Ok, I want to chime in on the above conversation. First off, I like the transponders but I am only paying for one kid, not four (I don't know how anyone could afford 4) so, its all relative. Also, mx racing "is" way more expensive than any school sport or travel sports, my son and daughter have done them all. If you are riding during the week and on weekends and your son or daughter is pushing hard its gets extremely expensive. From the gas to get there to the gas for the bikes, to keeping them running with all the oil changes, filters, tires, leaking seals, pads and what ever else needs replaced. Not to mention if you have a problematic bike or hard crash where you do a significant amount of damage to the bike, it can get out of control. Also, for those of us that are riding year round we have the expense of the winter trips south and everything that goes along with it, like the hotel rooms etc., not to mention if you do any training, you have to pay the trainers. Some of the local kids are going to places like SOB, MTF and Club MX and none of those are cheap. Point is, this sport is expensive as hell, unless your only doing local stuff here and there and not riding weekly.
It does seem to me that some of the race fees have gone up. I think that the more classes you run then each one should be reduced in price. That always gets me to sign my son up for more classes. I also think that there should be a discount if you have two or more racers, racing. Would help out the parents budget, get more total revenue for the track and possibly get the larger racing families, to the track more often. I would think that this might help fill the gates. I think tracks should do a free race for those that have showed up to 10 races in a year or something like that. I know that Chillitown did give some of the classes free entry and that is great but I would like to see some of the other tracks pick up on this and do some similar discounts.
I thought Chillitown did a great job as always. The track and infield spectator area is really cool. The place did look great and as always, I love the grass, paved roads, water and electric. I did ask my son which track he likes more and he did say, "that he still prefers the old track more but is glad they changed it up." It did seem to me that the band didn't play very long, as a matter of fact, I never even saw them. However, I was watching the moto-limbo and barrel racing. I can't speak about the dust on Sunday because Jonathan tweaked his knee and we left half way though the day. The turnout for the Pro's I thought was good and there was some great racing. Also, I did win a really saweet Chillitown T-shirt, which I will proudly wear.
Always, have a great time at Chillitown.