Hostile Takeover

[kval]

Cotton
chapters offering "fun" trophies is fine. what I am talking about are thing like the 2 HD class C racers I bought from the original owners/racers and now they cannot be judged because they are not "as they left the factory" but "as raced" in the early 50's. they both made Junior First and will never get to Senior because of the rule change. what will happen to all these bikes and the history of Class C racing

speedracer
that is exactly why I had been fighting this new rule. the history of all competition bikes will be ignored as if they had no influence on motorcycling in this country

[tomclay]

Why is everyone upset now all of a sudden? Judging was a joke 10+ years ago also, that's when I got screwed, and I will NEVER enter any of my 3 vintage bikes into judging ever again. I had a reprint of an orginal order form that Harley Davidson sent me of a 1938 Knuckle. I showed it to the clueless judges when they said I had too much chrome. When I showed them the "CHROMEPLATE SPECIAL" which was an orderable option, plus the fact that my Dad owned the bike since 1938, do you think they would change the scoresheet? No, because they were the judges, and I was not, and they knew more than I did. I could go on, but most of you probably have experienced the same issues as I have if you ever had a bike judged.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Tom, you've got a long mememory and I've had bikes go backwards in the judging process, plus disagreed strongly with judges on some deductions. Check out the new Judging Handbook, which should be posted here soon. It still says that unrestored bikes are the treasures of the AMCA that we should try to preserve, plus it now has an appeals procedure for when owners and judges disagree. I for one would love to see an original 1938 knuck, so please consider bringing it out again. Another idea is to join the judging team as an apprentice, or hover on the sidelines while your bike is being judged, as we are now allowed to do. You should find the judges are not so arrogant, just other Club members trying to put their knowledge back into the AMCA so we can preserve our little bit of motorcycling history.

[speedracer]

could someone please answer a question, has any decesion been made about judging competition motorcycles.
I travel alot for work and cannot always check this site. my work had me in upstate ny in june I managed 2 days to get down to the meet at rhinebeck they told one person with a competion bike that he had to bring it to davenport I did not make that meet and need to plan my vacation time for 2011 before the end of dec. I would like to get my 2 senior competition bikes in winners circle and probably will be able to make the ohio meet as that is close. but I need to know if they will be judging competition bikes or not HELP!!

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Speedracer, yes a new method of judging competition motorcycles was approved by the AMCA Board last week for the 2011 season. The emphasis is on real as-raced bikes, rather than the replicas, wannabees and fakes we started to see in the old system. You'll get a star rating rather than Junior/Senior, a special competition judging team will be used, and the history of the bike will need to submitted for authentication before the judges get near it. Bikes restored to known factory specs, such as Harley WR/KRs, will still be judged under the regular system. But the real deal racers will get this special award, and my guess is there won't be too many of them and they will earn the recognition they deserve.

[rwm]

will the as raced bikes need to run?

[speedracer]

Dear Speedracer, yes a new method of judging competition motorcycles was approved by the AMCA Board last week for the 2011 season. The emphasis is on real as-raced bikes, rather than the replicas, wannabees and fakes we started to see in the old system. You'll get a star rating rather than Junior/Senior, a special competition judging team will be used, and the history of the bike will need to submitted for authentication before the judges get near it. Bikes restored to known factory specs, such as Harley WR/KRs, will still be judged under the regular system. But the real deal racers will get this special award, and my guess is there won't be too many of them and they will earn the recognition they deserve.

So Steve
what you are saying is that any real class C racer will not be eligible for winners circle, only the harley WR which was produced as a race bike while all the other manufacturers played by AMA rules for class C, which was started in the 30's for street bikes that they allowed the private owners to make race ready. what a crock of bull this is who made up these rules a bunch of harley guys that are still mad about being beaten with their ilegal "street bike" class C racers by a bunch of back yard mechanics looks like it might be time for me to find a new club if you are telling me that my 2 senior competition bikes will never get winners circle but some "star rating" like some first grade school kid for his drawing

[Chris Haynes]

So Steve
what you are saying is that any real class C racer will not be eligible for winners circle, only the harley WR which was produced as a race bike while all the other manufacturers played by AMA rules for class C, which was started in the 30's for street bikes that they allowed the private owners to make race ready. what a crock of bull this is who made up these rules a bunch of harley guys that are still mad about being beaten with their ilegal "street bike" class C racers by a bunch of back yard mechanics looks like it might be time for me to find a new club if you are telling me that my 2 senior competition bikes will never get winners circle but some "star rating" like some first grade school kid for his drawing

Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of their bed this morning.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Rob, yes the bikes will have to run. Dear Speedracer, don't think this new class is inferior to the regular AMCA judging system. It's called the 'Honor Competition Class' and I think we'll see fewer awards than we have for Winners' Circle in the regular class. It's not targeted at Harleys or Class C racing, but all competition bikes - speedway, drag racing, dirt track, TT, trials etc. The essentials are that the bike has to be pre-certified with documentation showing its provenance/history as a competition bike, then its current state is checked for period authenticity. We'll see the rules posted here soon, when you can appreciate how difficult the awards will be to win.

[bmh]

Now that sounds like a step in the right direction!