Vet Fest meets Vintage Days

BriarcliffMx

BriarcliffMx

PR Founding Father
Just an idea here. What if we were to host an Ohio Vet Championship which included a vintage racing as well? Along side this we could have a swap meet too for the whole weekend. For the possible structure, we could do a complete vintage mx on Saturday, and possibly 2-3 sessions of GP. Then do a full on Vet style Mx on Sunday. Just something that came up over the phone with a buddy. It sounded good the other day anyway.
 
I like that idea. The race format works here in the East. Vets and vintage. We have two serieses that do well with this format....
 
Sounds great to me. Would the GP be for all era of bikes or just vintage bikes?
 
Very cool!
A "Briarcliff Bonanza"

Would help attendance if it is carefully planned as to not fall on a weekend reserved by AHRMA or AMA Vintage series.

GP's before Lunch (both days), then Vintage and Post Vintage/Evo's racing MX in the afternoon all on Saturday would give racers as much seat time as they could ask for. Maybe even offer a Decade or Bomber class both days to help entice the non-vintage riders to ride both days.

I know that deep down Briarcliff has a lot of potential for the vintage/PV racing crowd, just have to help everyone see it.
 
Just think tanking here, don't get too excited.

In terms of GP, I think we should keep it simple, do the era's as I understand them (not real well). Vintage-Post Vintage-Bomber-Modern. I hear hoopla about drum brakes, 1983, blah blah blah. I don't know guys, I was a wee lad when a lot of this stuff happened. So that would be four sessions, that's more then enough. Probably would work best in the summer for more daylight.
 
BriarcliffMx said:
Just think tanking here, don't get too excited.

In terms of GP, I think we should keep it simple, do the era's as I understand them (not real well). Vintage-Post Vintage-Bomber-Modern. I hear hoopla about drum brakes, 1983, blah blah blah. I don't know guys, I was a wee lad when a lot of this stuff happened. So that would be four sessions, that's more then enough. Probably would work best in the summer for more daylight.
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Vintage / Vet is perfect. Don't be so quick to dismiss the drum brakes, 1983, blah blah blah rules. Most everyone that runs vintage knows those rules and for the most part the keep the playing field pretty level. For sure they can be "streamlined" but be careful. You will find that the guys that attend the vintage stuff are INCREDIBLY willing to help anyone who wants to participate in, and or, promote any type of vintage motorcycle event.
 
BriarcliffMx said:
Just think tanking here, don't get too excited.
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Too late.... Nothing excites me more than ideas of loading up three of my funnest bikes in the truck knowing I'm racing all three in the same day, and then loading two or three different bikes the next day, and doing it again.

In most vintage/PV races now, the gates usually have mixed class's anyway, so in the end your basically racing everybody that was on the line with you, so it kind of doesn't matter running less class's and grouping them in broader catagories. I don't mind racing against 125's or big bores, just the same general bike era. It's all just for fun anyway. Same with the GP's.

The biggest regretable challenge a racer will usually face is when he has to race against a punk twenty years younger. (Then you have to resort to race tactics and psychology :) )

A Vintage/Vet Race weekend at a track the calliber of Briarcliff is just too cool to not get excited. Me thinks a lot of the old geezers could get excited over this, from the novice newbies to the ex-pros. No pressure, all for fun, bragging rights, and great memories. Really its the recipe that makes AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days so much fun. 3-Days of racing action, different disciplines, challenges and bike types. Some of us anxiously wait all year for that event.
 
Man I'd love to see an Ohio promoter try a new racing format. I applaud you for forward thinking and testing the waters. People this is your chance to speak up in order to influence what happens in 2014.
 
Sounds like a fun weekend to me! A little of all kinds of racing on all kinds of bikes gets the old guys rolling. Since you are AMA affiliated in some way next year, you could use their Vintage rule guidelines, which I think are a little bit simpler than AHRMA's. But most Vintage enthusiasts know what fits where if you call the classes the same names….. If it's a one off event for fun, you won't have all the bickering about bikes in wrong class that a series brings anyway since most old bike riding is for fun on a one off event.
 
The more I think about it, it may be tough to squeeze in 4 gp sessions, maybe do the vintage/post vintage in one, then bomber and modern in the other with a break in between, or a damn good bench race session. For the Saturday day program , we would run a standard 2 moto and follow AMA classes. Sunday we would probably follow Red Buds lead on that, they have the formula ( vet fest ).

Now the deal breaker, when to do something like that? August is out, September is too late. It would have to be July ? But would that be too close to mid-Ohio ?
 
That might be a good warm up for Mid Ohio if you did it before hand like 2 weeks, give some people a chance to work bugs out of their bikes that they've been working on…...

Just a thought
 
How about 4th of July weekend. Dare I say 3 day event. Hey, Go big, why not. Vet and Vintage Moto, HS and Trials. (that last part was for me since I just got a new trials toy)
 
ck1racerx said:
How about 4th of July weekend. Dare I say 3 day event. Hey, Go big, why not. Vet and Vintage Moto, HS and Trials. (that last part was for me since I just got a new trials toy)
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There in lies the problem with July. Red Bud is 4th of July weekend, tons of vets go to watch. So then you might have two open weekends between that and Mid-Ohio. One of which will more than likely be a Battle round at Chillitown. I have enough three day events right now, and I have tried go big or go home....It doesn't always work. For an event like this, 2 days is more than enough. Probably too much already. No way on HS and trials, not interested in either.
 
(18 +) I hope. I think there are alot of riders like myself that just aren't quite just 25, but have trouble competeing at the big races against a 15 yr. old with three bikes, an open training schedule, and no job.
 
So why not later in the year? This state becomes a ghost town come late September. All the other Vet and vintage stuff has gone west and we are left with GP's that no one attends...LOL could not help it Hey the trials thing is fun and EASY to set up a course. We could add to it by drinking a beer without putting your foot down.
 
Sorry, but vintage racers won't show up. I guess I shouldn't be so generalizing about it, because I probably would and a handful of others would. So I guess I should say "I'll bet less than 20 vintage racers would show up."

Keep in mind that at the AMA or AHRMA vintage races they layout a course going around most of the jumps. If you say they have to race the same track you're done. A good example of this is the High Point Vet/Vintage National. This has been running for almost 30 years! For 2013 they had a total of 11 "vintage" racers show up. And that's stretching it because they started "Vintage" at 1995 or older.

I've raced the High Point Vet National on old bikes about 5 times, and not counting Babets I think I've only see one or two other racers there that I see at AMA or AHRMA races over the entire span I've raced the event. I'll admit, sometimes it's a handful trying to race an old bike on the full High Point course prepped for modern bikes.

If you really want to try it out, focus on the Vet classes but you could have about 4 classes for old bikes to kick the tires:
Non-Current (1996 or older)
Pre-Modern (1990 or older)
Post Vintage (1984 or older, drum brakes)
Dual Shockers (drum brakes)

This whole conversation sounds vaguely familiar.....


10x13 Vet national proof.jpg
 
Vet261 said:
Sorry, but vintage racers won't show up. I guess I shouldn't be so generalizing about it, because I probably would and a handful of others would. So I guess I should say "I'll bet less than 20 vintage racers would show up."

Keep in mind that at the AMA or AHRMA vintage races they layout a course going around most of the jumps. If you say they have to race the same track you're done. A good example of this is the High Point Vet/Vintage National. This has been running for almost 30 years! For 2013 they had a total of 11 "vintage" racers show up. And that's stretching it because they started "Vintage" at 1995 or older.

I've raced the High Point Vet National on old bikes about 5 times, and not counting Babets I think I've only see one or two other racers there that I see at AMA or AHRMA races over the entire span I've raced the event. I'll admit, sometimes it's a handful trying to race an old bike on the full High Point course prepped for modern bikes.

If you really want to try it out, focus on the Vet classes but you could have about 4 classes for old bikes to kick the tires:
Non-Current (1996 or older)
Pre-Modern (1990 or older)
Post Vintage (1984 or older, drum brakes)
Dual Shockers (drum brakes)

This whole conversation sounds vaguely familiar.....


View attachment 12548
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So just include some vintage type classes on Sunday? What to do on Saturday ? Practice? GP? Girls on trampolines? Hmmmm.....oh the possibilities. Thanks for your insight John.
 
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