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2020 Season Preview, Transponders, Money and Kai

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The new official race season is fast approaching.  In traditional fashion things kick off under the roof and lights in Manchester at the home of British Cycling for rounds 1&2 of the HSBC National Series, can Birmingham retain their club title, can Crucial fight off Pure again and keep the Elite team trophy and can anyone stop Alan Hill winning another series!!!!!!

As far as venues go there are a few changes from last year but no complete newbies to hosting a national weekend.  The Scotland round in May has been switched back over to Cumbernauld, and Peckham and Bournemouth have been replaced with Gosport and Telford.  The Brits will be hosted by Leicester.  One thing that will be new to the National Series this year however is the introduction of transponders.  Being based in SW we’re pretty used to this system now and I’m sure a few other regions have adopted the technology.  For me it’s fast, efficient, accurate and informative, a big step forward in the sport and I praise the people who were involved in the decision to introduce it this year.  I’m sure as with any change, there will be folk who will disagree and completely hate it.  The one thing I would like to point out to people is that running transponders needs a change in software, out goes the old eBoard etc and in comes the new Sqorz system.  This works very similarly, HOWEVER has one significant difference, which I have now found has been published by BC in the latest series regulations but in my personal opinion needs to be highlighted more.  When racing gets into the knockout stages the previous system allocated gate pick order based on finishing position, whereas the new system allocates on lap times. So what this means in theory is that you could finish a 1/4 final in first place (normally giving you first or second gate pick) but if all top four finishers in the other 1/4 finals, finish with a faster lap time than you, you could send up with 7th pick!!!!! Likewise finish 4th in a fast 1/4, all other qualifiers post a slower lap time and you could suddenly find yourself with second pick for the semi. When you really take time (many minutes in my case) to think about the implications this could have you’ll perhaps understand me thinking this hasn’t been addressed with enough importance by the powers that be. Consider the scenario, you/ your child are unaware of this new change, in your quarter there’s a crash and 4 riders are out, dependant on how deep into the race the crash occurs it would be very easy for all 4 qualifying riders to take their feet off the gas and finish 1,2,3,4, but ease off too much taking a comfortable win and find yourself with 7th pick in the semi, you’d be raging, you know you would, obviously you won’t now though because you know and when this new found info plays into your hands you can thank me by buying a T-shirt 😜

The other significant change that has just come to light is the prize money for elite has taken a whack. First place finish is still holding a £300 prize but all other positions have a real drop, so much so, that if you podium in third your prize money is £10 less than finishing 8th last year, what the hell is that all about. I’ve thought for a few years that considering the physicality of elite racing the prize money wasn’t enough, and now they’ve cut it. I’ve tried to have a quick look around at what some of the other cycling disciplines offer up as prize money to compare but struggled. I managed to find a cyclo-cross document which showed the following……………….Elite men’s prize list (all rounds): Prizes to first 20 riders – £305, £160, £105, £80, £75, £70, £65, £60, £55, £50, £50, £45, £40, £35, £30, 5 x £20. Elite women’s prize list (all rounds): Prizes to first 20 riders – £305, £160, £105, £80, £75, £70, £65, £60, £55, £50, £50, £45, £40, £35, £30, 5 x £20. Prize funds appear to be greater and they also extend prize money down to 14 year olds. I guess fundamentally it has to come down to individual disciplines and their financing, entry fees, sponsorship monies and event costs, monies in Vs monies out. Until these sort of things are readily available to the likes of you and I then really we can only theorize. That doesn’t mean to say that the current situation is right or wrong, as I said earlier I personally think it’s shocking to hit the elite purse with such a cut. Maybe you have to look at other sports in comparison, the likes of football and rugby. There are distinct wage/ prize money differences, but monies in to football say will be considerably higher than that of rugby. It’s ready to go on and on with this one, I just hope a happy medium is reached soon and who knows if one day the SUB22 sales take off, I’d certainly consider sponsorship!!!

One final note for this edit goes out to the Sakakibara family. I can’t image what you are all going through right now, I’m sure you are surrounded by people to help and support and we send our thoughts and best wishes for a healthy recovery for Kai. #kaifight77. As ever please feel free to comment with your thoughts about the subjects raised, give us a like, a share and make sure you follow to ensure you never miss an edit.

SEE YOU ALL IN MANCHESTER

SW Champs 2019 Bideford BMX Club

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Has to be said it was probably the best day weather wise for a race at Bideford that I have ever attended!!!! Yes the wind was blowing a bit but it was dry and the sun made an appearance at times. It was a shame that original plans to hold presentation and camping on site had to be changed but I believe this was completely out of the clubs hands and I think they did amazingly well to re organise given the circumstances. Unfortunately due to Henry picking up a knock in his second moto, our evening resulted in us ordering a pizza delivery to Barnstable A&E instead of attending the presentation, and I will take this opportunity to apologise to the all in the hospital that evening who then had to endure the mini wave of food deliveries which we seemed to instigate!!! I’ve seen a few videos and pictures on the social media rounds and it looks like everyone had a good time. I will throw out huge credit to whoever came up with this years regional trophies, they are MINT and the Champs trophies again were great, those laser cut designs are brilliant. Congratulations to all those who took home the SW1 titles.

As has been the case for pretty much the whole regional series racing ran super smoothly which has to be attributed to the transponder system and all its associated race software. The new gate is a massive improvement, the revised first straight looked to ride well, another huge plus for the region with tracks evolving to meet the needs of our riders. The legend that is Scott Dick made the journey along the M4 to help Neil out and give the day a national vibe. Cal, Eddie, Josh, Haydon, Emily, Leo and Harrison battled it out for the very nice elite purse that was put up by Burrington Estates and Connected Electricals, along with 4 Holeshot prizes donated by Clarity Copiers. It was just a shame that it didn’t attract a few more riders so it wasn’t grand prix but still it didn’t stop the show piece race being just that, and if you’ve ever watched Eddie Moore at any race meet you know that like The Artful Dodger he’ll always be there to pick a pocket or two!!!.

SW Champs always throws up the issue of race categories, where often you find that riders who have raced up age groups all year in the regional series come back into their age appropriate race category for the Champs. Personally I have always said I don’t agree with it. We have always been fortunate enough that Henry’s age group has always been a good competitive group, but, I do understand why it makes sense for certain riders to race up age groups for the competition. When anyone comes back into their age group though for the Champs I always think its a case of “my class doesn’t provide enough competition for me all year but I’ll race it just this once to win the SW title” Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying it’s right or its wrong and I don’t think it’s something that will ever please everyone, but what I will say is I don’t like hearing when parents/ riders kick off about it with each other. These are the rules and those that do drop back are perfectly entitled to, if you have a problem with the rules then please take it up with those who put the rules in place and not those who are simply playing by them. Interestingly enough though I noted that at The Brits, those who rode the National series out of their natural class had to race The Brits out of their natural class and were not able to drop back into their natural class!!!!!!!!! It would be interesting to know how other regions approach this.

So that is officially it for another year, although as we all know there’s always a race going on somewhere. True to form the first round of racing under the roof booked up in next to no time and caused many a heart attack moment for parents desperate to get booked in. If you haven’t already done so the vast majority of SW riders transponder chips will need their subscriptions renewing here’s a guide as to how you can do this

So that’s about it for another episode. I have also produced a small edit from the Champs which is available to view on our YouTube channel now if you’ve not seen it already, CLICK HERE to view now. For those of you who voted on our last post regarding next years Brits rumour mill it was a landslide victory for Leicester to host next year. Our best wishes go out to DT who is having a short spell in hospital at the moment, I think I can comfortably speak for the BMX community in wishing you a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing that cheeky little smile back at a track very soon. Lastly I forgot to add on my last blog post how camp life at times can be educational. In Derby I learnt the Welsh word for 100. I was also then taught that if you recite said word three times in quick succession it comes out as something quite different, Google it and you’ll see what I mean!!!!!!!! Answers on a postcard as to which child was the teacher that day……………………. Cheers all

The Brits, Derby 2019

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So this was my fifth outing to ‘The Brits’ and I can safely say without any doubt ‘The Best’ I have been to yet, it wasn’t perfect, but it was a good way towards it, so a huge thank you from myself and my family, to Derby BMX club for all their efforts in making it so. As with most events they are always better when the weather is on your side and my personal classic flip flop tan lines provide confirmation that it was a belter, the only downside I experienced with the warmer weather was the delicate odour it generated in the gents track side portable urinal, and that was on Friday!!!!!!!

Standard operating procedures resumed in the trades area with all the usual suspects, Green Machine, Crucial, Pure, B73, DC Cycles with their pump track, Staystrong, and Sorted, all displaying their latest gear and end of season bargains. The massage chair gizmo guy was on point, he knew all about his product and how it compared to all others, and he had the gift. I sat there and 100% enjoyed my lower back being gently warmed and massaged but whilst feeling more and more relaxed that little bit of Yorkshire in me knew that he was cleverly never mentioning price, so exited whilst I was still feeling relaxed. Interestingly if anyone did hang on to find out the price please comment below.

Just short of 1300 riders were registered across the two days of racing which I heard was one of the best turn outs in recent years. Part of this has to be location. It makes sense to me to have The Brits somewhere in the middle third of the country making it more accessible from the farthest ends of motorway networks. I’m not sure I’d subscribe into having it at the same venue year on year, one I don’t think that’s its fair to pressure a club into that responsibility, and two, it to a lesser extent creates a bias towards members of that track. On that subject, the rumour mill was in full flow as to where next years event will be. The three venues that were brought to my attention were Leicester, Bournemouth and Peckham. Now I like all three of these but you can’t have The Brits without camping right???

Camping, like at Bournemouth was perfectly located, but as has already been highlighted on social media had it’s issues, the number of toilets did seem a little on the lean side, and not most ideal locating them at one end of probably the biggest camp site of the year, especially for people like me who have set up at the other end and then have to trudge down there to empty my waste, always a special journey!!! Security have also been questioned which I understand, but at least there was some, I’m sure a couple this year have had nothing and honestly when did you, ever, get asked to show your wrist band on a campsite, mine I know for a fact was ‘The Brits’ 2015 at Plattfields!! Not sure I remember seeing any fire extinguishers around the camp this weekend though…………..As mentioned before, part of the whole Brits weekend is camping. People in tents at night really do need to remember when using a light it projects your silhouette out to the camp!!!! A certain lady was seen to be sporting a new fashion by utilising the SW buff as, well, not sure what it turned into really ( those who know who this was, ask her to see the photos!!!) but it was soon being copied by a few adults and good few more of the kids. Night times involved the nippy little mozzies taking up Scott Dicks advice of “ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK”. Saturday night some South West skulduggery took place, commando styling it into The North gazebo and giving their skeleton the SW treatment (images and videos are on FB). Disappointing that my lad was woken at 1:55 am Sunday before racing and I had to have a word with the perpetrators. That sort of partying is for Sunday night, where a few of us from SW and a certain photographer (who has a wicked drink mix, music taste I can now tell you) gathered, drank , chatted, built a human pyramid, whittled down the numbers and followed the sounds over to the Midlands party. We strolled in took over the control of the music, eventually got it all jumping once phones re charged then played it out until the generator ran out. Layton thank you for your hospitality, red is the new blue!!!

Sunday as you all know is parade day, yes I’m going to be biased but we in the SW smashed that out of the park, best we’ve shown. The North win best supported region!?!? You what??? You’ve got to be mugging us off, how did that happen??? Later speculation suggested that the winners are picked from a hat!! Honestly……….. is that what happens, surely not. Great to hear a couple of new voices on the commentary, both doing an amazing job ( just who is this Neil Forsyth?), although I bet it was a little odd to be at a national race meeting and not call out Alan Hills name, hope you’re back racing soon Alan. Great to see Stephen Murray and Ed Pole, and then for a £2K cheque to be handed over, BMX family you are the best, just a shame to then hear of a few bikes being stolen. I hope these turned out to be just misplaced and not stolen. The two SW shop teams Green Machine who go out on a high and Crucial both took their respective Brits team competition titles which I think you all will agree is bloody brilliant and the trophies were to match unlike the national series ones which at first glance look good, get closer and the edges are rough finished and the two stickers that were applied weren’t straight, a little disappointing to be given that in recognition of a years worth of racing.

Hugh Copping posted an in depth FB post regarding the future of the sport, I won’t go into it all, read it for yourselves. It’s about moving with the times and utilising current tech specifically transponders on the national circuit. Many analogies were made, one particular was an old Nokia Vs a modern day smart phone. Last week there was a program I caught on TV, ‘ The Rise and Fall of Nokia’ they were leading the mobile market for years, approximately 2 years before the iPhone came out a smaller telecoms company approached Nokia several times with a new touch screen, augmented phone technology, but they were never interested and believed they were still top of the game. The day the iPhone was released and the Nokia bosses got their hands on it they instantly knew they were in trouble.

Let’s keep pushing the sport forward as a family that it always shows it is and let’s see what changes the next few years will bring.