A trip to RedBud and a new hero, Shane McElrath #701

bruceb

bruceb

PR Addict
I once worked for an organization that loved to use the phrase, "a clear and concise message."
This past weekend at the Red Bud Regional, Shane McElrath from North Carolina sent a clear and concise message to the competitors that he will face in August at Loretta Lynn's dude ranch by
sweeping all 12 motos that he entered in the B classes. He did not have a difficult time on the 450 as he utilized good starts, had the lead by the ski jump and cruised on to victory.
It was a different story on the small bike as he had to overcome poor starts (4th-6th place) and run down a very fast Jace Owen most of the motos. Shane had taken the lead by the end of lap 3 each moto in what had to be some of the best racing of the weekend (definately the best racing for the lead).

You can watch him this weekend at the Mill Creek Regional in Alabama or at the ranch the end of July.

A few shots of Shane in action:

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Typical 250 start, this one 250B mod, moto 3. Jace Owen already has a 3-4 bike length lead and is not in the photo.


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Jace and Shane would battle like this for 2-3 laps of each of the 4 lap 250 motos.

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Blasting through the rockers like they are not even there.

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Taking the flag for the final moto of a long weekend, and a perfect 12 for 12

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The sponsors...Shane credits club mx for taking him from a top 10-15 to a title contender this year.
His only top ten at the ranch was a 4th in schoolboy 1, after staying at Club MX for only a few months.
 
For the record, the official results for 250B stk have Shane scored in 9th (1-1-28),
as Shane, Josh Osby (4-4-29), and Taylor Holt (5-7-30) were all docked one lap in moto 3.
You can read about that fiasco here:

Red Bud Regional screws three racers
I was there, spent time with Shane and his dad, read some notes from Taylor's mom and I am still not sure what the actuual reason was for the penalty.

bruce
 
They clearly stated at the rider's meeting that after market slip ons were acceptable on 4 strokes, then rabbled on about DB testing. Not sure why they would have been docked.
 
pasimp57 said:
They clearly stated at the rider's meeting that after market slip ons were acceptable on 4 strokes, then rabbled on about DB testing. Not sure why they would have been docked.
Click to expand...

Well I guess that means they need to run stock only full exhausts to get out of that BS!
 
Had the pleasure of hanging out with shane at the amazing ClubMx Training Facility he works hard came from nothing and is beating top names.
 
pasimp57 said:
They clearly stated at the rider's meeting that after market slip ons were acceptable on 4 strokes, then rabbled on about DB testing. Not sure why they would have been docked.
Click to expand...

I'll go ahead and open the can of worms here: it is a STOCK class. In the olden days, no 2T would be allowed to run a PC or FMF silencer. Pipe manufacturers can and do realize performance gains with "only" a 4t slip-on, either in weight reduction, throttle response or, sometimes, outright torque / hp gains. Please make a rule and stick with it. If the family has enough $$$ to visit a few regionals and have multiple bikes / motor rebuilds / memberships at training facilities, then they can come up with the relatively small $ to find a stock silencer.

OK, I am off my soap box now.
 
baxterj787 said:
I'll go ahead and open the can of worms here: it is a STOCK class. In the olden days, no 2T would be allowed to run a PC or FMF silencer. Pipe manufacturers can and do realize performance gains with "only" a 4t slip-on, either in weight reduction, throttle response or, sometimes, outright torque / hp gains. Please make a rule and stick with it. If the family has enough $$$ to visit a few regionals and have multiple bikes / motor rebuilds / memberships at training facilities, then they can come up with the relatively small $ to find a stock silencer.

OK, I am off my soap box now.
Click to expand...

The problem is that the stock classes are no longer "stock". I am old enogh to remember when grips and graphics had to be stock, The rules now allow revalved suspension and (yes) aftermarket silencers.
Here is the rule from the AMA rulebook:

http://www.mxsports.com/pages/rules/2012-supplemental-rules-
section b rule c:
Changes/modifications to the silencer are allowed for the sole purpose of complying with current sound requirements.

The problem is that when the AMA decided to implement a 94db sound standard for amateur racing, a stock bike prior to 2011
could not meet that standard. At this point you have an issue; do you allow only these bikes (pre 2011) to change silencers, do you
allow them to compete at a higher noicse level, or do you allow any bike to change the slip on as long as it is less than 94db,

The rule has been interpretted as any bike can change the slip on, provided that it meets the 94db standard.

Here is a nice chart that shows everything that can be added, changed, or modified in the "stock" class. These bikes are not stock.
(If is is green it can be added, changed, or modified.)
Stk Class Chart


bruce
 
pasimp57 said:
They clearly stated at the rider's meeting that after market slip ons were acceptable on 4 strokes, then rabbled on about DB testing. Not sure why they would have been docked.
Click to expand...

Although I missed that part of the riders meeting, the rules allow replacement slip ons (among quite a few other mods) as shown in my above post.
After the race was over and Shane's family found out he was scored as 28th in moto 3, I went with Shane's dad to visit Drex Akin (Red Bud's referee).
Drex pointed out that three racers had aftermarket silencers, he then continued to state that someone showed an ama official an insert that was not in the silencer and claimed that
Shane had used it in the races. I do not know who this mystery person could have been, it was not Shane or his dad. To be honest I doubt this part even happened.

So at this point (and still to this day) I do not understand if Shane was docked for using an aftermarket silencer, which, in absence of a sound test proving otherwise, is legal.
Or, if the officials are sticking to the story of the bikes going to a sound test that never happened with inserts in the bike.

Referring to the VitalMX thread:
MXGURU4 wrote:
I spoke this morning directly to the official involved. The three riders involved had their bikes inspected after the moto and none were running inserts. The impound official asked them to stay for sound testing but they could not wait as they had other motos coming up. When they brought their bikes back for sound testing they had the inserts in. The official initially was just going to give them a warning if they didn't make sound, but when they brought the bikes back with inserts in after a visual inspection after the moto showed they clearly did not have them during the moto, he penalized each a lap based on the following rule:

Page 175 of the rule book:
o. Changing the specifications of a motorcycle that has
already been admitted for competition and/or
inspected.
They didn't get penalized for the illegal part, they got busted for trying to cover it up. Kinda like Roger Clemens.

We now know this is incorrect. I was at the impound area after 1250b stk moto 3 from shortly after Shane arrive until he left and no ama official talked to him.
Shane and Taylor Holt have also went on record as saying no one asked them to either stay for a sound test or report back later for test.

Again it would have been very simple to test the bikes after the third moto and avoided the whole fiasco.

bruce
 
I don't understand why all these aftermarket parts, revalves, etc. are now allowed in the stock class. Why did they change all these rules to allow all this stuff?
 
Should just get rid of the "stock" and "c" classes. Make all classes modified. Or have two different mod classes. One for just suspension work and one for any type of mods. Better yet do it by income and support $$$$ received.

So glad we got out of it and just ride for fun now. Too much bullsh*t to put up with.
 
KDR053 said:
Should just get rid of the "stock" and "c" classes. Make all classes modified. Or have two different mod classes. One for just suspension work and one for any type of mods. Better yet do it by income and support $$$$ received.

So glad we got out of it and just ride for fun now. Too much bullsh*t to put up with.
Click to expand...

I agree. Get rid of stock classes. I would place limits on the suspension work though. That is where a Factory kid can make his bike really shine. Although with stock componenets and a factory tech setting them up, they are still gonna shine.
 
John250 said:
I agree. Get rid of stock classes. I would place limits on the suspension work though. That is where a Factory kid can make his bike really shine. Although with stock componenets and a factory tech setting them up, they are still gonna shine.
Click to expand...


How many factory boys have had their stuff ripped apart and found it to be "slightly outside the limits of legal" ??

Ben Lamay (remember that fuss when Tyler bowers was holding up the pace of the race to get a championship in a mini class years ago?)... Well Lamay had suspension altercations that could enhance the performance of the suspension but used stock parts..... Dane Leimbach nailed it that year when he said : something along the lines of: enhanced performance isn't stock, yet Lamay was Not DQd.

Millsapps got busted with 112 cc engine in Supermini years back.

Stock should be Stock, how it you bought it off the showroom, besides sprocket gearing, graphics, handlebars, and grips.
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
Millsapps got busted with 112 cc engine in Supermini years back.

Stock should be Stock, how it you bought it off the showroom, besides sprocket gearing, graphics, handlebars, and grips.
Click to expand...

Georgie: S/Mini is now allowed 112cc for a 2 stroke, perhaps Davi was just ahead of his time.
bruce
 
The rules are bended and pushed around all the time and then they re write them to suit their needs for the following years. Tyler Bowers was responsible for the addition of "B/C" after the schoolboy class designations a few years ago. He finished in the top 5 in a B class at age 14 and then didn't move up to the A class the following year since he was only 15. He rode Schoolboy and Four Stroke since the classes were "unclassified" by skill level that year and he was allowed to run those classes. After that, they added "B/C" to schoolboy and college boy classes to make sure that a top 5 "B" rider couldn't go into a unclassified class the following year against lesser competitors.

And who can forget the year that Bud Maimone's (sp?) son showed up on the first Cobra against the PW 50's in the Peewee class. They had to come up with all new classes after that with a whole bunch of rules for each class.
 
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