Supersport 300 World Championship

Spend 20 grand and race with 30 kids, spend 15 grand and race with 10 kids/adults. Maybe that was money well spent for the experience.

Statistically, they're never seen again anyway.

 

Just picking numbers .. 30, 20, 15, 10, whatever. You know what I mean ..

 

That and his crash is what happened to us in a nutshell. We agreed he would go to Junior College and I would help fund racing. He got hurt in June, 2013 and came back today Sept 28th, 2014, facebook reminded me this morning. He actually won four 1000cc races on a GSXR1000 and won $2000 in Suzuki cup money over the Sept and Oct weekends, when he returned.

However, on 10/1/14 I bought another forklift company to merge with my existing one. When we went to the October races I told him I was so busy, I didn't think I could dedicate the energy to help him like we used to. We could hit and miss races and see what came up. Money was also tight, as the new company was BLEEDING money. I had to figure out why and fix it, before it took my original company down too.

I also said if you quit racing, I would pay for real college wherever he wanted to go, for his Sophomore year, instead of him continuing JC at home and trying to race occasionally. I didn't mind borrowing for college, but I wouldn't borrow to go race.

In a perfect world, he really wanted to continue racing, like his friends that he was faster than at that time, and a few of them have gone on to win MA races. However, he made the smart decision to work on getting his education.

 

Have a little experience here. We were podium champs at the club level, even managed to win a regional and runner up in a national in an upper class, same bike.
Not now, and not yet. As Cam said, ride, ride, ride. Its a challenge to do that when and where we want. So we ride anything , anywhere we can, on anything in the garage that currently runs.. oval, dirt, sumo, anything.

We won said events racing just a few and won not because we were the fastest at the time. We were there every race, and finished every single race towards the front. Consistancy.

We spent a lot and tried on cross country race travel in John Ulrich's Superbike Shootout. We podiumed every round we were old enough to compete in and won one. This set the hunger and excitement and overall challenge of national pro racing. I think I will be grateful for that series forever. Consistancy.

I will say that in the first year of the cup the spread from the leader was at times up to 20 seconds to last place. At the last round in Jersey this year the spred was six seconds from first to last. If memory serves me it was a four second split all the back to the 24th spot.

This shows me that the Cup series is doing what it is designed to do. All the kids have tightened it up. They know each other and trust each other. They know who is likely to do what in a given corner, great mental strategy opportunities to learn from. They were six wide into turn one at Jersey and sorted it out every lap. There were races all through the field. No one was simply doing laps. The fans flat out love the class. It is genuine Moto 3 level intensity now, shave off some mph.
I love WERA and all the clubs but we just cant get this tight level of competition consistantly.
We have adjusted our life style to sustain the series as long as it takes. No credit cards. We have great support and hope to continue the privelege.

After two seasons here us what I take away to advance. Much more training and riding in the off season. Conditioning is huge, physical and mental. Not just for stamina on track but to better deal with the tempo of racing and travel with the associated stress all year. Looking forward to 2017.

 

The beeb goes by displacement only. That is pretty well established.

 

Is that an issue? I know at least one kid who keeps up with Mazziotto and Yates in mini races. He's done a handful of WERA rounds as a novice. I don't expect him to be out of place in the 390 cup next year.

 

Mongo is right, it has happened. Race control sees it very quickly. It might affect your reference, maybe not. It depends on the kid. You wont really know until he/she are there. You really will not. The atmosphere at this level takes on a whole new set of feelings. The safer racers/racing is up towards the front like anywhere else. Qualifing is huge. Where you start on the grid in a spec class makes a difference, a big difference. Red light starts compared to flags is very different.
How the kid handles the crowds, the media always around, smack talking fans and competitors, the wait before the race on the grid, the stress and fatigue related to extensive travel... lots of things some dont even consider as a challenge to get used to can really affect a kid. Racing six wide at 100mph is very different than minis indeed or even at the club level. Im not saying it never happens at the club level but it does happen most every time at the pro level.
I would definately spend at least one year as an expert running up front on big tracks with a good club before jumping in the cup buts thats just me. Qualifying for grid positions is a plus. I should know, I didn't listen to anyone at first. I do now, sometimes.

 

Last note. Take all of this and apply it to the world level in this new class and increase the overall intensity level ten fold. Not including the costs. We are doing fine here and MA is doing a great job. If the new 300 class comes in 2018 to the US, great. If the level of competition turns out to be an even better step to 600ss, great. Perhaps WSBK will bring the 300 show to Laguna next year. Would be fun to wildcard and race with those from WSBK.

 

http://www.europeanjuniorcup.com/b3...rate-46th-and-final-race-at-jerez-in-october/

The WIL Sport European Junior Cup has been the introductory class to the FIM World Superbike Championship since 2011. The series has been partnered by Honda for the previous 4 seasons, initially using the CBR500R motorcycle and in the last seasons the CBR650F. With the assistance of Honda and series partners WIL Sport, Dorna, Pirelli and Motul the EJC has successfully introduced more than one hundred and forty riders to international competition, and has provided some of the closest and most spectacular racing of the WorldSBK race weekend.

-jim

 

Not debating this any longer. I want kids on bikes, as often as possible. I will be in the WERA paddock in 2017, and at Herrin's, and VIR Minis, and MotoAmerica..... and I will be involved in kids racing, on anything with 2 wheels..... They may even be in my front yard on my Mini GNCC track on my KLX, TTR, CRF....

 

You should take the time to actually see what groups like NJ Mini GP are doing and how they conduct their events before making a blanket statement like that. They put on very well organized, safe and structured events with an open mind regarding their rules package and equipment standards and put a very high emphasis on rider training and development in race scenarios.

 

If everyone waited until they were ready to run at the pointy end of the grid, turnout would be much smaller. As long as the kid is not a danger and is having fun, go for it. Finances allowing, of course. On the other hand, if a racer is a consistent backmarker after a full season, his long term development would probably be enhanced by more time at the club level.

 

We disappeared before ever gridding up at the pro level. It's not always about money.