ATV Florida Forum

This a letter that my wife wrote voicing our opinion regarding the Cancellation of Four Wheeler Friday. Feel free to email them with your opinion.


Dear Frank and Sandy,
First I want to say that I am very sorry to hear that there will be no more Four wheeler Fridays and also  I would like to voice my opinion on a couple of issues. Two Fridays ago there was a great turn out including two families that came from Orlando apparently Bill was on the track riding and the son(14) was out there as well. When the kid hit a jump he landed in Bill's lane which everyone knows can happen, instead of being a experienced mature rider (which Bill states he is)  Bill let him have it which was totally uncalled for sent the kid off the track crying and Bill swearing and very angry which showed very poor sportsmanship. Bill made comments that if you don't know how to ride you shouldn't be on the track (RIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK) and acted very immature. Needless to say the families packed up and they had no plans on returning to the track. Also you gave a letter out to all the riders that basically stated  Toby was in charge on Friday nights but actually no matter what the letter stated Bill still seemed to think he was the head honcho, you also stated that Dirt bikes were not allowed at four wheeler Friday which was understood but when the question was asked Sandy stated that we could talk to Toby and if all riders were ok with it our son could bring his dirt bike out at the end of the night and that he could also ride it around the perimeter of the track. Toby asked everyone and they were all ok with bringing the bike out which was done at the end of the night  9:30pm once everyone was done riding but come to find out once again Bill had a problem with a decision that Toby the man in charge had made. We came from Sarasota to ride on Fridays with our kids and we always brought somebody with us to ride as well and we feel that is very unfair that one person's opinion on how things go can end something that is so enjoyable to all of us riders, and one more thing as far as the medics go the first one you had out was great and was there to do his job which was watch the track and help those that were injured. The second Medic in my eyes was a complete waste of money he kept his back to the track talking to Bill and looking at his riding setup I seemed to be doing a better job then him watching the track. For every accident that happened there was I was the one to let him know that it had happened. The accidents(4) that took place happened because of poor track condition. I was told that the reason for closing the track is because you are not making enough money but from what I see that is the opposite for every person you are charging them $20.00 each and there are easily 10 or more people there each Friday night and the amount of people were growing each Friday, so based upon my feelings stated in this letter along with everybody else that rides on Fridays we feel we know the real reason why! In closing I guess the saying is true One Bad Apple (Non Paying Apple) Can ruin It for everyone.

 [smiley=bow.gif] [smiley=bow.gif]

you know i have heard that alot of people wrote letters to frank and sandy. maybee but highly dought it they might make the other decission. there are supposed to be alot of people out there this friday so we will see. we will not be there so matt will be in charge. the other reason they said they wanted to shut it down is due to frank not having a day off. so everyone that can operate the tractor said they would groom it i dont know what happend with that. and then she said we can rent the track for the night groomed and all for $150 for 2 hours thats not bad if you get 10 people and split it. so when we said that we would do that she all of the suddon said its $150 per hour :o and that only 8 people can ride >:(. so bassicly all that can be said THEY HATE QUADS they kicked them off before they will do it again. now all we can do is cross are fingers and hope. :-/

p.s. every one (even the bikes) are going to leave. now that bartow has lights everyone will be going there i know i will. ;D

e-mail for frank is frank@sunshinemotocross.com

i was trying to help when i came over to ride that night but it looks like it was to no evale! the track is small and that is why it gets so bad so fast! it was fun and i would have tried it again but not unless its quads only!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its cool we tried. :-/

Heres the response I got from Sandy  



Kevin,
 
Frank and I did not made this decison based on one person.  Frank has a full time job also, he leaves home everyday before 7:30AM every night he goes directly to the track to prepare it for the next days event.  Monday he is there for MX class where the lostest number of riders is 30, (that is a bad night) theire are usually over 50 bikes there, you do the math.  He gets home after 10PM on Mondays. On Tuesdays he grades the track for Wednesday, he doesn't get home until after 9PM.  Wednesday night is practice, which you all can come to, he gets home after 10PM. Since we started 4-wheel Friday, Frank has been going on Thursday to grade the
track, not getting home until after 9PM.  Then Friday night we are their, we may not stay long but we cannot do anything, in case something happens and we have to go back. He leaves the house by 9AM on Saturday to get the track ready for races, he gets home after the last race.  Then on Sunday back again by 8AM.  That's a pretty long week.
 
The most we have had,  has been about 9 paid riders. You can do the math on that one.  We need a medic, he does not have to watch the track, he is their in case there is an accident.  I am sure our medic will hear someone call him to aid anyone in need. It is just important for us to have a medic at all events.  One night there were 3 accidents,  one left in a ambulance.  That is pretty high numbers for only having 7-9 riders.  How does that happen if everyone is riding carefully.
 
Here are a few of my cost to run 4-wheel Friday.  We pay someone $40. to help Frank on Thursday night, then $10 an hour on Friday to water that is about $70.  The medic is $50.  the lights cost us about $10 per hour.  To run an extra day for insurance the cost is about $500 dollars.  Frank time on Thursday and Friday. We have given it a little over a month to show some improvement, but even at best we are only getting 9 or so riders who pay.  Tobby doesn't pay, because he was running it after we leave..  Bill does not pay, because Bill is always helping us fix something at the track.  Bill has played no part in our decision.
 
The second point is this the bikes come on Monday for class and almost everyone of them come another time during the week, if not to practice to race.  I cannot say the same for the 4 wheelers.   Maybe 2 of them come out another time.  It is not cost effective.  This is a business,
we are there to make money.  The 4-wheelers have not shown enough interest to keep it going.  
 
As far as the bike riding goes, I said that your son could ride on the outside of the track,  I never said he could ride on the track.  I found that out after the fact.  I have had many people call me about bringing bikes on Friday and the answer has been "no".  
 
When we started the school for bikes right from the beginning we had at least 20 riders, now it is up 50 or so each week.  Starting slow and having it grow is something we know very well. These people also come from Sarasota and even farther than that.
 
4-wheeler are able to come on Wednesday and Sunday practice.  Even if we just have one, we put them out by them selfs, we do not mix them in with the bikes.  4-wheeler can also come on race night.  
 
To do it right, we need flagger, someone to call out each group (level of ability) and Frank and I need to stay the entire time, like we do on ever other event.  We thought that we would give this a try and in our eyes it did not work. We surely do not have enough riders to pay the extra people for that.
 
Again, you are more than welcome to come out at any other scheduled practice or race.  This friday is the last 4-wheel friday.
 
Sandy Valente

MB
you guys can read it how you want , BUT THE WAY I SEE IT  SHE HATES FOUR WHEELERS!!!!!!    

Bartow here I come!!!!    

MB wrote:  
"you guys can read it how you want , BUT THE WAY I SEE IT  SHE HATES FOUR WHEELERS!!!!!!"    

I don't understand your last remark. Her explanation was clear and concise. Let me ask you this:

If she hates quads why would they have created 4wheeler Fridays to begin with?  

And also, with so little turn out of quads at every event she could just ban them and be done with it. That would be someone who "HATES FOUR WHEELERS!!!!!!"

I don't even ride there.

Dano

The reason why we say that is because all of the things in that letter are over stated and some down right lies-that was the point of the last comment-For the last 4 weeks 12 or more atv's have been showing up-(paid atv's) and she says 7-9-she does not groom the track and she states that she grooms it every thursday,she says that nobody pays attentsion to the track and thats why people get hurt-well if you groom the track then people don't get hurt-she does not pay extra for insurance-one premium one policy-that does not change because you add a day of buisness and lots of other things in that letter and to top it off-this weekend she didn't even have the flaggers flag the atv's-she told them not to bother and she has never had flaggers on fri night-that is why!! I am tired of fighting with people who don't do anything to help but get on this sight and tell everyone how to do things or i told you so-sorry for the rant-just really fustrated that there are people and places that are still acting like they are in grade school-
BY THE WAY THIS RAPTOR350's dad

RAPTOR350's dad,
  You can rant at me all you want. I  am not in grade school.
And I surely was not telling anyone how to do things.

I read muddbuggy's post and took that as truth, then I read
Sandy's reply and took that as truth also. Since I have not
been at these events how was I to know who was actually
telling the truth!

So I just asked a question in the belief that both sides were being told correctly.

As hostile to me as you sound, you still did not answer the very simple question of: "If she hates quads why would they have created 4wheeler Fridays to begin with?"

To me it seemed, regardless of all the correct and incorrect information, Sandy creating 4wheeler Fridays was contradictory to the remark in question made by muddbuggy. That's all there was to my post. No insinuations intended.

Hey, I ride at Bartow all the time when I am not at other bigger tracks(Hard Rock, ThndrX, MX Marion County etc). You guys wanna come out and ride Bartow, I am more than happy to meet with you and ride with you. We will have a great time.

Take care,
Dano