Holmboyz
PR Addict
I just wanted to share my experience from this past weekend at OIR.
This was my son’s first race of the year so we decided OIR because it’s a track he likes and it’s near our home. My goal was to keep an open mind about the track, the quads, and the staff and see how the day went. My goal for this post it to provide some honest feedback for riders who haven’t attended yet and also provide some feedback for OIR to keep in mind moving forward. I’ll break down my experience based on Pro’s and Con’s.
Pros –
Overall, the track layout is nice. Not “huge” changes but the track is wider in some sections, a lot more bowl corners, there have been a few more jumps added and some of what was there has been more “sculpted” and better defined as a jump…if that makes sense. They opened up the back section again and incorporated some of the newer middle section.
There were tons of people working (maintenance and flaggers) and prepping the track. Watering system and drainage system looked to be improved as well.
The track prep was ongoing – cultivators and discs were constantly working the dirt.
Crew was attentive and friendly. There were also some ice additions to the facility – covered sign-up area, fresh paint, new concrete, etc.
Despite not being a big Quad guy, I really enjoyed watching the money quad class. The guy from Baldwin was fun to watch and there were some good battles behind him.
Cons –
Everything seemed to be running about an hour late. Racing was to start @ 9am, didn’t start til ~ 10am.
I figured the Bike turnout would be light because of Amherst 2-day but I didn’t expect such a low overall #. From my Race Order: Quad’s = 37, Big Bike’s = 38, Mini’s on the Pee Wee track = 10. I assumed there would be a ton of quads here for this event…and maybe 37 is a lot but there were only 5 classes outside of the $ class - the biggest gate was 12 in Open and the others had from 1 to 4 riders, the $ class had 9. To me, the low Quad #’s were the biggest surprise of the day.
Pee Wee Track. I had a nephew racing as well - the low # of riders was a bummer for everyone; including OIR I’m sure. Beyond that out-of-their-control note, the only concern would be the 2-3 foot high wooden stakes placed in the inside corners of several parts of the track. One wrong move could lead to a bad accident. One Pro on the Pee Wee track was the disc’d starting area!
Walking Areas – there were some really big drainage “ruts” when walking down to view the start or up the hill on the big track. Potential for air casts if you’re not paying attention.
PA System – not sure what it was but there was some major feedback/distortion coming from some of the speakers at times. Not a big deal…unless you happened to park next to them! …specifically, the ones by the first bowl turn after the downhill and revised triple.
Jump Faces and some landings – some large rocks sticking out.
Lastly, and to me, most important – Blue groove/hard pack/slick apexes.
Despite the effort to dig up the hard pack, it just didn’t work in the middle of the corners for the bikes. I watched as the tines of the cultivator bounced on top of what appeared to be brown “concrete”. The equipment worked great on the entry and exit portions but only left shallow grooves that collected some of the dry, rock hard dirt that had chipped off the surface and made for some of the slickest corners I’ve ever seen bikes race on…think Outlaw Sprint Cars.
Basically, from my observation, some of the best lines for the bikes was outside in the corners where all the good soil had been kicked to and then you’re going outside-outside to retain traction and anyone trying anything different was either sliding out or going slow trying to avoid sliding out…turned into a slot car race of sorts. Not the best conditions for MX riders or MX fans.
I knew the days of deep OIR ruts and huge braking bumps were probably gone but I was hoping the prep in between Motos would be enough to get some small ones going resulting in a less technical but fast, nicely prepped track to race and have fun on.
If I’m a Quad guy, this is probably like heaven-on-earth.
If you’re a bike guy, I don’t know…it’s a different experience and different challenge to the rider now…maybe that’s a good thing? I’ll tell you one thing, don’t waste your time training for deep rutted corners…wet down a parking lot, spread down some topsoil and practice there! Not being in CRA, and going on the same day as them, had to be the gate killer. The Motos were boring to watch because the lack of #’s and despite getting out before 5, the day seemed to take forever…but we assumed that going in.
So, would I go back?
I asked my son if he wanted to race there again and he said there’s a Pro Bike Day that was bikes only and he’d go back to see how that was but after looking for myself, the schedule says bike and quad day. My only hope at returning for that event would be if the team at OIR could try to address the hard pack even more after the quads run. I know they attempted…they went back and forth numerous times in these areas but it just didn’t get deep enough…maybe plastique explosives for prep and intermission entertainment?! Since this was our first event at OIR this season, it would be nice to hear if the conditions were any different when the bikes ran first vs. the quads running first like they did this weekend? Maybe the 20min +2 for the $ quads took the track beyond repair for both sets of Motos?
I truly hope the OIR team can address the last Con… the facility is one of the best around and one of our favorite tracks in the area. It’s obvious they’re putting in a huge amount of time and effort and I’d hope the facility continues to make improvements in order to retain the bike segment of their events.
This was my son’s first race of the year so we decided OIR because it’s a track he likes and it’s near our home. My goal was to keep an open mind about the track, the quads, and the staff and see how the day went. My goal for this post it to provide some honest feedback for riders who haven’t attended yet and also provide some feedback for OIR to keep in mind moving forward. I’ll break down my experience based on Pro’s and Con’s.
Pros –
Overall, the track layout is nice. Not “huge” changes but the track is wider in some sections, a lot more bowl corners, there have been a few more jumps added and some of what was there has been more “sculpted” and better defined as a jump…if that makes sense. They opened up the back section again and incorporated some of the newer middle section.
There were tons of people working (maintenance and flaggers) and prepping the track. Watering system and drainage system looked to be improved as well.
The track prep was ongoing – cultivators and discs were constantly working the dirt.
Crew was attentive and friendly. There were also some ice additions to the facility – covered sign-up area, fresh paint, new concrete, etc.
Despite not being a big Quad guy, I really enjoyed watching the money quad class. The guy from Baldwin was fun to watch and there were some good battles behind him.
Cons –
Everything seemed to be running about an hour late. Racing was to start @ 9am, didn’t start til ~ 10am.
I figured the Bike turnout would be light because of Amherst 2-day but I didn’t expect such a low overall #. From my Race Order: Quad’s = 37, Big Bike’s = 38, Mini’s on the Pee Wee track = 10. I assumed there would be a ton of quads here for this event…and maybe 37 is a lot but there were only 5 classes outside of the $ class - the biggest gate was 12 in Open and the others had from 1 to 4 riders, the $ class had 9. To me, the low Quad #’s were the biggest surprise of the day.
Pee Wee Track. I had a nephew racing as well - the low # of riders was a bummer for everyone; including OIR I’m sure. Beyond that out-of-their-control note, the only concern would be the 2-3 foot high wooden stakes placed in the inside corners of several parts of the track. One wrong move could lead to a bad accident. One Pro on the Pee Wee track was the disc’d starting area!
Walking Areas – there were some really big drainage “ruts” when walking down to view the start or up the hill on the big track. Potential for air casts if you’re not paying attention.
PA System – not sure what it was but there was some major feedback/distortion coming from some of the speakers at times. Not a big deal…unless you happened to park next to them! …specifically, the ones by the first bowl turn after the downhill and revised triple.
Jump Faces and some landings – some large rocks sticking out.
Lastly, and to me, most important – Blue groove/hard pack/slick apexes.
Despite the effort to dig up the hard pack, it just didn’t work in the middle of the corners for the bikes. I watched as the tines of the cultivator bounced on top of what appeared to be brown “concrete”. The equipment worked great on the entry and exit portions but only left shallow grooves that collected some of the dry, rock hard dirt that had chipped off the surface and made for some of the slickest corners I’ve ever seen bikes race on…think Outlaw Sprint Cars.
Basically, from my observation, some of the best lines for the bikes was outside in the corners where all the good soil had been kicked to and then you’re going outside-outside to retain traction and anyone trying anything different was either sliding out or going slow trying to avoid sliding out…turned into a slot car race of sorts. Not the best conditions for MX riders or MX fans.
I knew the days of deep OIR ruts and huge braking bumps were probably gone but I was hoping the prep in between Motos would be enough to get some small ones going resulting in a less technical but fast, nicely prepped track to race and have fun on.
If I’m a Quad guy, this is probably like heaven-on-earth.
If you’re a bike guy, I don’t know…it’s a different experience and different challenge to the rider now…maybe that’s a good thing? I’ll tell you one thing, don’t waste your time training for deep rutted corners…wet down a parking lot, spread down some topsoil and practice there! Not being in CRA, and going on the same day as them, had to be the gate killer. The Motos were boring to watch because the lack of #’s and despite getting out before 5, the day seemed to take forever…but we assumed that going in.
So, would I go back?
I asked my son if he wanted to race there again and he said there’s a Pro Bike Day that was bikes only and he’d go back to see how that was but after looking for myself, the schedule says bike and quad day. My only hope at returning for that event would be if the team at OIR could try to address the hard pack even more after the quads run. I know they attempted…they went back and forth numerous times in these areas but it just didn’t get deep enough…maybe plastique explosives for prep and intermission entertainment?! Since this was our first event at OIR this season, it would be nice to hear if the conditions were any different when the bikes ran first vs. the quads running first like they did this weekend? Maybe the 20min +2 for the $ quads took the track beyond repair for both sets of Motos?
I truly hope the OIR team can address the last Con… the facility is one of the best around and one of our favorite tracks in the area. It’s obvious they’re putting in a huge amount of time and effort and I’d hope the facility continues to make improvements in order to retain the bike segment of their events.
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