40+ Cruiser at Regionals

[dialledbikes]

I think we did great yesterday to get 2 full gates of 8 and potentially there's still another half a dozen riders to swell the ranks so we could get semis in future.

However, because of the lower numbers in the other cruiser classes, the proposal is to mix us all up at future regionals, and split out the points afterwards.

I don't mind the cruisers being mixed up if the numbers are low across the board, but if I have the support of the other 40+ riders, I will contact Miles Kirby and Chris Mingo (our rider reps) as suggested by Scott Dick, and request that as long as we continue to get double figures in 40+ cruiser, then we would like our own class.

Racing was really close yesterday with peoples' moto results all over the place and I think this is a good recipe for tight and exciting racing.

[oldmankev]

Imagine if Gary Gray and Tony were there yesterday the elusive
A main would have been even harder especially with the semis that
we would have had and anything can happen in them. Personally i
dont mind racing the youngsters but if a rider not in your age
caused you to fall or impeded you to lose a place to a rider in
your respective age then that is when i disagree with it, if all
the usual 30-39ers turned up yesterday and we were all in then
it would have been quarters so where do you draw the line..discuss.

[wolfybmx]

i think as long as the numbers continue to enable full gates then running seperately is better. kevs coments on getting held up by a younger age group rider is a very good piont.

[dialledbikes]

That's right Kev, we were still missing a fair few potential 40-plussers yesterday, so when we do finally get a full attendance the battle for the A-final will be even more exciting and fun to be part of.  I think yesterday was one of the best races I've attended because I was riding with people mainly of similar ability so felt like I was racing rather than just following a bunch of faster guys around like I did in 30-39.

My main reason for wanting to keep us on our own is because I think we have a good close class now and there's a good bunch of riders exchanging positions in every moto which makes it exciting.  No disrespect, but I'm sure nobody expected me, Lee Harrison or Jason Harvey to be in the A-final yesterday, but we managed to pull a few results out of the motos and get a bit of luck and we made it.  But we'd have been nowhere near the A-final if we'd been mixed up and had to race Dan Whyte, Michael Pinnock, George Roth and Chris Mingo (then there's Schaale, Christie, Trotter and Co to come back to 30-39 as well).

I'm not normally a selfish person, but I think we've worked hard (by encouraging people to buy cruisers and start racing again/step-up from OS) to get 40+ to the point it's potentially the biggest class at regionals, so I think we need to protect our own class.

I don't mind us getting mixed in if we don't have enough to justify our own class.  But if we can get at least 12-14 40+ at each regional, I reckon we should race on our own.

Scott has suggested all cruiser riders meet with Chris Mingo and Miles before racing starts at Andover and take a vote on it.

[wolfybmx]

mike he official ambassador for the 40+ cruiser class and always smiling

[billstup]

Yeah I`m with you on this Mike, I`d prefere to be in a 40+ class rather than mixed in with all the others as long as we can keep the numbers up 

[Twatty]

I woud prefer to keep it in class if we keep getting the numbers we did. The racing was great, dead tight all day, and lots of twists and turns with the reults moto on moto. I also agree with Kev that if you end up not making a main as you are involved in something with a rider that is not in your class it could be a bit annoying.

One argument against this however, is the fact that I hear 40+ was well bolstered by the younger classes last year. I could understand if it is seen as reason to start another thread, by those riders, asking that they DO have the classes merged. After all they put up with the grey hair and the smell of wee all last season.....

No doubt this debate may roll on........

[Lee 1968]

I woud prefer to keep it in class if we keep getting the numbers we did. The racing was great, dead tight all day, and lots of twists and turns with the reults moto on moto. I also agree with Kev that if you end up not making a main as you are involved in something with a rider that is not in your class it could be a bit annoying.

One argument against this however, is the fact that I hear 40+ was well bolstered by the younger classes last year. I could understand if it is seen as reason to start another thread, by those riders, asking that they DO have the classes merged. After all they put up with the grey hair and the smell of wee all last season.....

No doubt this debate may roll on........

Hello Matt

so I finally sussed out the logging on stuff. Great pics as you mentioned the one of you me and mike is a good shot. cheers lee

[dialledbikes]

One argument against this however, is the fact that I hear 40+ was well bolstered by the younger classes last year. I could understand if it is seen as reason to start another thread, by those riders, asking that they DO have the classes merged. After all they put up with the grey hair and the smell of wee all last season.....

Last year, we had less than 8 riders in each cruiser class, so it made sense to mix the classes.  At the Southern Champs, they ran a 16+ cruiser class and a 40+ cruiser class.

This is the probably the most popular year for cruisers since the 80s, and the biggest 40+ class ever.

[Humps00]

I'm going to throw my twopennorth in as the father of one of the youngest cruiser riders out there.  My James (now 14) has always enjoyed mixing it with you big guys because he can actually beat some of you whereas he struggles a bit more against the 'up to 39ers' especially now with the likes of Dan Whyte and Michael Pinnock out there.  However, realistically there is plenty of scope to split the groups if the rider count increases and certainly for the two Inter-Regionals I can't see it doing anything but so that's two events you're going to get your wishes anyway.  At the end of the day the results are split out and the only variation that I've seen is that the moto results aren't rounded up so although James usually wins all his class races he rarely gets a 50 point maximum - but it doesn't actually matter although in a larger group a couple of points might make all the difference at the end of the season!!  Great to see the 40+ class doing so well numbers-wise and racing-wise.  Long may it be possible to keep it segregated.  And don't forget guys that my Club is no supported by Pfizers so if you're suffering erectile dysfunction I think their Viagra might be useful, nudge, nudge,    Humps

[dialledbikes]

It's a tough one to call Alan.  For me, it's not really about the points, it's more about having close racing and feeling like I've had a proper race rather than just follow a bunch of really fast guys who I'll never beat around the track.  I think most of the other 40+ guys feel the same way.  Maybe running Cruiser as a formula class would work better but that would be an admin nightmare.

As for the Viagra connection, will we get some free samples at The Bay?  I wonder what the results of Viagra washed down with Relentless would be?!

[spillers#1]

I really do respect the fact that because of the low numbers at regionals for 40+ cruisers last year they were allowed to mix with 30-39   BUT as mike says there are a lot of people who really made an effort to persuade other 40+ men(kids really)   to come and race and support the class,and quite a few of us that had made an effort to get fitter/practice riding/get off the ciggies(me)/race at every opportunity over the winter to get up to speed and challenge the likes of kev ranscombe/tony slater/phil beer/jon moore etc   yesterday i raced against darren boughton,dave glendower,tim o'regan etc who i raced regulary at southeast regionals back in the 80's and i never dreamt i'd be on the gate racing them again over 23 years later(how f**kin mad   ) i'm loving it   especially mixing it with people i used to look up to in my younger days in bmx like stockwell/stupple/slater/wilson etc  

Enough nostalgia   what i want to say is all the other age groups have enough riders to race on 20" and i know there's 30+ masters but me personally i would never be able to compete against them boys on pace and sheer skill   them boys are legends  

I think us old boys deserve another crack at battling with each other again throughout a whole season for a ranking   sunday i heard so many stories from people that were racing each other in there various regions back in the early 80's/90's and are still mates now  

So i would deffo like to have our own class cause were all knocking on a bit now and haven't got youth on a side any more  

[Rooonga]

I think if there's enough of us then we should leave it as it is.

It's great racing riders my own age, I raced in the winter of 2006 in the 40+ and there were about 4 of us, so that was way better to race with the younger riders.

We now have plenty of riders in 40+ to justify our own gate at every regional, so I say keep ot that way!

The point prob would be a pain in mixed motos, cos if you are the only 40 plusser in your moto, you'd have trouble ranking up any decent points. (Unless you are a kev, tony, kieth etc.) Obviously with the random element in the computerised sheets it would be minimised, but it would still be a factor. Also don't fancy coming off any more - and there'd be a distinctly greater possibility if the younger riders were in with us.

[tobybrown35]

      would love 2 c 2 open classes for cruiser fast and not so fast raced bournemouth last year 4 first time in years and made a final in
      30 39 cruiser was hopin 2 make b final 4 a closer race. will b racing some regionals this year and would love 2 be battlin 2 the finnish
      line rather than watchin from afar. 4 sum its the winnin 4 me its tryin 2 relive goodtimes and recapture a misspent youth good 2 see
      that many people are still chasin that no 1 plate 

[oldmankev]

Forgot to mention Groove Racings Mark Seaman would also
have ridden but has got back problems, get well soon boss.

[Zippy]

I wish I was as old as you guys. 

Your class seemed to be, along with the old school, the most fun on Sunday. Your always going to get those that take it far too seriously but in the main you all looked like you had a great laugh and there were some fantastic close races out there.

Roll on 4 years when I can come and play. 

[thecrooch]

I wish I was as old as you guys. 

Your class seemed to be, along with the old school, the most fun on Sunday. Your always going to get those that take it far too seriously but in the main you all looked like you had a great laugh and there were some fantastic close races out there.

Roll on 4 years when I can come and play. 

Ditto that! except 3 for me

[dialledbikes]

Don't wish your lives away fellas.  I would love to be mid-30s again.

I know 40s not old, but I wish I had done/started doing a lot of things when I was younger.  Nowadays I often feel I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do or achieve everything I want to achieve.

There's still plenty of scope to make the 30-39 cruiser class just as good as the 40+, you just need to nag/hassle people into doing it.

I was looking at the results from 07 earlier today and at the first regional last season only 7 riders rode in 40+ cruiser so we have more than doubled that already and there were notable absences on Sunday as well.  Spillers, Dave Glendower, 796, Pro Tec, Jason Harvey, Bill Stupp have all stepped up from old school.  Matt French, Nick Pullen, Lee Harrison have come straight back into racing new school.  And me and Jon Moore have moved up from 30-39.

[wussy67]

looks like jon moore is the man to beat this year after burnham, need to get training now and stop breaking bones, is kev doing any nationals this year?

[Flying_fox]

Mike and other oldies  ,

Sorry I didnt reply sooner, it was Becca's birthday yesterday so I had to talk to her instead of reading BMX forums all night.

I can totally see where your coming from. A few years ago there was only about 5 or 6 of us in 30+ at most South regionals, I wanted us to be combined with 19/17+ so we had better racing. Now the standard is stupidly higher in 30+, with riders like Russ 'sandbagger' Parsnips coming in and everyone else sis tepping their game right up, so I'm more than happy to keep our class seperate now.

I'm a massive 40+ cruiser fan, some of the best racing is now in that class, old men, big wheels and even bigger egos ( ) makes for close competitive racing, so I'll be backing you. But we do need to vote on it as not everyone racing in 40+ comes on here (or do they ). If we all get together at Andover before the motos start, or in the break between the semis we can take a vote on it.

Re 30-39, I think the number will swell over the next couple of rounds. It used to be one of the biggest classes at our regionals, it still is at nationals. Where have they all gone? Has the majority now moved up to 40+, or are they just waiting for the sun to come o9ut? I think the younger lads like Humps son will end up stuck in with them as well purley becuase only a few youngsters race cruiser.

Miles Kirby
Rider Rep for the Mighty South Region.

[Pro-tec]

I had a f####ng BALL on Sunday despite the list of nightmares I had along the way (my new nick name for Phil Beer is Cuddles by the way). It would be a shame if 40+ was used to bolster 30-39 numbers. The 30-39 gate was particularly low at Daggers for some reason and I personally reckon It'll pick up enough for it not to happen.

[dialledbikes]

Cheers Miles.  Great to have the support of our rider rep.

Shouldn't we have the vote before the moto sheets are posted (after the pre-sheets so we know how many we have)?

No problem with mixing the cruisers if the numbers are low, but I have the feeling most of the 40+ are keen to do as many regionals as possible because it's like a new lease of life/second chance to race again.

[Flying_fox]

Shouldn't we have the vote before the moto sheets are posted (after the pre-sheets so we know how many we have)?

Yes Mike, that would be best I guess.

Are we doing votes by proxy for those that can't make the Andover but are regular riders in 40+? If anyone can't make it to Andover they could email me and let me know their thoughts.

[team_teapot]

i say there once was a time a long time ago when this was not an issue. youd have been busy building tracks and making sure the pocket rockets and powder puffs had some where to ride.

[dialledbikes]

i say there once was a time a long time ago when this was not an issue. youd have been busy building tracks and making sure the pocket rockets and powder puffs had some where to ride.

Cruiser class has come a long way since you were No.1, hey Rich