Too many classes at National Championship?

[Bren_chch]

fuck sake Brads you burglar!!!

[Wingnut]

fuck sake Brads you burglar!!!

And stealing off his own family to boot! Always good for brotherly love in the pits

[prettybillie]

They actually had a fair amount of race experience just not on sidecars, the reality is I can race my bucket and nothing else for ten years then buy a Superbike and race at the nationals

This be true - but would that be good to watch? I don't think so. The sidecar racing at Levels was a pathetic display and if that is what the level of national championship racing then FFS sidecars - stop wasting your money. They should impose the 115% on all classes to at least make it interesting to watch. Seeing 6 chairs our there just circulating so there could be a nationals class is a joke!

[Biggles08]

if you wanna bitch and moan about the officials ect at the meet, you better have the right attitude yourself. Theres been a number of seriously cunty exchanges intiated by riders with a piss poor attitude this year, and thats always going to end in conflict. Unfortunately it just breeds an us vs them attitude that helps no one. If we, the riders, want to be stuck up pricks at the officials, expect the same back.

I don't think the attitude of most riders was too bad at either round really...the response from the officials at the riders brief i thought was a bit over the top imo. The briefing at Levels was awful when Nick Cole quite rightly raised a serious safety concern that was shrugged off as "Well if you don't like it, pack your bike up in the trailer!" I thought it was the official that made it an "us and them" issue, not the riders. To the credit of the officials, following the briefing they talked to us in a calm manner about our concerns and something was done about some of it...but this was once the briefing was over. One of the issues that was raised and addressed at riders brief was the suggestion to have a flag marshal at the inside of the track opposite the start/finish flag point. They took this suggestion up and it was fantastic. I made sure I went up and congratulated the officials on doing this as I personally found it far better for us riders.

As an interesting sidenote, one of the concerns Nick had (and myself and many others actually) was the lack of airbags / haybails at the esses through to the front straight. We were told none were availiable at the time. When we arrived in Invercargil we were told by a person in the know they had plenty of 'milk bottle bails' that would have been transported up to Levels for free...If this is the case then I personally find this situation unacceptable from the organizers as it shows a huge lack of respect for riders safety.

As for too many classes, you may have a point biggles, especially with clubmans as i think it discourages people from proper classes. And sidecars need to go back and get the following going at club racing, to develop a proper field and not try cobble something together just for nats.

I agree.

Having additional races for the 'premier' classes, how would you guys survive with less practice, considering the amount of bitching on the weekend when practice was a bit shorter. You lot should be racing on saturday.

We are generally there for most of the previous week getting as much sorted as possible so an extra race would be a welcome addition by most I would think.

As for everyone bitching about the rounds and costs, look pretty much everywhere else in the world, and if you find somewhere where its going to be easier/cheaper to be a national rider, ill swallow all the fuel in my vespa. Guys sell up houses and livelyhoods, quit jobs, work 80 hour weeks, go without all round the world for this silly hobby, and very few dont dig seriously into their pockets (and time) to do it, the same as here.

Most riders who compete in every round of the NZ Nationals can relate to this 100%...it is a massive commitment and it always will be.

Our meets are not perfect, but they ain't terrible either. You either get a kick from it and the money, time and sacrifices don't matter. Your either in or your out, its not for everyone, it never will be.

But this is not a suitable way to put a full stop on the discussions. There is always room for improvment and I believe we should always strive to do things better. The problem is, when anyone dares stick their neck out to suggest something, everyone who is involved in running these events seem to take it as an insult. You are correct, the meetings are generally ok, but there are a few things that could be done quite easily to make them great. Thats what I was trying to generate discussion on via my op post.

Rant over[/QUOTE]

[DEATH_INC.]

To race at just HD or Ruapuna for a weekend and declare it a National championship is a bit of a nonsense. A National Championship is about finding the best rider in the country......not just at one track.

The idea (from memory) as we came up with originally (from quasi's thread ages ago) was that you qualified for the nationals by placing in the north/south island champs. Like the top 10 from each class in each championship competed in the nats.
That way it isn't really decided on just one track....

[jasonu]

With respect I dont agree
isnt this the NZ Nationals ?
do you have streetstocks and Motards runnng at Phillip island during the GP ?
do you have Japanese salloon cars (honda civis, Evos, WRX etc) running at the V8 Super car rounds ?
Etc Etc Etc
No you dont, they have there own races and events
The NZ Nationals should be the top riders , the premier classes , the guys who have worked there way to the top from the streetstock etc etc

its about marketing baby

I totally agree.
Also, instead of everyone traipesing up and down the country multiple times per season which costs big dollars, how about a format like the AMA supercross lights east/west series. They run seperate series for both the east and west coast entrants, you can enter which ever series you want to but not both in the same year and series champions are determined via a points system. Then they all get together at the end of the season for the east vs west.
Call it North vs South and have the finalie in alternateing islands each year so contestants only HAVE to go interisland once every 2 years.
Just a thought.

[jasonu]

[QUOTE=Quasievil;1129979356]Ask Bamber or Fogg

Look at the significant sponsors they have, LG for example
they are a viable support class as are Porsche and the NZ V8s, what isnt a viable support class would be perhaps a 1973 ford escort rust bucket slapped together last week in time for the ITM400 by Dad and his mate over a crate of beer, which I would equate to buckets and streetstocks and in many cases Motards

Hey don't lump the buckets in with streetstocks and motards. A lot of the bucket guys are spending countless hours on building and developing their rides into pukka race bikes. Check out the ESE thread in the bucket forum and you will see what I mean.
And no, I don't think buckets is right for the nationals. No streetstocks, motards or unless numbers are much improved sidecars either.

[Kickaha]

When we arrived in Invercargil we were told by a person in the know they had plenty of 'milk bottle bails' that would have been transported up to Levels for free...If this is the case then I personally find this situation unacceptable from the organizers as it shows a huge lack of respect for riders safety.

So are you saying the organisers at levels knew these were available ?

[jasonu]

Province Racing.
Cut the North Is. in four – South Is. in three.
Each area enters 3 riders in each class. (from Superbike through to Streetstock on whichever track)
Throughout the day, race points are added to the Province tally to find the Best Motorcycling Road Racing Province in NZ.
Why? To give the spectator someone to follow in all races.
They don't know Joe Blow. But if they know ‘Joe Blow’ is from their province....Then they have someone to get behind.
"Joe Blow. That's our Man! GO JOE BLOW!!!!

Sounds like the old series from the late 70's early 80's called Top Town.

[Drew]

Why are you moaning about track time Marcus? You get more than we do on the sidecars, and we pay the same as you do.

If you were in a different class, (where you might actually be competitive, though I struggle to think of one) you'd be saying the same stuff but including it aswell.

There have been countless threads saying that since there were usually only 9 superbikes on the grid a couple years back, they should be axed. Now there's a few more and you're calling it the premier class, what the fuck?

If racing here is so shit for you, (and Christ knows you piss and fuckin moan about it a hell of a lot), go do it some place where it fits the way you think it should go.

Oh yeah, whoever was talking about the support classes at GP meetings, they ran post classics at Phillip Island last year, they were OK to watch I guess, but the field was very bloody spread out at the end, and half of them didn't even run in the rain.

[Shaun]

Why are you moaning about track time Marcus? You get more than we do on the sidecars, and we pay the same as you do.

If you were in a different class, (where you might actually be competitive, though I struggle to think of one) you'd be saying the same stuff but including it aswell.

There have been countless threads saying that since there were usually only 9 superbikes on the grid a couple years back, they should be axed. Now there's a few more and you're calling it the premier class, what the fuck?

If racing here is so shit for you, (and Christ knows you piss and fuckin moan about it a hell of a lot), go do it some place where it fits the way you think it should go.

Oh yeah, whoever was talking about the support classes at GP meetings, they ran post classics at Phillip Island last year, they were OK to watch I guess, but the field was very bloody spread out at the end, and half of them didn't even run in the rain.

Drew, at least Marcus (Biggles) comes up with some constructive stuff put in a way that all can read understand his point!

What the FUCK have you come up with that may help the sport mate, apart from getting on here and bad mouthing every thing you disagree with, go get another job and earn some money to pay your racing costs instead of sitting at the computer Critising all you disagree with

Happy days Brother

[Drew]

Drew, at least Marcus (Biggles) comes up with some constructive stuff put in a way that all can read understand his point!

What the FUCK have you come up with that may help the sport mate, apart from getting on here and bad mouthing every thing you disagree with, go get another job and earn some money to pay your racing costs instead of sitting at the computer Critising all you disagree with

Happy days Brother

What did he say that was so constructive then Shaun?

He's not happy with the track time he gets, so the rest of us should get none at all at the nats? Yeah, constructive as!

I have said time and again that the series needs a promoter, and that I would help where I could, but I'm not in a position to commit to much. I even approached a few people when YOU were asking what could be done.

I also just organised running the nats on a sidecar in three days with a budget of ZERO, so that the class wouldn't be removed from the series, for the benefit of quite some more people than just myself.

Ya wanna go pointing fingers? Lets talk about what you've done for the sport lately! Other than say something stupid and follow it up a few days later saying your sorry and mumbling about head injuries. Or how about the fact that the Vic club will no longer run the long track for safety reasons you decided to chime in on? Where do you get off to tell us what is safe, when you race regularly at the track with the worst safety record in the world? So, you can make your own decisions on risk but the rest of us need spoon fed?

You are a hypocrite Shaun, worse still you are a know it all hypocrite!

[Shaun]

What did he say that was so constructive then Shaun?

He's not happy with the track time he gets, so the rest of us should get none at all at the nats? Yeah, constructive as!

I have said time and again that the series needs a promoter, and that I would help where I could, but I'm not in a position to commit to much. I even approached a few people when YOU were asking what could be done.

I also just organised running the nats on a sidecar in three days with a budget of ZERO, so that the class wouldn't be removed from the series, for the benefit of quite some more people than just myself.

Ya wanna go pointing fingers? Lets talk about what you've done for the sport lately! Other than say something stupid and follow it up a few days later saying your sorry and mumbling about head injuries. Or how about the fact that the Vic club will no longer run the long track for safety reasons you decided to chime in on? Where do you get off to tell us what is safe, when you race regularly at the track with the worst safety record in the world? So, you can make your own decisions on risk but the rest of us need spoon fed?

You are a hypocrite Shaun, worse still you are a know it all hypocrite!

AGAIN VERY CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS WITH LOADS OF INPUT HOW TO MAKE THINGS BETTER.

Mumblings about head Injuries often come from people with Documented head injuries Moron

" To Quote You"

Ya wanna go pointing fingers? Lets talk about what you've done for the sport lately! Other than say something stupid and follow it up a few days later saying your sorry and mumbling about head injuries. Or how about the fact that the Vic club will no longer run the long track for safety reasons you decided to chime in on? Where do you get off to tell us what is safe, when you race regularly at the track with the worst safety record in the world? So, you can make your own decisions on risk but the rest of us need spoon fed?



O FUK me, so sorry for trying to keep people healthy, Go Hit a DAM Concret wall on a so called closed safe race track like the HD Incident, and see how hard you are Dick head.

[Drew]

AGAIN VERY CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS WITH LOADS OF INPUT HOW TO MAKE THINGS BETTER.

Mumblings about head Injuries often come from people with Documented head injuries Moron

Have a great day

I don't question your head injuries Shaun, infact I submit there might have been some before the ones the doctor gave you a note for.

I have no ideas for growing the sport, but I am passionate about it still, and since I'm a scone doer, I'll do my scone when fuckwits suggest shit that I think is dumb. So most the time you post like.

You are a fantastic rider man, and Jimmy says an even better coach. For that I respect you, but your not someone I could ever like, and wouldn't expect to be liked back. So when you say something that gets under my skin, I'll always call you on it.

Live long and prosper.

[Drew]

O FUK me, so sorry for trying to keep people healthy, Go Hit a DAM Concret wall on a so called closed safe race track like the HD Incident, and see how hard you are Dick head.

Why have you not lobbied to have the "bus stop" no longer used at Levels then?

Or even better, how about the fact that pit wall at Manfield is just as dangerous as the exit form the long track?

The risks are there, we SHOULD all be aware of them, and then make our own decision on weather we want to race still.