Next Season (waffle induced by large amounts red wine)

[Red Wine Racing]

Just wondering if there is anyone who wants to race in a Supermono Championship next season? Just thinking its time we all start talking about next year.
Despite the poor turn out this year i have realy enjoyed the season. Its quite bizzar being 4th in the championship(due mainly to the lack of riders).
Them little youngsters on the Moto 450 have scared the life out of me a few times though and i am not to keen to race amogst them for another season (only because i am not good enough to keep up with there pace). I am undecided at the momnent about next season I have just finished my 3 months probation at my new job and things are looking good for next year. If there is to be no Supermono championship i may well alter my bike and join the Streetfighter C class next year (far more suitable for an old fart like me)

[Baldybackmarker]

Ditto with the red wine.....hic

A couple of (not very clear) thoughts:
26 riders have scored points in the championship so far this season, which is two more than in the whole of last season. There are new names and new bikes, which hints at progress, if slight.

The absence of the single cylinder Moto450s is a shame, as this seemed an ideal way of bringing youngsters into the fold. GP125 going to Moto3, with 250 4-stroke singles, presents a tantilising prospect for the future; a mono class made up of Moto3 250s, Moto450 singles and unlimited supermonos would comprehensively cover most technical options and rider age range and create several routes to participation.

[Aria]

The moto3 has to be forgotten. this will never happen and we will never see one of those bike on a club grid. these will be bikes made to tough GP rules costing around 100k euros with engines that have to last 3 races, suspension on those alone will build 2 mini mono's.
there are enough mono's built to fill any grid. Tigcraft has produced 25 minimono's alone!!!!! and these bikes did save mono's in a way and in the hands of many specially Mike Edwards have won many races.
the unlimited idea really is getting harder as there just aren't any large cc single engines produced anymore.
as for the moto450?? they are more expensive to build and just aren't a good handling bike. they will never compete in the front

so have to do a reality check here. go full prototype class? or hang on to the mono idea? yes there has been 26 points scoring riders this season but we have to give everyone the incentive to hang in there all season, me included. i have had the slowest mono out there for 2 years my engines making less power then standard Honda but man, my bike handles and it has been so cheap to run. the little girl has been top5 every time she finished. a good rider can win on it.

but unless people look at the championship as a motivating factor, we will have many riders not turning up or doing odd rounds, even though there are 10 times more mono's around than the moto450's ever produced.

i dont know what the answer is but i know the reality is supermono needs serious injection of life into it and adding the production based bikes and loosing national status is killing it. we have to beg and borrow and find some serious backers to inject money into it, at a time when money is to hard to mention......

[Red Wine Racing]

Ditto with the red wine.....hic

A couple of (not very clear) thoughts:
26 riders have scored points in the championship so far this season, which is two more than in the whole of last season. There are new names and new bikes, which hints at progress, if slight.

The absence of the single cylinder Moto450s is a shame, as this seemed an ideal way of bringing youngsters into the fold. GP125 going to Moto3, with 250 4-stroke singles, presents a tantilising prospect for the future; a mono class made up of Moto3 250s, Moto450 singles and unlimited supermonos would comprehensively cover most technical options and rider age range and create several routes to participation.

Made perfect sense to me

[richardsracingmad]

Well maybe try introducing a "starter class", i.e. tight regs, standard bikes with sensible, cheap mods to help it handle and stop, say yam MT-03 / yam XT660 SUPERMOTO class. The one problem I can see is the speed differential between the two classes tho....

it has to be really cheap, entry level stuff. And well regulated to stop any "development".

[Red Wine Racing]

Well maybe try introducing a "starter class", i.e. tight regs, standard bikes with sensible, cheap mods to help it handle and stop, say yam MT-03 / yam XT660 SUPERMOTO class. The one problem I can see is the speed differential between the two classes tho....

it has to be really cheap, entry level stuff. And well regulated to stop any "development".

Supermono is all about development so what would be the point of a regulated series all the riders i know want a class with as fewer rules as possible which is exactly what we asked for with Thundersport and is exactly what we got. there are already plenty of regulated cheap classes to race in and i tried the minitwins once and hated it. there is somting about a supermono that you can get from a converted road bike IMHO that is.

[huge]

It strikes me that we are suffering from a generation gap. Folk these days would clearly rather spend £12k on a ‘ready to race’ solution than (perhaps) a third of that amount and apply a bit of effort. Moto450 singles should have been a brilliant entry to the class. Spend a few bob on the motor one year, then perhaps a few more on a better frame the next and turn it into a supermono. Continuous development. Where are they all? Up for grabs for peanuts on ebay – that’s where, made obsolete overnight by rule changes.
Looking at car racing, long held as the ‘pinnacle’ of mechanised motorsport, innovation is seen as interpreting the rule book in a novel way. Folk these days are so used to being told what to do by being bound by rules, that maybe the lack of rules in supermono could actually be a turn-off?
One of the great attractions of singles to me is that there are no major leaps in technology coming that will make them obsolete overnight. One of the fastest bikes from last year was 20 years old!
I blame lack of Meccano sets as a child......Lego is too easy! Playstation doesn’t even come close!

[Baldybeere]

I think the generation gap is definatley a factor. In my defence for buying a moto 450 i need laps on a bike and they are more reliable than a mono. I am fully intending to use my mono next year as well once i get it sorted and reliable.
There are loads of reasons why the supermono class suffered and i think you are right that people want arrive & ride solutions to go bike racing. Money does not appear to be the issue but time is for a lot of people these days and mono's take a lot of preparation and looking after as well as specialist components etc. You cant buy a mono off the shelf you have to make it and there are fewer and fewer engineers out there that are prepared to do that kind of work for the money that most people can afford or have the basic machines to have a go themselves.

ANYWAY IVE ONLY JUST STARTED WHAT DOES ANYBODY THINK THAT CAN BE DONE TO KEEP THE CLASS ALIVE AS I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO CARRY ON NEXT YEAR IF I CAN.
I DONT HAVE LOADS OF TIME BUT I AM PREPARED TO HELP AS MUCH AS I CAN TO HELP,SUPPORT, NEGOTIATE, PROMOTE ETC.

[Red Wine Racing]

i think the generation gap is definatley a factor. In my defence for buying a moto 450 i need laps on a bike and they are more reliable than a mono. I am fully intending to use my mono next year as well once i get it sorted and reliable.
There are loads of reasons why the supermono class suffered and i think you are right that people want arrive & ride solutions to go bike racing. Money does not appear to be the issue but time is for a lot of people these days and mono's take a lot of preparation and looking after as well as specialist components etc. You cant buy a mono off the shelf you have to make it and there are fewer and fewer engineers out there that are prepared to do that kind of work for the money that most people can afford or have the basic machines to have a go themselves.

Anyway ive only just started what does anybody think that can be done to keep the class alive as i would really like to carry on next year if i can.
I dont have loads of time but i am prepared to help as much as i can to help,support, negotiate, promote etc.

more reliable than a mono???????????????????????????????????????????? Maybe more reliable than your mono but not all of them

[Red Wine Racing]

more reliable than a mono???????????????????????????????????????????? Maybe more reliable than your mono but not all of them

I have probably just signed the death warrant of my KTM lol