Rampant Stupidity!!

[PhilR]

Just went to fill out the entry form for my first race of the new year,a two day open event held by the Maffra Sale club here in Victoria Australia.
Reading the sup regs I was dismayed to see that 250 two strokes are going to be allowed to run in the lites class with the 250 four strokes...but get this...they are not allowed to run in the big bike class with the fat heavy four stroke 450's
So now instead of being able to enter both classes I can only enter one with my YZ 250 and I may as well leave my 125 at home!!
The people wo run these things must be on drugs or something!
What in God's name could possibly be the point of not allowing 250 2 strokes in the big bike class??
Phil

[factoryX]

250 vs. 250 right?

[EJ]

Indeed.
It's very logical, a 250cc bike should race in the 250 class.

[PhilR]

But it's not the 250 class it is called the "lites" class and has until now not been open to 250 two strokes..I dont really care about that though...I just dont want to have to buy a 450 so I can race in the big bike class..
Also it means there is now no point in having my 125..or the 144 kit I just bought for it..or the procircuit pipe etc etc
The upside to this is that I utterly despise junior riders and thier parents ...It's gonna be fun watching a bunch of 16 year old 50kg bantam weight snot nose brats who get everything bought for them,line up on a 45 horse power bike fresh off thier 80's.. Cause once all the mini bike dads realise the 250 two strokes have around 10hp on the four strokes that's what's gonna happen...Should be carnage!!
Phil

[SwapperMX]

Hey Phil,
Slow down a bit. You can race your 250 two stroke in the big bike class if you want to. You are just not allowed to ride the one bike in both classes. That is why the rules read the way they do. And if you still want to race your 125 in the lites class, you can. No problems. And as for the juniors, they are not allowed to ride 250 two strokes in the lites class, the junior rules only allow 150cc two stroke and 250 four strokes. The big problem for the juniors is that they are allowed to ride the big heavy four stroke 250's. Australia has the best two stroke rules worldwide, you should be pumped the rules are the way they are, and are not in the big mess like they are in the states.

[TMKIWI]

If you want to ride in the 450 class get your self a TM or KTM 300.
I think your rules are the same as our's.
251cc and above for MX1. 2 or 4 stroke.

[PhilR]

Hey Phil,
Slow down a bit. You can race your 250 two stroke in the big bike class if you want to. You are just not allowed to ride the one bike in both classes

Correct that's what the Motorcycling Australia rules say,but the Maffra Sale club have bypassed those,there is a special higlighted stipulation in the regs that "two stroke 250's are only allowed to enter the lites class".
I rang the club secretary and she confirmed it..not allowed in the open class!!
I want to ride my 125 in the lites and the 250 in the opens,as per normal,but now I'm not allowed.Not with this club anyway.
Ramant stupidity!

[mullethead774]

No, I agree.  The "MX" class should be an open class.  They're just depleting their entries by not allowing it.  Their loss.  Run an age class if you can.  Vet class maybe.  If you really want the race time that is.  Good on ya.

[miedosoracing]

Just tell them it has been bore out to 265cc.  So you wanted to do the right thing and ride with the bigger bikes. 

[ktm150rippa]

Here's my 2 cents from what I've talked about with other racers my age. "we hate the idea of and open class" I've talked to several ppl about the idea of an open class and here's why. I look at the ama supercross/motocross as the top premiere level of dirt biking you can get to I really dont think ppl showing up on huge cc bikes to compete is a wise idea. If we think the injury rate is bad now, wait till some crazy a** shows up on that atk 700 lol. Now the current rules are no where near fair. If I were the big dog and called all the shots I would set it up like this:

MX1 limits 500 2stroke 530 4 stroke
MX2 250 class regardless of stroke
MX3 125 class

Single cylinder bikes only (sry aprilia)

[MyckMcClung]

I think that the guys on the 450s don't  want to get their asses handed to them by an outdated bike with less displacement than thier $10,000 state of the art timebombs.

[miedosoracing]

Here's my 2 cents from what I've talked about with other racers my age. "we hate the idea of and open class" I've talked to several ppl about the idea of an open class and here's why. I look at the ama supercross/motocross as the top premiere level of dirt biking you can get to I really dont think ppl showing up on huge cc bikes to compete is a wise idea. If we think the injury rate is bad now, wait till some crazy a** shows up on that atk 700 lol. Now the current rules are no where near fair. If I were the big dog and called all the shots I would set it up like this:

MX1 limits 500 2stroke 530 4 stroke
MX2 250 class regardless of stroke
MX3 125 class

Single cylinder bikes only (sry aprilia)

Well, I have the CR500AF, and I can tell you this.  Anyone with a 700 2 stroke, knows they don't show up to race it. I''m not even sure I'd feel  comfortable racing my 500.  I am buying a KTM 380SX today maybe.  I guess it is 368cc. I'm intersted in testing my theory.  That around 350-400 is the best bike possible. Gonna put it in a current chassis. Either way, at the bigger CC's, most will know better, in my opinion. Maybe not all, but sometimes "natural selection" is best.

[PhilR]

Well someone here said that I should tell the race promoters that I'm on a YZ 260 in the open class..I think that is what I'll do.
These 2 day open events are all about mini bikes and the obnoxious self important parents..sadly there is little else on offer..Apart from the Vic titles (4 races per year) there are no other adult only events.
Subsequently the races arent like they used to be when i was 17.Back then it was 2 x20 or 30 min motos.  A B and C grade. Everyone was over 16 yrs of age..usually much older..
Now it's an endless procession of 50cc classes followed by the 60's then the 85's etc etc./
That means that most races are only 4 laps in duration and usually on the Sunday of the 2 day weekend...delays in the program cause the race length to be cut down to 2 or 3 laps..often just the 2..
So at 45 years of age and being quite physically fit...I rde vets,lites and opens..Every possible class
Since I dont want to even know about owning a fat heavy 4 stroke..my 125 and 250 two stroke YZ's are all I need ...then along comes some tosser who never raced or even rode a day in his life and all the rules change..
I started racing in 1982 and lived for it up until 2002..
After spending 5 weeks riding and racing in the USA in 2000, I came home to utter dissillusionment at the way things are run here..
The straw that broke this camel's back..

I turned up to a two day open at my home club's track in Victoria entered in 3 classes..but they wouldnt let me race..I didnt have my own personal flag marshall (a new requirement aparrantly) .
I was then given an ear bashing about how I shouldnt go motorbike racing without my parents supervision (i was 34 years old at the time)
So I loaded my bikes back on the ute,went home and quit the sport.
Some 9 years later now ,I have become bored with life without racing,told myself I could do it again if I could just ignore the tossers who run the sport.
But I see that nothing has changed,especially me..
I just cant get past the very idea of some fuckwit non racer deciding that 250 2 strokes are no longer eligible for the open class...Means I'm down to just 2 classes ,lites and vets..typically a total of around 6 x 3 lap races over the course of 2 very long days..
I'm pissed off and I think,quite rightfully so
Phil

[bearorso]

The goal posts keep getting moved - to use the old hoary line -' the more things change, the more they stay the same'

Perhaps the club ( and maybe MA, soon, too?) has gone back  to the old rules (not that I know Exactly what they were...) of a 250, of any sort, Not  being allowed to ride in the 500 class? It came from the 60s when CZ/Husky turned up at 500 GPs on 250s and started to beat the up to 500cc 4ts - they then introduced rules that made it that it had to be something like 292 /300cc. Over the years I've seen 251cc, 256cc rules.

But , if a class is referred to as "open", it should be just that - open to all capacities.

Perhaps there's a few people in the club that are pissed off that they have 450s and can't get many class options themselves, so now that 250s are rightfully allowed against 250s, they've gone, stuff those blokes , we're not letting them get 2 classes out of one bike..........

Years ago, when I rode my hybrid CR/XRs, all I wanted to do at club MX races was ride (like you obviously want to do), and I was more than happy to pay for entry for each class I raced in. Some clubs couldn't handle that, until I got them to do the sums and see the extra money they would get out of me and others. Maths can be a bit of a problem for some...

I'm familiar with clubs wanting flag marshals - it's always been a big problem, and many will require a flag marshal from a rider, or a rider to flag some races - it's become a common practice. I can see it being a problem if you were wanting to do a lot of classes - as whatever rules about marshaling would still have to apply, to be fair to others.

I'm a bit puzzled by your point about being chastised for not having parental supervision at 34- either you must look very young for your age, or you might have been 'acting' a bit young at the time? Were you loosing it at them?

In all my travelling to and from the states in years gone by, I too found our set up here infuriating, but I found the seemingly, to me at the time,  completely uncontrolled licencing requirements in the US pretty bizarre too - but I sure liked being able to turn up at a track in California and basically pay my money (and not much of it, either) and race / ride. I think, at first, I was so stunned by the ease of being able to race /ride, in a country 'famous' for it's litigation happy rep  - after spending much of my life under the ACU/MA jackboots - I thought that I was in some sort of 'fantasy island' scenario.

[PhilR]

Bearorso..You and i are certainly from that same era when things were more fun at the races!
I spent 5 weeks in the USA living at a mate's place,went riding about 3 days aweek with Doug Dubach..He'd pick me up and off we'd go..
Raced the REM races at Glen Helen a few times...
Like you I was blown away by how easy and casual it was to go race there..
I remember we were parked next to Jody Weisel from MXA and we were sitting up on the hill watching the bikes go around the National track on a Thursday practice the week before Christmas.
I picked one guy and then counted every bike that came past until he came around again..350 plus!!It was insane out on the track huge pile up's everywhere..little kid's on 60's old mates on enduro bikes and national pro's like McGrath and Vuillemen all out there at the same time..
No flagmen whatsoever.
Asked JW how this could be since California was reputed to be the home of ambulance chasing lawers..
He said the litigation thing got so bad that tracks were shutting everywhere..
The industry got organised and lobbied congress to enact an "extreme sports" legislation that meant that people who signed an indemnity waiver and then participated in one of these dangerous sports,had no rights to sue if they got hurt.
Anyway..when I got home,my tolerance level for petty officialdom was at an all time low..I only lasted one season then chucked it in.
The flag duty thing was really getting me down..I never had anyone to take to the races,would ask people to come,but no one was ever interested....I understand how it's difficult to get flaggies,but I also dont' see why the need to have one on every corner..Really only necessary in blind spots in my opinion..
My biggest beef with these people is that they are always completely inexperienced with racing..typically just some junior racer's mum or dad..they have the attitude that this qualifies them to know what they are talking about.
Itried to explain to the Maffra sale club secretary that shutting me out of the open class was costing them money and acieving absolutely nothing else..Her attitude was that she just didn't care,not her problem.