Nailed it.
I can only contribute it to a couple things, and it isnt to create a better riding surface for riders. Those days seem gone for some places.
Its monkey see monkey do for all those trying to attract the hand full of racers that actually get to the ranch. Ranch prep is stupid, or lack there of. When i went to lorettas, track prep was killer. Got plenty rough for anyone, but wasn't the crap hole slot car track it is today.
They want to heavy prep once and only once to save on prep costs by attempting to limit prep time through the day. Again, maybe stemming from Lorettas mentality, but, monkey see monkey do.
Give me a good surface with good corner ruts. A little dust is part of moto.
Stop ripping as deep as your 8000hp tractor will rip it and stop watering like youre trying to create a new lake. Rip 4-6" and water like your maintaining, not trying to prevent a spec of dust from flying till the sun sets that day.
Its literally ruining moto like slot car rut fest is ruining supercross. I cant stand riding somewhere thats got rutted out straight aways from corner to corner. Infact, i won't anymore. If it aint fun, i ain't doin it these days. If Malvern would've kept Rogers style prep, their numbers wouldnt have fallen off nearly as hard as they did. Instead, it morphed into super deep n wet prep like Lorettas. Heard so many people tell me this and they quit going. See where that got them paired with some bad advice that lead to a different organization. Daytona sucked ass this year, but i cant complain too much about the softness because it was due to rain. They just didn't maintain it well enough and every time i rode it, peg draggin up the faces of every jump was the story there. First 3 years, loved it, even being moto 31 those years it was nasty rough but manageable. This year, sucked.
For all the chest thumpers that say they love super nasty tracks, you probably won't ever make it to lorettas or ever even race as a professional, so you don't have to say a shitty track is good just to feel tough. To the 3 who may read this who will make it to lorettas or race a pro nat, congrats for being on that level! Most are not and just wanna ride/race fun tracks!
Ive ridden some of the roughest moto tracks this side of the Mississippi and Theyre a blast. Theyre usually sand and naturally occuring the super rough fun ones. Not man made 3' deep mud holes. Stuff sucks.
I saw a Michigan track pimping starting gate ruts. Few nice straight super deep ones. Nevermind the 35 other blown out lines off the gate. This always irks me too. Takes a few minutes to maintain the gates before and after the gate.
Sorry, end of rant. I just miss the old days. Everyone needs to be using mximplements finishing equipment too instead of leaving farm field style disc chunks everywhere.
Disclaimer: This does NOT pertain to every single track around here either. Some still do an amazing job.
C'mon with the pitchforks callin me a pussyy!