2010 VMX Tri Series

[number8]

Not a snow-flakes chance in hell
It's all good to say "if juniors can do it why can't classic?". I can see huge differences just as a competitor.....
Juniors (and an awful lot of their parents) feel that they are going to be the next Reedy or Bubba or whoever's the 'in guy' these days and are more than enthuisastic to give up their lives to travel all over the country-side. They don't have a wife/girlfriend/boyfriend at them with "oh so your racing this weekend again."
These people can see an end to a means from all the aggrivation associated with the hassle (Little Johnny's going to be a superstar one day just you see...).
What does the guy get that wins the Vintage Tri State series?......
A trophy.
He's not going to be propelled into a new life of sports cars and fast women.....
And people are always going to say "Yeah, well, if such-and-such had been riding that round instead of going to his Aunt Mary's funeral that guy would never had won the championship..."

And someday, somewhere, someone is going to protest over the tiniest of things, "That's a '90 model swingarm bolt. Anyone got 70 bucks?" and Vintage civil war shall surely engulf us.

Put the effort into where it belongs.
Your State held meetings.

STW996

Dont let these type's of comment's dampen your idea run with it.

#8

[All Things 414]

Fair enough. But after it falls flat on it's face after the first year, don't whine about people not supporting the sport....

[Tossa]

In WA where we have struggled to get Pre85 up and running in the past.  But things are on the change, due to work done by people this year we were able to get invites to ride at two modern events, Tumblegum Farm and The Manjimup 15000, they were a great success in the context of exposure and response from the public, but they were as a support event not a headline.  Next year there is a hope that there will be four or five rounds of a state competition, tacked on to the two events mentioned plus other modern events.   Don't believe you can get better advertising than being a support event at the manjimup 15000

Maybe that's the way to approach a Tri series, tack it on to selected modern events in the three states as the Pre 85 Tri Series.  For the Cockroaches and the Canetoads, a Series held over the State of Origin (Rugby league) period would not go astray

Barry

[Ji Gantor]

Did you ever think that our sport is small time because we think small time.
Look at Supercross in this country, until Super X it was going no where.

If we expand into a proper series than sponsors will come on board, like knee guards, oil manufacturers and so on. Since the GFC sponsorship money has been pulled from the big events and ploughed into American VMX, because on average the VMX teams spend more money on keeping their bikes and bodies going.

Suzuki is a great big part of CD and that is great, I hope for ourselves that that equates into more sales for Suzuki. All that is needed is for more mainstream bike magazines and media to come on line.
I was at three bike shops on the northside of Brisbane on the week of the VMX nationals and I did not see any counter displays telling bikers that it was on. When the sales staff asked where was I going to be riding I told them at the VMX nationals at Conondale this Friday, they were unaware that it was on.

Good promotion and even better scrutineering is required. All bikes have to be class checked before racing and there will be no protests after a set time. This just means that one month before each race competitors must have their bikes classed by a member of your States scrutineering team. This could be done at a practise or race day or even at an official site. I think that there should be teams from each state that represent each state.

I was a sponsored competitor a few years back by a local shop. The sport started to gain some momentum. The next thing I knew I was offered a sponsorship by one of the largest manufacturers in the sport based in Canada. I was to be on the same team as the American world champion. I did not add this to big note myself, it is just to illustrate how things can change.

This can only be good for the sport.

Ji  

[VMX247]

Good idea Tossa,I think tacking it onto a modern,would be a great benefit to both.
They have just put junior sidecars in with the National Juniors----working together 
The both disciplines of  modern and vmx aren't too dissimilar,well for us anyway...when it comes down to the nitty gritty we all love two wheels,protest against another bike,have enthusiasm and still wish we could have been a Bubba or Chad. 
Try not to drive a wedge between the two- MA sometimes does enough of that as it is.
As Ji mentioned work hard on the canvasing and promotions.Maleny deli & newsagent never knew the Nats was on.
cheers

[BAHNZY]

For the people involved in the idea/proposal, are you prepared to stop competing and move over to the organising/promotion of the event for 2 to 3 seasons?  If not then you have a problem from the get go. If you think that you can be both i.e.: Be a rider/promoter then you have your head in the clouds. This is not being negative or cynical, it comes from experience.

[STW996]

For the people involved in the idea/proposal, are you prepared to stop competing and move over to the organising/promotion of the event for 2 to 3 seasons?  If not then you have a problem from the get go. If you think that you can be both i.e.: Be a rider/promoter then you have your head in the clouds. This is not being negative or cynical, it comes from experience.

Bahnsy we are talking vintage motocross here not the nationals or not CD7 and not SuperX it is nothing more than a jumped up club day (we can get 100 riders to a club event in Queensland) so I do not see the big issue with it. We would need (I would agree) 1 person in each state to run "their" round so I am sure it can be done.

All things 414 if you think or if you do ride for a shit box plastic trophy then mate you are in the wrong sport. The aim of this (and I will say this again) is to give people more so in the pre 90 class some sort of event that they can run, thats all not trying to start any break away group and not trying to re-invent the wheel just an event that pre 90 riders and in general riders of the 80's an event to run.

Number 8 that was one of the things we (Magoo and I) discussed was age group racing based on under 40 and over 40 (at least).

Shane

[motomaniac]

Theres no real reason that it wouldn't work .Of course the hosting state will attract more home state riders (just like the Nats) but Im sure that there would be several riders in most class's at the pointy end who would make the interstate trips to do the whole series.
Don't forget also about the spectators - I know quite a few guys who have hung up the boots but would be pretty excited to see Bell,Burt,Ballard and many other lesser know riders going at it - especially on the bikes of the period.
Theres lots of potential problems and hurdles but also lots of potential for something great.
Just my opinion.

[magoo]

Interesting, constructive comments so far. This is a concept which was first touted by a well known Victorian Vintage racer about 6 months ago and as far as I'm concerned it is a really valid idea. It is human nature to immediately look at reasons why it couldn't / wouldn't work but the truth is that with the right people behind it and really open communication between all parties it really isn't very hard to do. All you need to do is for Viper to run a club day and incorporate the Tri Series into the Club day. QVMX do the same and Heaven could say run their annual Evo / Pre '85 challenge and incorporate that round into the East Coast Nationals. If a separate Tri Series is run independantly it won't work because it would be almost impossible to get the numbers required.

Sure, there are problems, like getting a N.S.W. club open to running a pre '90 class, but with a bit of sensible forward thinking any problems aren't insurmountable.

Here's a bit of a breakdown of some of the classes we have bounced around:

Evo 125, 250 and Open
Pre '85 125, 250 and Open
Pre '90 125, 250 and Open
Under 45
Over 45
Clubman
Intermediate
Expert

Running those classes would allow 1 rider with 1 bike 9 races.

Food for thought

[All Things 414]

All things 414 if you think or if you do ride for a shit box plastic trophy then mate you are in the wrong sport. Shane

They kept kicking me out of syncronized swimming teams so motocross was the next thing on my list....

[worms]

the sport is growing and its great to see people wanting growth, rather the same old attitudes and nockers, F--k sake, if it works, great, if it dosnt so what.  

bring it on, and maybe we will see 2 eras of bikes emerge, Vintage and Classic, being run seperately or combined depending on the clubs. Hey why cant one club run different events, Vintage this week and Classic next and have members helping on alternet events.

ah yes, Magoo you've done it again, and Shane what do you have to say for yourself.

BLOODY VISIONAIRES I SAY

cheers worms( obama to some)

[VMX247]

QUOTE:All you need to do is for Viper to run a club day and incorporate the Tri Series into the Club day. QVMX do the same and Heaven could say run their annual Evo / Pre '85 challenge and incorporate that round into the East Coast Nationals.

good idea also-The host clubs may not need to go out of there way for the Tri Series riders, its up to them(Tri series Committe & riders) to get there and someone to collate the scoring for the day and all other events as well as the final end of year tallys or........ run with other club days and then have an entry for three state rounds at other venues in each state.(Yes you may have to travel) If the rider didn't attend then he gains no points.
Class's simple A,B and C as Vintage are predominately gentlemen you would be honest and enter the right class with the right bike........now for someone to implement all this, write's someone sitting on the other side of the Australia         
cheer

[firko]

Sure, there are problems

The big one is getting enough NSW riders to travel interstate. Solve that one Magoo and I'll get you a job in the Rudd inner sanctum. Smarter folks than you and I have tried for 20 years to get NSW racers to travel and they've always failed. It's set in stone...NSW and Victorian racers don't travel well.

Another problem that I can see is for the poor old racer to find the money to allocate to attending these meetings. Not everyone has a lazy grand (minimum, not counting bike prearation)to throw away in a weekend. With CD7, the Nats and now a proposed two extra interstate trips on the table it's getting beyond the realms of the average racers budget.
The obvious casulty is that one or more of the existing events such as CD7 or the Nats will invariably suffer if the punters decide to support the tri series. Methinks however that what will happen is that the racers will still support the cult events like the Nats and CD and will support their local round of the series but to expect them to travel all over the East Coast is, like I've said earlier expecting way too much. How many Victorians would be willing to travel to Conondale on a normal 2 day weekend and in reverse how many Queenslanders will do the trip to Victoria? Remember also that the Nats are in Victoria next year so that means two marathon road trips and one trip to NSW for Queenslanders and the reverse for Victorians if CD7 is at Conondale again.

I'm retired, the mortgage is paid and I have no big outlays and I can afford only two road trips in a given year. What about the thirty somethings that are the target market for the pre 90 division who are also the main high mortgage/job security/young dependant family demographic group that can least afford this amount of travel.

Despite Trevs "same old attitudes and nockers" description of us who are offering up reasons for treading carefully, I still maintain that this hasn't been thought out properly. If the organisors take the "if it works, great, if it dosnt so what" attitude they're leaving themselves open to plenty of heartache. There is a lot of work involved in setting up the logistics for a series of this magnitude and I think that those proposing the event have been caught up in "how f*cking cool will this be" and haven't looked at it in a business like manner. It's a good idea but in my opinion it's destined to have less support than they think. The guys proposing this idea will travel anywhere for a race but their big mistake is assuming the fickle vintage motocross fraternity are in the same space as them. Assuming the "throw a party and they'll all come" attitude is asking for failure. You're totally right Magoo, there certainly are problems and they will need to be addressed before long.

[magoo]

I'm with you Firko, it will be difficult but not impossible. I've been to Viper meetings at Deniliquin and Conondale as well as QVMX meetings at Conondale where we got a crew together from N.S.W. and the truth is the we have probably averaged 15-20 N.S.W.riders so that is probably the best we'll do. The Viccos rarely travel to interstate meetings but we have had Chrissy Cormack, Elvis and the boys turn up to Heaven meetings in the past so if we give them something worthwhile, they'll turn up. The Queenslanders are easy to get to travel, let's face it, if you had to live up there you'd get out at every opportunity as well (for those of you who don't know my sense of humour, that was a joke).
Once again, as a stand alone race meeting, it won't work, but if run in conjunction with a normal club meeting it might just turn out ok.
Remember the first Crawford River Classic Firko, the grief we copped getting that off the ground? Well, that one worked. If we can generate the same type of interest and hype I reckon this one could be even better.
Are the average vintage guys just happy with the same ol' same ol' or do you think it might be worth trying something a little bit different? I'm happy to give it a go.

[Nathan S]

... the organisors .... leaving themselves open to plenty of heartache.

I'm sure that even a shy, retiring flower like Magoo will be able to deal with it, if it turns to poop.

I'm one of those thirty somethings with the mortgage, young family and all the rest. I'm telling you now that if I want to do it, then I can find the time and the money - and I want to do this. Really, anyone who can afford to build the bike(s), maintain it/them, pay entry fees, get to race meets, pay for your licence, etc, can also afford a couple of interstate racing trips - if they want to do it.

Not everyone expects events to 'happen' exactly the way that they want them to - in a perfect world, I'd have a well-supported race on every weekend, only the era of bikes that I wanted to ride would be eligible, and I'd never have to drive more than 45 minutes from home.
This is not a perfect world, so many of us are prepared to suck it up and put in some extra time/money to support something that the like the idea of.


Edit: Why are we bitching about people wanting to run some VMX race meets?