The race i was at was very unorganized very dangerous people putting it on hadn't a clue ie flagger started a race with the checkard flag, unauthorized people standing next to if not on the track after the race started (kids in leathers, and other random people) transponders being mixed around so no one was scored correctly(incidentally people e-mailing in saying they won the race and then video review to verify??). 5 mile an hour pit rule not enforced!! Not knowing your grid position and then being sent to the back not enforced!! Plus the track start was very dangerous!! 4 people removed by Ambulance on race day.
If you asked me it was a big cluster.
Suggestions
1. if you have 60 transponders and when people preregister #61 on up,, you should rent more transponders,, then have a back up plan like manual scoring just in case the transponders don't work.
2. Start the races at the beginning of the straight away so racers have time to spread out a little before the first corner. or split the heat races up to 12 and 13 rider heats and the top 8 go on to the main.
3. Enforce the RULES!!!!!! speeding in the pitt not knowing grid position and so on!!!
4. USMGP reps were there and have put on several large events, If you you haven't a clue ask the people that have been there before, take advice ask questions.
This event was a disaster waiting to happen. There wasn't enough flaggers on the track. Someone in the stands had to yell that someone was hurt and riders was just going around him.
Yes it was a big "Cluster F " from the start. I did have fun racing against others from the Southern Cali no doubt but "PLEASE" get it together. Admit that the event was "jacked" and I am sure we will truly understand and this is not being a "Hater".
Nobodys perfect but when you do plan on coming up here. I suggest you take alot of notes on how we run our club. We run 17 classes in our club, with 8 lap heats and 10 lap mains, all of our classes are not all pocketbikes, and to boot we usually end our day at around 5 to 6. With trophies and a proper ceremony. Oh and it gets done without transponders by the way! Me and a whole lot of other people felt like what the ***** is this when we got there no track to start it off, then the oh were running till sundown then an announcement that this is the last practice session of the day, and didn't even get out there to practice. That was a real good first impression for people that traveled a long way to come down to be part of this big candy coated event. Just my 2 cents but if you added up all the people that felt the way i did and i know for a fact they did you would have about a $1000.00
yes a lot better ! you guys built this up to be the best organized race in california! sorry but we paid good money to get F'ed in everyway from fridays no practice to saturdays no trophies....thanks budd for stilling my money and everyone elses ........get someone else to put your races together ...you might be an ok guy but your way over your head !!
ok fair enough so when we come up north and you have 125+racers we expect everything to run perfect.
Yeah of course nobody is perfect but it's funny how on the other site everything is so glorified and everyone else are haters. Racing is racing but jack'n other racers is totally sucks in my opinion. Who in the heck goes from
a 5 lap heat to a 2 lap main ***! was that all about LOLO!!
For starters I was not at the race this weekend, but my team was, as well as my "co-captain", so obviously the info I was provided with is to a large extent second hand, but I believe to be accurate.
My team guys have expressed that they were very upset at the lack of coordination and orginization of the event, primarily because of the distance traveled and the overall expense incurred to race for the weekend, at what they felt was not a well thought out, or executed event.
My thoughts are this, This is the first event of this scale that you guys have put on, and bottom line is that it blew up. This crap happens and it's unfortunate. Josiah has shown that he has excellant skills at getting the event set up and getting people there, he has been a great promoter. Now what is needed is to get the actuall event together, get an orginized staff of no less than 10-15 people to run the show (that are not racing, and know what they are doing), get the actual track availability times set in stone, etc, etc.
I applaud SCMGP for getting the event together at an AMA race and getting the sport some much needed attention, but the racers need to be kept happy first before the spectators, I think you know what I'm sayin, I will stop rambling on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelanza
ok fair enough so when we come up north and you have 125+racers we expect everything to run perfect.
Well first off if you are referring to SMRRC races, we do in fact have about 125-140 racers at every event ranging from 5 PB classes to YSR and GPR, minimotard etc., a total of between 15-17 classes every race day (sorry, no mid bike classes), they are all scored by hand i.e. pencil and paper, and to the best of my knowledge there have not been any dissatisfied "customers". The gates open at 7am, reg until 9ish, practices till about 10ish, and quals and mains for the rest of the day. The "day" so far this year has been wrapped up by about 4:30-5 with everyone packed and out with their trophies.
This is only accomplished because there is a great staff (race director, 4-5 corner workers, a flag guy, and 2-3 score keepers as well as a tech person for pocket bikes and a tech person for the "big bikes"), none of which race with the exception of me the PB tech guy, if I'm lucky that is.
So i realize that there is more experience here as far as runnning a race, so we definately invite you guys up to race, and to see how we do it. No we are not without incident, and no the event never goes 100% without an issue arising, but I would say that the SMRRC events are probably 90-95% perfect every time.
You guys are more than welcome to come up for all the remaining races, I just want to also let you know however that the Oct. 16th race there will be an endurance race for the big bikes, so the day will probably feel a little rushed, so if you plan on coming up, best to pick one of the other dates.
Race 4 May 15
Race 5 June 12
Race 6 July 17
Race 7 August 14
Race 8 September 11
Race 9 October 16 (Sprints + Endurance)
Good luck with your future events, I'm sure they will come together if you keep at it and get a good reliable staff of 10 or so together to cover all bases.
Just watching the video(thanks HD!) to my suprise - it was a parking lot race - it would have been nice it was held in a track oh well but- its their first major race give them a break! I remember when Pocketbike GP was just starting...same thing. Congrats to all the winners and those who were lucky enough to be part of the experience.
ok ok you guys win. we are a very young club ran by only 4 voulunters on a very tight budget.
pocket bike racing was not around in socal until we arrived last year .
we wanted to try to build interest in regional racing and maybe in the future a regional championship.
we have a public apology on our web site and hope you guys will give us a chance to learn from our mistakes take notes at your events and work together to make MINIGP racing stronger in california .
my commitment is to our kids that will one day become our road racing heros .
I want to congratulate Josiah and staff for putting on this event! I'm glad we made the 6 hour trip, It was awsome to be able to meet alot of guys I been wanting to meet for along time, (Hai, Freddie, Will, Mike R, Tom, Bill, etc, etc...Just try to take some of the suggestions to make the next race a much better and safer one. There are always going to be something, But I know the races will run better and smoother each time.
I wish they were able to give out the rest of the trophy's that day, I thought that Podium, that the kids were standing on was very cool, I wanted to get a picture of my son on it. Those are great memories!.......I thought it was so cool seeing the Jr's standing on the podium, and Zach Batista....I thought he looked like a rock star standing up there ...LOL...And I know the kids loved it, It was Great.
You Must have more corner workers, ready to wave that yellow flag when a guy goes down.
In the 10hp.Proddy race just after the back chicane a large orange cone sat in the middle of the track, and you couldn't see it as you were entering the chicane, I pointed it to a flagger during the race for him to get it off the track and for 3 laps it sat there, I even yelled "Get the cone " and a younger kid almost hit it! In the pits he told me he almost did a stoppie, so he wouldn't hit it. But it sat there for 3 laps.
In the open class, when the ambulance was looking at the guys in the first turn after the starting grid. I don't think it was safe that the ambulance was parked right outside of that same turn, while the race was still going on. Thank goodness there wasn't another wreak and somebody run right into the ambulance that was sitting in a unsafe place. and during the next race it crossed the track during their warm up lap and 4 riders in a row where waving him to get off the track.
And the grid position, I think it would have been better to have a pea pick, pick numbers out of a hat, which I think would have been a little more fair. Just like our track here in Stockton (SMRRC) it doesn't matter where you come from, you pick a number and to me it's fair for everybody. Because for alot of us out of towner's it's not really fair, because before we decide to make the long trip up, we have to check with work, wife, hotel reservations, money...etc...so some of us can't pre register right away. so it tends to favor more to the locals.
So Please don't any of this personal, as it's not intended to offend anybody. As these are only suggestions that I think that may help out. As I try to do my part to support all of the tracks to help this great sport grow.
I hope some of you guys do make it out to Stockton sometime, It would be great to see some of you guys again
come on guys, give them some credit its not easy. it takes a lot of hard work for it to run smooth.look how hard Matt and his staff work to make everyone happy at Stockton its not as easy as they make it look.
i give the guys from ******** some credit for putting up this race...
but the guys from the California speedway made it go bad...the friday practice was cut short due to the guy having to leave early and the emt had to leave too...i dunno y..
i noticed that the "if u dont know where ur sopposed to grid at then go to the back" rule wasnt enforced in the 10.5 hp class or was it the open class...i dunno..this one rider asked the flagger where he was supposed to grid at...the flagger told him to move to the back...the rider moved to the next open spot in the 2nd or 3rd row...the flagger told him he didnt belong there and he had to move to the back...the rider didnt move...the flagger just said to "F" it and he started the race....
great Promotion poor execution.. Bottom line more people got hurt then should have!!! In stockton we hardly ever put the EMT to work,,, he is just there incase. We have 125+ racers at every Stockton race,, They include YSR classes and other bikes, but everything runs very smooth and fast.. Matt also enforces the rules!!!!! He also looks ahead to potential problems with the track and makes adjustments to ensure SAFETY!!!
I was not trying to do too much bashing,, but hype versus execution.
I did give a few suggestions to make the next event better,, and so did a few others, but like from what i heard at the event it was offered there from people that have experience, but the attitude was keep you suggestions to yourself! These people were just trying to help as you were floundering. My suggestion would be remove the chip from your shoulder and look at the suggestions objectively.
As for me and my team and i'm sure a few others agree we will be hesitant to return with out the guarantee of changes
You guys are more than welcome to come up for all the remaining races, I just want to also let you know however that the Oct. 16th race there will be an endurance race for the big bikes, so the day will probably feel a little rushed, so if you plan on coming up, best to pick one of the other dates.
Race 4 May 15
Race 5 June 12
Race 6 July 17
Race 7 August 14
Race 8 September 11
Race 9 October 16 (Sprints + Endurance)
Good luck with your future events, I'm sure they will come together if you keep at it and get a good reliable staff of 10 or so together to cover all bases.
Joe, Ted and I have talked about this a few times. He doesn't know why Josiah put "SMRRC Invitational" down for the Oct. 16 race but it's not an invitational and I know Ted's told him that out of all the races they're putting on that one is probably the worst for you all to travel to. It's why we haven't added it to our site either.
We've got a race on Sept 11 so that one's out for us, but I think I'll probably put the August 14 race on our site like I've done for some of your club's races.
Hey how did minimoto racing look to the eyes of AMA fans or riders BTW? Have you guys gotten any feed back yet?
SCMINI, Im sure everyone is thankful you guys held an event as large as it was. As for being what it actually was, I cant comment cause I was not there. Im sure all the wrinkles can get ironed out before the next large event.
We have a small group that does events here and they still have issues and they only attract about 60 racers or so!
******** cought me off gaurd when I found out were in the parking lot.
I think the parking should of been behind the track so on comers coming into the park would have seen the track layout and some good racing going on! Instead of being blocked from view, (cars/other).
Ya' theres some things you guys need to work on.
I did like the track-layout and size.
I'll talk to Ted at stockton to see if enough mid bikes show up if we can run'em.
I did talked to him on this before. Bottom line is attendence. Stay tuned.
D-out.
you guys are the best!!
