Why the lack of entries in Factory Pro Sportbike?

[SVbadguy]

The only other issue I have, is all the ASRA races are at the end of the day on sunday, and I usually don't enter any races towards the end of the day on sunday. You have to pack up, drive back home, put everything away, and sleep before work on Monday. If I didn't get done with racing until 5pm then pack and not leave the track until say 6pm ish.. I wouldn't get back home until 12am. Then I still have to unload and get some sleep all before the alarm goes off at 6am for work.

This is something I mentioned to Eric.  For me Daytona wasn't an issue since I was already there.  Summit too, plus I only live half an hour away.  I'd like to do Pro Sportbike at VIR too, but I have a 5-hour drive home and have to get up a 0430 to go to work.  The scheduling just doesn't work out for me.  Not to mention most of the fans/spectators have already gone home by the time the big races start.

[MELK-MAN]

How about this:

#1 - Make ASRA regional like CCS
AND THEN
#2 - Make ASRA like the PGA.  Add purse money for each race (maybe instead of product contingency??).  Let the top 5 riders keep their full eligibility, the rest lose it, and have to qualify during a set of races at the beginning of the season to get it back.  Limit full eligibility to 18 riders, and allow 5-7 spots for weekend qualifiers (anyone who owns an ASRA legal bike and pays the qualifying fee!!!).  Leave a time gap between the ASRA and CCS stuff so that non-participating racers can go watch the events, or help crew for ASRA riders.  Scoreboards (mobile, wireless) would be cool so fans could watch the action from the stands even when they can't see the bikes.  And start an ASRA website!  Seperate it from CCS a little bit, add loads more pictures, give rider bio pages, and add tech articles about 1 rider's bike/gear a week.

I'm guessing it'll be mostly up to sponsorship acquisition, but more money would bring more riders, and would really give the top experts something to step up to!  

** Disclaimer, I wrote this over the course of an hour while at work.  It will probably be a little disjointed!!!!

Missing the point of why there is an ASRA series, it is a national pro series. If it was to be regional, we already have CCS classes for that (middleweight supersort, twin classes, mid wt superbike).
ALso.. CCS/ASRA is not paying the contingency we get, the series sponsors are. Like Michelin tires, that money comes from michelin not CCS/ASRA. Same with all the other product sponsors. They as well pay a fee to ccs/asra to be series sponsors, and helps ccs/asra offset some of the im sure huge expenses they incur. I as well as everyone would love to see larger purses but i dont have the answers, just thought id point out a couple things about your post.

[Super Dave]

CCS had Sportbike at the regional level in 2003 with a small purse, like ULGP.  I think it was dropped after that one year. 

I have no short answers on why nothing is working well, but I think many of the old systems are not keeping up with the dramatic changes in the market place and the changing demographic of motorcycle racers.

[mikendzel]

Missing the point of why there is an ASRA series, it is a national pro series. If it was to be regional, we already have CCS classes for that (middleweight supersort, twin classes, mid wt superbike).
ALso.. CCS/ASRA is not paying the contingency we get, the series sponsors are. Like Michelin tires, that money comes from michelin not CCS/ASRA. Same with all the other product sponsors. They as well pay a fee to ccs/asra to be series sponsors, and helps ccs/asra offset some of the im sure huge expenses they incur. I as well as everyone would love to see larger purses but i dont have the answers, just thought id point out a couple things about your post.

Yeah, I guess I did miss the point of the ASRA series.  But I think my heart was in the right place....

It seems to be a national, money chasers' series.  Bigger purses that pay down a good 10 - 15 spots would get more entries because fast experts who aren't quite at the level of Jensen and Wood, etc.. would see it as an opportunity at SOMETHING.  That possible reward would make it more enticing to drive 1/2 across the country to race.

OR

If you make it regional, and seperate it from even the expert class by skill level requirements, it would give the faster regional experts a reason to try and run the series.  First, since it's regional, they have a better shot at the overall title (fiscally speaking).  Second, with the prestige involved with making the cut / being an ASRA Pro, my guess would be the experts would be gunning to get themselves into the series and the races, rather than seeing it as a waste of money.  Granted, you may lose some entries in the expert ranks, but after the amount of racers I've seen at these events, I think the numbers will come from somewhere!!!  Entries are up in the AM ranks for every race this year in the MidAtl.

[LilJayRR]

You have a point about paying back further. I would consider it more if I knew I had a shot at some of the $'s. Currently I have no shot at it, I'm just not fast enough yet. Of course if you pay back further you have to come up with the $'s somewhere. The entry fee's will have to go up, find a Spenser to put up the $'s, or the manufacturers could pay $'s differently. Maybe pay back to 10th-15th place? I'm not certain how the ASRA purses payout. Maybe have ASRA pay 1st thru 10th, plus the Manufacturers pay 1st thru 15th, or vise verse. Limit the number of riders to say 20-25, and keep qualifying the way it is. Move the ASRA races by sprinkling them in through out the day on sunday, or move them to just after the lunch break. Then I might enter the ASRA race instead of a CCS race and take a shot at some $'s. That is why I entered UNL GP, it was the only shot I had at any $'s.

Just my .02 cents...

[Xian_13]

Well for starters...
I think this shows, purse money does NOT equal class entries.

Why are the grids empty?
Ask yourself why your not entering...
For me, I just don't give a shit. I am not going to make the grid except for maybe one weekend.

The points don't matter...
The cash spend on the race, does matter.
That would be, one set of tires....
50. for the License...
100/125 for the entry fee...
The gas.. the this.. the that...
Would the chance to spend an extra 175. +tires and gas, for one race excite me? (No it would not)

It is a national race.
ASRA needs to get people to race nationally.
Maybe DMG will fuck up AMA racing, it will chase teams to ASRA.

But whatever, it still won't make me waste the money.
XIII

[Garywc]

well lets see to me some of the fun things
you get to qualify for your spot on the grid..more track time plus a goal to meet
you get to run with some of the fastest riders that race with us...try to latch on to one for a turn or two
longer races..more track time
purses pay back to 10th i believe...even i have gotten money
the more entries the more payouts
traveling to new tracks...getting to ride them

things that aren't so much fun about it
traveling to new tracks...traveled too much last season
another license fee..
higher entry fee..
tires ..can be adjusted with other entries from the weekend
races are at the end of the day.....maybe make qualifying Saturday morning and the races Saturday afternoon. that way the other races will be there to watch them. i know i rarely stay to watch races. main reason is if i am not out there racing i don't really care about the race

[George_Linhart]

I think there are a number of key factors at play that have less to do with the series structure itself and more to do with larger issues.

1) Economy & consumer confidence - I am willing to bet there fewer people "chasing the dream" running the national series this year due to a lack of certainty that they will be able to afford it (actually I think a lot of guys who couldn't afford it would make a go for a year or two only to end up piled high in debt because of "overconfidence" in either their abilities or the economy).  I also think that people are just spending less on margin which means the regional guys who in the past may have entered the extra class are balking at the added cost of the license, entry and running costs related to the added qualifying and race.

2) Time factor - by running the ASRA races Sunday afternoon it makes it tough for anybody facing a long drive that has a job they need to be at on Monday morning.  For some it doesn't matter (closer track or some flexibility on work) but after running ASRA Thunderbike at HPT Iat the start of the year  had a very rough day the next Monday since we didn't get home and unload untill 3:00 am.

3) Commodity Prices - lets face it, with pump gas prices hitting $4.00 everybody's weekend costs have gone up in direct relation to how far you need to travel.  It is inevitable that there will be less spending on things that are not necessities as everybody balances their bugeting process.

Personally for me the biggest problem I am facing right now is increasing demands of my job and a need to balance work, family and play.  I am working very hard under stressful conditions which makes it hard to find time for the bike maintenance, domestic chores  that don't get done while I am playing at the track and finding quality time to spend with Heidi & Sam.  Even though my wife and son do enjoy coming to the track, it is a very selfish activity given the amount of time I am busy with the bike and on the track.

Economically I am lucky enough that I can justify the expenses, however, emotinally I can not justify the personal costs for much out side of the big race weekends where I can position it as a mini-vacation.  HPT (done) and Road America are the only races I am certain I can make - I am trying to do some other dates but I just am finding it very difficult...

I believe the economy is going to drag well into next year - its going to be interesting to see what begins to happen with race entries at every level as the year progresses.

[ahastings]

I ran it . It almost is a regional series. All but 2 rounds are in what CCS calls the MidAtlantic region which includes Florida and Alabama, but that is another issue. I think it is a cost issue for most people. The fact that it is on the same weekend with CCS regional, and at the end of the weekend. Most guys are already maxed out with their ccs races. And at Barber you have twin sprints on top of it. Then add in the higher entry fees and the extra cost of tires for qualifying.Look at the WERA Nationals , they have bigger grids, but it is a stand alone series not combined with the regional weekend. Maybe they should have stand alone ASRA/Team challenge events, that might also help the team challenge grids which are pitifully small.

[Super Dave]

I wish I had great answers. 

Many of the issues of economy and payback have been covered previously when Sportbike was occuring at the regional level in 2003.  The economy was pretty darn good, and the payback existed.

Regional club racing doesn't really attract hard core motorcycle racers the way it did in years past.  When I was growing up racing in my 20's, most of the people I was racing with were in their 20's.  Now, there are a lot of racers in their 40's, a huge number in their 30's. 

Club racing isn't the competition that it was twenty to fifteen years ago.  I think because of that, the ASRA series hasn't been "fun" from a competition stand point where it seems like others have provided that level of intensity.

That's my two cents.  Might not make any sense of the whole problem, but it might offer some insight.

[Eric Kelcher]

FYI

                             2008              2007              2006                2005                 2004
Sportbike                 19.00             19.63             19.38               27.25                18.63
SuperBike                21.67             23.75             20.75               21.38                17.63
SuperStock              22.00             16.88            Did not run        18.88 (750s)     15.50 (750s)     
Thunderbike            18.00             19.88             20.25               26.38                18.13

AMA
SuperSport               38.50               39.64             36.09              38.50                  37.00               
FX                            42.00               37.80              30.45              33.00                 24.00       
SuperStock               33.20               23.20              31.73             


WERA
600 SS                     28.7                34.9               31.1                  26.9                  23.9
600SB                      21.7                25.1               25.1                 17.6                   19.4
1000 SS                   20.7                18.5               21.4                 26.4 (750ss)      19.8 (750ss)
LW Twins                 8.7                  10.1               14.6                  8.1                      4.8


ASRA and AMA (USGPRU as well but they do not run classes that cross over) are the only pro series in the country, I included WERA as it is a national series with simialr classes

[Garywc]

is that the average of entries Eric?