USMGP National Finals 2005 Summary:
The 2005 USMGP season is officially over and what an up & down season we had. First I would like to thank all of the riders who made the efforts to come to a USMGP event in 2005. We had a couple of good events and I believe that we made some major strides in making our series better. The problems we had fall on my shoulders because I was the one who let them happen. Unfortunately, most of these incidents happened over politics, something this small but growing sport seems to have too much of. I hope that the "politicians" will come to realize that onstantly tearing down good things in this sport aren't doing anything to promote the common good, only the personal good at the expense of every other person and club in the US.
Ok to the National Finals, WHAT A GREAT EVENT! I would like to say that the racers in this country have a lot to be proud of; we have some fast riders over here! I am impressed with the competition between the riders we saw over the weekend. The riders that are coming up through the local clubs are amazing to watch. All of the local clubs represented at the National Finals should be proud of your riders! For example, Randy Orza from the SEPRA organization represented his club very well with a third place finish in Super Production on a bone-stock bike! Amazing! Big Props to Randy! Another rider I had yet to see ride was Jess Ganuelas from Northern California. All I can say is if there are any more riders like this kid in the country then we have a lot of great racing to look forward to. This kid is going to go a long way in the sport of road racing if he can get the support he deserves and I am sure with the quality staff that Ted Simpson has in place Jess will go a long way. This event was a huge success for our sport and I believe we have stepped up to the next level.
There was an incident that needs to be addressed which in turn left some people upset and discouraged. To make it known, a black flag was thrown at Jess in the Open Class final race. After review of the incident all evidence was inconclusive that there was any wrong doing on any rider’s part. Jess was in full control and did not make a dangerous move in the incident in question. The flag should have not been thrown. I take it upon myself to say that the incident was my fault and should not have proceeded forward as it did. I was influenced by an angry parent and I let that person influence me without stepping back and addressing the situation correctly. No parent or team manager has any business addressing a race official over racing incidents while the race is still going on. I take full blame for allowing this situation to occur. To all of the team TNT, Jess Ganuelas and his teammates, team owners & friends and family I owe you a great apology and I am so sorry for the way this incident was handled. My statement stands at this: I apologize to Jess and his teammates & friends for the incident and again Jess was not riding out of control.
Now I would like to also say this from now on NO pit crew, rider, parent or anyone else will be allowed on the track or near the flag director to talk to him or ANY other USMGP officials to discuss any situation that has occurred on the track. Whatever decision is made will be made at the discretion of the Race Director and flag marshals and in no way will they be influenced by an upset parent or pit crew member. I hope in the future all of us as racers and pit crew members can understand that to run an organization like this you need rules and structure. I know also how easy it is to get carried away in the excitement and stress of a race situation, but all participants, racers and supporters alike need to respect the authority and rules of whatever organization they are racing with. What is decided by the track official shall be the final decision. Protests are perfectly valid if a team disagrees with an official call but should be handled properly, under organizational rules and statutes, not at the top of someone's lungs. I have decided that for 2006 I will continue to race at the local level but will give up my track time at all national events in order to serve personally as the race director. This should reduce confusion and encourage continuity.
For 2006 expect a lot of changes at USMGP events. We will be doing our best to bring in even more companies to our events to promote & sell products to support riders. We will be sending out USMGP sponsorship letters to dealers and purveyors that wish to come to our events to support their race teams and their product development. I would like to see more companies that sell products like t-shirts, stickers, magazines, riding gear, sports drinks etc. coming to our events to help our sport grow. Why do I think this will be good for our sport? Because one company should not have a monopoly on sponsorship or have that burden of solely providing support to racers at any event. There is room for many sponsors and supporters in this sport. It simply cannot continue to be viewed as a one person or company show. This is not constructive nor helpful to the racers which are what this sport is supposed to be about!
There will be fees to come to a USMGP event to sell products and to help support the costs of holding a event of the caliber like we had in Phoenix. Some people think the money just falls from the sky to pay for these events and they could not be more wrong. Mini Moto events are very expensive to put on from cost of track rentals to insurance to renting transponder systems and paying someone to run them to having to sometimes pay for an EMT or Ambulance crew and many more back end issues that are essential to running good races. Yes, we try to keep the costs down and constantly hear comments like " No way Am I coming to that event it is to expensive." Well, believe me it is not easy to keep the costs down at these events. We try to keep them down to the minimum for our riders since none of are rich, but racers need to know that no event is free and the safety and efficiency they have come to expect comes with a price tag.
Please understand that things may get tougher before they get easier. I think the USMGP has done a good job of trying to build a successful place for riders to get a chance to race on a National level against people that they would usually not get to ride against. One thing I would like to do is to hire a full time Track Marshall that will be in charge of flaggers and making sure the races run on time. This will free me up to take care of administrative and PR duties across the entire racing venue. If anyone is interested in this position, please e-mail me at
usmgp@aol.com. Please keep in mind that a Track Marshall will not be able to race but will have considerable power in the running of the events.
Some other changes that are in the works for 2006 are designed to help us make the racing more fair and pleasant for all riders that attend our series. It has been agreed by two of the three of the main companies in the United States that they will donate Production & Super Production motors to the USMGP to have on hand at all events to compare torn down motors and to verify that they are in fact "Untouched" and are legal for the said classes. I have yet to discuss this with the third purveyor as to this date. We are also looking for feedback from the riders to see what they think would be good to have at our events. We will be testing the Motards again in the 2006 series and will also be looking at adding NSR/YSR 50 CC & 80 CC classes at a couple of events to see if we can make that work. Again, these are demo programs and will be something that may help build our rider base and bring some more exciting racing to our series in 2006. So if you have any ideas for the 2006 series please feel free to email me with your ideas. Just remember the USMGP is for the riders by the riders! If your club would like to host a USMGP National Points Race in 2006 please email me with track info as soon as possible.
Again I thank all of the people who have taken the time this season to help with the series and I hope to see all of you soon. I would like to thank my backbone & West Coast Operations Manager Erica Odello for everything she did to help me keep this going. Erica & Brian you are great friends and are going to be outstanding parents and I wish you & Mya the best of health and I hope to see you soon!
