Combining 30/38+ as 1 age group

To think that the gates would be so large that we will have to have heats...and only those who advance get points?!  Now, that is a new perspective...and impressive... 😀

One thing that separates South from Bay and Sierra is there are a ton of other big promoters we compete with for riders. Every track around here runs a series.  Older folks who have younger kids may be more apt to ride one of the other promoters because of the kids...Or location or who knows what...

Just throwing  that out there....to agree with the comment about things we can do to promote ourselves...we indeed will have to work a bit harder to draw new riders, but once we get them, I think we stand a good chance of keeping them

Well said Linda. The main goal should be to try and get new members.

Eric, I like your idea for local races, but I don't think it will work at the Nationals. I remember a few years ago at Hangtown the 38 novice had 40 riders. The only way I could see this working is at a local level.

Mike Cosaert 929g

yes linda!

Well said Linda. The main goal should be to try and get new members.

Eric, I like your idea for local races, but I don't think it will work at the Nationals. I remember a few years ago at Hangtown the 38 novice had 40 riders. The only way I could see this working is at a local level.

Mike Cosaert 929g

Yeah but that was a few years ago take a look at the numbers now.. They're not even close to hitting 40 now.. It will work for nationals.

Well said Linda. The main goal should be to try and get new members.

Eric, I like your idea for local races, but I don't think it will work at the Nationals. I remember a few years ago at Hangtown the 38 novice had 40 riders. The only way I could see this working is at a local level.

Mike Cosaert 929g

Yeah but that was a few years ago take a look at the numbers now.. They're not even close to hitting 40 now.. It will work for nationals.

Bay National, 3rd Nat of the year and there was 29 riders in 38+ Novice and 13 riders in 30+ novice.  That would have been way too many as Hollister holds only 30-35 gates I think.

To say not even close would be like 10 or 15 riders. When you start hitting 25-30 riders, your very close to having a full gate at a lot of Norcal tracks. Combine age groups at nationals and we will have problems. Again I provided the numbers, 15 riders in 30 Int at our National as well, 12 in 38+ Int. So that would have been a full gate at Hollister. We plan on growing next year. We have already had about 10 new sign ups ready to eval next year. So we will continue to grow and I think it will not work at Nationals.

Maybe start by just trying it at your local races to give you guys bigger gates until you find a way to increase membership. Just my .02

Like I said before what are you going to do when the 45 Nov class has too many riders for the gate slots?.. Its going to happen..this class is growing..

theres bound to be guys in 45 novice going to 45 Int. Also, each year there will probably be guys moving up to 52 class. I dont think that will be a isssue. Thats less of a issue and possiblity, and hasnt been proven to be a problem. So we dont mess with it. The 30/38 class has been proven to be too big at nationals, so therfore the need to keep them seperate classes. I think honestly you would have a better chance at pushing for 30+/40+/50+/60+ class then combing the 30/38's. I liked the idea at first but I dont see it working.

If you did a 30/40/50 we would have big gates but the 30/38 class wouldnt be too big because some of the 38's tthat are actually 40+ would go into new 40+ class and guys that are 500-51 would be out of 45+ class and now in 50+ class. So I think that would be a better argument for you if you were trying to propose a rule to vote to increase class sizes.

Like Ive said before, im all for change and not trying to be a jerk, but you have to be able to show a way it will work better then current system. Right now, honestly, we arent broke so i dont see much need for fixing. If you choose to do something different at a local level, the other Chapters wont have a say, but if it affects all the OTHG then you will have to win over alot of people to show how it will make the OTHG better.

That still doesn't answer the question on what if. I see more entering in 45 NOv than exiting..

Still waiting for an answer???

Theres NO problem with 45 Novice. There are just as many headed to Novice as there are Intermediate and a few 45's going up to expert, few 45 expert going to 45 Masters. There is NOT a problem, so no need for a solution. All those 45's were once 38's and even 30's and there were NO problems. We havent had a over crowded gate. Now combine 45's with another age group and we have a problem......

Now take you idea and combine two age classes that covers 15 years, being 30/38 in same classs then you have a problem. So we dont have a problem but you are trying to create one.  I think this thread has gone on long enough. If you see benefits and wan to try and bring it to a vote, i encourage you to go for something you belive can help the OTHG. It will be up to members to vote it in or out. Being membership run, the majority will be heard. Anyways, theres been enough info to give some pros and cons.