Lots of great comments and Ideas here. I remember when the OMA and the whole Battle Series got going. JO sent me flyers for the battle races and I put them on cars at numerous SW Ohio tracks. But even over the years, it has really only been a handful of guys that ride the now Buckeye Series that ride the battle races outside of CTMX. It amazes me how many people in SW Ohio don't go to Briarcliff, but will drive further to go to Puchetta, COCR or even Treaty City when they would run.
The battle series in my opinion over the last 10 years has been by far the best three races in the state. The prep for all these races has usually been spot on, the promotion of the series, and the large gates. They have always felt like a big race and a lot of fun. Yes, there was a buckeye race on the Malvern date, but that was due to a reschedule do to Covid in all reality. At that point, I know we went to the Buckeye race because we had run all of them up to that point. Otherwise we absolutely been at Malvern for the race. Hershey even text me that morning asking where the heck I was, because we usually never miss those races. But unfortunately, in all reality there are not that many of us that race in SW Ohio that race all the battle races. It is still really an OMA series in my opinion. But if people would wake up, those three races are great. Perhaps we make that a 4 race series. 2 OMA tracks and 2 Buckeye Series tracks. I know 3 races have always worked well, but this would perhaps draw more riders from the two series, and make them a real "state series"......I think this has some real merit.
A lot of people think that guys like myself, Hershey, Knox, etc bitch, but we really don't. Guys like Hershey and I have been around forever, and now we both have kids involved that have been around since birth, and we both support a lot tracks by actually going to the races, bringing family with us, etc. So we've seen a lot over the years. Good and bad. But one thing that is obvious, is who is making the investment in their facilities. JO sunk a bunch of time and money into BC for a regional that never happened. Scott is pouring money into EF with improvements, and also took a leap of faith and is spending more money at CTMX. Jason Rogers spent a bunch at Malvern before he sold it, and I just spoke to Rocky from DIrt Country and while he has been closed, he is doing a ton of work there, and investing a s**t ton of money with plans to open back up.
Without JO and Scott, neither of these series happen. Can there be some changes, yes. But my opinion, they have both really helped get Ohio motocross back on the map. Because lets be honest, how well were we doing in the late 90s when D11 and D12 were running the show?
I would love to see the 4 race Battle Series tried, just to see if we can actually get more buckeye series riders to support the series.
.
