SCORE Journal

ON THE RIGHT TRACK Attracting More Riders To The Moto Classes Is An Important Goal By Mike Vieira Photos by Get Some Photo  Giovanni Spinali has multiple championships to show from ten years of consistent participation in SCORE races and riding in Baja as early as 2007. At the moment, he’s battling to hold his points lead in the Pro Moto 50 Class on the 500X Yamaha YZ450FX, and says that things have certainly gotten better for riders in recent years, but there’s still room for improvement. “I think exposure for the series has definitely gotten a lot better since Roger Norman took over,” says Spinali. “A lot more people know about the races and hear about it, with the TV shows. That being said, I think motorcycles have gotten the short end of the stick as far as race-class exposure goes. It seems like the SCORE Trophy Trucks and side-by-sides have kind of taken over ninety-five percent of the TV coverage, and it’s unfortunate for motorcycle racers. Even if it was just a five-minute overview at the end of the program that showed the winners of the classes would be great, just to get some exposure for our sponsors. But, with SCORE’s Moto Liaison Andy Kirker coming along, he has definitely been a good ambassador for the motorcycles, and hopefully, that continues to help.” Spinali feels that the “moto and quad only” sections of the courses are a good safety idea, but would like to see them expanded further in length and number. “Mostly the Sportsmen Classes are who everybody’s worried about,” he says. “Under normal conditions, the SCORE Trophy Trucks aren’t going to catch us, unless we have an issue. I’ve been caught by SCORE Trophy Trucks both in the daytime and at night, due to us having some kind of mechanical issue. When it first happens, it’s a little scary, but it’s not like they’re coming up behind you and they’re just going to mow you down. You see them coming, you pull over, and you wait for them to pass and the dust to settle. Then you keep going. It’s not as bad as people imagine. I think it’s way more dangerous encountering spectators on the course than it is having a SCORE Trophy Truck catch you going in the same direction.” Tracking devices are an important safety item, but Spinali feels that having to exchange the units at rider changes is inconvenient and time-consuming. Since they’re not mounted to the vehicles as in other classes, he’d rather see all individuals with their own devices, eliminating the need for passing them to the next rider and the risk of penalties. On the overall subject of safety, Giovanni says, “I think SCORE has pretty much covered all the bases. I think the biggest concern is inexperience. When you get these people who just want to race the SCORE Baja 1000 because it’s on their bucket list, they don’t always know what they’re doing. That’s where the danger comes in, but you can’t really help that.” Costs for motorcycle racers in Baja is another concern that Spinali raises, especially for SCORE Pro Moto Ironman riders who don’t have teammates to split the bill with. He feels that a more equitable fee schedule for the motorcycles versus the higher-powered four-wheeled vehicles would greatly raise biker participation levels, without harming other classes. Another key to raising entry numbers for motorcycles would be the return of factory involvement to Baja, and the resulting publicity increase, even if just with contingency purses at first. “Maybe having a motorcycle ambassador like Andy going to the factories and asking them what they want in order to get involved again would help a lot,” says Spinali. “Let’s find out what it will take to get them back, and go from there. I think what Andy is doing is great, but I think he needs to have more input. I think we definitely need to have someone like him heading up the motorcycle end of it, pushing to get the factories back, and getting the entry fees lowered, and higher purses. That’s what’s going to make the motorcycles come back.” According to Spinali, when there are small numbers of riders in each Moto class at some races, it detracts from the competition and fun of racing. The dwindling numbers further erode the draw for future races, making a boost in participation a very important goal for SCORE. While motorcycle class participation is up for the 2022 season, Spinali believes many moto racers feel underappreciated at SCORE races. “I know that as a general consensus, the motorcycle guys feel like they don’t care about us. For example, when they were going to cut off the mileage for the bikes at this year’s 55th SCORE Baja 1000, we pretty much put up a big fight, and they agreed not to do it. My suggestion was to start the SCORE Trophy Trucks at noon, instead of 10 am, and that would solve the problem. But they were not going to touch the truck starting time, so the bikes, instead of starting at 4 am, I think are starting at 2:30 am. As motorcyclists, how much sleep are we going to get before we have to get up and get to the start line? When things like that happen, it makes us feel that they don’t even care if we race.  We’re glad we’re getting the miles back, but at the same time, it’s from our sacrifice, and nobody else’s. Hopefully, that can change a little bit. It’s too lopsided.” Good changes are happening though, as Spinali continues. “Honestly, I think they’re on the right track. The communication over the past two or three years between the riders and SCORE has definitely improved, and we have to keep going down that road because for a long time, whatever we said just kind of fell on deaf ears. Now we’re able to communicate. SCORE’s President and Race Director Jose Grijalva and Andy Kirker have done a great job. When you send them a message, they get right back and try to get an answer, which is very important to us. That needs to continue and get even better.” “In the future, it would sure be nice to have ten or twenty teams in each class,” Giovanni says.  “With better numbers, you get better purses, and it all gets better together, but racing in Baja remains a unique experience, none of the riders would ever want to miss for sure.” SJ

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