Bantam Trophy races

Hi I know you all enjoy the "Extra" bantam races we have ie Lauchbury, Shuttleworth etc. and they are good value for money, however some riders(and officials) in other classes have expressed that it is not fair that we are having extra races at ten pounds a time.Money aside it was also mentioned at committee that there is not really time to programme these races with the race programme being so full these days.
I can see where the committee are coming from and feel we need to work with them to get the best we can? A couple of my ideas:-

1 Give them away in our normal championship races

2 At a weekend meeting run 3 championship races and 1 trophy race? So a bit like an open race in the old days - ideal race to try something different like a new pipe...

3 I haven't got a 3 but i'm hoping you have?

and finally

4 Perhaps entries will be low next year across the club and it will be back to normal for 2010...

Please air your views here and to BHR chairman Gerry Daine...

Regards Mike

Hi Mike,

How did the trophy races come about in the first place? It seems strange that the Bantam racers should get special treatment?

How about this cheeky idea?

3 More people could buy Bantams and bring them to the meeting so they can take advantage of the £10 races?

To be fair, #2 sounds a little more fair though.

'Scraper'

Hi Mike,

Good one this, I would be prepared to fall back to (1), if your negotiations dont get us an extra race from time to time. How many do we have anyway? Launchbury, Shuttleworth, Cockerells, think its only 3.

Anyway, my Option (3) is run them all in one race. So winner would get Shuttleworth, next air-cooled to finish gets the Launchbury, and last man gets the Cockerells trophy? Oops I meant to say third place gets the Cockerells.

I probably cant spell cockerells either

There are 5
- Shuttleworth(Lydden)
- Lauchbury(Lydden)
- Richard Powell(Anglesey)
- Tom Miller(Anglesey)
- British Formula Racing Club(Cadwell)

hi mike

i can't really speak for the other classes but the bantams seemed to be invariably run together with another class these days. I tend to enter just the bantam champ and trophy races only now and if they were to go i would start to wonder whether 175 squids for 4 races was worth the effort. having a couple more races at 195 squids ... 30 or so quid a race ... makes it more of a weekend.

Ps Lydden was very good value for money though. 5 out of 6 races being 10 lappers ... though i would have preferred 6 lappers as it was around this part of the race that Sam Partington decided to come flying around me!!

ray

Hi All,
Looking at the income from the £10 bantam races through the year the loss to the club without this would be somewhat over £700 on a normal years racing on average turnouts, I would think this would have a fair impact on the clubs coffers.
If you add an extra class to your racing weekend (eg: 250 specials) you get 6 races for £45 over a weekend and that means you are getting even cheaper racing at less than £8 per race!
My suggestion is to add our special races to another class as we tend to now due to time constraints, and stump up a few quid extra... or add everyone to the back of the 250 special class and award trophies across the extra races we would do for even less cost than we pay now!!
Would the ten pound race ban apply to novices and over 50 races? the implications get deeper.
More thought needed on this
Alan

Excellent! well thought out Alan, can you email a copy of your post to Gerry Daine Thanks Mike

Hi All
I Think Alan is on the right track. If we can tack on to the back of another race (with maybe a 10 second delay), how can anyone complain that we are using up valuable race slots. Also if other classes wanted to have a special cup race they could do the same.
With this format, we could keep all our cup races, other classes could add cup races and the VMCC would benefit from increased revenue. Every one would gain.
I also think we should restrict ourselves to one cup race per meeting in order to lessen the impact on the race programe.

Mick

Hi All,
A good extra suggestion Mick and one that I believe should be put to the BHR for consideration, it will lessen the impact considerably, and we need to watch the rather low attendances in the bantam class, as this will also create calls for the races to be reduced.
More encouragement by everyone for new starters will help all round, I know that costs are rising at a pace but for the survival of bantam racing in the near future we all need to muck in and get a few extra bums on seats and do our best to help new racers get over the not inconsiderable technical hurdles they face, sometimes so daunting (when the realisation sets in) that they pack the sport in, often leaving the bike in the shed where it helps no one, but yet another empty space on the grid.
How about a "Help A New Racer" scheme through the close season?
Anyone any ideas?
Alan

hi Alan,

Dont be waiting till the closed season to help a new racer, I will be looking for all the help I can get this Sunday !!!!!

Mike.

This seems like a good time to thank Al (KFC) for all the help he's given me up to now. Particuarly the help with getting my new motor together.

It is still not finished but without Alan I wouldn't be in in with a chance.... Cheers fella!

No probs to all,
I will help where I can, Mike can you park somewhere you can be found in the paddock? we always have a spare or two in the van! get near to Steve Frayne...

Alan (KFC)

Hi all,
just to let you know ive done a deal with Ted , he rustled up enough stuff to build a basic air cooled 125 for me, so on the subject of new riders i should be out next year .Thanks to everyone i spoke to at Lydden for their help.
Good luck at Cadwell to everyone going & i hope to pick all your brains at some stage in the future. cheers Nick

Hi Nick,
Good on yer mate,
It is always difficult to get up and running for the first time and it is a major hill to climb. We wish you loads of luck and reliability, and thank Ted for all the help he has given you!
We are always around in the paddock and you are not the only new starter, so join in the fun at Caddy!
Alan

Morning Alan,

Thanks for that,I will be talking to Steve before the weekend and arrange parking, I wont be arriving until Sunday due to prior commitments, so will have to hit the ground running,(figuratively speaking, we dont want a repeat of Anglesey!)

Mike.