As FTR and the number of participants increases we need a way to deal with the shear mass of humanity. I believe that some of the frustrations our members are feeling grow out of this problem. I am enclosing a proposal that may address some of these concerns and the proposal by James Rowland. I will address the changes that I made and the reasons behind them. My disclaimer-I have no ulterior motive in this proposal, don't care if it is ever considered, and did not go to the Hare Scramble committee where it was discussed. I only want what is best for FTR since I have been a loyal member off and on since 1977.
Saturday
Time Event Average No. of Riders
8-9 AM Practice All Saturday Riders
9:30 Riders meeting All Saturday Riders
10 AM Mini's/Junior C
Mini-Beginner		 55
Noon Beginner
Vintage/Super Vintage		 80
2 PM C Open C-250
C-200/C-4stroke		 55
4 PM PeeWees
Sunday
Time Event Average No. of Riders
8-9 AM Practice All Sunday Riders
9:30 Riders meeting All Sunday Riders
10 AM Specialty Classes
(Age and gender defined
classes)		 207
12:30 AA, A-Open,250,200,4Str
B-Open,250,200,4Str		 90
3 PM Quad A-2str &4str
Quad B-2str &4str
Quad SR		 57
1. The Saturday race schedule can start earlier in the day to accommodate an increased number of FTR riders participating in events. Yes, this does necessitate the local clubs getting their act together sooner and decreases the time for last minute preparations. It also means that those riders participating in Saturday races must leave home Friday night or depart earlier on Saturday. This is the same situation that the Sunday riders face-leave home the night before or get up earlier on race day. Yes, I do realize that if you have a child in the Minis and you ride in the Sunday races you will end up spending Friday and Saturday night at the course. How better to get to know your fellow racers. Yes, more wives may need to attend if they want to see their families on the weekend.
2. Moving the Saturday start times earlier allows for more race time for each class to race and gives the clubs more time for sweep and/or course adjustment. Each class should be able to run longer races without being pushed for time. This Saturday schedule increases the normal 1-hour between races to 2-hours thereby giving more time for each race.
3. The C class could ride with the Beginner/Vintage boys and ride more laps OR ride at a separate time. If they ride at the same time then they would simply ride one or two more laps than Beginner/Vintage. Riding at the same time as the Beginner/Vintage would allow for the Saturday schedule to start later in the day. This starting time would still not have nearly as many riders as the Sunday 10 AM race (135 vs. 207).
4. Moving the C riders to Saturday will do several things. First, as C riders move up from Beginner it will keep them on the same day. Second, it will avoid an exponential increase in course difficulty as the course degrades significantly by late Sunday. It is imperative that we seek to enlarge FTR since there is power in numbers, particularly when FTR attempts to lobby our state legislators. Retention of new members is important. This attitude of "don't give the C riders a good course" and "we had to ride a crappy course when we were C riders" is immature and selfish. It is not how I want to be portrayed nor do I believe it is how we want FTR to be portrayed. We are all off road riders and we should encourage and nurture the new/young off road riders-not discourage them or treat them as second-class citizens. Some people are slow (I should know), will always be slow, and should not be treated as second-class citizens.
5. Looking at the finish times for the Mini C class it is apparent that there is a large discrepancy in rider abilities. At most races there is over 30 minutes between the 1st place and last-place finishers. In addition, there is frequently no difference in the abilities of the top C class and top A class riders based on finishing times. We also have an inordinately large number of entries in this class. To ask a kid who has never raced a motorcycle before to start on a line with 25-30 other kids is a little overwhelming. These new-to-racing kids should not be asked to start with 30 other kids and race against C riders with A level abilities. With this in mind I am proposing that we start a Mini D or Mini-Beginner class just as we have for the big kids (adults). This would not increase the number of riders, only drop the slower kids down into a slower class. Trophies would be minimal and promotion rapid.
The same is true for the Junior B class. We frequently have 25-30 riders on the starting line. In addition, the top B riders have A level abilities and times. To take a 13-or 14-year old who has never raced before and put him in this situation is somewhat overwhelming. I would propose that we add a Junior C class. This class would run with either the Saturday Minis or the 10 AM Sunday class. The advantage of the Saturday time is that it would reduce the overall number of Sunday 10 AM riders. Again, we would not be adding more riders, only dropping the slower current B riders down to the new class until they could compete.
I realize that adding two new classes will increase the number of trophies, cost of trophies, and the amount of weight that the Trail Boss has to carry around. Tough! We're in this sport for fun and competition. Let's make it fun and competitive (and safe).
6. Sunday's time schedule would remain similar to the current set-up. The major change here is a spreading of the race times. Leaving 2 ½ hours between races will allow for the clubs to run longer races.
7. Running Quads at 3 PM on Sunday will allow for the clubs to put on tighter courses without having the quads open the course and turn it into a highway. The Quads seem to be running at 3 PM on Saturday so this would only present a change in day not in time.
8. We need to keep the Quad riders in FTR as long as possible. We invited them in, we should be committed to keeping them. We are the Florida Trail Riders-not the Florida Motorcycle Trail Riders(FloMoTraRids). Would they be better served by having their own series on separate courses/weekends under the FTR umbrella like the MX'ers do? (This is more problematic because of the limited land availability and the fact that they ride trails and not the more readily accessible motocross courses). All off-road riders should band together to support each other and maximize our legislative power. This is critical to our long-term goal of retaining our riding areas in Florida. We do not need or want segregated factions opposing our lobbying efforts in Tallahassee. We should be an organization that every quad rider in Florida wants to be a part of.
9. We may need to compress some of the starting rows into each other. Both vintage and C open average only 4 and 5 riders yet have their own starting rows.
10. We need to somehow decrease the number of riders at 10 AM Sunday. WE NEED TO MOVE 50 OF THE SLOWEST RIDERS OUT OF THE 10 AM RACE. OR MOVE 25 OF THE FASTEST INTO THE AA/A/B RACE AND 25 OF THE SLOWEST BACK TO SATURDAY. Who do we need to move out? Can we move the 43 riders of the Junior and Women out? The logistics of this are open to suggestion since any suggestion is sure to ignite consternation.
A major alternative in this plan is to start the C classes at the same time as the Beginner/Vintage class. This would eliminate the 2 PM start time and the Saturday schedule could be moved 2 hours later. Let the C class riders run the same course but let them run 1 or 2 laps longer. We would still only have an average of 135 riders on the course if both groups started at the same time. This is still 70 riders fewer than the 207 riders at the Sunday 10 AM race.
Saturday
Time Event Average No. of Riders
10-11 AM Practice All Saturday Riders
11:30 Riders meeting All Saturday Riders
Noon Mini's/Junior C
Mini-Beginner		 55
2 PM Beginner
Vintage/Super Vintage
C Open C-250
C-200/C-4stroke		 135
4 PM PeeWees
Sunday
Time Event Average No. of Riders
8-9 AM Practice All Sunday Riders
9:30 Riders meeting All Sunday Riders
10 AM Specialty Classes
(Age and gender defined
classes)		 207
12:30 AA, A-Open,250,200,4Str
B-Open,250,200,4Str		 90
3 PM Quad A-2str &4str
Quad B-2str &4str
Quad SR		 57
The way I see the current decision-making tree is as follows:
1. Do we want to swap the C class and the Quads?
2. Do we want to run the C's together with the Beginner/Vintage class?
3. Can we institute a Junior C and Beginner-Mini class?
4. Can we compress some of the starting rows together to shorten the time it takes to start each race without putting too many people on the line at once?
5. Which classes can we move out of the 10 AM Sunday race?
6. How can FTR best serve the needs of the Quad riders?
Larry Kuhn
C-Open
#4 (plain 4)