Motorcycle insurance from www.nationwide.com

Want to race?

Here's what you need to know to get started in motorcycle racing, along with a look at the 15 kinds of competition sanctioned through AMA Sports, the amateur racing arm of the AMA.

Amateur motorcycle racing action

The Basics

  • To race, you'll need to be an AMA member. You can join online or at the track.
  • You can find events to enter by searching our online database of AMA-sanctioned racing events.
  • You can also download a copy of the AMA Sports rule book. In the rule book, you'll learn which classes you're eligible to enter and find out how to prepare your bike for competition. Then, all you need to do is get your bike and your gear ready, and contact the promoter putting on the event for the details about the race itself.

Types of motorcycle racing

Motocross racingMotocross
Motocross is the most popular form of amateur motorcycle racing, and with classes for machines from 50cc to over 450cc, and riders age 4 to 50-plus, it's a sport for the whole family.

Motocross races are run over natural-terrain courses with hills, jumps and tight turns, typically with two races—or motos—in each class. It can be one of the most strenuous sports in the world, and the most fun.

Each year, the best amateurs in the country compete for a spot in the prestigious Air Nautiques AMA Youth and Amateur National Championships at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Tennessee. Just about every pro motocrosser in the United States passed through the Loretta Lynn Ranch on the way to the bigtime, and the best there receives the AMA Sports Motocross Horizon Award.

Arenacross
Motocross racing goes indoors in Arenacross, with tight courses set up inside arenas and other venues across the country. The tighter indoor tracks tend to put a premium on technique and finesse, as well as fitness. AMA Sports sanctions a national series in Arenacross.

Dirt Track
One of the most traditional forms of motorcycle competition in the U.S., dirt-track racing grew from the age when riders would compete on county fair horse tracks groomed to deliver a hard-packed surface.

Dirt-track racingRiders compete in four different types of events: oval short-track, half-mile and mile tracks, and TT courses, which feature at least one right turn and a jump.

Each summer, the AMA sanctions the Dirt Track Grand Championships in Springfield, Illinois, and presents the Horizon Award to the most promising rider on the verge of a professional racing career.

Road racingRoad Racing
Road-race events, run on paved tracks across the country, are where you'll find the latest generation of sportbikes being used to the limit. Want to see what you can do? This is the place.

The annual AMA Road Race Grand Championships, held each summer at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, draws top club-level riders from across the country. The best wins the AMA Sports Road Race Horizon Award with the aim of going on to a career riding in professional AMA Superbike competition.

Enduros
Enduros provide a common first step into competition for anyone who enjoys off-road riding. Typical enduros are run on a challenging route covering wooded trails and dirt roads.

Enduro racingRiders are flagged off in one-minute intervals, and follow a set of route instructions as they try to maintain a designated average speed. The ability to stay on that average speed, combined with the needed bike-handling skills, make enduros a unique challenge.

AMA Sports offers the AMA FMF National Enduro Series, where the sport's top riders compete.

Hare Scrambles
Hare scrambles are conducted on long, marked loop courses through woods and over rugged natural terrain. Events are run for a designated number of laps or length of time, typically two hours. Competitive riders not only need to be fast, but also physically fit enough to maintain a race pace for hours.

The top level of competition is the AMA FMF Racing National Hare Scrambles Series.

Hare and Hound
Hare and hound races are often referred to as desert races because of their popularity in the Southwest. Riders race over a natural terrain course at least 40 miles long and pass through a series of checkpoints. But unlike an enduro, this is an all-out race featuring a mass start.

For top level riders, AMA Sports sanctions the AMA FMF Racing National Hare and Hound Series.

Supermoto
The newest form of racing, at least in the United States, is Supermoto. Racers typically ride modified motocross bikes fitted with road-race-type tires. They race on courses that are part asphalt and part dirt, often with jumps and other motocross-type obstacles.

Supermoto draws racers from many disciplines and puts a premium on all-around skill on a motorcycle.

Drag Racing
If top speed and massive acceleration are what you crave, drag racing should satisfy your appetite. It's all about getting down a quarter-mile track fastest, whether you're racing the clock or another competitor lined up alongside.

Classes are divided by engine displacement and the level of performance modifications allowed. The top level for aspiring pros is the AMA Dragbike Series.

Dirt Drag
Think drag racing on a dirt track. Same sport, different quest for traction, huge rooster-tails.

HillclimbsHillclimbs
Hillclimbs are essentially one-person drag races up the face of a challenging hill, with each rider allowed at least two attempts to conquer the hill. The winner is the rider who climbs the hill the quickest or, if no one reaches the top, makes it the farthest.

The best amateur riders in the country compete every year in the AMA Sports Hillclimb National Championships.

Observed Trials
Unique in the world of motorcycle competition, observed trials puts no premium at all on speed.

Observed trialsObserved trials competitors must negotiate several "sections" of extremely difficult terrain without putting their feet down. Penalty points are assessed for mistakes, and the rider with the lowest overall score at the end of the day wins.

Some sections are so difficult, it's hard to imagine a mountain goat traversing them, much less a rider on two wheels. The top rung of the sport is the AMA/NATC National Observed Trials Championships.

Land Speed Record Trials
Land-speed trials are all about going faster than anyone has gone before, typically on miles-long courses over perfectly even terrain like the Bonneville Salt Flats. Classes are determined by engine displacement, modification levels and various degrees of streamlining, and encompass everything from small-displacement racers to high-powered, custom-built streamliners made for the sole purpose of topping 300 mph.

SpeedwaySpeedway
Using lightweight, single-gear bikes built solely for this type of competition, racers battle handlebar-to-handlebar on ultra-short oval dirt tracks typically a quarter-mile in length or less. Races typically last four laps, putting a premium on good starts, and the ability to slide the rear of the bike all around the oval.

The best in the country aim for the AMA Sports Speedway National Championship races.

Ice Racing
When nobody else is riding, some motorcyclists go racing. Ice racing looks like a dirt-track race, except it's run on ice. Racers modify a variety of machines to run on frozen lakes and ponds using off-road tires, often studded with hundreds of sheet-metal screws.

AMA Sports offers a national championship ice-racing event every January.

spacer

Getting kids started right

Kids don't have to race to have fun on motorcycles, but if they're mentally and physically tuned for racing, it can be an immensely rewarding experience. However, they have to be ready.

As a parent, you need to honestly assess your children's desire and ability before they line up to a starting gate.

It's a big deal to start racing for both your kid (emotionally, physically) and you (financially). To help you get started, we caught up with a man who's an expert when it comes to kids and racing—Philip Rispoli, who runs the Coolskunk dirt-track racing program that introduces kids to the fun world of dirt-track racing.

"They need the right combination of parental support and the right rider attitude," he says. "The parents must be committed to supporting the rider, and the rider needs that twinkle in the eye."

Rispoli stresses that parents must be on the right page: "If you end up with a world champion, great, but that's not what this is about. We want to build a winner both on and off the track."

If you decide that racing is in the cards for your kids, there is a range of events to consider—from low-impact, participatory events to serious racing. Among those, your kid might qualify for one or more classes that vary by age and/or skill level. He or she also will need to be an AMA member, and possibly a member of your particular AMA district, to compete.

At left, you can see a description of the different kinds of competition sanctioned by the AMA. Read on to see what you need to know as the parent of a fledgling racer at some of the most common events.

Trail rides.
Many clubs offer for-fun-only, semi-competitive trail rides in addition to full-bore races. Often, to take the competitiveness of the event down a notch, the organizers introduce some fun, random element into the results.

One such club is Variety Riders in Ottawa, Illinois. Variety Riders organizes about six "egg hunt" trail rides each year, with wooden pegs instead of real eggs.

"The riders run two 15-minute heats around a set loop. At some point in the loop, they stop and pick up a colored peg," explains Mark Fleming, vice president of Variety Riders. "They drop that peg in a scoring bucket and at the end of the second heat, we randomly assign points to each peg color and add up each kid's points. We stress safety and fun. We run it as a family day, just people with a common hobby getting together and having a good time."

Motocross
Most kids get started in racing in motocross.

A motocross race usually includes a practice session and two "motos." The combined score of the two motos determines the winner.

You will pay a gate fee to get into the track and then an entry fee at sign-up for each class your child enters. The entry forms are straight-forward and basically cover liability and class selection.

There are a number of beginning-level classes for kids.

AMA Classes 3 and 4 accommodate less-experienced kids from 4-8 years old, riding less-powerful 50cc motorcycles. The AMA Sports Amateur Rulebook includes the specific rules. Often, these classes are run on a smaller track. At some races, parents of kids in Classes 3 and 4 will have access to the track to help their kids if they fall.

Classes 1 and 2 generally include more experienced kids riding racier two-strokes with more advanced suspension. Class 1 is for kids 4-6. Class 2 is for kids 7-8. These classes, particularly Class 2, can be quite aggressive and aren't a good choice for your kid's first race.

Most tracks also offer beginning classes for older kids. If not, rest assured that there will be a wide range of skill level in any class they do run.

Hare scrambles
Hare scrambles are like a motocross race in the woods. Because there is no second moto involved, as there is with motocross, race days are generally shorter.

While the top kids are just as determined at a hare scramble as at a motocross, the general perception is the woods races are a less-intimidating environment. Much of that has to do with the longer course that leads to less tight racing.

Harescramble racers, particularly new ones, race the course as much as they race the other participants.

What kids get from racing

Sure racing is fun. But did you know it can also contribute to your child's healthy development? Read here about a sports psychologist's take on the benefits of racing. Plus, here's eight simple rules all parents of young racers should follow.

Getting schooled

Want to get your kids (or yourself) started riding off-road? Looking for the fast-track to a racing career?

Either way, the answer may be to go to school. Here are a few of the options:

Basic off-road training

Motorcycle Safety Foundation
Dirt Bike School
www.dirtbikeschool.com

Honda Rider Education Centers
www.offroad-training.org

Motocross Schools
Gary Semics MX School
www.gsmxs.com

Gary Bailey MX School
www.garybailey.com

Women's School of Motocross
www.dmsports-wsmx.com

Tony DiStefano's Motocross School
www.tonydmxschool.com

Jim Gibson Motocross Training
www.jgmxt.com

Donnie Hansen Motocross School
www.dhma.com

Justin Blake Motocross School
www.mei-inc.com/jbmxs/

Motoschool
www.motoschool.com

Motovation motocross instruction
www.motovation.com/

Number 1 Motocross Academy
www.geocities.com/number1mxclass/

Brandon Cunningham MX School
www.bcmx.net

Dirt-track schools

American Supercamp
www.americansupercamp.com

Advantage Racing
www.xr100.com

Trials schools

Trails Training Center
www.trialstrainingcenter.com

International Trials Center
www.itstrials.com

Books

Whitehorse Press
Not a school, but an online resource for valuable instructional books: www.whitehorsepress.com

Getting Sponsors
Most racers know that besides talent and a great motorcycle, they need cash to get to the finish line. Finding that cash, though, is sometimes more difficult than making a last-lap pass for the win.