Racing circuits for Dummies

[SD40T-2]

Ok

Since a week and a half ago when I went off the deep end, I've come 180° and tried do a little educating of myself. Pbandj19 was very gracious and let me borrow a copy of 'Faster', the docudrama about MotoGP in the late 90's and early 2000's. It was an eye opener for me as I've never seen racing like this before anywhere(an obvious understatement). And watching this video got me thinking.

Aside from MotoGP, there are numerous other racing events and organizations around. Some that run international and others that stay within a given country or other geographical locale.

Many racing organizations utilize different acronyms and are tossed around quite liberally. A new aspiring rider/racer, such as myself, may become overwhelmed or confused trying to sort out all of these different aspects that make up motorcycle racing.

I don't know how many others feel the way I do but, a guide; say a "Motorcycle racing circuits for dummies" is in order. Now I'm not saying we need a full-blown published book, just a website or even a post here on the forums that can explain each and how they may relate to each other.

I'm thinking of something that would be somewhat comprehensive and detailed instead of a one or two line reply.

Explaining, perhaps, about supermoto, superbike, supersport etc. The organizations and the events they hold. WERA, AMA, MotoGP etc.
And the I feel this is just the tip of the iceberg....... I'll concede that some of these terms may be completely unrelated, other than involving two wheels.

It seems the more and more I try and find info on all of these different aspects of MC racing, the more I get confused. It's almost like one has to know it their whole life to differentiate how the world of MC racing really works.

Perhaps something, a book or a website, can answer what all the different facets of MC racing are and how they interact with each other and what it all means. I for one think I know just enough to be dumb.....

SD

[mojo1094]

It looks like I'm about 15 feet in front of you.

I have my license, and know that it qualifies me for CCS racing, and as far as I can tell, that's what you need to start, you know?

Are you curious how to get from the Club circuit to AMA? or what qualifies a bike for superbike, supersport, superstock, formula FX, etc?

[SD40T-2]

Originally Posted by mojo1094

It looks like I'm about 15 feet in front of you.

I have my license, and know that it qualifies me for CCS racing, and as far as I can tell, that's what you need to start, you know?

Are you curious how to get from the Club circuit to AMA? or what qualifies a bike for superbike, supersport, superstock, formula FX, etc?

D: All of the above

I could say the same about auto racing but (sorry) I'm not at all interested in it so it's a moot point.

But yea, how all the "acronyms" relate and how the organizations operate. AMA, WERA; you name it.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

In the begining......I'm going to give some info 1st on what it takes to get going for many new racers, if someone else doesn't explain the progression from there I will do it at a later time.

It's not uncommon for motorcycle road racers to come from racing backgrounds somewhere in their own lives or families lives. I know of racers who started out racing many other things, for example: BMX, mountain, or street style bicycles / ATV's / personal watercraft / Moto-X, Enduro, Trials / cars / etc. Coming from a racing background is such a massive advantage to someone new to motorcycle roadracing, the fact that you have already experienced true competition and understand the mental aspect of it is an undeniable advantage. But many people (like myself) didn't come from a true racing background, the people in this group may have an advantage if they have an array of (preferably aggressive) motorsports experience prior to racing. In my case I had ALOT of 3 & 4 wheel ATV, stand-up and sit-down Jet-Ski, Snowmobile, Sportbike (on the street), and sportscar experience.

Local or Regional racing is generally where you start in actual sanctioned Road racing in the USA, this type of racing will generally offer both beginner and advanced levels of racing (many times expressed as Novice or Amateur and Expert). Some racetracks in the USA host their own race series that exclusively use their own track, this isn't too wide spread, but it is out there. A more popular choice is the National or Regional racing organizations (org's) or 'Club' as they are sometimes called. These generally divide their entire territory into 'regions' which then have independent race schedules throughout the season based on their respective region, the 2 biggest regional racing org's are WERA (Western Eastern Racing Association) and CCS (Championship Cup Series). WERA concentrates mainly on the territory East of the Mississippi river and have a region out West that includes CA NV & AZ, they also have a National series that travels thruout the USA and generally holds it's events combined as a Regional / National event to help keep costs down. CCS is the largest motorcycle roadracing organization in the USA, they focus mostly on the Eastern 2/3rds of the USA and also have a National series that runs it's events combined with regional ones as well. There are numerous local or smaller regional racing org's out there, the variety in how they each do things can cause confusion when running different racing org's in 1 season, but sometimes it's the only way you can get alot of racing in (for example if your on the Western 1/3 of the USA).

To get involved in regional racing you usually have to take some type of racer licensing school which teaches you the process of racing, NOT nearly as much about actual racing lines - that's what rider/racer improvement schools are for. The actual racer licensing school will go over things like bike set-up, safety requirements of your bike and your own personal gear, & race procedure including: pre-grid/ pit-out proceedure - hot-lap - gridding - proper race lines - signal flags and what to do when you see them - cool down lap - etc. Generally the school will start out with a track walk before practice starts in the morning, here the instructors walk you around the track explaining race lines, safety concerns, etc. After the track walk you will probably have a classroom session, then your bikes will be checked (generally by tech inspection) to make sure it meets the requirements to take the licensing school. After this will most likely be time on the track where you follow the instructors around the track at a slow pace that is increased each lap, then at some point they will probably wave you by and allow you to go at your own pace (safely). During the day there will probably be a few classroom sessions and a few track sessions were the instructors are watching everyone, then at the end of the day some licensing schools have you do a mock race where you go thru all the steps of an actual race from assembling at pit out to gridding to an actual mock race at speed with a checkered flag at the end (just remember nobody wins or proves anything by being the fastest in the mock race!). From what I have seen, as long as you don't drop your bike while out on the track during the day, you don't display dangerous riding, and you pass a written test about some basic things you learned that day, then you will get your certificate good for getting your race license (generally good for 1 year from when you got it). Many people take their race licensing school on Saturday of a race event, then race the very next day by merely buying their annual race license after they get their graduation certificate.

Racing licenses are usually only good for 1 specific racing org, so if you are going to run 3 different org's then you will probably have to buy 3 race licenses. Some race org's have different requirements, so a racer licensing school that's good for 1 racing org may not be acceptable for another. Ironically once you have a race license with 1 race org it's often times accepted by other race org's as proof enough for you to buy a similar license with them. Also some race org's will allow you to do 1 event with them if you have a competing race org's race license, this way you can possibly try out some competing race org's without having to buy a race license for each org.

You generally start racing as an Novice or Amateur, then after you reach what that org deems as an appropriate achievement point they will advance you to Expert status in your next season. Most people run as an Amateur for 1 to 3 seasons depending on their individual ability and prior experiences. Once you go Expert it's a fairly permanent thing, but some org's will allow you to go back to Amateur status once if they feel you need to return or if you have an extended leave of absence from competition and wouldn't be able to safely compete at the Expert level. Once your an Expert you can race at that level for the rest of your life if you want, there's no requirement to go Pro.

[OFFICER737]

+1 to everything Mike said! Good post bro!

[RRRR6]

+2

www.wera.com
www.ccsracing.com

You can learn a lot from there. Also, they both have forums. It would be a good idea to browse around there for a while. I suggest read as much there as possible before starting to post.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Generally with larger racing org's (that have more than 1 region) you buy a single season race license which entitles you to race at ANY regional event they promote, not just the region your listed in as your home region. For example I'm licensed as an Expert in the Midwest region of CCS, but I have also raced in the Great Plaines, South Eastern, and Florida CCS regions with that single race license. The National series that CCS promotes is ASRA (American Sportbike Racing Association), this is considered to be like a stepping stone series to all out Pro racing, I've heard it described as Semi-Pro and it's run somewhat differently than a regular regional race event. CCS licensed racers can race the ASRA national races as well (if qualified to do so), but it requires an upgrade to your regional race license for a little bit more money.

This is where you can run into potential issues with your Health Insurance coverage, many policies allow you to compete in 'recreational racing' as an Amateur or Expert, but once you go Pro they may no longer cover you - Semi-Pro is a very 'grey area'. Each individual should make sure and check to see what their Health Insurer will and will NOT cover in their individual policy - don't assume that because someone else is covered that has the same insurance provider that you are too, their policy may be different. There are insurance companies out there that do indeed cover racers who race Pro, but I personally don't know who they are because I intentionally never went Pro racing myself (I had no interest in the past of being an AMA backmarker just so I can brag about being an 'AMA PRO RACER'). From what I've heard from some people who didn't have Heath Insurance that would cover them in a racing environment was that they were able to purchase 'Over and above' type coverage from another Health Insurer that was specifically for racing injuries. This type of coverage typically has a very high deductible, it's made to cover the costs 'over and above' a certain point - say $5000 - so if you get a bad injury and have astronomical bills you would be responsible for covering the deductible 1st before they would start paying out anything (I've heard horror stories of people not having the ability to cover the deductible and the Insurance Providers denying ANY coverage till you pay your portion 1st - something definately to keep in mind).

[SD40T-2]

GSXR,

Not exactly what I was looking for but you did answer another question I was thinking about, and that was about licensing in general.

Obviously, I'm not even to the point of where I've even done one 'legit' race...Yet. Mind you that should happen within the next month if everything goes to plan. One can always dream of going Pro but I think I've got about as much chance of doing that as winning big at the lottery; well maybe a little better but....Well you get the picture.

In the movie 'Faster', numorus MotoGP racers are noted as coming from "world superbike" or going to. So here is a good example. Who would manage that class of racing? I would assume that there is one organization that would oversee it.

I know there is a large amount of events that are connected with the AMA. Do any of these extend outside of the US? I know that WERA is a rather large organization.

Our club runs it's own events at our local track. I believe that the track is AMA sanctioned and so that is why we have to have AMA race license. I really don't know much more than that and it seems to go from technical to political rather quickly the more I delve into the inner workings of the MC race community.

Perhaps I'll rephrase the question. What are the details on the most common or popular organizations and the events that they run? How far "up the ladder" do they take qualifying and event sanctioning.

As you can tell, I don't have but a very, very small and rather sparse knowldge of the racing scene and as such. I'm probably not asking the right questions or phrasing them correctly. Sorry 'bout that.

This isn't anything that I'm going to need to know for my own racing interests, but I would just like to know. At this point, I'll end up being licensed with the AMA and I'm sure that will keep me busy for quite a while.

Thanks for answering,

SD

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

As far as the AMA goes with Road Racing in the USA it's purely Pro level racing to the best of my knowledge. As of a few years ago the AMA started holding an event searching for up and coming talent in motorcycle road racing every season, but that's only 1 event per season. The AMA does not hold Amateur / Expert level racing in itself, that's what the 'Club' level org's do - I have heard rumors that WERA was working on something with the AMA, but I personally don't know the in's and out's of what's going on there or if it's factual at all.

Generally you start racing at the Club level as an Amateur, then progress to an Expert, then once you are able to achieve a certain level of success at the Expert Club level you can earn the ability to get an AMA Pro Road Race license. Club level Amateur / Expert racing is very wide spread amongst many different tracks and org's in the USA, Pro level Road Racing is pretty much controlled dominantly by the AMA and they generally use the most popular tracks thruout the USA for their schedule.

AMA Pro is the highest level you reach in Road Racing in this country, many other countries have their own Pro racing series as well. Racers who reach the top of their game at Pro racing in a specific country can look to possibly advance to the World level of racing (World Superbike (WSBK) and MotoGP - which are run by 2 world level racing org's that are basically governing and rule making committees). WSBK is based on bikes that are available for purchase thruout the world, but the bikes that they are racing are heavily modified versions of those bikes. Though WSBK is also the testing and proving ground of motorcycle design and technology of the future, MotoGP bikes are purpose built race only machines that are not available to the general public most of the time. MotoGP and WSBK are where the fastest of the fast from the entire world end up racing, to get there you need to either be an absolutely amazing stand out racer in your countries Pro racing level or be really good and have some tremendous contacts within the motorcycle racing industry. MotoGP is considered the absolute top of motorcycle Road Racing in the world with WSBK closely behind that. Both MotoGP and WSBK travel to different countries to race for every event they run thru-out the entire season, a track that hosts a WSBK or MotoGP event has to go thru extensive evaluation just to be offered the opportunity to host such an event.

That better?

[SD40T-2]

GSXR,

Yea, it answers most of my questions. I guess I made a faux-pa when I said I'd be licensed with the AMA. Our club...or rather the track is AMA sanctioned and so we have to have an AMA membership to qualify for a license with our own club.

The 'Pro' level areas are not the slightest bit of concern to me. I much doubt that they ever will be. I hope to just be able to hold my own in Novice and when I move up to Expert. I've only scratched the surface and so far it seems to be something I'll enjoy.

[OFFICER737]

The AMA requires you to qualify for their races when it comes to most of their events and road racing courses. The fastest guys make the field and the rest don't.

[R1100S-Rider]

Q: Racing circuits for Dummies?

A: NASCARA!

What do I win??