LapTraffic
11-04-2003, 08:06 PM
Below is a post by a friend attending the Horn Rapids Hare Scramble In Richland Washington on November 2nd 2003.
I was in this race and was the first person affected by them shutting it down.
***********
Here is my personal account of what happened: My husband raced in that race and I just happened to be standing there right in the middle of everything when it all broke loose. The official that all the riders were talking to had a real chip on his shoulder towards the ATV riders and immediately took a defensive attitude to their concerns. It started out with a couple of frustrated riders with legitimate complaints.He made a few remarks, but it was when he responded with "this is a MOTORCYCLE event, we only have an ATV class because a couple of people wanted it-so we are not going to start the bikes late", one ATV racer then replied, "your club had no trouble taking our money, we deserve to get an equal chance to finish our race". The official then got very upset and turned around and got right in that ATV racer's face and started yelling, he then turned to the crowd and started yelling at the ATV racers in the crowd. Everyone at this point were just expressing their frustration and feelings of being cheated. The crowd was vocal, but at this point none of the ATV racers were obnoxious or aggressive. A bunch of other ATV riders agreed with that statement that the club should not have taken their money and advertised an ATV race if they were not going to run the race in it's entirety-especially without disclosing how they were going to shut down the race at a certain time regardless of what lap number the riders were on. One racer tactfully and calmly tried to explained that we traveled over 250 miles to attend their event and deserve the same opportunity to finish as the bikes. The official's response was "then don't come here-have your own race!" Which does not make any sense, THEY were holding an ATV race...they advertised it & sent out fliers. This was not a last minute class they put together as "filler" as the official suggested. The official was yelling at everyone who had a complaint instead of trying to address their concerns. He had a terrible attitude which then only fueled the ATV crowd's feelings of being cheated out of their entry fee. Of course the ATV riders felt cheated...they didn't get what they paid for. They all paid for an opportunity to race 4 laps, so a majority of the riders said they wanted their money back. If the motorcycles need 5 or more hours to complete their race, then maybe they need to start the ATV's an hour earlier...or even on Saturday? It should be obvious that out of 35 plus entrants, only 8 finished...(I don't know the exact numbers, but this is really close) they just did not allow enough time for the race. There were handfuls of angry racers that were shut down on the third lap. I know that my husband was upset, because he was told in the riders meeting that they all had 45 minutes to complete the 2nd lap...nothing was ever mentioned about the third lap. So, he paced himself and pitted, he could have ridden much faster had he known about the third lap time restraint. The big dispute with us is that they started the ATV race over 15 minutes late because the water truck was stuck, but they were willing to end the ATV race early so the motorcycles wouldn't be late. The frustrating thing is that the motorcycles didn't even start their parade for close to an hour after the ATV race ended...and then to add insult to injury, they had their traditional motorcycle parade before they raced - if time is so precious, then is the parade necessary? There was in fact time to run the ATV race properly, but the fact that they treated those 30 some-odd ATV racers like their presence was a nuisance, instead of fellow race enthusiasts as well as good income for the facility & the club was all very saddening. I think what happened is a double edged sword, and I sincerely hope the sponsors of the race don't look at this as a bunch of ATV trouble makers, as most of the people with complaints were emotional, but tactfull. I wish this to be a learning experience as to hold a successfull race in the future, as ATV racers are passionate about racing not unlike Motorcycle racers- it makes my very sad to see the ATV community "villanized" by this unfortunate incident.The facility is a great one, but it's likely that many ATV racers will not return to that event because of the way they were blatantly disrespected and treated as a nuisance. My husband loved the racing terrain there and aside from the way the race was run, would love to go back...but at what cost?
I was in this race and was the first person affected by them shutting it down.
***********
Here is my personal account of what happened: My husband raced in that race and I just happened to be standing there right in the middle of everything when it all broke loose. The official that all the riders were talking to had a real chip on his shoulder towards the ATV riders and immediately took a defensive attitude to their concerns. It started out with a couple of frustrated riders with legitimate complaints.He made a few remarks, but it was when he responded with "this is a MOTORCYCLE event, we only have an ATV class because a couple of people wanted it-so we are not going to start the bikes late", one ATV racer then replied, "your club had no trouble taking our money, we deserve to get an equal chance to finish our race". The official then got very upset and turned around and got right in that ATV racer's face and started yelling, he then turned to the crowd and started yelling at the ATV racers in the crowd. Everyone at this point were just expressing their frustration and feelings of being cheated. The crowd was vocal, but at this point none of the ATV racers were obnoxious or aggressive. A bunch of other ATV riders agreed with that statement that the club should not have taken their money and advertised an ATV race if they were not going to run the race in it's entirety-especially without disclosing how they were going to shut down the race at a certain time regardless of what lap number the riders were on. One racer tactfully and calmly tried to explained that we traveled over 250 miles to attend their event and deserve the same opportunity to finish as the bikes. The official's response was "then don't come here-have your own race!" Which does not make any sense, THEY were holding an ATV race...they advertised it & sent out fliers. This was not a last minute class they put together as "filler" as the official suggested. The official was yelling at everyone who had a complaint instead of trying to address their concerns. He had a terrible attitude which then only fueled the ATV crowd's feelings of being cheated out of their entry fee. Of course the ATV riders felt cheated...they didn't get what they paid for. They all paid for an opportunity to race 4 laps, so a majority of the riders said they wanted their money back. If the motorcycles need 5 or more hours to complete their race, then maybe they need to start the ATV's an hour earlier...or even on Saturday? It should be obvious that out of 35 plus entrants, only 8 finished...(I don't know the exact numbers, but this is really close) they just did not allow enough time for the race. There were handfuls of angry racers that were shut down on the third lap. I know that my husband was upset, because he was told in the riders meeting that they all had 45 minutes to complete the 2nd lap...nothing was ever mentioned about the third lap. So, he paced himself and pitted, he could have ridden much faster had he known about the third lap time restraint. The big dispute with us is that they started the ATV race over 15 minutes late because the water truck was stuck, but they were willing to end the ATV race early so the motorcycles wouldn't be late. The frustrating thing is that the motorcycles didn't even start their parade for close to an hour after the ATV race ended...and then to add insult to injury, they had their traditional motorcycle parade before they raced - if time is so precious, then is the parade necessary? There was in fact time to run the ATV race properly, but the fact that they treated those 30 some-odd ATV racers like their presence was a nuisance, instead of fellow race enthusiasts as well as good income for the facility & the club was all very saddening. I think what happened is a double edged sword, and I sincerely hope the sponsors of the race don't look at this as a bunch of ATV trouble makers, as most of the people with complaints were emotional, but tactfull. I wish this to be a learning experience as to hold a successfull race in the future, as ATV racers are passionate about racing not unlike Motorcycle racers- it makes my very sad to see the ATV community "villanized" by this unfortunate incident.The facility is a great one, but it's likely that many ATV racers will not return to that event because of the way they were blatantly disrespected and treated as a nuisance. My husband loved the racing terrain there and aside from the way the race was run, would love to go back...but at what cost?