Where I take the kids the tracks are pretty good, because they have decent visibility all the way around, and most parks have multiple skill level tracks which keeps speed differentials reasonable. The trails are a hazard though, people are far too willing to rail corners and blind jumps in a potentially crowded park. That said, it is my observation that the casualty rate for old men is way higher than kids. Kid cases a jump, cartwheels over the handlebars, then screams like a stuck pig till dad gets over there. 10min later I get passed in the air by that same kid. Meanwhile old guy loops it in a corner, maybe goes over the high side, then tries to walk it off even though his foot is pointed the wrong way. An hour later he's in the ER with a punctured lung or something. The children? They bounce. It's the old guys who are the real victims at the mx track
MX seems to have a very different attitude to basic safety measures and even safety equipment vs. road racing. I know a few of our tracks can be a real shit show. Main "issue" with the article is the fatality rate is lumping in any death remotely related to dirt bikes. So if Jerry Yahoo is drinking Fireball and hops on his YZ125 only to loop it and pass away, that's lumped in with MX deaths. The specific instances regarding flaggers and lack of medical personnel highlighted are pretty egregious, though.
The alliance against fun is still going strong. We can't have our kids taking any risks. It's better to keep them at home, in a bubble and on their face tubes. This is the kinda sh*t that gets the Karens stirred up and the next thing you know....there goes another opportunity to have fun.
We have a 2500+ acre counry park that attracts the 4 wheel goon squad types. The moto-bikes have approximately 35 miles of single track but we have to share some 2 way double track access roads with the 4 wheeled cretins... which isn't great. Heres my impression of what they like to do... find a puddle then rut it out 3-7' deep with their 37"+ tires roll on & repeat. There is some drinking happening as well. This redneck civil engineering then creates mudholes that can swallow a bike. Ive seen kids on mini bikes have to be yanked out. This was an encounter with a shallow mud hole so you get some HIT intervals wrestling a bike out...lol
AMA and MX sports carry a lot of responsibility in this. Little in the way of regulations as far as track design and safety. Starts that funnel about the time you shift 4th gear. No safety margins on the track, posts and fences in impact zones. Let’s not forget the AMA allowing displacements to double because the Manufacturers wanted to build four strokes. I’m saying this as a parent who held his son in his arms praying he would wake up after a simple mistake on a 65 planted him.( that was no fault of the track owner nor design at the time). That was 23 years ago, bikes have only gotten faster since then. Most every time something really bad used to happen it was a stupid deal with someone crossing the track or going the wrong way, seems like recently it’s become more typical crashes that get people. The obstacles are supposed to slow the riders down, not launch them 100’ into a downhill whoop section. Motocross could almost use a reset. (Along with most other motorsports honestly)….
Budds is suicidal on open practice days. It’s a free for all mix of 4 year olds sent out on Chinese quads riding the same time as high as a kite or drunk dipshits on kx500’s, and zero safety personnel. We gave up on going unless it’s a hare scramble weekend being held there. There’s at least a semblance of control. Otherwise, we stick to the low key neighboring ATV/mx park that ties into Budds via the woods loop. I don’t know if it’s coming from roadracing or what, but lack of gear in the offroad realm really threw me for a loop when we first started doing dirt stuff years back. I still strongly believe in getting kids to ride and race, but gear up the kids so we can do this for the long haul, and the msm hit pieces can eff off.
This was a sobering mental image to start the day with (and it goes without saying that I’m exceedingly happy for you that he did wake up).
I've never been around the MX world, only road racing. I'm baffled things are that bad regarding safety. I assume that would significantly add to the costs, which is why it's probably not sought after. It seems MX is probably a fifth the cost of road racing.
As someone who got into mx (not racing, just for for fun) after years of road racing, I am often mystified by the lack of common sense and awareness of dirt riders, and often parents. I help at my local track and so many people are lost when it comes to safety, often stopping at dangerous turns, crashing and then hanging out there while gathering their thoughts, rollings jumps, etc. Having spent years on a road race track, and doing some real road racing, I would think some of these things would just be common sense, but they're not. So many inexperienced riders ride like they're invincible, and then say, "I didn't think it would be me" while being carrying back to the paddock or to meet the ambulance. And parents are often clueless about the dangers and safety measures that can be taken. So many parents just send their young kids with no guidance onto a track where they can't even see their kid. I even had one parent, who sent his young kid with a friend, question why the parent needed to sign a waiver, claiming he takes his kid to the trampoline place and doesn't have to sign a waiver. Far different sports, but that goes to show you how clueless he was. It's a dangerous sport, but it's also free choice. If your local track doesn't have onsite medical and you don't feel comfortable with that, then go elsewhere or talk to them and try to convince them. When I was doing minigp, every track had an ambulance onsite. Not so with mx. And having first hand experience with both, I can tell you not all mx tracks can afford to pay a medic all day. While I agree some things can be done to help safety, articles like this are horrible for the sport, and I believe the AMA is a joke as well as they won't help small mom and pop tracks. It's ashame because AMA is a big enough giant to help tracks with reasonable safety measures, grouped insurance, and even advise/standards. Meanwhile they don't want to even talk to the mom and pops. AMA has just become another money racket, that though they might help in some lobbying ways, they don't do much at the grassroots level.
Yeah, probably minimum $100/day fee for practice if EMT has to be on-site. I would be totally fine with that, but at best I would probably ride 4x a month with my schedule. Asphalt track days are pricey, but I very much appreciate the structure and medical staff on-site for them. Finding a private dirt track is the way to go. I'm fortunate that I can get out and ride on weekdays, but you're usually dealing with unprepped tracks during the week.
It seems like there is alot of motorcycle "entertainment" on the internet and TV that is really just stunting and risktaking. Real riders can do triples and land in a field of rollers. Or maybe you ain't crap unless you can do back flips off a jump. This is what young riders are fed with and it's dumb.
So wait - the new 400s are more dangerous than the older 250 2-strokes? Somehow that doesn't seem right to me - and that's ignoring things like the the CR500
500 cc MX two strokes are certainly a handful to race, yet most any reasonably skilled rider will end up lapping faster on a more trackable 450 four stroke MX bike. Then they made 250 2-T's race against the 450 4-T's at the pro level.
Yes. They are way faster than even the old 500's were and track designs have evolved with the increase in power making a much less forgiving track than we saw 25 years ago. That being said, even the new 2-stroke stuff is way better than the stuff from 25 years ago. But them screwing the pooch when they doubled displacement to give them a advantage to influence the transition has definitely decreased safety. A lot of the safety stuff track wise is just common sense stuff that would have you cringing.
The 500 2strokes were easy to race mx. You just never pinned it really, and would only shift a few times a lap. If you gassed it too much you spun the tire and slowed down. I think it had the same tire size as the 250, a 5.10? The 500 I rode had evil forks so that was its biggest problem. For most mortals they were not any faster than 250s.
Ouch... When this kinda shit hits USA Today it's no joke. What parent in their right mind would allow a child on a 50 to practice on a moto track with adults on big bikes? What track owner in their right mind would allow it? For fuck sake break the riders up into groups and skill level. It's negligence on the parens and the track owner at the same time. Just flat out fucking stupid
Here is a good example (using only 4t bikes)... 2006 my modded Yamaha yz450 4T= 40-42 rear wheel hp. In 2025 450 4t from any mfgr stock= 58-61 rear wheel hp. For reference, in 2006 60rear wheel HP was what most "factory race bikes" had. Yes, It has changed drastically. But with that said, the 2t versions were and are not that far behind hp-wise, with half the displacement. The issue is, you cant make the tracks tougher, the kids just send it, and start quadding gaps, and jumping hundreds of feet, they were never intended to clear. Ski
I wasn't thinking about the total power - obviously that has gone up and would have on smokers too, it was how insane those bikes were in how and when they made that power.
