TMX Says: Too much of a good thing?
By TMX Archives on 6th Sep 17
I think its pretty fair to say that the AMCA Championship has never been stronger in terms of talent as both main classes thats the MX1 and MX2 divisions have a bunch of names that youd expect to see right up near the sharp end of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship.
But like a lot of national series the AMCA have struggled for overall numbers as their championship nears its end.
Ahead of the eighth round which was held at Frocester at the weekend calls were made for any Expert and Senior riders to come and have a go - even those needing a One Event licence - with the only limiting factor being that they had to have competed in five AMCA events beforehand.
Likewise the British Youth Nationals ran at Pontrilas with limited numbers - an average of just under half full gates. Again, it's a pretty stellar series so where was everyone? Some have said that the BSMA National at Brookthorpe (less than 40 miles away from Pontrilas) may have affected BYN numbers but I'm not so sure as both championships seem to have their own followers.
While it's true that the close proximity of three amateur championship events - Frocester is just 10 miles from Brookthorpe and 45 from Pontrilas - running at the same time is less than ideal the crossover of athletes really isn't the issue. So what is?
Some say that injuries have obviously played their part in all three championships and maybe funds are running a little low after a long hard season that seems to start earlier and earlier each year.
Others reckon there are too many championships to choose from and as a result entries are diluted. That might well be the case but let's chuck another wild theory out there - what if there are simply too many organisations?
The ACU, AMCA, MCF, IOPD, ORMS, BSMA, YMSA, ORPA, KFC and so on and so forth are all vying for the same competitors/sponsors/tracks etc and I don't see how that's for the good of the sport.
Surely it would make more sense to streamline things somewhat and have one or two licensing bodies that can control the issuing of permits, do away with needless clashes and devise a strategy to move the sport forward.
Obviously that's a simplistic version and one that's very unlikely to happen even though it makes total sense - to me at least. Imagine a system that caters for everyone though and works tirelessly to give people what they want right from club racers on a limited budget to potential world beaters.
In all fairness that's kinda like what Howard Marriott is trying to achieve with the British Women's Motocross Association.
Although obviously working with much smaller numbers his goal is to create a development programme that puts female racers in the right places to achieve their goals using the amateur IMBA series as a stepping stone to the full-on world championships.
Like I said it's totally unlikely to happen as too many parties have too much vested interest in their own projects to make it happen. What a shame...
Finally, I'd just like to highlight how frickin' awesome enduro ace Dan Mundell is. Not only did he go to France and kick serious amounts of ass at the ISDE but on his return to the UK kept his hero status alive by keeping his followers on social media up to speed with the whereabouts of the Devonshire Police Force and their covert speed camera operations.
Good work that man...
