Some more ideas on growing the Nationals

[Maido]

Do you currently race in the NZ national road race series Quasi, as in the whole series?
This isn't an ignorant question and not at all a personal attack, I am just interested to know. I think you have very valid points.

[Robert Taylor]

Your curious , I'me pretty, Lifes a beach :-)

A disappointing response Glen after your unsubstantiated statement about agendas, not up to your usual standard of excellent well thought out posts.
Suffice to say my primary motives ( agendas!!) are totally from a technical perspective, anyone that knows me well enough will 100% agree. Technical issues are interesting and I cite the SV650 air intake debacle where many people ( including myself ) went into bat for you and Terry.
If I make a little money from my line of business its fine, I believe making fair and reasonable money is okay and is certainly not a crime in the eyes of most people. Im certainly not driving an Aussie V8 nor have a lavish lifestyle from the proceeds!
There are some great ideas on this thread and it really highlights where a major portion of the costs come from, travel, fuel, accomodation, meals, etc. That impacts on all sports and some of the ideas have real merit

[Robert Taylor]

A `two-round national series' has obvious appeal for financial and other commitment-related reasons. It is an exciting concept and would undoubtedly make running the championship achievable for a large number of riders (possibly requiring 3 day meetings with split qualifying sessions?)
The only obvious downsides I can think of are:
1. As Maido has pointed out, the great appeal of a lengthy national series is the rider development process i.e. it makes better riders
2. It would also possibly devalue the title of national champion. The series winner in the past has required consistency over a great variety of racetracks and the championship was earnt over a period of time with associated ups and downs.
How do past champions feel about this?

Although it would not be a perfect solution I believe it would have the ability to attract a lot more riders who otherwise only do club and winter rounds.

[k14]

For Example Joe Bloggs races his GSXR1000 at the VMCC winter series and gains X Points for his efforts he can then carry those same points into the National weekend round.
The benefit here is
1/the club level scene will get a higher profile rider racing (regularly)
2/ Points can be gained from the riders home track and own club
3/ it could in part be utilized as a qualifying tool, ie rider must get so many points to gain entry into the Nationals so the (I predict) larger fields for the Nationals weekend can see some level of qualification as opposed to anyone with a bike entering to show off to his girlfreind etc.

Yes you bring up some great ideas. How about running a 4 round championship and each rider can drop 1 round. Two meetings in each island (Ruapuna, Level/Teretonga, Manfeild and Hampton). So a SI rider would ride the two events down here and Hampton. A NI rider would do the two events up there and Ruapuna. If someone wanted to they could do all 4 and drop their worst. No reason why someone who was fast enough couldn't take the championship out from 3 rounds. Could also have double points or more races at the final round at Hampton Downs??

[doc]

Hi Everyone, Since it's my first post on here I hope I can get away with writting a noval.
Cheers,

Andrew

This is KB'r so as you are a noobie, remember your place. Some of the ppl on here will be quite prepared to offer you some advice. If you need a mentor I'm sure one will be available. Have you done your BHS yet, thats always a good start. Don't complain about HD riders not waving, or I will red rep you

[Drew]

I vote we stop bringing up Hampton Downs, for the time being at least. The place is over program, I would wager good money the budget went out the window long ago. Although I'm not about to repeat the rumours I've heard, the only consistancy in them is the track fee will be astronomical.

The drop your worst round idea, does present better for someone financially able to do all four rounds, so perhaps not gonna increase entry numbers once people realise their chances are no better against the "cheque book racers".

Is there anyone that does not agree, media exposure has the most likely success odds for the growth of the sport?

[Quasievil]

Do you currently race in the NZ national road race series Quasi, as in the whole series?
This isn't an ignorant question and not at all a personal attack, I am just interested to know. I think you have very valid points.

No I havent no, but I dont think doing so gives me the qualification of using my Brain lol

I think its a fairly easy fix though personally anyway

[cowpoos]

Big piston forks, hmmmmm. The jurys out on that one. Hardly a resounding success in racing circles thus far and there are a few issues that are created such as a very narrow adjustment range. I think many are victims of media hype on this one.

Showa factory race forks have been of the big piston variety for the last few years.

In saying that...a few top teams like the Rockstar makita yopshi team in the states have gone to Ohlins this season from showa.

[Robert Taylor]

Showa factory race forks have been of the big piston variety for the last few years.

In saying that...a few top teams like the Rockstar makita yopshi team in the states have gone to Ohlins this season from showa.

Sorry, getting off topic as Glen intimated earlier.
In fairness Ill rehash what I said earlier......Big piston forks are not the great leap forward that many scribes would have you believe and its easy to read between the lines. If in racing they were the great leap forward then theyd essentially be copied by other suspension manufacturers. That clearly has not happened and other suspension manufacturers products ( one in particular but I would say that! ) are in the winners circle much more often.
There is new production stuff pending from Ohlins but it absolutely will not mimic the Showa BPF setup. We in fact carried out very successful pre-production tests of this new concept recently at Paeroa ( Craig Shirriffs, Hayden Fitzgerald ) and Pukekohe last Nationals round ( Sam Smith and a variant in the bikes of Robbie Bugden and Andrew Stroud ) Part of the criteria being that these riders were loyal CKT tuned Ohlins users.
As I have said earlier motorcycle racing is also about the engineering and it pains me that there are people in high places who want to take that challenge away.

[Tony.OK]

Quasi I like some of your your ideas dude.....................being the naive newbie that I am I'd like to see your ideas implemented at all or most of the Nats rounds........................is that how it use to be back in its hey day?

One weekend of racing IMO doesn't deserve a Nats title, maybe a NI/SI champ instead.

Why doesn't someone just ask the Wanga's or Paeroa organisers to submit a tender/quote for running the Nats.......................

[brads]

Quasi I like some of your your ideas dude.....................being the naive newbie that I am I'd like to see your ideas implemented at all or most of the Nats rounds........................is that how it use to be back in its hey day?

One weekend of racing IMO doesn't deserve a Nats title, maybe a NI/SI champ instead.

Why doesn't someone just ask the Wanga's or Paeroa organisers to submit a tender/quote for running the Nats.......................

The streets were part of the nats back in 96/97,my opinion is they should not be part of the nats,you cant run a nats round over 1 day.

[Quasievil]

The streets were part of the nats back in 96/97,my opinion is they should not be part of the nats,you cant run a nats round over 1 day.

No not over 1 day over a long weekend mate

[Kickaha]

No not over 1 day over a long weekend mate

That's a glorified club round not a National Championship no matter how much coverage it gets

One of the reasons I left karting was the way their National championships are decided

I think it should be a minimum 4 rounds, 2 in the North and 2 in the South, Ruapuna as the GP is run there, and alternating between Teretonga and Levels

They also need to be run further apart, NI in November, SI in February/March or something similar, it means the financial outlay won't all be in one big hit over 2 months and it's easier to get time off work

Even one National meeting every 3 months so they're well spread out, is there any real reason they have to be run so close together?

Look at other motorsport events such as A1 GP, the Hamilton 400 very successful events, if any of them were run over 3-4 months the event wouldnt be covered as much on TV, the crowds would be smaller and sponsorship dollar would be smaller, and I guarantee you the number of entries would be smaller, I will also go so far as to say bikes are far more exciting!!

A more valid comparison to our National series would be with the NZV8 series which is well covered and promoted and gets better crowds than the bikes (or at least it did last time I went) if they can do it why can't we?

[brads]

No not over 1 day over a long weekend mate

Getting the streets closed for a weekend? good luck on that one

[Mishy]

The streets were part of the nats back in 96/97,my opinion is they should not be part of the nats,you cant run a nats round over 1 day.

Yes, quite right ! And if i remember rightly they were gently forced out of consideration as a national championship meeting by pressure from top riders based on them not wanting to have to compete for a national title on the streets. Many at the time considered the street races far more dangerous than the circuits, and were no longer prepared to compete at "championship level" on the streets.