100th Loudon Classic

[union]

Watched one of the feeds. The weather made it an absolute disaster. So many red flags and a weird end. It's too bad because that race had so much potential until nature gave us a kick in the nuts.

[Mgiossi]

I was supper disappointed. I knew it was going to be bad with the rain but i had no idea it was going to be like this. Myself anf others traveled hours to get there and stood in the rain at the bowl for over 2 hours to see how many completed laps???? Maybe 4,5? Who knows. Then it just kind of ended. Score board never really worked. How many laps left? 15, 14, 10, 8, 7,......9, 11,..... 5,...4....... 999 lol. They didnt even send the guys around for a last lap so we could cheer and wave or anything. It was such a let down. I know at the bowl at least there was a combined jaw drop feeling with everyone just looking at eachother and asking "its over?....what just happened......who won?" I know I heard a bunch of people say they are never coming back for this "shit show" i feel for the racers because that had to be just the hardest thing mentally to keep restarting but also the fans who sat in the rain for over two hours and then you come over the speaker (which you could bearly hear at the bowl) and just say its over everyone and we dont know who won. Then soaking wet and cold everyone just started walking away looking at eachother in disbelief of what just happened.

[Gixxer]

Reminds me of someone’s circle jerk quote on here

[sdog30]

I was supper disappointed. I knew it was going to be bad with the rain but i had no idea it was going to be like this. Myself anf others traveled hours to get there and stood in the rain at the bowl for over 2 hours to see how many completed laps???? Maybe 4,5? Who knows. Then it just kind of ended. Score board never really worked. How many laps left? 15, 14, 10, 8, 7,......9, 11,..... 5,...4....... 999 lol. They didnt even send the guys around for a last lap so we could cheer and wave or anything. It was such a let down. I know at the bowl at least there was a combined jaw drop feeling with everyone just looking at eachother and asking "its over?....what just happened......who won?" I know I heard a bunch of people say they are never coming back for this "shit show" i feel for the racers because that had to be just the hardest thing mentally to keep restarting but also the fans who sat in the rain for over two hours and then you come over the speaker (which you could bearly hear at the bowl) and just say its over everyone and we dont know who won. Then soaking wet and cold everyone just started walking away looking at eachother in disbelief of what just happened.

Kind of why I decided not to come up. Racing in the rain sucks, but spectating in the rain, I think is worse.

[sdog30]

Also, only running 10 lap races for the other two is kind of lame.

[TIMMYDUCK]

This race had so much potential, but Murphy’s law was in full effect.

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

Congrats to everyone that participated regardless.

True fans, racers and staff all did their best.

[Crconnor18]

It’s really going to bring some unwanted visibility to the track’s conditions and dangers of Loudon when wet.

Watching T12 or T2 after the first lab was a nightmare every time. You know it’s bad when the crowd was cheering when ever a lab was actually completed.

[union]

It’s really going to bring some unwanted visibility to the track’s conditions and dangers of Loudon when wet.

Watching T12 or T2 after the first lab was a nightmare every time. You know it’s bad when the crowd was cheering when ever a lab was actually completed.

Unless they are going to have a big purse again next year to attract the pro riders back it will all be forgotten by the end of the season and the track wont put any money into something that they get zero return from. Even with fresh pavement that course is too far behind on safety to bring in anyone big.

[Kurlon]

Unless they are going to have a big purse again next year to attract the pro riders back it will all be forgotten by the end of the season and the track wont put any money into something that they get zero return from. Even with fresh pavement that course is too far behind on safety to bring in anyone big.

Given what I was hearing, I think enough karma was burned by NEMRR that even with a big purse many will still stay away, and it’s nothing to do with the perceived safety of the track.

[union]

Given what I was hearing, I think enough karma was burned by NEMRR that even with a big purse many will still stay away, and it’s nothing to do with the perceived safety of the track.

That is something I don't know anything about. I haven't been up to participate or see a race in person since before my kid was born seven years ago. It's safe to say I'm way out of the loop of info. I do think if it was a dry day it would have been a success.

[sdog30]

I think the money was going to bring out the aggression in riders even in the dry. The wet and Loudon's notoriously dangerous wet sections compounded it.

[Gixxer]

So if this was the, or one of the all time lows, what was the height of this race? Late 90s? Mid 00s?

[backinthesaddle]

80s?? Merkel, Baldwin, Ososki, Quarterly, Spencer, Lawson, Bettencourt, Filice, Schlacter to name a few, very few. Excuse the typos.

[scottieducati]

There were well over 20k fans in attendance in ‘99 IIRC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MUZ720]

Too bad it turned into a Total crap show. Getting a handful of national guys to show for big bucks was a great idea and they sure put on a show on Friday.
But Having no Plan B for weather is just poor planning. And ending the show the way, it ended was poor judgment and race management. Don't think money will bring anyone back for this in the future! Glad no one got hurt.

[butcher bergs]

I think the money was going to bring out the aggression in riders even in the dry. The wet and Loudon's notoriously dangerous wet sections compounded it.

I didn't see anything aggressive in anyone's riding. Traction simply left the chat for the race. It was nuts.

[tsorfas]

I didn't see anything aggressive in anyone's riding. Traction simply left the chat for the race. It was nuts.

Agreed.
Hayes has an amazing way in T2. Every single time while he was in the lead as soon as the front hit the transition he d gas it and steer the bike with the rear. It was insane to see the precision and consistency. Like if his tires marked the spot he must have been within inches every single time on that line he followed and get on the gas on the same exact spot.

[Jim]

Maybe, maybe not on the hooligans. I hear whispers of a $5000 purse for a Mad Max Scooter Race. Seriously. More to follow

is SMEC coming back for another event at NHMS?

[Kurlon]

Ended up watching the end of the race with Hayes, he was fully geared up again as he was told there was a chance to get back into the race after his crash and still be on the lead lap with how all the red flags kept restarting the lap count but something happened to scuttle it? Between how calmly he pushed his bike to the pits from the 10 gate after the crash and how polite he was asking to get up on the camper to watch, etc, full points to him maintaining his composure in what turned out to be a bad day for him. Got to talk to a couple other MA folk, all friendly which was cool.

[jimmycapp]

Ended up watching the end of the race with Hayes, he was fully geared up again as he was told there was a chance to get back into the race after his crash and still be on the lead lap with how all the red flags kept restarting the lap count but something happened to scuttle it? Between how calmly he pushed his bike to the pits from the 10 gate after the crash and how polite he was asking to get up on the camper to watch, etc, full points to him maintaining his composure in what turned out to be a bad day for him. Got to talk to a couple other MA folk, all friendly which was cool.

What a chill, level headed, good dude.

[sdog30]

is SMEC coming back for another event at NHMS?

Jay lost money all the times he did it. He wasn't getting very many Loudon racers signing up either because of race schedule conflicts.

[sdog30]

Like I said, I didn't see much of the race, but what I did see was people losing the rear end coming out of 12 and causing a red flag on the first lap or over riding the front in 1a/2 on the first lap. That would be from being too aggressive for the conditions and not knowing the intricacies of Loudon in the wet on a 60° day?

[hpw22077]

No one crashed in 1A, or on the front in 2. All crashes were past the corner in 2 losing the rear. Even Eric lost the rear in 2.
It was always going to be a high action race with that much money and the rain just made it ugly.

[Stoneman]

Hats off to NEMRR for putting this together and trying to pull this off. I'm not sure if they had a Plan B or not, but it was a fuck of a way to try to continue and to end. Regardless, kudos goes to them for at least trying to make the Classic nationally relevant again.

I'm really bummed we didn't get to see/meet more of you. I even made sure to wear my tattered old NESR shirt to make myself visible, but it just got covered by rain gear anyway! It was great seeing some old faces though, and meeting a couple new ones.

It was great to get to the track again though! Damn, we forgot how much we missed that. The minute we entered the infield, Big Shirl said we NEED to get back there more often. Hadn't even seen a single lap yet, she just knew we've missed it for too long. We're really looking forward to seeing at least one of the August rounds. Which leads me to ask why there isn't a July round?

[sdog30]

No one crashed in 1A, or on the front in 2. All crashes were past the corner in 2 losing the rear. Even Eric lost the rear in 2.
It was always going to be a high action race with that much money and the rain just made it ugly.

I stand corrected.

I saw the first lap where two guys lost their rear end coming out on the straight and assumed the other crashes were in 1A/2 since those are usually bad. I couldn't see down there on Kaplan's feed.