Monticello Monday Sucked!!!

Just a quick plug for Motorcycle Excitment: "I" group at Summit Point was a little clogged during the first session on Monday, but it was dealt with right away and the next time out was fine. Also, you will not move up unless your followed around by a control rider and he approves it. The control riders do their job well. Well run organization and it showed on Monday.

 

Absolute's groups are also like NESBA. No one can just sign up for any group they feel like they think they fit into. You must be bumped up and the name of the coach who bumps you is recorded as well as the rider who bumped.

 

BTW - I didn't mean to throw a generalization out there. I've ridden in plenty of great and well-run STT events. My comment was meant for track days as a whole that have bigger turnouts.

 

Why not stop trying to "sell out" an event? I know i know, its allllll about the benjamins. If its supposedly "safe" to put X number of riders on the track at one time, then when youre filling your groups at sign up, leave 10 out of your total fill number. At least that way, you have ROOM in each group to move people that dont belong in said group. Too many times ive seen orgs "sell out", yea, im sorry, but just because you can "supposedly" fit 60 bikes on the course at one time, doesnt mean you fkng should, especially when the majority of your riders are street guys/trackday guys. Youve GOT to leave room to move riders around. You sell out each group to the max, then youre gonna have shit like what happened at Monticello.

 

+1
I know with TPM you need to have a coach to be bumped to intermediate and 2 coaches need to sign off on your to be bumped to advanced. I thought all track day orgs worked this way?

 

Point well taken and yes I have attended many a STT event and all were well run in the South.

I still prefer NESBA's approach of bringing riders through the ranks.

 

and that is a great system that works well.

 

Gentlemen.....Gentlemen.....I think we're losing sight of what was truly important here. Was it that the STT customer was given a reasonably safe environment in which to ride? Of course not. Was it that the STT customer was given good value for his / her money? Please. What was truly important was that Monte's / STT-Guy's / STT-Rider's wallet was made a thick as possible.

Thank goodness we've got that settled.

 

Dan the Man in charge! :up::up:

 

s

Well said Eddie.

 

IMO, you either need excellent group "policing" or a very low turnout...one or the other. If there is a situation where neither is present, there will be disaster.

I also think that riding in the Advanced group should be earned. That is really the only way to ensure it is a true Advanced group that will be safe and enjoyable for everyone.

You can get away without the Advanced group being awarded/earned IF there is a small turnout (i.e. open/private track days). I did a track day at Jennings last year with some buddies and there were only 2 groups (Novice/slow Int. and fast Int./Advanced). The pace varied greatly in both groups, but there were very few people on track so it was easily manageable and everyone had fun and IIRC, there wasn't a single red flag the entire weekend.

So either Advanced spots should be awarded/earned...or the track needs to be fairly empty.

A full track with true Advanced riders is fine. A non-crowded track with varying levels of riders is fine. A full track with varying levels of riders is a recipe for disaster.

 

+1

 

Link doesn't work.

 

Wow. I am not involved with this organization, but I find this post very offensive. Were you even there? Or do you just have some axe to grind?

 

I have been to quite a few STT track days in the Midwest. Mostly as an "I" rider and more recently as an A rider.

Generally the STT days go well. Even when I was one of the faster riders in I, it wasn't really a big problem for me. I just worked on passing skills. Most of these days were sold out weekends at Autobahn or sold out weekdays at Road America so we had full tracks.

The biggest problem weekend was a few guys in the Novice group at my last Autobahn track day that thought they were better than they were.

It sounds like it was a bad day at Monti full, but in defense of STT, it would be hard to bump people down if they are only getting 2-3 laps per session to evaluate riders. From what I have seen, usually the first session in "A" is the take your time, warm up you, the bike and the tires and learn the track if it is new to you. If this got cut to 3 laps or less, then I could see that contrubuting to the problem as well.

To STT: I would think that after the first two sessions were red flagged in "A", a second riders meeting should have probably been called to help calm things down. They did something similar after a first session (turn 1 lap 2) crash at Road America one year. I think there was only one more crash that day.

 

i hear ya! last time i was at MMC, as i was loading up, i noticed that someone walked away with my nice new A* SMX boots... seriously, wet, sweaty boots...worn 1x! never got them back, so 300 bucks later gotta new pair...:down:

 

This fits with my experience on Monday and is relevant for any group. I was with the advanced subgroup in Novice. There were 12 of us with 3 coaches. There were 8 other subgroups, each with a coach. In the morning sessions, we usually went out first and ran a fast enough pace to catch the other groups in 3-4 laps. We passed with our coach on the straits where we could. From my perspective it was fairly orderly and I don't know of any incidences.

The afternoon was a different story. Most of the coaches were gone and it was more of a free for all with passing on the inside which you aren't supposed to do in novice. The end of the second to last session can only be described as a cluster f@#%. I saw 5 wide, and as many deep trying to funnel into the bus stop chicane on the back stretch. You could have walked through there faster.

In contrast, the last session was terrific. I think this was primarily due to the fact that there were a lot less people on the track due to people leaving early. My biggest challenge was trying to get past a few liter bikes that were holding me up in the corners.

All that said, I had a great time, met some wonderful people, and would do it again tomorrow if I had the chance.

 

im glad someone else "gets it". :up:

 

Chaotic
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmfgsxr
i posted my concerns on a couple of forums about yesterday already including the stt forum. http://www.sttforum.com/sttforum/vie...?p=58591#58591
Link doesn't work.

The link doesn't work bc they are notorious for deleting a post that doesn't suck them off. But if it bashes another trackday org they lock it so only the moderators can post and blow each others ego, if you will.


Quote:
Originally Posted by BR549
Gentlemen.....Gentlemen.....I think we're losing sight of what was truly important here. Was it that the STT customer was given a reasonably safe environment in which to ride? Of course not. Was it that the STT customer was given good value for his / her money? Please. What was truly important was that Monte's / STT-Guy's / STT-Rider's wallet was made a thick as possible.

Thank goodness we've got that settled.
im glad someone else "gets it".


I think you're on to something.