OMA Grand Prix thoughts and ideas

S

sellards18

PR Addict
It's time for some GP racing. Just wanted to get some thoughts on what you would like to see and so on for the OMA GP series starting next weekend at Beans Road. I plan on running most of the MX track minus the front section to keep it fun and safe for all riders. The woods section will be a couple miles long and fairly fast since it 6' wide. Races are one moto and 45 minutes long so pay attention to the schedule because you can come later or earlier depending on class. This should be the ultimate fun package for everyone and I think it will be bigger and better every year. It's the perfect event for Motocross and Woods guys to have a fair race to see who's better.

Please post thoughts and I will get back to you first chance!!!

Thanks, Brock
 
My plans too are to run the less intimidating parts of my big track, the whole c track and most of my trail loop.

What kind of awards are given out at Gp's? Anybody have input/ideas on this?
 
I think there should be some semi-challenging sections in the woods. I mean, not over the top challenging, but something more than simple path to ride down. I know at Drew's I ran long ago, it went down by the creek, in the sand bank between the trees a little if I remember right. Also some grass sections. My only concern there is making it too tough for the little ones. I don't wanna feel like I'm going to die after the 45 minutes, but I want to be sweating quite a bit and somewhat fatigued. Make sense?
 
BriarcliffMx said:
My plans too are to run the less intimidating parts of my big track, the whole c track and most of my trail loop.

What kind of awards are given out at Gp's? Anybody have input/ideas on this?
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Kames bucks or somthing to the equivelant? GP's are hard on equipment. Just a thought
 
JMOORE330 said:
Kames bucks or somthing to the equivelant? GP's are hard on equipment. Just a thought
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Yeah, I was thinking like o-ring chains, bark busters, and stuff like that if that was what you meant. Trophies and such would be the same as MX to an extent I'd figure...
 
I'd like to see a mix of terrain. Nothing too difficult, being either to tight, to wet, or impassable. More on the lines of a long C track event that all can enjoy without failure. Fast guys can blaze away and slow guys can enjoy some competition with their respective class. Some wide open new stuff occasionally would be nice. Some hare scrambles use the same areas over and over and it gets very difficult to get through, like creek crossings and hills. Thinking of the little guys, it would be nice to avoid that type of track.
 
Scoob said:
Yeah, I was thinking like o-ring chains, bark busters, and stuff like that if that was what you meant. Trophies and such would be the same as MX to an extent I'd figure...
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Yes scoob thats exactly what i was thinkin. And look at pit tryin to b boss still.
 
Pit261 said:
Six pages of thoughts are here:

http://www.pitracer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?10381-OMA-Fall-GP-Series
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And in those six pages the old boss had the best take on it.

Pit261 said:
Most GP's I've run, we all line up in rows in the starting area for each session, meaning all riders for that session are in the starting area ready to go.
Dead engine flag start, starter walks to each row to start them after the first row has gone far enough away. This means the first row is a lot closer to the first turn than the last row. Very similar to HS start.

MX track is irrellevant for a GP, most of these guys quit riding/racing MX because of all the big jumps anyway. So running a track backwards is fine, and often times pretty fun. Just as long as there is nothing that becomes horribly dangerous riding backwards, like a double with a peaky takeoff that you would slam into from running backwards. Anything like that just cut out of the course.

The big keys to remember is that GPs are not MX's or harescrambles. No big MX jumps needed or wanted and also no gnarly knuckle busting tree root wipeout HS sections. When I race GPs it reminds me of when I was young and just had fun riding my bike all over the place. Take some of the MX track, then dip into some woods or fields, back on a couple sections of MX track, back into a field or woods, etc.
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Make some wide grass track sections with off cambers or flat sweepers that will form multiple lines and get braking/acceleration bumps. Leave out the creek crossing/mud hole sections. Most off road guys don't love mud even if they are good at it. Other than that its like a long safe MX track with nice flow and corner ruts.
 
Spilldawg444 said:
Make some wide grass track sections with off cambers or flat sweepers that will form multiple lines and get braking/acceleration bumps. Leave out the creek crossing/mud hole sections. Most off road guys don't love mud even if they are good at it. Other than that its like a long safe MX track with nice flow and corner ruts.
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That sounds good. Mainly, no nasty HS type stuff, and no really big jumps. There are other events for those that like that type of thing.

As far as awards, t-shirts, track or OMA bucks, sponsor bucks, or that type of thing are nice, but I guess you need plaques as well for those that want them.
 
I always wished someone would make a GP 50% MX and 50% woods. Those woods guys pass me like I'm a tree for an hour and I get about 2 minutes of MX redemption. I do (and so does the wife) love having a tee time. I never understood why MX races have to be a 13 hr day when you can show up to a GP at 1:35 and be home by 3:35 completely exhausted. What if we skipped the woods altogether and just did 100% MX for 50 minutes on a schedule? You can call it GPMX or whatever you like just so we ditch the 13 hr day.
 
Day181 said:
I always wished someone would make a GP 50% MX and 50% woods. Those woods guys pass me like I'm a tree for an hour and I get about 2 minutes of MX redemption. I do (and so does the wife) love having a tee time. I never understood why MX races have to be a 13 hr day when you can show up to a GP at 1:35 and be home by 3:35 completely exhausted. What if we skipped the woods altogether and just did 100% MX for 50 minutes on a schedule? You can call it GPMX or whatever you like just so we ditch the 13 hr day.
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Spring Valley did that one year when the Klein's ran the show. 1-45 minute moto and the rest of the day was an open practice. At the track for 2 hours and couldn't move for 2 days.
 
k01 said:
And in those six pages the old boss had the best take on it.
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I also agree with Pit's take on a GP track. I ran a number of GPs in Ca. years ago. Even there, where MX tracks were jumpy and there's nothing resembling a woods, the GP tracks were all about off road type riding and not man made jumps. Courses included the usual stuff like creek crossings, up and down elevation changes that were challenging, traversing rocks that were in a dry creek bed, etc. I can see why Drew can set up a nice GP course on his property as he has a good mix of elevation changes and woods. I'd also agree with Jeremy's thoughts on how he'd lay out a course at BC, avoid the big jumps on the big track and lengthen it by using whatever else is available. I know BC has a creek back in the woods, but I don't know if any parts of the creek has a firmer base that has rock in it that could be used in the layout? I mention a section that has a firmer/rock base as a silty creek bed can get chewed up to the point that it's no fun for anyone and ends up screwing up the creek banks. No fondness here for running to a bike kinda start either, just a normal dead engine start.
 
Our GP will be about 65% Mx track minus the uphill triple and then 35% wide woods section, wide enough to get a tractor down. Should be interesting.
 
Awesome feedback keep it coming. It all depends on weather on how much can be done or how much I can run. It's gonna have sections around 5-6' wide through the woods and one semi hard hill that will be cut for the smaller classes. I climb it no problem in my RZR but it has a fun factor to it. Do have a field section to run that is wide and soft so killer grass ruts!
 
sellards18 said:
Awesome feedback keep it coming. It all depends on weather on how much can be done or how much I can run. It's gonna have sections around 5-6' wide through the woods and one semi hard hill that will be cut for the smaller classes. I climb it no problem in my RZR but it has a fun factor to it. Do have a field section to run that is wide and soft so killer grass ruts!
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Hills are a great part of GP's...go to Drew's track at Action Sports and the uphill/downhill sections add some spice to it that make it fun as well as running some off-camber portions on the hills as well to make it more challenging. Off-camber sections are becoming a lost item on many tracks (MX/GP and some HS) and should be incorporated into any GP track. Old folks like me that raced alot on the old Crash-n-Burn/Grand Prix track in Canal Fulton will remember the off-cambers all over that place. I learned a lot about technique racing there.

5'-6' wide course allow for passing in GP's that are usually limited in Hare Scrambles single-track and keep the flow going for faster riders and make it safe for slower riders to not get jammed when being passed.......

As far as awards, back in the day, many tracks had cool cast medals on a ribbon that were unique and way more interesting than a piece of particle board (bonus: they take up way less space!).....just my opinion....

Any classes for old slow guys on drum-braked, air cooled bikes in OMA?
 
sellards18 said:
Awesome feedback keep it coming. It all depends on weather on how much can be done or how much I can run. It's gonna have sections around 5-6' wide through the woods and one semi hard hill that will be cut for the smaller classes. I climb it no problem in my RZR but it has a fun factor to it. Do have a field section to run that is wide and soft so killer grass ruts!
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Ok here's some...
10' minimum width in the woods is a better number. 5-6' is one line tight in the woods. You'll have pros to novices, all ages of riders and vintage to modern bikes on the course at the same time. Passing should be easy everywhere with no potential bottlenecks.
A big hill is fine but make sure it seems almost too easy. Weather really can change the difficulty and you don't want riders stuck anywhere on the course. The sessions need to to tick off to keep to the schedule. Endless track sweeping and retrieving riders can really mess up the schedule and the race day.
 
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