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I believe this is appropriate to what is going on.
It sucks that everyone in CO is suffering due to the grudges/egos of a few. To also assume we as the racers and drivers are at the mercy of what the track owners decide is absurd. If we as drivers come up with a series and rules I know some of the tracks will want to play. The tracks that do not, tough we do not need their ball to play. Sure some tracks have strong club races but they have maxed out. They have no more drivers coming in for what they offer. This is where a strong statewide series can draw drivers from even out of state. The old Mountain States Cup for mountain biking in Colorado was put together and was such a great series some considered it better and held it to a higher level then the national series. The competitors that came to these races reflected that, riders from all over the US and even some from Europe came to race. The only reason we in Colorado cannot have something like this for karting is due to the grudges and egos of a few track owners here in CO. We have the quality tracks, we have the drivers, we just need to pull the sticks out of our asses and get along.
Do the karters in Colorado want a state series?
If yes what would you like to see?
How many races on a weekend?
Rules, SKUSA? Rotax Challenge? TAG USA? WKA? IKF? a mix of all for our state series?
Format, how many heats? qualifying etc
How many events, any drops allowed?
What else would you like to have during the weekend?Do we do things the quick and easy way? Change nothing except pick a couple of races from each club and apply state points to them? Then what about the tracks without club races?
Come on everyone stop being silent on this. If things are going to change we need to discuss them. Even if you do not think things should change from how they are speak up. Are their a few of us discussing a problem that does not exist? I for one want a strong state series that helps prepare us to race out of state. Racing the same track over and over does not do this. You need to travel and get used to things like the logistics of traveling, quickly tuning your setup at a new track, and even how your body adapts to food and sleep changes being somewhere different. With a series like this we still need to remember the guys that just want to do this for fun and not travel and make things to intimidating or expensive.
I have not attended any Racing the Rockies races. The first races of the season I needed the money so I could attend the Summer Shootout. I wanted to go to the last couple but the transmission in my truck went out. This has meant driving to Denver to race is not going to happen. The next race I will be spending that weekend putting the new transmission in my truck so I can avoid putting the kart in my Jeep wrangler to make the GJMS race the following weekend. The same question needs asked of the drivers in the Racing the Rockies, Why have they not traveled to GJMS?
If a driver wants to be competitive in their local club points series, that will burn up a good part of their race budget. Then travel to a couple larger races and you have even less budget available to travel to other clubs. You could almost say one of the problems in CO is to many races. So we have races competing for drivers making for smaller entry numbers. Be honest everyone how many races can you attend a year? For me it is 8-10 with the vast majority being club races running used tires.
In Regard to RMPKC this year, SKUSA hurt themselves this year with the Tag engine rule change. I race a Rotax because it makes the most sense for my budget. Last year in the RMPKC there was only one or two that raced the Rotax class. There was no way I was going to spend $700 on just entry, tires, and fuel to run around a track on Mojos while everyone else was on MGs. There was also no incentive to run the RMPKC Rotax class. Punches could be easily attained at club races. Nationals have no Rotax class. So the money saved not buying a SKUSA license was better off spent on practice days or another race. If it were not for this rule change I would have been at the RMPKC races this summer. To be 100% honest the way SKUSA has been changing rules and their new position as importer it has me seriously questioning if I want to make the move to a Stock Honda.
The two race format is not always the best. Think of the guys who cannot get Friday off work. Give them a day of practice Saturday before racing. Say you only have a budget for one day of racing. You are not going to sit around and watch all day one day so you can race the other. You will just do something else that weekend. When you factor in a Friday in the race weekend you also have to factor in the money lost from the day off work. That also would mean you have a job that is flexible enough to let you take repeated Fridays off all summer long. Or you could just show up Saturday and feel rushed and behind all day wondering if you wasted money.
Is Lo206 the ticket? maybe? Come 2016 in all the non-gearbox classes all you will have is spec racing, with Rotax, Lo206, and SKUSA X30. It is a double edged sword, run spec and tech the crap out of it, or have to listen to the guys that did not win complain how the rules were unfair to their specific engine choice. For now in CO it looks like Rotax is the choice with LO206 right behind.
All five tracks are not needed. If we can get just two one east and one west it would be a start. It is obvious the basic race format alone is not going to attract racers. Something needs to be added to the weekend. What are things the drivers want at a race weekend? Why is everyone so silent on this? This thread has been viewed 171times and only 6 replies?
Do people not want to race outside their neighborhood? I for one want to travel and race at every track in the state, but it needs to be financially reasonable to do it. The competition at the race is what dictates if a race is worth it or not. The more and the higher the level of drivers the more I am willing to pay for the racing.
What set of rules? What kind of schedule? We as racers need to help the track owners know what it is that will bring the racers in. This year showed the SKUSA RMPKC was not the right formula. But why? Why did drivers not go? I did not go because I race a Rotax and I knew there was no competition at the races to justify the costs.
As drivers what do we want in a series? What will bring us to the track? What will get us to drive more then a hour from our home to race? If we do not answer these questions how can we expect the track owners to come up with the answers? There is nothing that says we as drivers cannot come up with a series and approach the 5 tracks in Colorado and see if they want to participate or not. This is not entirely up to the tracks. If you get a large enough group that says they will come race, most smart track owners will want to be part of it.
A series that visits every track once or twice in the season. If we visited every track twice we could have a 8-10 race series. With the weather and the various locations of tracks we could easily have a season that goes from April to November.
The big thing I have noticed on everyone’s mind is affordability. This is something the RMPKC had going against it. It was a mandatory $700 weekend in just entry fees, tires and fuel. A single race weekend format would greatly reduce costs. With open optional practice on Saturday and race on Sunday. Lets have tire rules but not make it a requirement that they are brand new. If a driver wants to run an older set of tires let them. They would still be required to run the set they qualified on for the entire race day.
We also need to look at things to attract racers. Offer a season pass. Purchase before or on the first race weekend. It would be a one time fee for the full series of race entry fees(not fuel and tires) at a reduced price. Cuts down on registration since they will be already registered for the season at every race. Makes for one less fee when the race weekend arrives, and promotes people committing to the whole series. Say we have a 8 race series with a $60 entry fee at each race, that is $480. Give drivers the option to pay a one time price of $400 at the start of the season. It is $10 off a race or as the drivers see it almost one and a half free race entries if the commit to the whole season.
We could also look at some kind of bring a friend discount. If you bring a new racer or one out of retirement lets get a discounted rate for that event.
Along with having drivers championships lets have a track/club championship. Each driver at the start of the season declares a track/club they are racing for. Then each race say the top three finishers for each track/club score points. The track/club who scores the most points wins.
What a fun day and night of racing!! Thanks to everyone that made it possible especially Craig, the Cooks, Phil Hindson, Grand Junction Motor Speedway, National Guard, Xcel Energy, CRG USA, and Aspen Dirtbike school.
Lights went up Friday in preparation for the event
National guard and Xcel Energy out supporting karting
Start of the Shifter final
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CDu9GSgH1cResults:
Kart Racing for Heros Main Event
1 National Guard 30 laps
2 Business Leaders 29 laps
3 Army 28 laps
4 Fire Department 26 laps
5 Police 25 laps
6 FCI Construction 23 LapsKids
1 35 Gregory Taplin 13 12:06.464Cadet
1 3 Tristin MacLeod 12 12:05.790 50.912 12 49.497
2 121 Tate Randel 11 13:05.710 1 lap 01:01.669 3 40.863
3 8 Tryston Fults-Huseman 10 12:19.084 2 laps 01:03.328 2 39.793
4 123 Sam Ross 10 12:34.896 2 laps 59.972 9 42.02
5 9 Braden Hindson 10 12:35.906 2 laps 01:00.814 9 41.438Tag/Lo206
1 83 Tyler Tibbitts 16 14:15.511 47.311 15 53.265
2 337 Cory Ross 16 14:26.312 10.801 47.749 16 52.776
3 02 Phil Hindson 16 14:43.167 27.656 49.044 14 51.382
4 11 Eric Petrie 16 14:59.232 43.721 49.415 12 50.997
5 21 Caise Paine 15 14:31.749 1 lap 50.800 15 49.606
6 27 Justin Bauer 15 14:45.963 1 lap 48.685 13 51.761
7 31 Alex Orians 13 14:16.994 3 laps 58.966 12 42.736
8 08 Zac Dieter 13 14:18.571 3 laps 58.121 12 43.358
9 34 Mark Thomas
10 56 Travis Cornwell
11 456 Jim RossShifter/DD2
1 14 Hal Strauss, SR. 15 12:23.507 46.794 12 53.853
2 22d Jet Davis 15 12:24.547 01.040 46.815 15 53.829
3 406 Chase Hadean 15 12:45.425 21.918 47.853 3 52.661
4 66 John Davella 15 12:58.292 34.785 48.973 12 51.457
5 18d Gary Davis 15 12:58.899 35.392 48.462 15 52
6 06 Carl Hallworth 7 06:08.984 8 laps 47.011 2 53.604
7 42 Craig Mansfield 6 05:55.925 9 laps 51.760 3 48.686
8 431 Sabre Cook 3 03:05.346 12 laps 47.841 3 52.674
9 00D Hugh TemplemanJust checked the schedule on the GJMS website. looks like the rescheduled race will be Sunday the 18th at 1:00pm.
Bad weather has come again. I thought GJMS was in the Desert??
From GJMS:
Hi, All.
Stacey just called the race as the 70% chance of rain will now be accompanied by high winds. We’ll likely reschedule for next weekend. Please check the website schedule. I will make the change as soon as the revised date is decided.
Best Regards, and Happy Mothers Day!
Kelly Wilson
Office ManagerIf you are not on the email list and would like to be please contact Kelly at GJMS, [email protected]
Sounds right. I guess I posted it in a confusing way. The rules have not changed except for the addition of earning Rotax points if you want them. It is open tires unless you want Rotax points. The Tag senior drivers for the most part are going to run mojos even though not all of us are going for points. We want to be on the same tires to have close racing. Mojos vs MGs at GJ are not even close in times.
