Racing Baja... My first time at the 250, 7th trip to the races, and stoked that its mostly new course. Very excited to be part of the new management and series! Its going to be great!
SB, so will the bikes go first or 2nd ? if the bike go 2nd there no way they can beat the Trucks, the trucks totally destroy the course and I'm sure the truck would be faster not having to dodge two wheelers the whole way
Bikes on day 1, cars on day 2 would be great, no? So much safer and the course might be nicer for the bikes...
I don't think anyone would mind that. If it only takes 10k to make that happen add a couple hundred dollars to each entry and your there.
NO WAY !!!!!!!!!! Same Day, Bikes start at first light. Cars start 5 Hours after Last Bike ...............
For the San Flippy 2fiddy the bikes and the cars all race on the same day, bike start first. After Laguna Diablo, the Sportsman bikes will cross the mountains via a different canyon (thus a shorter race course) than the pro classes. IF you are racing in a PRO class there is NO difference. Pre-running alone hacks the race course up. Word from locals is that seasonal rains have flattened out all of the washes. I too think that the average car speeds may kick up a bit due to the lack of "moving targets". There is NO intention increase in entry fees to get the needed monies to cover the expenses of running the bikes on a different day. He is looking for someone/company (aka: Title Sponsor) to pay up front to cover the expenses. I know of one individual who was contacted to put up the money in the name of safety (wasn't happening). The first year of the Trophy Truck class, we raced the Trophy Trucks the day before everyone else at the SF 250. It was boring as hell and was a complete flop. Back then every thing was completely different in that class, ALL of the Trophy Truck entries were "Factory" teams. Not until the following year did Jimmy Smith in the Ultra Wheels Trophy Truck become the first Privateer entry (that same "Truck" became the first Herbst Trophy Truck and now is the PCI/Fabtech Trophy Truck, I digress.......) Sorry PUI..
No reason to change , It has worked fine since 1969! But then : I guess they could let the Sportsman ride the day after the Race
Here we go again. sportsman vs pro. Why not make it safer for everyone and give the four wheelers an open course. It doesn't matter if the bike they are passing calls themselves a pro they are still in danger and slowing a faster racer. OP sorry to clog up your 250 thread with more truck/bike bullshit. Seems like every score thread turns into this. We should ALL just stfu, talking about it here does nothing except ruin good threads. Have a good race and have fun.
I am looking forward to the Race, We will be there running a pit ( I think pit 2 ) Will be going down the weekend before and riding to Bay of LA and then back up to San Felipe on Thursday Good Luck to ALL Racers!
But that happens every year and the washes aren't the problem, it's the cross-grain that will never go away naturally. I will not be there but I can say... I hope you guys get to race the old school section going north from 3/5/three poles/el chinero up to the Ventana road. It's different than what is always ran southbound and is an awesome technical fun section. It's also great to hear they're doing a new part south from Saldana to Hwy3. You guys racing should be pumped. And yes, absolutely makes sense that they shorten the course at the end for Sportsman entries to make it safer. Years back before Sportsman classes they had the "Safari" classes that by-passed the harder sections. They should have kept that and not added sportsman classes, but that's just imo. There are many issues with separating the bikes from cars, and it's not just dollars. It's mostly man-power. It's OK if you're running JCR Pits because they only pit bikes and don't have to wait for cars, but they still have to get their volunteers to take 1 added week day off work. But think of Baja Pits or M7, they have to set up crews a day earlier and likely those crews will stay for the duration. Do this times 3 races a year and your volunteers will dry up quickly. Also for the awards and keeping people in the towns spending money after the bike race is done, yeah right, most racers and crews will be outta there. They all had to bump up their schedules by a day and sticking around costs money so why stay? And how many of us stay at places that are Thurs/Fri/Sat minimums, so whats gonna happen with that when (for example) the Desert Inn or Las Palmas empty out on Saturday morning. Who's taking the hit on cost? Racers? Hotel? There's a lot to consider. I do see one HUGE positive thing with running bikes a day earlier... Some of us will get to sit in a shorter Border line on Saturday rather than Sunday. It was said... "Is that what the 250 normally costs for pro and sportsman bike entries? Seems a little high, sportsman is the same as the loop 1000 in 08." And then... "If it only takes 10k to make that happen add a couple hundred dollars to each entry and your there" I'm not picking on anyone, though it often seems as if the guys entering Sportsman are trying to race on a super tight budget and adding any amount of $ to the entry will not be happily accepted. I do like how they now have different levels of entry fee in the cars classes. A class 11 was paying the same as a trophy truck, that didn't make sense. I've talked to Norman, he has some wacky ideas, he thinks on a different level than most or all of us here ($$). He wants to make the racing less expensive for the bikes. If I repeated some of what he said you'd scratch your head. .
I asked about the cost of entry out or curiosity. Since this years 250 has a higher entry as the 08 1000 I was wondering if the new management raised the cost. Having the same entry for a 250 mile race as a 650 mile race.:huh I would gladly pay more $$$$ to make a race safer and I believe most people would. The comment was made that all it takes is a title sponsor and $10k. BBM maybe you should talk to Roger Norman and tell him thats not the case because unless SB info is incorrect he thinks $10k is all thats needed. All you "baja vets" keep saying sportsman don't belong on the course but with no requirements to enter pro removing the sportsman class will do nothing. If you run the sportsman on a different course then anyone that wants to will enter pro so that will have little effect. I am done posting about this. I have no pull with score and arguing with people that also have no pull does nothing. And don't kid yourself if you think you do, I've heard all of you say "I've been telling score for years." Hopefully they do things to make the series safer and better but that's up to them. In the end I think we all want the same thing, a race that is as safe as possible and a shit ton of fun. Some on this board just have too big an ego and think that only the "pro" should race. Have fun with that philosophy as it will kill the series. Bbm do all the racers you support enter pro? Or do you also support sportsman?
I didn't name any names because giving an individual crap wasn't the intent or the point. It was the big picture of what I consider to be teams looking to do it as cheap as possible and raising fees would be a negative. But then it sure sounds like I'm being called out. I've never said there shouldn't be Sportsmen racers. I've pointed out that in 2000 Mike Childress was in that class and they didn't win. I have said there are some out there who have zero clue how dangerous it is and their actions in front of cars are beyond stupid. I have said they should do away with the class of sportsman because the word alone attracts riders who think it's a leisurely cruise thru the desert and don't understand the cars and some of those riders think the have the right of way and the cars need to do a better job avoiding them but it's the riders putting themselves in that position. Eliminating it would make some riders still enter as Pros and would scare off the guy with the 650L, construction boots, and street helmet who have no idea what they are getting into. Hell, some of the sportsman class guys should be in the Pro classes anyway, they haul ass! Sandbaggers. Yes we do support sportsman class racers with our rental programs. We also encourage everyone to enter class 22 so they can have that much bigger of a gap to the 1st truck. We also regularly sign up guys on our staff as additional riders and they ride more often than not (regardless if it's a pro or sprtsmn entry). Sometimes my guys ride because the clients are whipped or at times it's a safety thing - I'd way rather put myself or one of my guys on the bike so a client isn't putting himself in harms way. And I've flat out told riders they aren't riding certain sections or in front of cars. We also support bad-ass teams as was witnessed at this past B1k. And you're right, these threads always end up with the same bullshit. I don't know why I wasted my time adding anything at all. I've been happy riding in Baja 16 out of the last 26 days and will be happy when I'm down there riding 46 of the next 70 days. Much healthier than forums. .
Hell, some of the sportsman class guys should be in the Pro classes anyway, they haul ass! Sandbaggers. Amen!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bucket Lister Dust to Glorites in the Pro Class, Experts & Sandbaggers in the Sportsman class, what's a mother to do?????? Is there no end to this madness????????? Maybe they should get Gotta Peso to run the whole schmeal: <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/95Xb83EhCwQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
If you feel my post was calling you out I apologize. There were two parts that were directed to you. The comments about the $10k. It sounds like Norman has no clue about what it would actually cost and someone needs to try and explain it. And I should have worded the last part differently or pm'd you. With the context of the rest of the post I can see how it sounds like I was calling you out. I should have broken up my post to make it read correctly, lesson learned no more posting from the droid piece by piece.
GPS files for course are out on SCORE's new F'd up web site. Looks like Sportsman Bike is a little over 40 miles shorter than the "Pros".
