National Motocross Returns to Southwick!

I hadn't realized this until now (about three months behind the news) but its great news for offroad racing of any kind here in the Northeast.

After two years away, a change in promoters, a reacquiring of town permits and a rebuilding of its AMA relationship, the sand of Southwick, MA will see a national level motocross event in '16.  Last held in '13 with the 450 class won by Ryan Dungey and the 250 class won by Broc Tickle, the Southwick event is likely the largest pure offroad event in New England and its not likely that anything is even a close second.

Scheduled for Saturday 7/9/16 tickets are already on sale and available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-bull-southwick-national-motocross-2016-tickets-19320759913

I can tell you from having attended the event before, if you are going to attend, be prepared for a hot day and TONS of people with little room if you are holding a "general admission" ticket.  This was about as or more crowded an event as any concert I've been to with long lines for bathrooms and food/drink.  The action is great and you can be right on top of the track, the grounds are beautiful with the greenest of grass and pine trees and the most wonderfully tan sand/dirt track manicured as if it were Augusta National...but its not an event for those looking for cushy conditions on the cheap...If you have the ability to buy a VIP ticket that includes an all day pit pass, private bathroom and viewing areas, they are highly recommended.

Regardless, it will be great to has such a prestigeous and nationally known offroad event return to New England.  Website here: http://thewick338.com

AJP Motorcycles Introduces its Rally Bike...

Well...it LOOKS like it belongs at the Dakar...

As with SUVs in the 90's and early '00s motorcycles are appearing to go through a period of expanding "adventure" models.  As every SUV was marketed as being tough and ready to go mountain climbing at one time so it is that motorcycle manufacturers are pumping out ADV models left and right.  Not to make you think that suddenly the US consumer is interested in the Dakar or other Rally-Raid events.  No...but the ADV market (generally larger bikes that can be used both on and off road for long distances) is motorcycling's fastest growing in terms of unit percentages.
Many companies though are putting some extra plastic cladding, some bigger lights and one inch more suspension travel and call it a day.

AJP at least has a history in producing Enduro bikes and exclusively Enduro bikes so their move into the ADV segment makes sense.  They bring some interesting ideas to the table with the newly introduced PR7 660.  On the "small" side for an ADV or Dakar bike it should be exceedingly agile, particularly given their Enduro heritage where their bikes are more designed to maneuver single track through the woods vs. wide open desert terrain.  The bike is also really light.  Listed at 155 kg this is only 341 lbs.

That said some concerns have been brought up as to the size of the gas tank which at only about 4 1/2 gallons is not likely to cut it for more than the shortest of rally-raid stages.  Furthermore, while the positioning of the gas tank under the seat makes the bike's center of gravity nice and centered and low, it also means you have to get off the bike and lift up the seat to refill it.  For quick refills you don't want to be getting off the bike, releasing the seat, undoing the fuel cap and then repeating the process in reverse--not conducive to fast times, ease of access and ability to mount items on or around the seat.

The bike will be available in late '15 via your local AJP distributor and imported from Portugal where they are made.  Their US distributor is a bunch of great Vermont based guys...so check them out.

AJP USA website...

AJP Worldwide website...

Vegas to Reno and AMA Motocross TV Ratings From Weekend of 8/9

This week we’ll stick with just the simple weekend TV ratings from Network TV.  For the purposes of our conversation we’ll define Network TV as those stations most commonly broadcasting an “over the air” signal—signals you can pick up for free with a pair of “rabbit ears” (this would most commonly be your local NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox stations).  The weekend of 8/9 and 8/10 saw two “offroad” motorsports broadcasts, both on NBC.

The first of these was the Saturday, 8/8 live broadcast of the 450 Moto2 from 3-4PM Eastern at the Red Bull Unadilla National in New Berlin, NY.  Trey Canard and his Muscle Milk Honda would follow up his 4^th place Moto1 result by taking the Moto2 win followed by Moto1 winner Ryan Dungey.  The hour long broadcast produced a 0.3 rating which equates to an estimated 347,000 households tuning in to watch.  If you figure that a few of these households had more than one individual watching the program (say 1 in 10) then you end up with about 380,000 people were exposed during this time frame to the sport in general and to the advertisers (Red Bull and Lucas Oil were foremost amongst these) in particular.  As a point of contrast, during this same time period, ABC was broadcasting the NASCAR Nationwide event a stone’s throw away in NY over at Watkins Glenn, obtaining a 1.2 rating.

Sunday 8/9 would bring another offroad event on NBC.  This time, its broadcast wasn’t so clear to the casual observer.  If you looked at your available TV programs on Sunday you would have seen the “World of Adventure Sports presented by GoPro” on NBC from 3-4 PM Eastern.  Great, but I’m busy revalving my shocks or watching the final round of the PGA Championship over on CBS you say.  Well, then you would have missed some sweet HD coverage of the 2013 Vegas to Reno BITD race.  Won by Jason Voss in Trick Trucks and CJ Hutchins in the 1500 class, the coverage here would not be for the full hour as within this program was also coverage of other non-motorsports events such as a marathon on Mt. Blanc in France and downhill mountain biking.  Still, the program did generate a 0.4 rating, reflecting about 462,000 households tuning in with about 508,000 viewers.  When you consider that this broadcast was competing directly against the culminating hours of the PGA Championship (6.0 rating) and the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on ESPN (3.1 rating) it’s really quite decent.

Both of these broadcasts are well within what I would consider the “norm” for offroad motorsports ratings on Network TV over the past few years—though the Unadilla motocross event is on the very low end of what Moto/Supercross typically generates. 

TELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Zippo 200 at The Glen	8/9	ABC	2:15-5:00pm	1.2
"ESPN Sports Saturday"	8/9	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.7
Major League Fishing: Summit Cup Championship	8/9	CBS	1:00-2:00pm	0.5
PGA Championship: Third Round	8/9	CBS	2:00-7:15pm	3.2
AMA Motocross	8/9	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.3
U.S. Swimming National Championships	8/9	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5
World of X Games: Games of Skate	8/10	ABC	5:00-6:00pm	0.4
PGA Championship: rain delay coverage	8/10	CBS	2:00-3:00pm	2.0
PGA Championship: Final Round	8/10	CBS	3:00-9:00pm	6.0
Ironman World Championship	8/10	NBC	1:30-3:00pm	0.6
World of Adventure Sports	8/10	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.4
U.S. Swimming National Championships	8/10	NBC	4:00-5:30pm	0.5

Mint 400, LOORRS and AMA Motocross TV Ratings From 7/5 and 7/6

 
Well, this was certainly a busy weekend for offroad motorsports fans.  Just on full Network TV there was the AMA Motocross race at Red Bud in Buchananm MI on Saturday from 3-4PM with NBC, then there was an hour worth of LOORRS coverage on CBS on Sunday and the big event of the weekend was the two hour broadcast of Mad Media's presentation of the '14 Mint 400 within the Red Bull Signature Series on NBC from 2-4PM.

The ratings for all three are right in line with historical offroad racing on the big networks.  The lowest rated broadcast was the LOORRS event on CBS that grabbed a 0.3 rating, equaling the Nick Faldo golf program also on CBS this weekend for the lowest rated sports event in the period but still equating to a 347,000 households viewing the show and close to 400,000 viewers of the program and its advertising.

The AMA Motocross event from RedBud on Saturday had a 0.4 rating.  I haven't really tracked motocross ratings in the past so I'm not sure how this compares historically but I will try and note their ratings going forward.  The 0.4 equates to some 462,000 households watching the rhythm sections and tabletops with in excess of 509,000 pairs of eyeballs tuned in for the broadcast.

The two hour long Mint 400 broadcast on NBC from 2-4PM on 7/6 produced a 0.4 rating, similar to that of the Motocross event with 462,000 households and 509,000 (conservative estimate) viewing the event.  Of note here is that the first hour of this broadcast overlapped with the LOORRS broadcast over on CBS.  There is certainly a crossover factor here the likely drew viewers away from each show depressing the ratings for each.  Viewed in aggregate for offroad motorsports however, it shows a solid audience of like minded viewers.  On this past Sunday afternoon there were at least 810,000 households and just shy of 1,000,000 people watching either shortcourse offroad racing or desert racing at the same time across the country--an amount that equals or exceeds the number of people viewing either the Men's or Women's Wimbeldon finals or Tour de France highlights.

That's pretty damn cool...

ELECAST	DATE	NET	TIME (ET)	RATING
FIFA World Cup quarterfinal: Argentina-Belgium	7/5	ABC	12:00-2:00pm	n/a
"SportsCenter"	7/5	ABC	2:00-3:00pm	2.0
Wimbledon: Ladies' Final: Petra Kvitova d. Genie Bouchard (replay)	7/5	ABC	3:00-6:00pm	0.7
"Faldo Series: The Time Is Now"	7/5	CBS	2:30-3:00pm	0.3
PGA Tour: Greenbrier Classic: Third Round	7/5	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	1.1
MLB: (regional)	7/5	Fox	7:00-10:15pm	1.6
Tour de France: Stage 1 highlights	7/5	NBC	2:00-3:00pm	0.4
AMA Motocross	7/5	NBC	3:00-4:00pm	0.4
World Series of Fighting	7/5	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5
Wimbledon: Gentlemen's Final: Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer (replay)	7/6	ABC	3:00-6:00pm	0.7
Lucas Oil Off Road Racing	7/6	CBS	2:00-3:00pm	0.3
PGA Tour: Greenbrier Classic: Final Round	7/6	CBS	3:00-6:00pm	1.8
Red Bull Signature Series: Mint 400 (off-road racing)	7/6	NBC	2:00-4:00pm	0.4
Tour de France: Stage 2 highlights	7/6	NBC	4:00-6:00pm	0.5

Northeastern "Off-Road" Events 5/18-5/19

I know this is a bit late...but just in case someone was looking for something to do this weekend I figured I'd put it up as there is always more going on than you might believe.

NEHA Ascutney Hillclimb: the event this year is running the long course for the first time in a number of years.  Ascutney is in southern Vermont and this even takes place over Saturday and Sunday with the first day being practice runs up the mountain and the runs that count come on Sunday.  The NEHA events are always great for both beginners and experts as even in a non-caged car you can run wide open the entire way.  Check out the rules and join in, this is a great way to get involved in motorsports and see if its something you want to take to the next level.  New England Hillclimb Association

J Day Off Road: on Sunday 5/19, J Day holds its third event of the year in Greenfield, MA at the Davenport Trucking Paradise GP.  J Day has been rapidly growing its brand and events over the past few years by presenting a unique mix of enduro, motocross and endurocross terrain in a spectator friendly environment.  The series not only runs a number of "pro" classes but classes for older and inexperienced riders as well making the series a welcoming one great for everyone.  J Day Off-Road

The Central Connecticut 4 Wheelers are putting on their second event of 2013.  CC4W holds its events at the Moto-X 338 facility in Southwick, MA.  These events represent some of the longest running short course events in the Northeastern, US and CC4W has opened a "beginners" class for those who might want to get their feet wet in short course racing.  Lots of excellent Jeeps, buggies and trucks running here with the race taking place on Sunday 5/19 and Team O'Neil Rally School performing demo rides as well.  Central Connecticut 4Wheelers

If anyone knows of any others please let me know so I can add them to my schedule of events to pay attention to in the future.  And if anyone attends any of these events and/or takes photos, please let me know as I'd love to give a mention/recap for each one.  So get out there and get involved.