North American Talent Cup

The median household isn't racing motorcycles, doing travel sports (or cheer, or dance, or or or...). There is always going to be a barrier to entry for some. That is just how life works.

 

Stick and ball sports vary hugely on costs.

I am shocked on the costs involved with travel baseball. Some kids I know play for two or three different teams at $3K to $4K per team and then there's the hidden costs (a Bat at ~ $300 and some go through 2 a year) and the travel costs.

Kid's racing is stupid and a money suck. But so is most travel sports and I think back that I should have taken my kid racing instead of her gig because it'd have been cheaper but racing don't get you cash towards Kollege.

 

Oh trust me, I know about the travel sports. Princess #1 was a huge soccer player and putting her on "Select Teams" was pricey and often disappointing. Luckily she played in college (walk-on) and it helped her financial obligations. At the end of the day she could of played college without being on those select teams.

My other kids just aren't stick and ball players. Although I do make them run track and cross country that has underlining benefits for socialization and their racing. Plus it improves their mental toughness.

Currently I'm in a situation with three kids who have heavy right wrists and no fear of anything. So it's a balancing act of making sure all three can compete, keep it fun, and make sure momma doesn't rip my nutz off with the spend.

A buddy of mine who is really high on Hayden and knows a bunch more than I told me to "pick one" (her). And the household has been at war since the GNF.

I really wanted to do this for her. But I also need a happy home life!

 

If you would like some free advice from someone who has been there and done that, buy four Crf 100s and race with your kids. Cheap racing is fun racing. I've seen more families destroyed by racing, by far, than I have seen success stories. If you are determined to plow ahead regardless, this new series gives you the opportunity to develop the single most important skill needed to race successfully. You must be able to market yourself well enough to race with someone else's money. I have zero talent in that area, so we changed sports.

 

That's kind of the way we looked when the kid briefly flirted with going racing with the thought of going dirty track. 100s and then into the larger classes and staying semi local and keeping costs down.

If it lead into roadracing, so be it but doing it smart, staying "local" and not thinking she'd be the first girl racer to blah blah blah.

Luckily, stick and ball was the way she went (but dirty track and Karts still calls now and again).

 

Trust me, I hear you. That's why I have never sold any of the mini's yet. Bang for the buck.

 

It seems redundant to have this and JR cup running in 2023- but the rules for JR cup are much different. The tire allotment in JR cup alone is 10x what they are proposing for the Aprilias. And I don't think you can throw the Apes in with the Jr Cup guys, they will have different tires / tire allotment, and a pretty big HP disadvantage?

 

Once you dig into the Cup, it's separate from MotoA. Another point is this series is about the rider not the equipment. So hopefully talent shines over who can afford a "Graves MotoA Spec Ninja/Etc".

Will be interesting to see who can afford doing both classes.

Or if an American kid comes home from Europe to race?

Can't wait, so excited!

 

I'm guessing the powers that be are looking for ways to transition kids from the emerging MiniGP scene to big tracks. I just got an email from SFLMiniGP about that exact topic today, and how they're going to start hosting track days to help the 11-12+ riders transition.

Kart tracks are tight and technical in most cases...there's no 3/4 mile straight like at Summit point on a kart track. Speeds are lower, machines are smaller/lighter. Jumping from an Ohvale chassis (as an example) to a Ninja 400 isn't necessarily easy. I've done a mini practice at Nelson and jumped on my R1 for the HWT Novice practice, and that is a bit of a mind bender in the switch.

I just sold a Ninja 400 I was going to set up for my son to ride at 15ish, because I'm thinking too far ahead. I'll see what's out there when he's 15 and decide what, if anything we want to do. He may want to stay in Minis.....if so, that's fine. We're just having fun and have no real aspirations of upward mobility. I know JU's not going to come talk to my son about his future.
This, for me, is more about him being a good, capable rider that uses his head. I don't want him to be 20ish with his first job and decide to go to the dealership and buy an R1, then wrap himself around a car flying on the Baltimore Beltway like I see all the time.

He finally got over the hump this year and earned some podium finishes at NJMiniGP, and I'm extremely happy and proud of for him for that achievement, but first and foremost....I wanna know he had fun.

 

Is there a "No Talent" Cup? I feel like I'd be competitive there.

 

Same here..the only time I get 3rd place is when there's only 3 entered...but DAMN do I have fun!

 

Perhaps we can combine resources and start a vintage team to run ahrma historic production.

 

"No Talent Racing. We're old, but we make up for it by being really slow."

 

Some time back, an enterprising ahrma racer was running a rather "original" CB350 festooned with both race bodywork and a catch pan constructed from a five gallon plastic bucket. We should attempt to emulate that aesthetic. Our paucity of talent might go unnoticed.

 

Two things.
1) Racing has a winner and losers. Unlike everybody wins T Ball, any form of racing teaches competitiveness that pay dividends in life down the road.
2) I guarantee you he'll look back on these years of racing with you as the best time of his life. Win or lose you can't put a price on that.

 

https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2022/01/18/2022-north-america-talent-cup-entry-list-announced/403932

 

So Exciting!

Look out for Jesse, Alex and Jayden.

Going to be a great year of racing with all these story lines.

 

Only a WAG at the moment.

Round 1 Circuit of the Americas / April 10th / MotoGP
Round 2 Las Vegas (I'm lost on a date) WERA @Mongo
Round 3 Willow Springs / June 4th-5th / WERA
Round 4 Roebling Road / July 15th-17th / WERA
Round 5 Pittsburg (PIRC) / August 13th / WERA
Round 6 Road Atlanta / September 3rd-4th / WERA
Round 7 Barber Motorsports / September 23rd-25th / MotoAmerica