Attention Daytona Motor Corp

The outdoor season is fast approaching. In fact, if you haven't looked at the updated outdoor schedule, you should. It has been updated and changed significantly this year. In light of this fact, here is something pertaining to the outdoor season.

Imagine this: Your in amazing shape, and at the age of 30, you have a program that has evolved over the years to meet your needs as a rider and boost your fitness to an all time high. You may not smash the lap records book, but on lap twelve twenty five minutes into the race, you are just as fast as on lap one.

You have established yourself as a solid top twenty outdoor rider in previous seasons, although you only race one or two nationals a year. Suddenly, a new rule emerges, effectively ending your chances at ever racing a national again.

The rule I speak of is the timed qualifying, and here is my take on it.
I am extremely partial to this post. I know a rider, Matt Karlsen (http://www.karlsenracing.com/profile.html), who always makes it to my local track's Thanksgiving Team USA Championships race. He is in unbelievable shape, is damn fast, and never says die! He is a beast to put it lightly, I would say he makes Andrew Short look weak! In previous years, he had made a few Outdoor nationals, and done well for himself, largely in part due to his fitness. At our race, he always starts mid pack out of 40, looks like he will finish tenth for the first half of the race, and always ends up passing pros left and right in the second half to finish top 5 and sometimes top 3, against very respectable names. All due to fitness.

However, with the new qualifying structure he no longer makes the show, when he used to do so well. Of course, I am partial, but there are problems with this current set up.

My first point: The riders have their best chance at laying down some wood when the track is freshly prepped and practically bump free. This means, that the first couple laps of practice are one huge pissing contest to get the fastest lap time. Or, for my favorite underdog Matt Karlsen, a mad dash to get in the show! If motocross were car racing, I would agree with the rule. You don't want a car on the track that is way off pace! But if this were car racing, you wouldn't want a car in the race you knew couldn't go the distance. That is analogy applies perfectly to the current situation.

Second: If you work your ass off, allowing yourself to be just as fast on the last lap as the first, you should be rewarded for that. Tim Ferry is rewarded by great late charging finishes, heck he even gets faster as the race goes on! His fitness (and talent...) aspect allows him to be a front runner.

Third: Motocross is not just who can go the fastest. It is a huge mix between fitness and speed, and for many, the more fit they are the faster they can go. Why then, is qualifying for a race based on purely the speed element of racing? I personally know a couple intermediate (B) class riders, (and by judging from the Mini Olympics in Vegas, you know/heard of a couple) who could easily qualify for an outdoor national. Hell, Justin Barcia and Dean Wilson set 2 of the top 5 lap times with Barcia setting the fastest all week, as B class riders. That said, I guarantee you they aren't fit enough to crack the top twentieth maybe alone thirtieth place in the first moto, let alone the second moto (well, maybe Barcia and Wilson could, but that's the exception to the rule...both are going top factory pro in a year or so).

Matt Walker said, "It takes a real man to do thirty plus two...ugh twice."

Fourth: The track is getting destroyed by the mad dash in an entirely new manner. No, it doesn't get rougher than usual, dryer than usual etc... now it gets one lined. A one line track is as detrimental to good racing as anything else you can imagine. This is not me complaining from a fan standpoint, I am just restating the riders opinion over the course of the previous year.

Those are the problems, and some of those points, if not all, overlap.



Here is the solution:

All riders must qualify based on the average of their top five or seven (needs research so they don't cruise one, go fast one) fastest laps per each practice session. That doesn't mean the 5 (for arguments sake) best laps between the two sessions, but the fastest 5 in that particular session.

Or, even better, they should qualify like in the good ole' days. That way the importance of starts plays in, as well as fitness. This would allow those who get good starts to use that strength, as well as those who are in shape enough to hold on for the entire qualifier to use that strength.

All that, of course, will be after a non timed practice session is held to allow the track to develop multiple lines before the madness begins.



There were a lot of top twenty riders who didn't qualify to nationals this year... to keep this PG-13, I would be forced to leave the things they have to say about the rule.

To attempt and quote Matt Karlsen on the new rule (a real PG-13 guy),

"It sucks cause it leaves out people who actually train and work hard during the year and off-season and replaces them with slackers who may be able to go fast once, but are people I kill at local races longer than 4 laps. If they end up making the show, they ultimately get dead last lapped 3 times in moto 1 and are too tired to race moto 2. What fan wants to see someone give up while on the track?"

Well put, Matt, well put.

We all have that local favorite who we love to see do well, but I do think that purely basing qualifing on speed is fundamentaly wrong considering the many other aspects in riding.

Thanks for reading, email me if you have any comments or thoughts on the matter at aggiemoto99@yahoo.com