Juniors & the South Island Nationals

[SWERVE]

Hey Kickaha................. you and me both know how such decisions are made at HQ.
and what reasons they are based on...................... enough said eh

[wayne]

rule says 6 entries, not bikes

[Billy]

rule says 6 entries, not bikes

Yip,Thats how I read it too,But was told in no uncertain terms 6 on the grid at round 1,Ive got 5 plus woodyracer makes 6.

Sadly 150ss will never be an MNZ championship class as stated previously,The rules are a complete dogs breakfast with no homologation needed,No homologation means MNZ have no manufacturers specs to use for comparison,The bikes are old and hard to get genuine parts for and many of them are already modified beyond reproach.

[rachprice]

Im one of those 5...yay!

Not that Ill be much competition but it will be amazing fun.....hopefully Im not all slow after my broken bits

[Kickaha]

Sadly 150ss will never be an MNZ championship class as stated previously,The rules are a complete dogs breakfast with no homologation needed

If MNZ hadn't chosen to pretty much ignore the class then all that could have been sorted years ago

[SWERVE]

If MNZ hadn't chosen to pretty much ignore the class then all that could have been sorted years ago

Too true................ instead of worrying about petty rulings they should have got behind it as the showcase class for "young talant" and made that goal the prority.
Lets hope its not to late for something positive to come from it all.

Nevertheless the Sth Is and particularly MCC will continue to fully support streetstock and the youngsters and even more champions will be found. A proven pathway for successful young riders.

[Billy]

If MNZ hadn't chosen to pretty much ignore the class then all that could have been sorted years ago

Absolutely,Couldnt agree more Warwick,There was a feud going on as I recall between MNZ and an event organiser at the time who was already running streetstock 150 at club level,He wanted to take to a higher level but because egos got in the way the opportunity was lost!!

Lets ensure the same doesnt happen with Prolite 250

[Billy]

Too true................ instead of worrying about petty rulings they should have got behind it as the showcase class for "young talant" and made that goal the prority.
Lets hope its not to late for something positive to come from it all.

I dont think for 1 minute its about petty rules Merv,Moreso the fact theres no homologation means theres no way too tell whos bikes standard and whos isnt

Nevertheless the Sth Is and particularly MCC will continue to fully support streetstock and the youngsters and even more champions will be found. A proven pathway for successful young riders.

And I will continue to do as much as I can with the 150s in the North Island as well (I still have 8 of them in the shed),There is definitely a place for them,Just not at National level

[oyster]

I've looked everywhere for indication that Prolite will be a championship class this year, and all I can find is entry forms posted just a day ago on our club website listing Prolite as a championship class.
This is surely incorrect as MNZ rules prohibit this. There has never been any open discussion about "prolite championship" and currently under MNZ websites "proposed rule changes" it says "no rule changes proposed" So how can MNZ change the rules at such short notice? (less than two months before the (proposed) championship rounds start)
And if it does happen, how crazy is that: To mix a bunch of adult riders on big (but slow) bikes in a championship battle with children at the same time competing for the McLeary Cup, as they have done with huge success over 5 years now. For these young ones this is their "big day" where they fill the grid, provide safe and exciting riding and pay a heap of money (much more that F3 for example). The close and skilled competition on equal bikes has spawned a current generation of 125GP, Pro Twin and now ever increasing 600 numbers, all in their mid teens where a chance exists for future international success. Why risk something so successful?

[Billy]

I've looked everywhere for indication that Prolite will be a championship class this year, and all I can find is entry forms posted just a day ago on our club website listing Prolite as a championship class.
This is surely incorrect as MNZ rules prohibit this. There has never been any open discussion about "prolite championship" and currently under MNZ websites "proposed rule changes" it says "no rule changes proposed" So how can MNZ change the rules at such short notice? (less than two months before the (proposed) championship rounds start)
And if it does happen, how crazy is that: To mix a bunch of adult riders on big (but slow) bikes in a championship battle with children at the same time competing for the McLeary Cup, as they have done with huge success over 5 years now. For these young ones this is their "big day" where they fill the grid, provide safe and exciting riding and pay a heap of money (much more that F3 for example). The close and skilled competition on equal bikes has spawned a current generation of 125GP, Pro Twin and now ever increasing 600 numbers, all in their mid teens where a chance exists for future international success. Why risk something so successful?

Yerr,Not sure what the deal is with the MNZ thing ,But if you read the entry form in its entirety you will notice that Prolite 250 is listed as a championship class and streetstock is listed as a support class therefore i would expect they would have seperate races,

Something that does bother me though is,Wasnt it you that rang me last week to say that you were trying to organise seperate trophies for the Prolite 250s that were running in the support class with the streetstock 150s and wouldnt that put the same adult riders on 250s on the grid with the younger riders ????

Are you suggesting the prolite class should not go ahead ??If not,Why not??

[oyster]

I'm a great supporter of Prolite, going back thru history you probably say it was my idea to add 250 four stroke to supplement the 150 two stroke bikes. We introduced it in Invercargill about 2004 and in discussing it wish Vic club peoiple (Steve Scullion, Hamish Laing and co it got introduced in the NI not long after, where it remains reasonably strong. In the South it fizzled because people felt the 150 was far superior and we finally abandoned it because certain models of 250 four stroke were way too fast, and besides, juniors weren't allowed to ride them.
A few years later I discussed with Paul Stewart the options re future bike specs to maintain the momentum of Junior Development which exists in Canterbury
The 250 twin is ideal as a possible replacement for the 150 when they finally hit the obsolescence wall. But they are not as good. Too slow, heavy expensive and juniors are not able to legally or safely ride them. In our support series last year they went ok but not as good as a 150. Seth rode one but prefers his 150 any day for outright lap times and low cost running.

I want to see the prolite grow, but to do that they need to be separated, ideally on the track(if practical) but at least on the points board so as to give them a chance against the 150. That's the basis of my comment. At the time there was no indication MNZ was going to score them separately, and I certainly contacted them with my ideas on this, but got no response

Running Prolite as an NZ championship raises the competion bar too high for safety in my opinion if run amongst the young ones. Running as a support class is a bit easier, but still not ideal.

If they are run as a champ class, I'd suggest they run with pro twin on a split start
and chuck out F3. Last year F3 barely had enough entries at some rounds for a championship, and only two of them could keep ahead of the front Pro Twin bikes.
Pro Twin is a go ahead class and shouldn't be competing for championship having to leapfrog lap by lap slower F3 bikes. And I've said again to MNZ the class needs to built up through promotion and support. None of this has happened. Certainly Prolite is dead down here which is a shame.

[wayne]

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[puddytat]

.....change is inevitable...always a bit of pain involved...hopefully not too much...we do have a lot of S/S down here tho....whats the streetstock riders perspective on the mooted changes....

Probably that none of them would really like to ride a slower, heavier & more expensive bike....

[Yow Ling]

If prolite gets its 6 entries and runs a seperate race it will be like watching sidecars on a clubday.

At last Saturdays MCI clubday the SS and F4 combined class was 37 bikes, now thats some support class !

[Kickaha]

If prolite gets its 6 entries and runs a seperate race it will be like watching sidecars on a clubday.

You're exaggerating it won't be as bad as that