Racing/sprinting and the 'child protection act'

Racing/sprinting and the 'child protection act'


Been trying to get my nephew out sprinting next season and poss racing (much) later on. Just had a reply from the VMcc sprint section that he can only race with a parent present and not an uncle (as a guardian). Poor lad as now got to wait till he's 18 to ride out. Is this discrimination towards single parent families? there's gotta to be a way to get him out there, could of lied about his age he's well over six foot already.

What age were you all when you first started racing? I started at 17 and Ray started at 16.

You see 6yr olds super moto and Moto X
9 yr olds can drag race
11 yr olds on race bikes

this responsible 15 nearly 16yr old stuck with a BMX for another 3 yrs


ps Title/subject gets lost (too small) on this forum, Viva la old forum

Peter!
Just to confuse you, here I am! I'm sure Ned will make it too.
Met the Boiler in the Maritim Tuesday -- he had a bad season with the GP5
it was most unreliable but give him credit he's still going for it in '07. Haven't had a positive answer from Slick yet re VMCC dinns -- will you be there?
Try not to fall asleep over Henry Ford's desk again...
Best wishes,
Aye! JayBee.

I was a late starter at 20 but even in those days you could ride at 16 i'm sure.

Glad to see you are back Mick!
So I started road racing -- for the first time -- on a Bantam at 40! I still needed protection -- FROM MYSELF -- my mother-in-law said. I do believe she was right! Seriously (if possible) the Brits are sadly and prominently absent from GP podiums and that is because the MC racing sport is not supported in the UK as it is by Italy and Spain. In 1998 I was in Milan with Slick and we attended several odd sort of MC race meetings in the evenings --the most popular being those mini-bikes with kids of unkown infancy competing! How does a prospective STAR get started -- even 20 is too old. Several of today's Japanese stars also started very young.
It's time to take to the streets and protest -- Blair wants all the young lads over in Mesopotamia getting shot at -- not on the race track.
Long may your exhaust smoke!
Aye! JayBee.

Tony!
Is it that VMCC have got it wrong? Being over-cautious about applying the letter of the law? I remember that many years ago when I was a member ... some of their 'experts' were given to making some very odd statements ... I dropped out of VMCC for that reason
Surely you could be accepted as the ersatz Pappa...?

What also has to be remembered is that the EU Law Makers and Law Enforcers frequently have no idea of the subject of the laws they make and enforce. The Law Enforcers need to be reminded of that...
I am sure that 3/4 of the world's population think of us motorcycle racers as a corporate lunacy, individually bent on suicide or glory. Or that we are pseudo Hell Angels only existing to make noise and bother for them!

My Father was an excellent horseman. As an infant he had me up on a horse and I hated it so much I didn't get back on one until I was 35. With motorbikes it was different. With Freddy's Mum and Dad at work, I (at 8)sat on the back of Freddy's Dad's Triumph when he, Freddy, -- at 10 -- illegally rode it around the back fields. Early in the war, when my Dad couldn't get petrol ration coupons, I returned the favour (at 10) by having Freddy as passenger on Dad's Douglas. We used lighter fuel which we bought from our village shop.

...The child protection act was meant to stop the exploitation of children ---
As examples: the blinding by parents, in Zambia, of their infants to gain advantage in street begging(which I personally knew about); the 16hour carpet-making days for 8 to 10 year olds in Turkey; similarly in China and other Asian countrys where young children are forced to work long hours in filthy foundries and other stinking jobs ... AND the abnormal and mentally-deforming compulsion by ambitious parents, pushing their kids into becoming tennis or ice-skating stars with 7 day-week's of 4-6 hours daily practice.
Maybe the possibility of the latter type of parent-exploitation is the reason for VMCC being over-cautious about their use of the law...?

I'd suggest you go ahead -- do it your way -- provided the lad really wants it himself!
All the best, JayBee.

Jon

VMCC Sprint section have been spot on, we are now going down the route of a Solicitor's letter citing me as "in loco parentis" . Gonna speak to ACU see how to word letter, we think this'll do the trick

Have a good one

Tony

Dear Tony,
You may be interested to know that a few years ago we in the NZCMRR negotiated with MNZ for our kids (in my case stepsons) to race under specific "junior" class regs on pre '63 classics < 250 2T, 350 single 4T and post classic 125s. They have a Junior (like MX) licence and only require written permission from one parent or guardian on entry form.
Several have gone on to do very well in modern classes too. Young Sam Smith (18) beat Barry Sheenes lap record of Eastern Creek this year on an ES2.
I guess we are also lucky, we have a Human Rights Act that prevents descrimination against the likes of solo parents.
Best of Luck.
John

Festive season story:-
The kids I see around here (in the Fatherland -- Mein Gott! already!) don't need protection -- its the old-wheezers that need it from them. I was riding my bicycle through the local market place and a sneaky (really ancient) Politzist stepped from behind a rack of cheapo jackets, stopped me and pointed to a sign saying, "No cycling area." They use the old coppers here for such jobs to protect them from the real villains. In English I told him I was an Englander and didn't understand the local lingo. He then said in Good English that it was going to cost me in the region of 12 quid and that the rule was made for the protection of little children. So I told him that first sentence (in German ...) adding that it is the kids who are hurtling around that place on all sorts of wheeled contraptions: bikes, scooters, skate-boards and roller-blades disturbing and frightening the old-wheezers like me who needed protection from them. He said he'd up the fine to 24... because he'd seen me, not long ago, on a kid's scooter on the main road which is, of course, much more serious.
... It was true. We'd bought a couple of those little scooters on the cheap for handouts to impoverished kids (at Xmas) and I improved the braking system (on one) by fitting a handlebar lever with its cable to the foot operated rear hinge-flap brake. To test it I went up to the highest village above our little town -- it was really flying and the pavement was too bumpy...
I asked him the time. 14.13 came the policeman's reply. What time do you finish today I asked and he said 14.00. I said you can't charge me 'cos you are off duty, come and have some Glüwein (hot toddy) on me...
About an hour later as we bid each other a Merry Xmas he patted me on the back and slipped the 12 quid fine into my pocket...

Sorry Tony! I didn't want to defray your case but it seemed the season of goodwill is upon us and I ought to wish all Bantam racers a merry time over the next fortnight with a good season in '07 to follow...
Cheers!
Aye, Old Wheezer.