Get ready for the Private Hire Nationals

By no means are we medical experts at Summit Moto, so we’re not going to claim or try to be. What we are though are two wheeled sports fans. We don’t know when the old ‘normal’ will return - if it ever will – but the transition into the ‘new normal’ sure is going to be interesting.

The easing of lockdown restrictions and allowance of non-essential travel again is going to see things slowly start to open up, which will apply directly to bike related sports as well. Motocross is my passion so I’m not going to touch on BMX and MTB, but I’m pretty sure that changes are coming for motocross practice tracks in the very near future. There’s no way they’ll see 200 riders on a Saturday any time soon, but 200 over a week may very well be a possibility with the correct social distancing measures applied with the venues open seven days a week. I know of one track who I won’t name in case they get slammed with enquiries, that’s fully prepared and ready to open seven days a week with limited numbers should we get the gate drop on say, no gatherings over 25 people. It would have to be financially viable for them so we’ll see what happens when the next phase of lockdown measures are introduced.

It’s quite reassuring to see that a number of track owners have used the lockdown time wisely to re-invest in their venues and given their circuits a freshen up in readiness of bikes hitting their tracks again. The next time we ride is going to feel like the best day of riding ever!

I have a pretty lengthy background in e-commerce and I have some ideas that track owners may want to consider prior to opening back up, that will benefit them short and also long term. Go Race MX is already in place and handles online entries for race meetings and practice days with the ability to restrict the number of entrants per event. Whether practice tracks use this solution or create their own websites to allow online booking remains to be seen but what we absolutely have to avoid is a queue to sign on and any face-to-face interactions. For the future, online booking in for practice tracks has to be the way forward so now’s the time to get set up. Short term, having the ability to enter your last three letters/numbers of your registration plate when booking in would help track owners identify who should and shouldn’t be there so that no arrives expecting to just turn up and ride.

I’ll be blunt and say that if this happens and you pay to attend, there should be no refunds. You should only pay to ride if you fully intend on riding and can make it there without anything besides your van breaking down on the way as a reason to not make it. Sounds a little harsh but I think we can all agree on this. If the weather turns and 10 people decide to not show up and people are refunded, it probably wouldn’t be financially viable for the track to run on that particular day. Having said that, I don’t think that rain would put anyone off riding at the moment!

Parking a decent distance from other vans should be simple enough with limited riders present so that shouldn’t be an issue and with limited riders two groups would mean ample riding for everyone. Tracks could even run two groups a day and open 10-1 and then 3-6 so that the morning group can leave the venue by the time the afternoon riders arrive. Just an idea…

Demand to ride will be huge and if you’re lucky enough to begin riding, now isn’t really the time to try sending a jump that’s always bugged you in the past. Especially if it’s your first day on the bike in two months. Just embrace the freedom that only riding a motocross bike can give and keep yourself safe out there...