really ridden any bike newer than that ever.
But the difference is neither here nor there, after all an 83 250 is a far cry from a 73 250. Nope, what is at issue is what we think of as vintage motocross. And for me, that is a thing defined by the simple notion of Pre 1985. Arbitrary? Yes. Do I care? No. Because vintage is more about a feeling than any rulebook.
Gezza's best bet would be to lobby ACT for a Pre 90 class because I think that fits perfectly the idea of the class there. And he'll enjoy racing the 86 at any Amcross or modern grasstrack he goes to, It'll be competitive enough with any modern bike. As for racing vintage, I reckon he should start saving and grab himself a nice Evo or Pre 75 250...
All that said, I will be interested to see what the vote is.
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