Dom Jones challenge for the future

[Shaun]

Dom, please take the time to get onto this web site, and fully explain what options are open to people to go to the USA for racing, ie, wera etc.

I am hopeing that you will see this as your way of pay back for people that have helped you, so you are now going to try and get another kiwi out there

Your challenge has been posted

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

keenly awaiting reply

[Ivan]

Yip awaiting reply as this is something I want to do

[FruitLooPs]

That'd be amazing and some really good insight/advice!

Spill it Dom

[boostin]

It would ruin the "How to go to the USA and get into semi-profesional motorcycle racing for dummies" book...

All jokes aside it would be very interesting to read.

[Dom]

Hey all. Just got back from the US the other day and back from another awesome race season. Other people might disagree but going racing in the US is probably the best bang for ya bucks anywhere in the world as long as ya doing o.k. It cost alot to race over there such as around $600 for a club round and around $2000 for an AMA Superbike meeting but as long as you play your cards right, you can normally walk away with alittle bit of a profit as the prize money is stupid(one time I went to a club meeting last year and walked away with $3500).

By no means is the US easy thou in the racing stakes. The top guys that travel around the country chasing club money are about on par probably with ya Budgen, Strouds and Sherriffs and this doesn't include the AMA Superbike guys. The way to make money club racing is to know where the fast guys are going and avoid those rounds and go somewhere else, sometimes abit out of the way. It may be a longer drive but what you lose in driving futher, you can sometimes easily make up because the racing is easier.

For anyone doing their first season in the US, the club racing scene is where you hangout driving tens of thousands of miles cruising round the country chasing money at club meetings. If you really wanted to, you could nearly ride at a club meeting paying money every weekend from March to October, now thats alot of racing. There are many different clubs over there and each one holds different meetings in different parts of the country kinda like ya Vic club, Canterbury club etc. Most clubs only pay money in the 600 and 1000 class so really those are the bikes of choice for alot of the serious racers.

AMA Superbike is the premier championship in the country and probably one of the top domestic championships in the world. There are four classes that travel the country racing, Superbike (1000cc Superbikes), Superstock (1000cc Production), Supersport (600cc production), Formula Extreme(600cc Superbikes). This series is amazing. There is probably nearly ten people in the series that earn nearly or over 1 million US a year and most of the factory teams have about an 6-8 million dollar budgets per season. The paddock is full of truck and trailer units with heaps of other hospitality units too. This is the series you do after learning your craft in club racing or alot of overseas riders come and do it if there is nothing avaliable on the world scene (Colin Edwards is rumored to be riding in '09). This series is alot harder and you normally don't see too many privateers in the races.

Going to the US to race is quite a change in life style. The country isn't alot different to New Zealand but has alot of little differences that make it sometimes hard to get use to. Most people at the race tracks are really nice and over the year ya normally meet tons of new friends, even I do sometimes. There is alot of traveling involved and some long weeks on the road but its alittle price to pay to race new tracks all summer long. As you can tell by now if you had the patience to read this far I suck at writing stuff like this so if anyone wants to ask any questions just send me a pm and I'd be happy to answer.

Chow
Dom

[Clivoris]

Thanks for that Dom. I'd be over there in a flash but I can't find anyone to feed my budgie.

[k14]

Good stuff dom, sounds pretty awesome. Where to for next year?

[Dom]

Hey Kirk. Yeah, suppose to have a good ride set up for next season but can't say to much as still got to sign on the dotted line. The teams really good and should have bikes capitable of winning races for a change. Damn, now I can't keep blaming the bike!

[Shaun]

Thanks for doing that Dom, I believe you have given a good insight into what you have learned over the past couple of seasons over there.