Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125811
'" i ... ... N '" by Bob F. Read AIter talking with some of the people involved in the recen t AMA Congress it seems to be the general opinion that the new rule calling for Experts - only at all National dirt track races next year is the best thing to happen since the invention of the round wheel. As was expected, some publications erroneously stated that it would be Experts-only at all Nationals and not just dirt track races. Also expected was a quick response from the Texas area which had long had a few Junior riders show up for the annual Astrodome events, time trial, and then watch the races from the sidelines for being too slow on the clocks. • 1 have tried to talk with as many people as possible regarding this big change in the rules. After looking and listening I think the AMA has done the righ t thing. 1t seems s though the reason for running Juniors at dirt track Nationals in the beginning was to pad the program due to lack of total entries in the Expert class. In other words, to insure a full program of racing. The AMA has made great strides in recent years in obtaining good purses for good racing and riders. This has found more Experts. especially California Experts, traveling to the far corners of the coun try to compete in the Nationals. Each year of late it has become more and more worthwhile to hit more than just the few in one's own backyard, so to speak. The Junior class has been taking a total of 20% of the total National purse at each track bu t yet only a few Juniors. according to the record, travel and enter more than one or two Nationals each year. The record also shows that each season there are really only a handful of potential Experts in the Junior' class. These riders do the majority of winning so it boils down to the poin t where Your Dealer knows. And he11 have it soon. forty to six Juniors show up at Nationals to practice, time trials. run heat races and, then fill in the holes in the final for one or two riders to do all the winnings. To pay a. good purse promoters have to charge a pretty good price at the gate to draw a crowd and show a profit. The Experts are the headliners, the guys that draw the people. The new program should find more Experts at each 'ational with the setup now that will pay good to fair money to at least half of the riders that make the program. There were about a thousand licensed Junior riders th is past season, maybe more. The guess is that less than a hundred will have enough points to transfer to Expert by January. They just didn't ha've the talent or experience to make enough poin ts to transfer to the Expert class. . It has been disappointing in the past to see fifty or more Juniors show up for a National that will take only two dozen from time trials to the program and yet down the road there will be one or more non-national half miles begging for entries, races where the Junior could gain experience, points, and money. A lot of potentially good riders never want the Expert rating bad enough to work for i l. The AMA wiJI never have' a lot of races in every area and history has shown that the riders with the desire to be a racer often pack tip and head to wherever the races are being held. A case in point is Jim Rawls, a Texan who wanted to be a racer but found only a few short tracks under the AMA banner in his home state. There is a lot' of non-AMA racing in his area but that doesn't get you the required points to make Expert, and it never will. Rawls hit the road as a privateer and must have traveled at least 50.000 miles. scoring poin Is and gaining experience and he did it with a lot less money than the average Junior has in his pocket this year or any other year. He made it to the Expert class just like Sammy Tanner, Al Gunter. Carroll Resweber and many others before him. He'll do alright as a rookie next year as he will have a shot at not one but two main events at every dirt track National. Before the AMA could even explain, or be asked to explain how the new program was going to work the calls started coming in from a few people who got caught with their points down. As we get it now it will even be better for the Juniors that have the ability in their second year of professional racing. Tracks such as Houston, San Jose. Castle Rock and· others are going to host an "lnvitational" race for Juniors at their Nationals. Houston is considering inviting the top Novice riders from last season who made the Junior ranks to race each night at the twin Nationals the end of January in a special main even teach nigh l. Other Nationals that run later in the year are going to invite Junior riders to request an invitation, based on their performance up to the time of the even l. This means that the paying fan can sec the best Junjors in action and a good Junior does not not have to worry abour being eEminated in the time trials or the heal race, as there will be Done, just a main event - for money. This plan appears to have a lot of merit. If a Junior in '73 wants to compete at all or most of the 1 ationals he should throwaway his Novice press-clippings and start riding as much as possible with his yellow number plate. There is an old saying in racing that a good Junior is only one for a single season but you are an Expert for a long time and can never look, or go. back. Each year more and more Experts are making a full time living racing motorcycles, this was the idea many years ago but has just started to become a reali ty. We don't know of any riders that spent more than one or two years in the Junior class that ever made it big as an .,; Expert at Nation3J dirt track races. We ~ have run into a lot of longtime Juniors o who really have no desire to race any place except in their own area and be ~ w able to say that they entered such and Z such a National year after year. W ..J As the National purses have increased o so have many of the non-national > o events. Promoters at Northville Downs in Detroit, Harrington, Delaware and Wilson, North Carolina are just a few along with traveling promoter. Don ,. Brymer. who have been and will be putting on non-nationals next season that will rival most of the Nationals. They need riderS to justify the purses that will be on par with what National purses were just three or four years ago. The AMA has also created a new "Regional" race series. There will be a point (und to go with it. This means that a Junior can now make additional money for every point he scores. The regional races are not Nationals. I f you read this column and are a sponsor, tuner, or Junior rider in l73 and wan t t.o race at some of the National dirt track events it appears that you can be assured of making guaranteed money. Just get that license early and start racing. Promo ters wan t Junior riders with winning records next season and they wan t you back again in 1974 - as a rookie Expert. If you don't,have. the experience or the equipment there is still hope. Some national promoters are going to host J unior-N ovices programs the day or night before their National next year. Big Brother (your AMA Congressman) is looking out for you, just give him a chance to explain it and prove it. 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