2016 New Expert List

[Staton Shed]

Laugh at idiots who take it so seriously and finish behind you.

For the serious types;since it was meant in good humor, but missed the mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4

[Eric Johnson]

For the serious types;since it was meant in good humor, but missed the mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4

An awesome post likes this reminds me why I like you Mongo.

[Kasey Lewis]

Hogwash. Show up. Have fun. Laugh a lot. Ride fast as you can. Laugh at idiots who take it so seriously and finish behind you. (Not me...just sayin...) Drink. Laugh more.

Wisdom!

[Tommy Hendricks]

This statement, I almost take offense to. Actually, it really digs at me for some reason. I've been an expert racer in the CMRA for the last couple years and in that time, I have managed to run personal bests at every track, every time I went back. Being based out of Missouri, the closest CMRA track to us is Hallett (6 hour drive) and all of the Texas tracks are at least 10 hours away. The closest road race course to us is in Topeka, just over 3 hours away, and they were closed all of last year. Memberships at a track simply aren't an option for us, and being able to afford a race school and race isn't happening either.
What all this means, is that the only time we were able to practice at a CMRA track in the last couple years is when we attended a race. As an example of how it worked for me...in 2014, I was able to take my best time at TWS from a mid 1:53 to a 1:49.0, by only running the race weekends and practice days. And at no time did I feel as if I was riding over my head. Pushing limits and trying to learn from those faster than me, absolutely, but not riding over my head to keep up with the racer in front of me. Seems to be pretty effective for me. Everyone is different though.

Well said Jeremy. I hardly ever do practice days. I usually show up the day before to get everything set up, use the practice sessions race morning to shake the cobwebs off and get comfortable, and have fun racing that day. I usually improve every time I come out. Trying to keep the costs down after all. Expensive *** hobby this is.

[Nancy Selleck]

Congratulations to Shawn Treadaway for being moved up to Expert for 2016! Good job, Shawn!

[Greg Gilstrap]

These are the lap time thresholds that ridesmart has for level 3. When I had the time to run TDs regularly in 12'&13' I could do these times on my 250. How much practice do you think an expert or some novices are going to get riding in there.

MSRH - 2:00 Minutes
TWS - 2:12 Minutes
ECR - 2:15 Minutes
MSRC - 1:35 Minutes

Though I disagree with Dennis on many other things, I sure do agree with him on this documentation.

This has been contested on MotoDFW.com for quite a while, and from what I have observed (just visiting the track day events), hasn't even ever been enforced.
The basically reply from management, why these lap times are so terribly high, is that RideSmart is not a 'racing school', it is simply and only, a 'Track Day' organization.

There are several people who do attend the pre-CMRA weekend (which everyone should already know is allocated to RideSmart), to get some 'practice' in, and many enjoy it. Personally, I would never do it...

There was a relative post to this subject matter once before, and I believe that I had made-mention of a comment made to me (was probably 3 years ago), from a current highly-talented Expert class member (and past BoD member), about half-way through the day, came in mid-session just shortly after lunch, took his helmet off, and said, "I knew better than to come out here...", and proceeded to pack up and depart the event; due to the terrible lack of skill that many Level 3 riders possess, but are allowed out there.

I have personally contested the allowance of numerous riders at the COTA events, with no success to have them lowered from Level 3. Always responded with, "this is just a track day, not race practice". That simply wasn't my point, I was trying to base on predictability, skill, and speed...

Harold, I respect you a lot, as you were one of my first friends when I started out in CMRA. But what you've listed here is terribly unfounded. As we all know, LoneStar has a lock on the Friday CMRA weekend (except Hallett), and Friday practice should be treated as just that, to tack onto other Expert class riders, and learn from, to go faster. I do believe that Friday practice sessions, had helped me immensely, in escalating my riding skills, being out there with faster riders, seeing how they handled turns, braking points, etc. Not many people can afford Membership at repeated tracks, or personal-training.

Congratulations to all the new Expert class members. Wishing to you a fun, safe, and exciting 2016 season.

[Josh Henke]

Great post, Greg.

[Rab McNaught]

I was reading through this thread and the results for MSRH in round one, and I note that there's an update each time for "Congratulations to XXX, who requested expert status and was promoted"...well done to those people and much respect.

This seems to have generated some strong discussion, however, I don't see any updates for "Congratulations for XXX, who protested being an expert and demoted themselves back down to Novice", which should really be the topic generating discussion here. This seems to go under the radar, and I've seen at least one name simply disappear from this list, although unless you screenshot the original posting, this would go unnoticed, and is simply not talked about, almost like it didn't happen.

Nancy, do you think we could update the thread when riders protest their expert status, or post a list of the original expert list against the current one?

Checking the results for Houston, I see riders who have previously been determined to be fast enough to be Experts by CMRA, who protested and got demoted, then come back and win or at least podium races. It must completely SUCK for Novice riders that have gradually been getting better over the seasons and are at a stage where they could win their Novice championship, to be beaten by Expert riders in Novice races. To me, it's a pretty shameful action to protest when the organization has deemed you fast enough to be an Expert and come back and win as a Novice.

Anyone feel the same as me? Why are protests swept under the carpet, yet riders are complaining about novices who request a bump before they are automatically promoted...

I feel that riders being able to protest being bumped to expert should be stopped and the rule book should be modified to stop this. Interested in folks' thoughts here. Also, if there is a formal complaint process to follow around this, I'll follow it separately.

[Dennis King]

Well it can go both ways, there certainly are those sandbaggers who find a good enough excuse to stay novice. On the flip side there are those who are bumped who maybe shouldn't have been. Walters son placed in quite a few races and wasn't bumped Walter protested that 14ish year old kid had no business racing against experts and wasn't mature enough to ride with them. And it's a very valid point, therefore he stayed novice another year, won a lot of races and was then promoted. Trey was never given the initial bump to end up on the expert list because Walter is on the inside and explained it before Treys name was ever on the list. Not everyone one else has that inside connection so their kid or their own adult name may end up on the list.

The protest allows them the chance to explain, hey, I was riding over my head all season just to get 5th, another year novice will allow me to tone it down Or I'll be changing platforms from SV to 1000 and the experts aren't the place to learn this, etc, etc. Yes there are plenty of sandbaggers that will do whatever they can to get trophies and contingency but there are also plenty of riders who show up to every round and simply don't crash and end in the points, are they expert material? maybe not but they should have the chance to explain what was obvious to them and the people making the decision didn't have a clue about. The whole protest process is there just for those people.

not sure if you realize, you aren't automatically kept novice if you protest either. There are plenty of people who protested and get shot down some way more vocal about it then others. Coffey, Henke, etc.

[Rab McNaught]

Well it can go both ways, there certainly are those sandbaggers who find a good enough excuse to stay novice. On the flip side there are those who are bumped who maybe shouldn't have been. Walters son placed in quite a few races and wasn't bumped Walter protested that 14ish year old kid had no business racing against experts and wasn't mature enough to ride with them. And it's a very valid point, therefore he stayed novice another year, won a lot of races and was then promoted. Trey was never given the initial bump to end up on the expert list because Walter is on the inside and explained it before Treys name was ever on the list. Not everyone one else has that inside connection so their kid or their own adult name may end up on the list.

The protest allows them the chance to explain, hey, I was riding over my head all season just to get 5th, another year novice will allow me to tone it down Or I'll be changing platforms from SV to 1000 and the experts aren't the place to learn this, etc, etc. Yes there are plenty of sandbaggers that will do whatever they can to get trophies and contingency but there are also plenty of riders who show up to every round and simply don't crash and end in the points, are they expert material? maybe not but they should have the chance to explain what was obvious to them and the people making the decision didn't have a clue about. The whole protest process is there just for those people.

not sure if you realize, you aren't automatically kept novice if you protest either. There are plenty of people who protested and get shot down some way more vocal about it then others. Coffey, Henke, etc.

Good info Dennis...it's not a perfect system I know, but I think at least when there's a protest, this list should be updated with the info on what happened. To me, looking from outside, it does seem a little unfair to some folks who are up and coming novices. And, yes, I'm aware that it's not an automatic demotion when you protest.