Hello, I'm going racing next year (yay!) and will be running my existing CBR600 hurricane, 1988. Is this bike Classic middleweight or classic heavyweight? Also, the same question for the 91-92 CBR600F2. Or am I best to ride in Novice Open. Newer racer, looking forward to input!
Hey Sean, this is straight from the rule book, hopefully it helps: Chapter 7 – Competition Classes And Compositions 7.1 Novice The purpose of this class is to give the beginning racer track experience under racing conditions. Trophy class. Open Novice Class scores as any other class would score. All types of racing motorcycles are allow provided they conform to the rules in Chapter 5. Middleweight Superbike, 650cc Supersport twins, 250 Cup and Formula Classic are allowed to run their respective classes instead of the open Novice class. Novices on 595cc and bigger inline-4 bikes, as well as large(over 700cc) displacement twins are isolated to Novice-Open class and shall not enter any other class. All other smaller bike Novices run their own respective classes that their motorcycles are legal to compete in. 2 10 lap races per day for Open Novice Novices are restricted to their machine appropriate class (250s in 250 Supersport, 650s in middleweight twins, etc). Maximum 88db.
As Tony said, the Hurricane is a FC heavyweight. Your bikes (Hurricane/F2) also qualify for middleweight superbike. Both of these classes (FC/MWSBK) allow novices to run in them, so forget all about Novice Open. As for the F2 and Formula Classic, that's a bit of a gray area. Model continuation rules do not apply to the F2, but it's always been stated in the past that the F2's would be allowed to run FC heavyweight. It would be preferable to run the Hurricane in FC heavyweight, but if all you've got is the F2 you can still come out and play Hope to see you on the grid next year. cheers
That's what I thought too, Alex, but the rule book say: Novices on 595cc and bigger inline-4 bikes are isolated to Novice-Open class and shall not enter any other class. There needs to be some clarification on this. The rulebook in general needs allot of editing.
Thanks for the input from all. I found the rule book a little ambiguous so clarification is great! Regarding race school and licensing, is there someone I can call to explain it all? It would be easier than emails or posts. Thanks in advance!
Glad to see you're eager. Come out to one of our general meetings (second monday of every month 7pm, Ricky's in Walnut Grove.) you can find out your information in person. other than that I'd hold firm until after the AGM in November, everyone will have a better idea of what's going on then. Generally licenses are ready to be purchased by the Vancouver bike show this year it will be held on Jan. 23-25 2015.
Unfortunately, I'm on Vancouver island. So it's difficult to do some of those meetings on the mainland. Bring RV and trailer on the boat back and forth to do training or race meets (cha-chinggggg!). Is there RV camping at the track?
Welcome Sean, and look forward to seeing you out there next year! If you have any questions and wanna talk via phone, check you messages I'll leave my number in there.
Dean, Yes, lots of things need to be clarified in the rulebook. It's always a tough job to edit/re-write the rulebook, since we always seem to be under severe time constraints. By the time the AGM rolls around and the exec appoints a committee it's too late to do a decent job on it. We rush it out in time for the bike show, and in my opinon that does not give people enough time to build/purchase/modify a bike. We need to 'train' people to use the forum (rule book proposals section) to put forth their ideas, the committee should be monitoring this throughout the year. After the season ends, the committee should get together look at what worked, what didn't, go through the proposals and come out with next season's rulebook by mid october at the latest. This means double duty to start this process, but I think the benfits far outweigh the extra effort required. Cheers alex
Not really sure what "clarification" is needed there. " Novices on 595cc and bigger inline-4 bikes, as well as large(over 700cc) displacement twins are isolated to Novice-Open class and shall not enter any other class." Seems pretty straightforward to me. The age of the bike is completely irrelevant. Btw, You also were on this year's rules committee, I wish you would have expressed any misgivings about us not doing a "decent job" at the time...
I don't think it is that ambiguous. If you are a Novice and you are on a bike as noted below, than you run Open Novice Novices on 595cc and bigger inline-4 bikes, as well as large(over 700cc) displacement twins are isolated to Novice-Open class and shall not enter any other class. All other smaller bike Novices run their own respective classes that their motorcycles are legal to compete in. The underlined statement kicks you out of Formula Classic, Middleweight Superbike etc. From what I recall at the rulebook meeting, this was done very deliberately so as to encourage riders to start on smaller displacement bikes such as the 250s, SV650s or RZ350s. With regards to the timing of the rulebook, I can't disagree with Alex. If it were up to me, rulebook proposals wouldn't come in to effect until the following year unless it was a safety issue. That way as a club we don't rush in to decisions. For example, proposals out forth now would form part of the rulebook that would come into effect on January 1, 2016. This gives a year to debate, discuss and vote on rule proposals on racedays where we have the greatest population of affected parties. Just my $0.02.
No, it is not. A 1977 KZ750 is not the same as a 2007 GSXR 750. Vintage/Classic bikes have always run in their class regardless of displacement. That is because they have different handling/performance characteristics than modern bikes. Yes I have been on the rulebook committee for many years now. We've been talking for a long time that the rulebook needs an overhaul/rewrite. It's just that we never have / can afford to take the time. We always start out with the best of intentions but we run short of time. I had no missgivings to express. I am simply pointing out that perhaps we should look at a better way of approaching how we do the rulebook.
One more time, the age of the bike has no bearing on which class a NOVICE can enter. I mean if you personally have no problems with having a NOVICE with no experience on a heavy bike that handles and brakes badly on crappy tires( while still putting out close to 100hp ) being in the same race as you, be my guest. The other Experts in that race might be a bit less enthusiastic though.... KZ1300s for everyone !!!!
So we're going to take this inexperienced rider who's lucky to put out 60-70hp at the rear with bad brakes and bad suspension, and put him together with a bunch of other inexperienced riders that have 120+hp at the rear, good brakes and good suspension. I wish I thought of this... All kidding aside, I don't have a problem racing with a Novice in my class. And I don't think any of the other riders in FC have a problem with it either. Any novice that races with us, goes through a checkout process. If they need to work on stuff, we'll politely ask them to race Novice for a couple of races and then re-evaluate. It takes guts to show up with an old bike and race it, and as a group we all stick together. KZ1300's ?!? Compensating for something? cheers alex
I'd prefer to ride in FCHW than novice open. BUT... Rules are rules and I accept that. However, could I (after a couple of meets and an expert watching me et cetera) be able to run FCHW? I.E. can novices 'qualify ' into other novice classes with wmrc approval.
Also, looking in the novice rules (7.1) it states that formula classic bikes are allowed to run in their respective classes instead of novice open. Clarification anyone?
Sean, If you look at the rulebook for Formula Classic, it says trophy class open to expert and novice. It does not discriminate novices based on displacement. It's also my understanding that you are not new to racing. You have raced at the old mountain circuit, then spent some years in MX. What happened in past years with FC novices is they have a choice - you can race novice (2 races) or FC 1 race but not both. For the first few races, we also did not allow the FC novices to bump up to either MWSB or MWTwins until we felt comfortable with their riding abilities. Glad to have you aboard. cheers alex
Thanks Alex for the info. I don't really care what class I race in, I'd just like to race. It's more that I'm kind of a specific guy and would like particulars answered. It may decide whether I do the Hurricane 600 versus The CBRF2 600 for a race bike. Open I'd do the F2 and FCHW I'd do the Hurricane. Sadly can't do both (cha-ching). As usual however, great input from the group!
