I thought someone might be interested

[Malden]

In New England our predominant racing organization is the NESC. In recent years racers have voiced complaints of very poor track conditions at the events and some races have been outright dangerous due to poor track maintenance. Anyway, this situation in conjunction with growing registration lines, increased prices per class, and, in general, nobody listening to the riders has come to a head. A few weeks ago all the expert racers (with the exception of 2 or 3) decided to not race their motos!! Supposedly those who protested are "banned for life" from the track but who knows if that will stick. Regardless it was refreshing to see the riders group together to make a point about running a safe race and treating the riders as customers who are spending their hard earned $$ to ride a couple of laps. Also, Suzuki stepped up and pulled contingency money from all the events until they are satisfied that promoters are running a safe and "rider oriented" race. Kudos to the riders and Suzuki.

 

[wardy]

Malden that is really cool, I do have a question though. WHy would riders continue to go to this track contingency or for any other reason? If track conditions are consistantly bad then do the riders have another track to ride on that same day>?
Around here tracks have to do a respectable job.......or no one shows up.
Course we even have a few tracks that do good but can't pull turn outs. That is somtimes not cool but the strong survive and that is business.

I hope that track shapes up, and Suzuki has now done two things this year that is good to see. The stood up to a magazine and they have done this to a track that doesn't promote Suzuki in the right lite.

very cool


wardy

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"don't wake me.......I am working."

 

[Malden]

Unfortunately there arent many tracks in the CT, RI, MA area. So simply going to another track is not a viable option. I think thare are plans to have a new organization in new england next year that will address many of these issues. The sport of MX has grown immensely here and it is due for some better organization.

anyway, here is a reprint of the local Suzuki rep's statement in regards to the situation a few weeks ago:

"This is just to explain why Suzuki changed it's contingency dates from Middleboro. There has been some problems that were braught up to us by some long time Suzuki supporters regarding the NESC and the Middleboro track. We were asked to move the dates by these supporters so they could take advantage of our contingency program without having to go to Middleboro until some of the issues are sorted out. Suzuki believes in supporting their customers and will go where they want us to go if we can. I received more than a few calls regarding this, so I felt it would be in our best interest to change to dates. Suzuki has no plans on taking contingency away from the NESC. Hopefully the problems between the riders and the NESC will be resolved and racing will continue as normal. Suzuki does not condone any unsportsman like conduct on or off the track and belives any differences can be resolved in a civil manor. If racers still want to ride Middleboro they should be able to without any presure from other racers. It's important to remember why you get up early and spend all day at the track to get about 1hr of riding time. Hopefully it's because you and your family enjoys it. Keep it real."

-- jason simmons ([email protected]), July 31, 2000