Normally during the weekend I’m busy writing up race coverage about big name racers like Rossi, Corser or Mladin. The MotoGP, World Superbike and AMA series are huge professional racing organizations with a worldwide fan base. The racers also are also very professional and are, particularly in the case of the MotoGP series, wildly popular. Because each race pits some of the best racers in the world against each other, the racing itself is always exciting and often awe inspiring. Short of actual riding, nothing thrills me quite as much as plopping down on the couch and watching a Grand Prix or World Superbike race…knowing that what these guys can do on a motorcycle is limited to just a handful of humans. However, there is a whole other world of motorcycle road racing out there and its probably right in your back yard. Its club racing and its rapidly growing in popularity both with racers and fans.

This past weekend the MRA, the local Colorado based road racing organization, held its fourth race of the season at Continental Divide Race Park in Mead, Colorado. As with the the race two weeks ago at Second Creek, this weekend’s event hit new records for both racer and spectator attendance, clearly more and more folks are getting interested in club racing. I went up on Sunday to catch up with the action and was again thrilled with the experience of spending a day watching racing.

I hung out with my friends Jim “Pull My Finger” Brewer and Tony “Got One In the Oven” Baker most of the time. Their pit area is sort of a cross between the movie “Animal House” and what goes on behind the OSHA curtains at your local bike shop. There is definite male bonding going on but its more in the John Belushi food fight sort of way than a Robert Bly male drum circle. Off-color humor is the norm and conversations fluctuate between calling each other’s manhood into question and how to deal with rear tire grip exiting turn five…frequently both occurring in the same sentence. Additionally, both Jim and Tony have raced with the MRA for over a decade each and both are currently on the MRA board. As a result the pit is a constant bee hive of activity as folks drop in to chat, check on race results, ask for technical advice or toss around a few insults. Its sort of ground zero for getting the club racing experience.

On track is where the club racing experience really shines. Unlike walking around a MotoGP grid, everyone here is footing their own bills. This is where people spend their own money, their own time and their own sweat (and at times blood) to follow their obsession. Club racers range from someone with a beat up, out-of-date bike in the back of a pick-up truck to the fancy trailers adorned with sponsorships stickers pulled by monster diesel dualies. Pit crews can be non-existent or can be a huge group of dedicated friends. Pits themselves can be a simple as a folding chair and an umbrella to a huge pop-up canopy with all the niceties of home. But what really makes club racing great is that there is a general sense of camaraderie among everyone involved. If its a hot day, the guy with the umbrella may get invited to share space under the pop-up. If someone crashes, there will usually be a group around to help get the bike back together or at least help pack up the pit. In this way, it is perhaps the best racing around.

This weekend at Continental Divide Race Park, the story was all about local super-star Shane Turpin. As he has done for most of the season, he won nearly everything he entered (a big crash in one of his races prevented a complete sweep for this weekend). The usual suspects filled out the podium behind him (Dan “Otis” Turner and Rich Deeming) but in every case they were racing for second as Turpin pulled huge leads in every race. He is amazing to watch especially through the first three turns at CDRP. All are very fast and turn three is riddled with bumps, all require both stones and finesse to do well. Turpin keeps the throttle pinned while graceful arching the bike back and forth allowing the front suspension to soak up the bump right at the apex of turn 3, all without getting the bike out of shape. Its doubly impressive when he does all this while passing someone.

Although the MRA has a large number of classes, including endurance and supermoto races which run on Saturday, the premier classes are Race of The Rockies GTO and Race of the Rockies GTU. Both run longer than the other sprint races (usually twice as long) and both pay trophy money down to 15th place. While the various fast experts all race in different classes throughout the day you can be sure that nearly all of them will be in one RoR race or the other (and sometimes both). As a result, the Race of the Rockies winners generally represent the best the club has to offer. This is where I’m a bit disappointed…not with Turpin, Turner or the others but the fact that so few young riders show up in the top 10. Many of the top riders in the MRA have been ruling the club’s races for a decade now. If you total up the RoR titles held between Shane Turpin, Dan Turner and Ricky Orlando (Ricky is an MRA regular but is only doing select MRA and AMA races this year) the number is probably close to 15. Its time for some talented youngsters to step it up and give these guys some competition!

If there is another downer to the MRA races, its the quality of the tracks that the club has available. PPIR is the best circuit on the calendar and its definitely not a spectacular venue as it is built inside a NASCAR oval. Second best is Pueblo Motorsports Park which is a decent length and an interesting layout. Both Second Creek and Continental Divide Race Park are small and bumpy but both are close to Denver which is a plus for most of the races. La Junta has a track but other than a fast turn one, its not particularly inspiring in layout. It is also a *long* way from Denver so many MRA regulars skip it, especially when the race is run in the middle of the summer when its freaking boiling down there. Nearly all of the tracks have serious safety issues with CDRP probably topping the list…most of the track is lined with tire walls backed by dirt filled 55 gallon drums. Not a place you want to crash. Unfortunately, club racing (whether bikes or cars) doesn’t bring much money to the table so track owners rarely have the money or motivation to make expensive track improvements. Even if they did, the first thing that would help safety is to re-pave, so moving back walls is pretty low on the list.

Those gripes aside, back in the Brewer/Baker pits it was a mixed weekend. Jim won Supertwins GTO on his Aprilia Mille. This is the class he is focusing on this year, and the contingency money for that win from his tire, fuel and bike sponsors will help offset the cost of the weekend’s racing. Jim struggled to a seventh place finish in Heavyweight Superbike and then had bike problems which meant he started Race of the Rockies GTO from the hot pit, scoring an eventual 16th place finish…one place out of the money. Tony struggled all day with the heat, a track he doesn’t like and a lack of rear traction from his Yamaha RZ500. Thus the pit was a microcosm of the whole club racing experience. Some success, some struggles and another weekend spent racing.

If you’ve never been to a club race, I highly recommend it. The racing is more “real” than the shiny bikes and glossy presentation of a professional series and the racers are generally more approachable as well. The racing is just as exciting as any premier series. And besides, they can always use your support. Who knows, you may end up watching the next Nicky Hayden or Colin Edwards…or at least pulling the finger of a Brewer.

[image from my photo collection.]