SMRRC - How can the club be improved thread: pls read and post your opinions

[akathisia]

So the 2006 season has come to close and now it's time to start tearing your bikes down, sanding your bodywork and prepping for new paint, honing out your 2-smoker cylinders for new rings and trying to decide whether you can get a just a couple more races out of those $119 tires you ran all last season.

The other thing you may be thinking to yourself is "How can we make racing with the SMRRC even better!" So I decided to put up a thread where we can bring up areas that we think need improvement within the club to make the experience even better. Please post your ideas for improvement so we may discuss and debate them in a true BARF manner.

So here starts the list of topics of concern:


1. Points updating too slow.

2. Online registration/faster registration

3. Track config posted 1 wk prior to race.

4. Light tree for starts

5. More races per season

6. Practice one day per month on weekend

7 Please see tlthehun post on this thread. Also see motokid's post as well.

[Manimal]

a post of track configuration 1 1/2 week prior to race date...for those of us that attend Mondays practice week of. So that we can make changes to the bike(s) prior to heading out to Mondays practice.

[Wheelgarage]

Using the light tree to start a race. It will keep the starts consistant. No negativity towards Pat, but his reactions do change...or I need to get my eyes fixed.

Other than that, this IS grassroots racing.

[ILOAD2]

Ultimately its Matt that has final say on everything. Am I wrong? He is the governing board?
Are these suggestions for procedure, or everything under the Sun?

Alright then... Im just going to throw a couple things out there-from WAAAY right field.

1st- Any wheel size in Mod Thunder.


2nd- Have ONE (1) round in which the track layout is changed from the Heat race and the Main. All the Members have run out there enough.There are no secret "lines" to learn in any configuration. The track is so small, that this would be done with no delay to the schedule of event day. The Main event layout could be pulled from a hat either at lunch or by officials after sign ups have closed.Then announced at the lunch break.I know that to some this may seem a little scary, but what this teaches is adaptation.You have people that show up and race completely cold,and you have guys running fiffty million laps of practice.By changing up the layout for the main, you'll see who can adapt without a hitch and who needs fifty million laps to get comfortable.

As far as gear change complaints? What does it take to change a sprocket(if needed) 12 minutes??

[Daniel13]

Online registration. In so cal they use www.speedreg.com

[Daniel13]

Online registration. In so cal they use www.speedreg.com

[SpeedyCorky]

all of the above would be GREAT !!!

repaving the stockton track would be asking a lot, but IMO it is what REALLY needs to be done above all else.


...but what SMRRC actually needs to spice things up, is to allow Nitros injection and a smoke screen sprayer to blind the racers behind you :teeth

[Patrickmotox]

A weekend day (Sat or Sun) Practice once per month.

[Patrickmotox]

clarification in rule book on 80 gp, will this still be only 2 stroke as it is now, or will the 4 stroke 150 be allowed, and if it is allowed will other 4 stroke (xr200) engines be allowed......

[ernie&gina]

I would like see the club run 12 races a year. Once a month. (Every third Sunday or something) Rain or Shine. If it's a torrential down pour. Then, just cancel that months race and we only run 11 races that year. (No make up date) I would also like to see the club run the endurance race on a three day holiday weekend. So that we can rest on Monday before going back to work or school...

[akathisia]

Very nice suggestions. I think we should discuss some of them in further detail like the online registration and having track config one week prior to race weekend.

Personally I'm for both.

[Dancore]

How about everyone showing up for the awards dinner, and then we could have a 'Town Hall' style meeting after the awards are handed out! Least of all, you get a good dinner and get to hang out with your race buddies!

[ChampR1]

I would be in favor of a three race endurance series throughout the year. I really enjoyed the endurance race and would like to do 2 or 3 of them a year.

I like the idea of a winter series. Runs rain or shine from January to March. 3-4 rounds? The final round could also be the first round of the summer series.

I also would like to see the schedule try to avoid conflict with AFM and SM Usa. This would allow a lot more riders to come out and join us.

thanks,
Sean M.
#28

[Manimal]

wishing out loud :p how about talking Chris into a new track w/ elevation changes (i.e. Prarie City) w/ an added Supermoto coarse for the thumpers :teeth. Where you ask? somewhere on the outskirts of Lathrop or another 'centeralized' location (between South/North/East Bay & the Central Valley).

Is this asking too much? :toothless

[Patrickmotox]

Now that is a loud wish, and what a wish it is. New track, elevation, wahoo.... good wish Daren. Maybe for Christmas.

[tlthehun]

I haven't been thinking much about racing since the season ended but here are some thoughts:

1. race layout posted on the website Mario setup on Wednesday 10 days before the Saturday race practice, as Daren suggested. Gives people more opportunity to at least change gearing to something close before the weekday practices. Given the guarantee of not needing them, everyone would leave their tools, alternates and spares at home. The next best thing to leaving them at home is not needing them at the track.

2. may as well have points up by then, too. Check points and track layout in one visit.

3. online pre-registration would be great but seems like not so simple to integrate with race morning reg. Maybe pre-pay and present payment receipt in the morning to reduce time at Window #2? Yes on pre-reg but No on saving time in one spot to cost time and complication elsewhere.

4. Having Harry start the races has been fine by my experience but starting lights would make it more like big time racing. I think that there already exists lights on the front straight for the karts but I don't know if they're just for track status like "full yellow", green or red or if they can and are used for starting the kart races. Harry pretty much has to be there for the whole race anyway and I think that starting the races might be the funnest part for him. I wouldn't want to take that away from him.

5. I personally like using the kart starting grids for both clock and counterclockwise layouts, even though it puts NSR50R/175 lb me at more of a disadvantage against some others. Feels more like a real race start when the first turn is farther than 10 yards away. Would come packaged with #4 above if the lights actually work as race starters.

6. 30 seconds to take a group picture of everyone at the riders' meeting would add to the club atmosphere, IMO.

7. Singing of our national anthem at the last race was a nice touch. A different singer each race would be an opportunity for more people to be actively involved and adds to the event feel. Worth the few minutes on race day.

8. Bonus points for the rider with the biggest margin of victory each race weekend. One of the scorers would have to record the time elapsed between 1st and 2nd in each main. Bonus points equal to the smallest grid of the weekend.

9. bonus points for improvement from pea-pick. One point added for each position gained from start of heat to finish of main. Pea pick 1, finish 1, zero bonus. Pea-pick 8, finish 1, 7 bonus.

10. keep the 1 point per rider bonus that we used in 2006.

11. Club Championship Top 9. The first year it was Top 10, 2005 was Top 5. Top 9 means single digits for all. People will still race with the number 1 in mind but might in the same way be motivated to race for a single digit. Doesn't cost the club anything and wouldn't make anyone enter fewer classes.

12. Victory / celebration lap when someone has clinched a Championship. I'd like to see some showmanship out of those who posess it. More frames for promo videos and pics.

13. prepare schedule after AFM, USA Supermoto. Each race is more important to those guys than it is for most of us. We need motorcyle racers. Two obvious places to get them.

14. marketing, marketing, marketing

Now I must sleep.

:teeth

[Shunter/Get-Off]

Tom is a fountain of good ideas, and I second everything he said.
I like the addition of the blue flag, and hope we stick with it.
I'd like to see some sort of rule about egregious/blatant contact (i.e. Tim's shoulder, my head) If you cause a dumb accident, you may get some sort of probation, or whatever.
Online registration would be cool
I don't know how feasible transponders would be, but I like the idea of gridding by pace.
I should be allowed to win at least one race a year.

In addition, I'd like to add that I'm not crazy about the idea of the CRF150R motor being used in 80GP. It would be a very cool bike, but I'd hate to think that we'd all have to pony up for a $3200 engine to be competitive with it. The 80 class is a neat, competitive, and surprisingly affordable way to race a genuine GP bike, but if we all had to put that lump in our chassis, it'd be as expensive as going GPRU racing. That could possibly kill the class, as I know I'd probably pull out if I knew I couldn't win because of my equipment. Maybe F-X or 250 Motard instead?

Mike

[papa911]

If every racer(or parent)can get one other person to join,we'd double the size of the club/grids.

Maybe add a couple of double points races during slow months to entice people to come out.

[FourDoor]

I'm not a club member yet but my single wish/request right now is:

A one stop shop/place where I can find out what I need to do to join the club. Maybe a FAQ thread of some kind addressing the basic questions of what to expect as a newcomer.

The sticky to the rulebook provides a lot of info but it doesn't actually lay out on a step by step basis on what a newcomer needs to get and join the sport.

[Wrong Way]

Originally posted by FourDoor
I'm not a club member yet but my single wish/request right now is:

A one stop shop/place where I can find out what I need to do to join the club. Maybe a FAQ thread of some kind addressing the basic questions of what to expect as a newcomer.

The sticky to the rulebook provides a lot of info but it doesn't actually lay out on a step by step basis on what a newcomer needs to get and join the sport.

We are working on this. It is just not ready yet. If you like, you can PM me with any specific questions. I can offer my email to you to help make it easier.

[ILOAD2]

Originally posted by FourDoor
I'm not a club member yet but my single wish/request right now is:

A one stop shop/place where I can find out what I need to do to join the club. Maybe a FAQ thread of some kind addressing the basic questions of what to expect as a newcomer.

The sticky to the rulebook provides a lot of info but it doesn't actually lay out on a step by step basis on what a newcomer needs to get and join the sport.

Its more than simple....
Read the class descriptions. Find a bike in your garage that fits the description,put street tires on it and saftey wire it, Show up to stockton motorplex on race morning(just like a MX race 7ish) with 200$ cash.That will be the start of your racing with SMRRC. Theres no secret to it. Just show up with the bike ready , your entry+membership fee.And your mind ready to race!

[akathisia]

Awesome ideas guys! Sometime this weekend I'll go through the postings and update this thread, then maybe we can vote on the top 5 issues that need to be addressed to make the club even better.
yeah baby!

[motorkid]

Sheepishly, adding to the thread, since I've missed the last couple of races because of scheduling conflicts....

1. Online registration
SMUSA uses http://www.xbux.com

2. For a bit of spice, add occasional Saturday night races

3. Add a throw away (or best of X) race. Otherwise, if you miss a race, you're totally out of the points.

4. Eliminate the pea-pick & start the heat from points order. It’ll save time during registration, as well.

5. Ditto on the one weekend practice per month.

6. Ditto on the scheduling conflicts.

7. Sponsorship help. Promote racer discounts at local shops for everyone.

[ILOAD2]

+1
Sat night races

[Patrickmotox]

I like what Papa911 is leading to. If each of us gets one new rider to come out and race, we will double the grids. The thing is, there has to be a compelling reason for them to come out to Stockton to ride. Almost all the riders of "off Road" bikes, meaning, not old enough to ride on the street, or do not want to ride on the street, are riding dirt, usually dad and/or mom with the kids, or just taking the kids, or just adults getting thier ya ya's out. Well most people can get a bike, go to the local state run OHV park and ride. Just about anytime. So what will entice riders to want to drive "farther away" to a track at a "specified time" in order to enjoy thier activity. This is probably the biggest obstacle to growing the rider base. Time and distance. It sure isn't cost, cause we have the best cost basis down pat, 20 bucks for hours and hours o fun, you cant beat that with a stick. So what is it that I can say, or Papa911 can say or Mario can say to a potential rider that will make them go, "wow after hearing that I want to go, sign me up." I keep racking my brain trying to come up with that WhizBang idea that will get them drooling, just waiting to get to the track, but as of yet, I am blank..... anyone else. Here is one.. ha ha.... Maybe we need John Hopkins, Wayne Rainey, or Nicky to appear at the track, and get a one on one photograph with anyone with a race license..... I would call Nickey, but ever since the restraining order I am not to.... oh, I have said to much.......
l8tr.

[akathisia]

Bump.... I still think we need to talk about some of these issues at the banquet. I never really saw any posting talking about how the town hall meeting turned out and what came of the discussions.