| Many scooter racers have extensive experience in all sorts of racing: flat track, auto rallying, YSR, BMX, and submarine racing, to name just a few. Many have little or no experience, though. Personally, I've never raced anything formally in my life. If you've never been to a motorscooter race, you may be worried that you'll look ignorant showing up to race. With a little homework on your part, and some help from the officials and other racers, you'll soon feel quite welcome. That's right, help from the other racers. That's one of the beauties of scooter racing. It's less ridiculous than lawn-mower racing, but less serious than NASCAR, so everybody is there to have fun. The only prizes are an inexpensive trophy and bragging rights. And like the Special Olympics, everyone who participates is a winner. Parts, tips, tools, and advice are all shared pretty freely. Your participation is strongly desired. Be cool, be ready to share, and be there on a scooter. Then, be ready to be amazed at how much help you'll get. This article will show generally how races are organized and run. I'll be using the joint MASS and ESRA race held at Circleville Raceway Park on 4/27/02 as an example. After reading this, you may feel less apprehensive about racing. If so, I've succeeded. |
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Track Inspection Race director Joe Kokesh and Hard Luck teammate Tim inspecting track prior to the races. They're looking for anything which may cause a hazard to fast-moving two-wheeled vehicles: stones, bits of metal or glass, oil, dead animals, etc. |
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| Race Preparations Today Joe is also Tech Inspector. He goes through a checklist of safety items with the rider or mechanic, ascertaining that each scooter meets the requirements of the track and organization. If needed, he'll explain exactly how any changes should be made. If you've done your homework and prepped your scooter consistent with the rules of your organization, you shouldn't have much problem. Scooter prep can take several hours, initially, so don't wait until race day to get started. If you follow the links from this site to the appropriate rulebook, you can learn what you need to do. Also, read my article about safety-wiring if this is new to you. |
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| As soon as teams arrive, they usually start getting their stuff ready, making last minute tuning changes, and fixing the tech problems found in the inspection. Riders have to register, pay, sign papers, get their scooters and their safety gear inspected, and attend a mandatory riders' meeting. |
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| Riders' Meeting During the riders' meeting, track and race rules are reviewed. Flag colors and their meanings, what to do if a rider falls, safety procedures, and other topics are covered. |
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The tone is very friendly, but the rules are enforced firmly. The rules are to protect everyone, and to ensure a fair race and a fun time for all. |
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Corner Workers' Meeting Strategically-placed "corner workers" are an important safety asset. In touch with the tower via two-way radios, each corner worker can relay information to racers via colored flags, and can also quickly report an accident or hazard to race officials. |
| Here volunteers are briefed on their duties and ask any questions they may have. Even if you don't race, you will learn a lot by attending this meeting as well as the riders' meeting. Volunteering to be a corner worker is a great thing for a novice to do. Racers or spectators can volunteer. There are usually several classes, and more than one heat for each class. A spectator can volunteer to work a corner during specific heat, and still spend most of his or her time in the pits or the stands. A racer can be a corner worker in any race he or she isn't riding in. One really cool aspect of being a corner worker is that you can be really up close to the action. You sit or stand at a corner, watch the racers and the track, listen to the radio, and if necessary you will hold up a flag. The tower would tell you what to do, which flag, how to hold it, etc. It's really easy, and nobody gets a better view of your small part of the track. It's really quite fun. |
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Staging and Gridding Once officials and corner workers are in place, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd calls are announced, contestants in the current race should be staged in a designated area prior to entering the track. Typically, the riders will make one relaxed lap and line up in their assigned grid positions at the starting line. |
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| Let The Race Begin Now, understand that I'm not a racing techniques expert, BUT, it seems to me that you should attempt to do what Stewart Nicol is doing here: take off fast, grab the lead, and hold onto it throughout the entire race. |
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| Inter-Race Activities Here's where a great deal of the fun takes place. Everybody's back from the race. Someone came in first and someone else came in last. Some DNFed (Did Not Finish). Some crashed, but hopefully most didn't. Things that broke need to get fixed before the next heat. Tuning changes need to be made, tire pressures and fuel mixtures adjusted, loose items taped up, wired down, or ripped off. But first, lots and lots of adrenaline has to be eliminated from the bloodstream. This is accomplished by means of raucous laughing, shouting, hugging, hand-gripping, picture-taking, and then all of this followed by sitting zombie-like for several minutes, sipping liquids and zoning out. |
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Post-Race Activities I'd like to extend this to include something about the awards ceremony, the score-keeping, and the cleanup/packup/leave activities. Of course, I'd also like to mention the non-mandatory, but highly educational post-post-race activities, too. Stuff like eating, drinking, singing songs around a heap of flaming mopeds, etc. For this, though, I need some appropriate pictures. Anyone got some digital pics of these you're willing to share? |
Do you have experiences you'd like to share about your initial involvement with scooter racing? Share them with us. Space is available to interested persons who wish to contribute information or a short article, in compliance with rules issued in the introduction. |
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