With the New Year just around the corner CCS has released the 2009 race schedule for entire series.
Unfortunately I received this e-mail a month or so earlier from Dean and Kim Rumfola who own TrackAddix and have been the CCS affiliate operating the Great Plains Region...
At TrackAddix we are who we serve, dedicated sportbike racers and riders, so it is with great pain and sadness that we have made the difficult decision to not renew our sanctioning license with Championship Cup Series (CCS). As a result, TrackAddix will no longer operate CCS sanctioned racing in 2009 and the TrackAddix GP series will cease to exist.
Several factors evolving for 2009 have led us to make this difficult decision;
• The introduction of an additional racing series in an already low density market.
• Escalating costs that must be passed on to our customers.
• A very poor economy affecting our customer's ability to race.
In 2008, our third year of operating the race series, we saw the natural progression and life cycle of motorcycle roadracing participants, and felt its effects personally and financially. Motorcycle racers at the club level appear to follow a 2-3 year life cycle. After which, the "3 Brokes" kick in...Broke wallets, Broke bikes, and Broke bodies. This forces even the most hardy race enthusiast to closely evaluate continuing with the sport. We feel there will be a significant number of racers who will not continue racing in 2009, due to the ailing U.S. economy, we also don't anticipate many new racers entering the sport to replace those who are "retiring".
Alex, Kim, and I, along with our families and all of the hard working volunteer TrackAddix crew, dedicated our time, energies and efforts to make the Great Plains Series one of the best run club racing programs in the country. However, under the present situation we do not deem it financially prudent to continue the series. The positive side of all this is that we have made some of the best friends a person could ever ask for. We have seen triumph and tragedy, and stood side by side in congratulations and support of our fellow racers.
We remain committed to our customer's passion, and therefore, we are currently evaluating the viability of returning to our core business of providing high quality trackday opportunities for the performance sportbike enthusiast. This business model is proven and is what launched TrackAddix into the successful organization it has become. We have many ideas on new programs and improvements to our trackdays for 2009 that we feel the sportbike community will be excited about.
This is the time of year to give thanks and reflect on the past year. To all of the TrackAddix staff, words cannot express or describe the gratitude we feel for your support, hard work, and loyalty to us personally and to the TrackAddix operation. To our customers, we can't thank you enough and am very grateful for your support of our events. We couldn't do any of this without you. On behalf of all of us here at TrackAddix we would like to wish everyone a safe and joyous holiday season.
Sincerely,
Alex, Kim and Dean
Because of this change I will move to the MidWest Region for the 2009 season. The Great Plains Region is still in existence but they will only race at Topeka and Gateway except for the Festival of Speed at Road America. The Great Plains Series races with MidWest at four of the eight races and with only three additional races in Great Plains it will be possible to score lots of points in both regions.
I’ve posted both regions’ schedules and at this time I’m trying to figure out which races I’ll be able to get to. Another plus to moving to the MidWest Region is that Blackhawk Farms operates it’s own track championship in all the classes and since that is the closest track to Waterloo, there’s a good chance, I’ll be able to attend all four races there.
It’s going to be an interesting season.
I can’t wait!!
