2 State, Aussie Championship?

[Muzzard]

Jeez,
What little debarcle will the Supermotard/Supermoto world find itself in next, when it comes to promotion and running of events? :roll:
An Australian Championship from what they call 4 rounds, really only 2 weekends racing?
And in 2 venues?
And only in New South Wales and Queensland?
And cite lack of entries as the explanation for dropping the remaining part of the series?

What the fuck do you expect Mr Williams?
We are not all sporting nice big trucks with stupid fucking budgets to compete titles.
Lets get the emphasis back on 'Australian Championship', and get real with a series of racing...
What happened to Wagga as a venue? Maybe even DECA in Victoria as it already has 2 motard tracks to be easily laid out? Bairnsdale to cold? :rant:

Another point from the other end of the spectrum that many would overlook,
I'd be jacked off even more than now,
If I was a front runner for the title, and some dickweed came from obscurity and through a set of circumstances, managed to arse it on the day, and snatch the title given there is only a couple of races to make up the said 'Championship'.

Hardly a level playing field is it, Nor does it encourage the 'newby' when they see the lack of continuity being displayed at the highest level for the sport. :?:

[shane]

thats not good for supermoto racing ,how are you going to attract companys and cash to a series when there is no series ???
on another note it is good for me if i come over mid nov i can get 3 races in 7 days and go home again and only 1.5 hours apart .
i better see if my mate will be in aus at that time so i can sort out my entry
they might be faster than me but i bet i crash better :lol:

[Flash]

We really need to sit down and come up with on a plan to fix this!!!

[scozzie]

Have I not been telling you lot for ages that is something weird going on up here or have I been talking to myself again?

Last year i went to every 'tard meet I could afford to go to.

This year I think there have been two weekends of racing so far.

Then Helidon (near Toowoomba) was cancelled (again :evil: ) as it seems that it's really hard for the local council to come to terms with a dying kart club track or a flourishing motard track. :shock:

Then the Aussie Championships gets slashed. Muzz, I agree. It's fucked.

I dunno what the fuck is going on.

[Flash]

How many genuinly active members have we got now?? Neil/Muzz we should be getting close to 40, maybe. :-k

[Wobbly]

I say we set up some cones and hay bales on my route to work :up: ;)

[Muzzard]

I say we form a nominees company, Tell M.A. to tongue it til they can get with the flow, and build/lease/run our own set up, or just be content with the offer and regular use of the GPTC and stay riding track days.
I think that between us, we could have some good track time and some good social racing with your mates at GPTC ... 8)

Option 2, is to of course, set up to tender to run the Championship ourselves ... :shock:

Option 3, Pack up the race gear and leave the losers to it and come to Thailand with me and JR ... :twisted:

[Wobbly]

The problem is that, as with anything, running a race series requires an injection of capital that would be hard to find. But if anyone knows any venture capitalists wanting to take a punt then let us know ;)

GPTC sounds good for the time being ... its even got me thinking about a track tard again :-k

[Muzzard]

Get yourself a mini Neil,
And come wobbling with me, and Jake, and Hamp, and ... 8)

[Flash]

I am on to something at the moment but we may need to fund it, it will involve leasing a track on a week day. There will be certain "requirments" though. I'm working on it still and don't want to say too much at the moment as I promised one of the people invloved that it would be kept silent until it has been dicussed, but the potential is there.
The only issue is we may need to be a "club" to run the event!

[Sibbo]

I say we fcuk off MA, what do they do? Insurance. Why cant we organise daily cover, I will speak to somone when I get back from Interstate as to the posibility of getting cover.

Say we can organise insurance, we then need a wad of cash to book the track. Why cant all thoes keen for Vic tards to live put their money in, ie pre pay the track day. The club could be set up as an independant club to MA (like my MX club is) and we can have a trust to hold the money (make it harder for people to steal money) and then grow as more track days are organised.

I guess the bikes need to have sliders all over them, but that is easy.

What am I missing? Will all thoes race guys be keen to run around a track to practice? I think so.

I do think we would need well over a month to tell everyone, so that NO excuses can be used!

Taking a step back.....dont we need to pack out GPTC on saturdays before we can even think about running additional events? I think so.

Do you want to set a date in the future to "open" motard track days in victoria. Something we can promote the shit out of and get people like the various bike TV shows on C31 to come and film, even reporters for the various bike mags. If we can get pics in the mainstream bike media, surly more will come?

[Flash]

I vote sibbo treasurer!!!
All on the money though.
I'm working on the track!! There will be certain setup requirments Sliders catch cans etc. Sliders are no probs :D I have them now!

[Sibbo]

I can do catch cans!!!!

Ash have you seen me add up? Creative accounting!!

[Flash]

Is it a case of one for you one for me??? :shock:

[Sibbo]

Well.....um.....er......no its more like 3 for me and none for you!

Do I still have your vote?

[Cal]

Promotion of motorcycle racing in this country at all levels is appalling. The premier class of racing (Australian Superbike) gets virtually no promotion save for an ad in a print mag and a couple of websites. Ever been to watch a round of the Aussie Supers at Phillip Island, one of the best race tracks in the world? There'd be lucky to be 1000 spectators. Conversely, the last round of British Superbikes I saw on TV had over 30,000 people. One of the pommy guys I race with reckons club rounds in the UK get 5000 spectators sometimes! As I head to the Island to watch the Aussie Supers I don't see one single sign or advertisment about it until I get to the gate. So how do AUSCO make money from it? They fill up grids with lesser classes in place of longer races for the classes that matter, which would benefit the riders in preparing them for what's expected overseas or on the world stage. Instead, we see naked bikes, thunder bikes and other irrelavant classes purely because thier entry fees are injecting the money required to run the meeting. It's a disgrace. This is the bike equivalent of a V8 supercars race and we get poxy little crowds because of shit promotion and this in turn effects the races themselves. Why am I rambling about Superbike racing to you guys here? Because if we can't get the premier class of motorcycle racing promoted well, what chance has Supermoto got?

[Flash]

Well.....um.....er......no its more like 3 for me and none for you!

Do I still have your vote?

Of course you do, I trust you :roll:

[dicky]

If I was a competitor, I'd be really pissed off that the championship has been reduced to only two rounds, but as an interested spectator I'm only disappointed that this has happened.

Before anyone starts making grand plans to launch a rival (is there actually anything to rival?) meeting or series, please remember this important point:

Any competition MUST be sanctioned by MA and the relevant State Contolling Bodies.

The reason is quite simple, if you try to run an event outside of MA control, you won't get many competitiors.
Any person holding a competition license issued under MA must abide by the General Cometition Rules, one of which forbids participating in any event not sanctioned my MA.

It is unlikely that prospective competitiors for a supermoto event are not MA license holders and do not participate in other MA sanctioned events.
Particition in a non MA sanctioned event may result in the cancellation of an MA issued license, or refusal of entry in MA sanctioned events.

Who is willing to risk this?

We have a group of people keen to promote supermoto within this state, and who have demonstrated this commitment by organising displays and gaining access to practice tracks.
We should work with other groups to continue to promote supermoto.
Setting up an opposition camp, or even appearing to, will do no good to anybody.

My two cents worth.
Theres more, but I'll stop here.

Darryl Otzen

[Flash]

Motor racing in this country full stop is marketed poorly!!! Not just bikes but I will agree that bikes do have it worse.. It's funny we have generally the best riders in the world and no one nows about them untill they are a world champion!! Except the speedway who no one ever hears about champions or not!

I can tell you about several racing drivers who went over seas and whooped the euro's and no one from OZ would help so they came back to be electricians etc.. These are guys who have beaten the best in F1 and they can't get money to race!!!! Australians will only support a champion not an up and comer, regardless how well or how much talent they have shown, and when we have a driver representing us in the pinicle of motorsport who has never won a championship in his life. Surely makes you realise it isn't how good you are it's how much cash or how connected you are. At least with bikes the rider "can" make a difference against cash. Sorry I got ranting again!!

P.S. I do like that certain driver too!

[discobob]

After racing at the last round of the Victorian series run by Paul, I have a few comments to make.
The effort put in by Paul to run the series was fantastic. I thought that he ran a great day by getting the kids and families involved but from what I can work out the industry does not back these meetings. Without money it is very hard to promote the series to the general public and riders alike.

This was a series without control tyres, at three different tracks, all with in Victoria, reasonable entry fees and yet the entries were still low at around 35 per event ?

I think that every one should work to build the numbers involved, if you dont race but ride then come along with a few cans and watch for the day or get a race licence and have a go it is great fun.

Once the numbers increase then promotors like Paul and Mark won't have to risk all there savings or house to run these great events and lets face it so we can have fun.

We will continue to help support motard in any state the best we can but, being a small company and lossing money can only go on for so long. To help change this customers need to make their shops/dealers aware of motard, ask for dates of meetings, even ask if they support the sport in anyway. If a few others stepped up to the plate then I feel that the extra support would be a step in the right direction.


Ben O'Brien

[Muzzard]

Well I have been around the racing circles here for 30 odd years and until M.A get serious about the business of Motorcycle Competition in Australia, we are all subject to the cronyism that is the M.A structure.
Promotion of supermotard in Victoria has been a contentious issue given the collapse of the SRCA, and the fact that track access has been an issue too.
When the club base for the Sport goes down the toilet, surely it has some sort of flow on for those seeking info and club membership.
We wouldnt be talking about it here otherwise...
We are a large group of enthusiasts with some sweet rides between us and yet,
We are not linked to Pauls website?
Not included on shows and displays?
Not invited to attend events?
I would have thought all these things would at least add to the promotion and profile, boost numbers...

I can only assume that because of these basic things, we are standing on someones dick, .. or their fucking wallet.
We are after all only the 'Street Group'... :roll:

[discobob]

Street or race it is all the same to me and most people, racers nearly always start by just riding around the streets or bush then want more so go racing. Thus if you want more racers street and dirt riders are a pretty good place to start.

As for the rest I really can't comment as I can only say how I see it.

[Muzzard]

I carry the same sentiment Ben regards where the racers start and as there are so many manufacturers offering motards as Street bikes surely many will be bitten by the bug at the dealers showroom floor level and smitten after the test ride.
I will still utilise the offer of the track days at GPTC fornightly and just spend my money there, and at the travel agents booking tickets to where the racing has some continuity. Simple as that. :)

[JR]

Hey I will help in anyway that I can!!!! to get a series in OZ