Cost of racing, Hare Scrambles

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https://www.tomahawkmx.com/

https://wexcr.com/.

 

I race harescrambles and enduro.. since enduro moved from a timekeeping format (don't even ask to expalin it.. go too fast, you lose, all i needed to know).. it's much more fun than it was.
Harescramble : think moto cross race through the woods, cross country. Line up together on a row with your class, all take off together, race to the finish.
Enduro : assigned a row with 4-5 other riders, not necessarily in your class, 4 to 6 sections, go as fast as you can in each section, with rests between sections. Faster you go, longer the break is between sections. Slow/slower riders won't get much of a break if any, and potentially time out if it's a nasty course.

SOOO much less production than roadracing, if lucky, can drive to the event really early in the morning, race, and be home by dark. Can't do that for a roadrace in most cases.
But, the time on the bike is tough to beat on a roadrace machine. Cost can't compare, especially if you crash a roadrace bike. Rear tire every other race for offroad?? if you wanna rock-star it .. sure. I ride woods 4-5x a week, that's when the costs go up. 4 bikes, multiple sets of wheels, one bike in shop being worked on for something, but no WAY will the costs be that high if you ride or race every weekend or every other weekend. Some guys will do the entire season on a set of tires. MUD races are what ruin your shit. brakes, sprockets, chains, etc. I'm a "fair weather rider", and there's just too many nice days, to ride/race a mudder.

all that said.. it's my belief that dirt bikes are inherently more dangerous for the occasional broken bone than roadracing. I think the chance of a catastrophic crash is incredibly slim in roadracing, but has a slightly higher potential, but offroad/mx? YOU WILL break a bone in time.. i've ridden/raced over nearly 40 years. 17 of the last have included roadracing full seasons every year, my only 2 surgeries came from dirt bikes.

 

Great information here! Just curious - did you ride dirt when you were younger. I’d love to get more riding time in, and dirt is way more accessible out here but I am concerned with the injury aspect as I have zero time on dirt.

 

yes, started "late" in my later teens. so indeed, i have a lot of riding under my belt that really helps. So does riding 30+ hours a month, and lucky to have 2600 acres of woods at a state park i can ride at all year-round.
Dirt riders that transfer to roadracing do great... roadracers that never have been on dirt? it can be almost comical for awhile but most get it pretty quick. My local friend and MA superstock regular Corey Hefflin got his first dirt bike this past winter. Loving it, and it's been paying off with his roadracing.
Just like roadracing, ride within your ability, consider finding a local AA offroad guy that does instruction. If you lived in FL i could point you to a couple guys that only charge $120-150 for 1 on 1 instruction for hours.

 

Greg, we need to set up a group ride in, over the winter for the northern guys, to get a bit more seat time, and not be behind the curve when dirt race season starts. even riding once a month would help. so envious you can ride, train year round. we start in early april, then dont hit our training stride and endurance level until almost june. it really sucks being behind guys, because you cant keep pace due to endurance, not speed.

with that said, to the OP's question, the org/race fees are more cost effective in dirt. repairs from a crash are more friendly than a sport bike crash, by far but, everything else remains mostly the same, maintenance, gear, travel, etc...

fresh sharp nobs, make you more competitive for sure, every other race, not me. LOL! on my 3rd set of tires for the season at this point. but, with dunlop rebates you are less than 200 bucks a set. mx33 front, at81 rear FTW!
Ski

 

lots of northerners, including many GNCC pros and mx guys from Canada, make the journey to Croom motorcycle park every winter and stay for a few weeks. There are campsites with full RV hookups, and showers there and can be reserved online up to a year in advance, but with covid bullshit, they have limited the number of spaces for rent.. and they usually sold out even when no restrictions in place during winter months. But there are LOTS of hotels nearby, and the dirt bike shop , Axis Powersports, is on the property, is happy to store bikes for next to nothing... 2600 acres of woods, and we have single track loops all over that place.

 

So you don't miss waiting around the corner from the checkpoint for several minutes to try and get on your minute? LOL

 

Thanks for chiming all.

@Melk - Do you find that incidents that cause injury are during events or just a cause and effect of time riding and obstacles?

I'm very tempted to get rid of the Aprilia and go back to dirt with a dedicated track bike.

 

I've been in several incidents off road racing and I'm going to tell you right now that if you get hurt in the woods somewhere you are not going to get the immediate help you do at a road course. Depending on how the course is setup someone might not find you for a quite some time. Especially if the course is setup over a huge area / multiple land owners properties. Harescramble starts are far more dangerous than timed enduros or sprint enduros where they only let a certain amount of guys go on a certain minute. In a hare scramble usually you have 20-30+ guys bombing through a field into a trail that will only fit 1 or 2 bikes at the start. I've seen guys get run over. I've run over riders and bikes in these scenarios. If someone crashes on a single wide trail I've seen riders do crazy ass shit to get around the incident and they will run you and your bike over. There's nothing you can do about it depending on the aggressiveness of the riders. There's nobody there to see actually what happened unless someone happens to come out with the gopro video. I've seen bikes hanging up in trees. I've seen riders completely knocked out in the middle of the woods under their bike. Not trying to scare you away from it but it is motorcycle racing and it does get brutal.

 

I've played contact sports my whole life, riding motorcycles has its risks no matter what .

I dont see myself getting in the wholes shot mix at the outset, but that is a good perspective. Road racing is more civilized with the bumping aspect. I'll have to look at the enduro side as well.

 

Your totally right, it is brutal. One time this Canadian road racer friend and I were DP-ing some chick from Western and our balls touched. That was the worst contact I'd ever had with another racer.

 

i don't MX any more, that's where you end up nearly for sure, getting injured. Likely minor, but broken bones take time to heal and may require surgery to heal correctly.
Woods racing is clearly not without risk, but, seems more "finesse" than full on aggression, while repeatedly flying through the air. And MX has the shear mile-per-hour factor. Landing on dirt, in basically your pajamas.. sucks. It's not the crash that hurts ya, it's the sudden stop... as cliche as it sounds, it's a fact. Trees DO hurt, and i have one plated radius from that, and 2 screws in a shoulder/humerus from an mx type crash. Roadracing, with a tight fitting 15LB leather suit, with armor built in, and sliding a bunch, without in most cases, a sudden stop, is why i think there are fewer injuries in roadracing (for some). Knowing HOW TO FALL/CRASH, instinctively, from riding dirt bikes for decades, pays major dividends too.
Woods riding/racing is where it's at for me. I avoid MX tracks and even some harescrambles during a season if the club is going to incorporate an mx track into the loop.

 

Seems like the beat thing going off-road to me also. I enjoy riding bikes, that leaves the extreme enduro stuff out, the Hare Scramble stuff around here is a bit more open and faster than I prefer but much more reasonable than Motocross. Riding dirt bikes through the woods is fun, always has been always will be.
Probably why there are scrambles series all over the country doing pretty well. Seems like all of them draw a couple hundred riders for the big bike classes.

 

look into NEPG (national enduro promotions group) or the enduro your local clubs put on. ride your pace, racing the clock not the riders on your row, resets after each of up to 6 sections (depending on age/ability group).

 

I really enjoy scrambles and sprint enduro racing. If I can race with a group, then I'm good. I know that I'm not fast or good enough to run at the front, so I just don't take those chances. I would rather knock it back 5-10% and finish than push at 100% and potentially injure myself or damage the bike. I had the same mentality road racing, and it served me well. I evaluate myself against my personal performance first, but if someone is ahead of me I'm going to evaluate my options and ignore the safe course of action and go for it. But, I at least evaluate the situation before pulling the rigger on a bad judgement call. And at my skill and speed, I can typically catch any issue before it becomes catastrophic. "Typically."

 

Any cost differences racing 2t vs 4t? All I know is electric starter will be on whatever I get this time around

 

Yes of course. A 4 stroke costs way more to rebuild compared to a 2 stroke. More parts, more money

 

seems like starting a race many prefer kicking...

 

Good point. I'd probably go 2t as that is what I am familiar with too.

Nothing makes you hate life like trying to find tdc and kicking repeatedly especially when already exhausted.