I just got done watching the Budds Creek post show where I listened to Ricky Carmichael’s comments about the track and I wanted to make a few comments myself.

First, I have known Ricky for over 10 years and highly respect and like him enormously.  He is a great guy from a great family who through hard work and dedication given their all to the sport.  I have the utmost respect for RC, and when the GOAT speaks, we listen.  If he didn’t like the track setup this year, then I take full responsibility for it and apologize and can only say Budds Creek hopes to be better next time.  No excuses, if we failed to meet rider expectations, we can simply take the feedback and work to improve.  I do however want to clarify a few things for the public so they can understand what goes into preparing the track.

All 12 AMA National tracks struggle to find a balance with track prep that will please all participating riders.  It is a lot more difficult than you might think.  Some riders like the track rough and others like it more smooth and fast.  A lot more goes into the thought process on getting a track prepared than most people would think, temperature and relative humidity play a big part in it.  It’s tough or should I say almost impossible to make a track that everyone will like.  We strive to make a track that is challenging yet not dangerous to the point where people get hurt.

RC made some comments on the track prep I want to answer directly or explain:

He mentioned that in years past Budds Creek had many more lines all around the track, and this year there were less lines, making it harder to pass.  I have a simple explanation why.  In years past, during practice we have always put hay-bales out in the track, especially on the inside of all the corners.  Then as the practice progressed, we would slowly pull back the hay-bales and the riders would form newer inside lines.  This left a track with numerous lines around each corner around the entire track.  It truly was the optimal way to form many fast lines.  With the new AMA rules for timed practice, they have essentially taken that ability away from us.  We cannot put in or remove hay-bales because the track needs to be the same for each rider each lap.  Timed practice ties our hands with doing any track modification in practice from start to finish.  There is nothing we could do, the riders formed their favorite line and we had to live with it.  If riders don’t want to form new lines, we can’t force them to.  If the track was one lined, we need to re-look at the timed practice concept, it truly doesn’t allow us to give the racers the best track we can.

Additionally RC commented on how the track should have been prepared, again what I don’t think he knows is that our track prep crew takes direction from the AMA officials.  After our amateur program on Friday, our entire track crew takes a lap around the track with the AMA officials where we are given direction on what they want to see modified.  Although we know our track and our dirt best, it is out of our hands.  The AMA officials tell us what they want and we have to do it, we have no choice.  When they show up, it is their track, we are simply following their direction, we don’t have a choice in the matter.  Last year after our amateur races the philosophy was to fix only a few small areas on the track and basically leave it as is which is very rough.  This year it was completely opposite, after our Friday program we were told to rip it and disk it all, leaving a track with no bumps.  As I stated earlier, we have no choice but to prepare the track the way the AMA asks.  They in turn are trying to find the right balance of safety, challenge, and fairness.  We have to follow orders!

RC also suggested the dirt from the track has eroded over the years and it needs to have more put back.  I totally agree!  Every few years we scoop our sediment ponds and put the dirt back on the track, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.  We will work to find dirt in our area that is suitable to good racing and add it to our existing track surface.

RC hit us pretty hard with his criticism, and even though he asked me not to take it personally (which I don’t) it still stings a bit.  RC is a passionate man, that is why he has been so successful and I applaud him for that.  But I want to address his comment that we should be ashamed of ourselves for how we prepared the track.  I want to address all my crew that busted their ass all the weeks prior trying to get the track ready.  I’m certainly not ashamed, in fact I’m proud what they were able to accomplish given the circumstances they were given and the three in a row 90+ degree days they had.  We will work to fix or correct any deficiencies to the track and facility that warranted and within our budget.  We let RC and some other riders down, for that I do apologize and take full responsibility for, but ashamed…no way!

Andrew