Round 5 of NZ Superbikes may be canned?

[Skunk]

Dont get personal. I had one crash on a race track, one, once.

Apologies. T'was meant as a joke. Hence the smiley.

I give up.

[CHET]

I am a racer and my reasons for not raceing are simple not enough in the budget and not enough time.Believe me i would love to do more races but its just not going to happen at the moment,i can afford to do the vmcc series but this uses my whole budget, if i can do more raceing this year i will.
I do not believe most people wont race because they may be beaten

[Biggles08]

Its interesting that in fact it is so much more expensive to do a national round than a club race....why is that? Do they penalize us the racers for the added extra cost of promoting the event (if in fact there is extra promotion) rather than other means??(not that I know what those are.) But, my point is...its odd that they want more to enter, but it appears the reason people are not is because of the added cost and yet they hike the entry price trying to cover costs...seems a bit arse about face to me. I think they should be encouraging more racers to enter by keeping entry fees to a minimum. This may help overall with both getting more entries and covering cost's for each club holding the even. my 2c worth anyway.

[suzuki21]

The very last thing the sport needs is more classes,Formula 400/5 year old 600s what next??A special class for people born on the 29th of Feb or maybe all those with blonde hair FFS.How much cheaper do you suppose its going too be to race a 5yr old 600???

I reckon ditch all the classes as there is way too many, and have one class for hot chicks in tight leathers. Scrutineering and gear check is to be done in coleslaw.

[Matt Bleck]

Has anyone seen or heard any form of advertising for any of the National round's this year?

[Biggles08]

Has anyone seen or heard any form of advertising for any of the National round's this year?

nope......

[Burrt Badger]

ts interesting that in fact it is so much more expensive to do a national round than a club race....why is that? Do they penalize us the racers for the added extra cost of promoting the event (if in fact there is extra promotion) rather than other means??(not that I know what those are.) But, my point is...its odd that they want more to enter, but it appears the reason people are not is because of the added cost and yet they hike the entry price trying to cover costs...seems a bit arse about face to me. I think they should be encouraging more racers to enter by keeping entry fees to a minimum. This may help overall with both getting more entries and covering cost's for each club holding the even. my 2c worth anyway.

Biggles. Championships =Three day event. Three days track hire, three days Paramedics fees, three days PA hire, three days radio hire etc etc. Add into that that some circuit owners charge more for track hire for National Events than they do for club level events. The entry fees are as low as is feasible, but the clubs are not there to make a loss on their race meetings

[Biggles08]

Biggles. Championships =Three day event. Three days track hire, three days Paramedics fees, three days PA hire, three days radio hire etc etc. Add into that that some circuit owners charge more for track hire for National Events than they do for club level events. The entry fees are as low as is feasible, but the clubs are not there to make a loss on their race meetings

Fair call...but I will only be on the track for two days for that $320 entry fee....the Friday will be an extra $85 if I wanted to practice that day too. The $320 includes the transponder hire granted....but $250 for two days on the track is still more than say $170 as it normally would be ($85 per day).

[Kevin G]

Has anyone seen or heard any form of advertising for any of the National round's this year?

Yip, seen the adverts on TV and heard them on the radio (The Rock).

Given the very limited budget the road race commission was given to run the event this year I think they have done a bloody good job.
I understand that they got $10,000 less than what they budgeted on and I understand this was held or not granted by MNZ to the road race commssion.

In the next breath I will say that I also think the promotion could be better and I am sure you would not get any disagreement from anyone including the road race commission on this but it costs and who pays? Maybe the clubs who run the events can get the local papers interested by running features on local riders or teams competing and see what funds can be raisied locally to help support the road race commissions advertising, at the end of the day if the gate takings are up the hosting club will also stand to gain.
Again this is where youngsters coming through can help, believe me the media are much more interested in a 16 year old going places than a 40 something racer! No offence to the 40 somethings as I am one as well!

I know some marketing type people have already commented on this issue so perhaps they might like to talk to Paul Stewart the Road Race Commisioner at Pukekohe and share some ideas and thoughts about how we can get better value or wider appeal.

Kevin Goddard
Otago

[Mishy]

........... Three days track hire, three days Paramedics fees, three days PA hire, three days radio hire etc etc. Add into that that some circuit owners charge more for track hire for National Events than they do for club level events. The entry fees are as low as is feasible, but the clubs are not there to make a loss on their race meetings

All good points indeed sadly, the travel and accomodation are the biggest pain. Roughly $400 in entry fees for three days isn't that awefull - hey. it's only one rear tyre ! Compare that to the travel, food, and accomodation for a couple of people for a bunch of nights. Our budget for four people to do the south island was just stupid compared to entry fees.

[Skunk]

Posters in all the bike shops and ads on The Rock.

[Shaun]

All good points indeed sadly, the travel and accomodation are the biggest pain. Roughly $400 in entry fees for three days isn't that awefull - hey. it's only one rear tyre ! Compare that to the travel, food, and accomodation for a couple of people for a bunch of nights. Our budget for four people to do the south island was just stupid compared to entry fees.

Only because you all eat to many Pies

[Burrt Badger]

Fair call...but I will only be on the track for two days for that $320 entry fee....the Friday will be an extra $85 if I wanted to practice that day too. The $320 includes the transponder hire granted....but $250 for two days on the track is still more than say $170 as it normally would be ($85 per day).

The budget to run the Pukekohe round is around $55 000. That was the figure mentioned at Paeroa riders briefing. That's the costs. That is also a hell of a lot for a "Club" made up of volunteers, to risk.

[Biggles08]

The budget to run the Pukekohe round is around $55 000. That was the figure mentioned at Paeroa riders briefing. That's the costs. That is also a hell of a lot for a "Club" made up of volunteers, to risk.

I agree Burtt Badger but my point was not that the club should 'risk' this cost rather that it appears the racers who enter are wearing the brunt of that initial cost/risk. I'm really not sure if I'm correct in this its just a point as to why riders are thinking twice about entering...its simply too much money for most of us. Like I said...If I enter round 5 I'm pretty certain it will be a bill in excess of $1000 for me....that's a lot for one weekend wouldn't you say?

[svs]

just got this email from AMCC. Cheers Guys.

Hi all

Wow! What great racing at Paeroa last weekend and now it is on to Pukekohe
Park for the final round of the NZ Superbike Championship on 6-7-8 March
2009. The rumours are going around that the meeting has been cancelled and
considering just a few days ago we had only 39 National Class and 14 Post
Classic entries, it wasn't looking too flash but the meeting is going ahead
regardless. The Executive Committee of the AMCC wants to thank all those
competitors who have entered the meeting already for supporting the club,
the National Championship series and the series sponsors.

For those who are thinking about entering the meeting, entries are still
open. Entries will close next Wednesday 4th March at 5pm. We will waive the
late entry fee. The more bikes we have on the circuit, the better we will
all look on the TV coverage and the better the show for the spectators.

The entry form and supplementary regulations are attached to the email.

Camping will be available at the circuit on Friday and Saturday nights only.
We will have a security guard at the gate from 6pm to 8am in the morning.
Showers will be available under the main grandstand from 6am to 9 am in the
morning and 6pm to 9 pm in the evening on Friday night, Saturday morning and
night and Sunday morning.

For those who are staying over or want an early start at the circuit,
breakfast will be available in the main grandstand 7.30 to 9.30am at $10.00
per person - great value for a good hearty breakfast.

There has been a typo in the race programme for Saturday. Signon will start
at 8am to 9:30am. Rider's briefing 9:40 and practice will start at 10:00.