Posted by Rider/Parent on November 4, 2009, 8:24 pm, in reply to "Re: ACU Open Forum 15th November inc Youth (PM)"
How about bringing up something on the lines of this? Youth grasstrack racing is a fantastic sport as we all know and I'm sure we are not the only family whose lives it has taken over. I just so wish we had a way of spreading the word. The big problem the sport has, is people just do not know anything about it. Go into any motocross shop to buy some spares or kit and mention it is for grasstrack and they just look at you blankly. Go to any youth Moto X meeting and the chances are that 90% of the people there have never heard of it. Turn on any one of the sattelite channels and you will see all forms of bike racing but never grasstrack.
The sport needs promoting and bringing to a wider audience but it's not going to happen by itself. The ACU are also not going to have the time or even inclination to do it for us either. What it needs is a way for us to do it ourselves!
What if the ACU funded a leaflet, or even better a cheap DVD that we could all have copies of, on the theme of "Ever considered racing grasstrack? How to get started". How many times have we seen a dad with a young lad on a pitbike or auto, trying it out on a bit of wasteland. Imagine if you could pull over the car, reach into the glovebox for a leaflet and go and hand it to them with a few encouraging words! I'm also sure that the ACU have enough clout in the motorcycle world to arrange for this leaflet to accompany the paperwork of every new pitbike or Auto/MX65 sold through the network of dealers in this country. The leaflet, along with some glossy action pics, could give details of the different classes, what's involved and contacts for their nearest clubs. It could also direct people to a special website explaining the sport with some all action footage from Bob's videos on it. It might just ignite enough interest for parents to start picking up the phone. (It would also silence the critics on the adult forum who say us parents put nothing back into the sport!!).
And finally, go to any skate park and you will see countless kids on bmx's performing stunts that are, at times quite jaw dropping. These kids spend HOURS practicing on their bikes! Amongst kids, interest in all things two wheeled has never been higher. Lots of these kids are in their early teens and spend a fortune on their bikes. If we could just tap into this and raise a bit of interest, then I'm sure the step up to budget racing on pit bikes would not seem beyond them and their finances.
Just a few thoughts! What does anyone else think?
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