Entry list for Lorettas is up. And again Ohio is down

ck1racerx

ck1racerx

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Kinda my annual post (it was the first think I ever posted on Pitracer) the entries for Lorettas is up and the number of Ohio and other local states continue to decline. Have not added them all up but clearly there are fewer riders making it from around here. And it is NOT for the lack of trying. Just look at how many Ohio racers ran the regionals. Sure the training facilities in the south pump out superstars but it's more then that. States like Wisconsin and New Jersey are sending more and more each year (I will check the numbers in the morning). I don't get it. This weekend Chillitown will be overrun with "good" riders from this area but apparently good is a geographical reference.
It's not endurance. Regional moto's are as short as all our local races. It's speed. Why are we slow?
And for the few that make it. Best of luck. Train hard. Get a good start and don't crash. You are representing are area. Kick ass
 
I think some of it has to do with the tracks. We have seen a big improvement in the last 5 years, but maybe it takes awhile for that cycle to run it's course. Hopefully we have gotten away from the fair race capital of the country. Also, I think 50's and 65's need to race on big tracks. It doesn't help kids to race on a kiddie track all the time and then go to a regional and have to ride on a real track.

I rode the regional at Red Bud this year. Was running 7th in 35+ first moto and ended with a torn achilles. The track was manly rough. Like CRAZY rough. I try to ride regularly at Briarcliff. Sometimes Route 62...... but if you mostly ride fair races and smooth tracks it's going to be like jumping in cold water when you hit something like Red Bud with whoops in the corners and 3 foot high braking bumps.

I think the new generation of kids from other areas have grown up riding tracks that are prepped like national tracks and when they get to a regional it's business as usual. Michigan is still putting out fast kids, but they have all that sand for kids to grow up riding in. It seems like there are fast kids from Ohio that are just a half step off from the top, but at a big race that half step can be 5 positions.
 
Alright, fact time.
Throughout the 80's and 90's Ohio averaged sending over 90 each year to Loretta's. Strong numbers continued until 2005 when Ohio had 95 qualify. Then, BOOM. numbers just went in the hole to the tune of 2012 = 46 and the worst year 2013 = 40. 2014 = 52 and this year 2015 we are sending 46.
Now before anyone claims its the training facilities in the south... In 2005 Georgia sent 68, this year, 76. Not exactly the increase you were expecting right? Yes Georgia has had a spike in resent years. They reached an all-time high in 2015 at 97. YES, 97. Ohio use to average that.
Other home states to big full time training facilities like North and South Carolina have even more puzzling numbers. In 2005 North Kakalaka sent 64. They peaked in 2013 at 81 and have dropped to 63 last year and only 55 this year. South Carolina has always averaged 27 and this year will send 24 so it aint da south stealing our fast boys...
Florida in 2005 = 130, this year 123
Texas in 2005 = 102, this year 90
And of course, California 2005 = 125, 2012 = 147, 2013 = 145, 2014 = 165 and this year, BOOM 209. Yeah, I don't think moto in Cali is all that bad.

So whatever killed speed in Ohio should be pretty easy to see. Its still there.
 
IIRC, didn't mxsports also change the number of entry positions around this year? So it used to be 7 for mid-east and surrounding regions but this year it is only the top 6 positions, then added those entry positions to the Western regionals? Maybe that is why Cali number all of the sudden bumped up...?
 
Want a big bump? Try Utah 2005 they had 5. Last year they had 13. This year they had a regional in the state and are sending 33

If we could only get a regional in our state... oh wait.....
 
Now the following is 2005 to 2015 by state:

Minnesota - 2005 = 42. this year 45
Ohio - 95, 46
Wisconsin - 22, 32
Tennessee - 46, 55
Penn - 51, 55 (Down from 86 last year. What happened there?)
Michigan - 87, 81
Indiana - 23, 26
Kentucky - 35, 22
Illinois - 42, 38

Ohio was BY FAR the worst over the past 10 years. Fair race capital of the country. I think you nailed it. We went a good decade without a single braking bump or rut.
 
Track size, track prep, dirt/sand do play a major role as does the weather and ability to ride outside year around. Also, many of the kids at the training facilities are from other states, so I am not sure about the correlation between the states where the facility is located and where the riders comes from is strong.

Adding the Midwest region also shifted more spots per classs to Western states this year too.
 
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Big events help, but those are so infrequent...
So I am reading between year words and what you are "really saying" is Chillitown will have 18 races next year.... Cool, we will be there....
 
So I dabble in this thinking stuff......is it possible that other areas of the country didnt have as many riders as Ohio 10 years ago, and now these areas have grown to catch up with the rest of the participating states? Its seems like 30-50 is the norm for most. Maybe back then, we just had more kids trying. Kind of like the kid that runs them all wins? So is the sport just dying in Ohio & Pa?
 
Well I was going to say it was sand, and now LL is trucking in more and more sand every year. Pretty soon LL will be like riding southwick or Baja acres. But CA is like hard pack and blue groove at a lot of tracks, so not sure it is sand. Who knows. But why the hell does every track have to be a sand track!
 
Numbers from Cali and other states in the west have always been strong. The addition of another regional in the west help pump there numbers even more this year. I think the demise of the World Mini's and all things NMA have also focused more racers from out west to Loretta's. This still does not explain the increase in Wisconsin and Minny. Crappy weather, few tracks ,cant imagine the rider count has gone up??? Who knows.
In my day to day job it is my responsibility to look at data like this and identify "shifts". Whenever data shifts to this degree there is ALWAYS a smoking gun. Something dramatically changed in the process to redirect the data. After 2000 I was pretty much out of the sport for a decade so I did not witness the change first hand but after being back for the past few years the only difference I see in the process is the elimination of the districts... NO, I am not saying the districts made good racers but what I can say is the districts PUMPED out races. Every weekend from April to November we had scheduled races on EVERY Saturday and Sunday. Most of those days we had a couple of tracks in the area to choose from. Now we have 18 TOTAL rounds in the southern half of the state (Plus 3 more at Chilitown) for the entire year. Heck in 1985 Dirt Country alone had 16 on the schedule.
Now we have this "unwritten" rule between tracks that 4 is the magic number. Four or less per year and that's it. Only the Vern bucks this trend and unfortunate for us, it is 3 hours away.
Clearly, more races make better racers. You cant practice race speed and conditions.
I don't want the districts back but maybe we need to look at that process model a little more closely???
 
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