Bartow Motocross

[debatethis]

Went out there for the first time today and I want to share my experience with everyone. 
 
First off you can't buy the year membership for $30 rigth now since they start over in July so if you don't have one you will pay the day  membership of $10 Plus the daily ride fee of $15 for every day you go out there. 
Fine I wanted to ride so I paid and figured if I like it I'll come back in July. 
My friend and I gear up and head over to the track.
 We were told that due to the large number of  quads present we will be running seperately.....OK fine by me
 
We wait for the kids to ride
 
then we wait for the advanced kids to ride
 
then we wait for the full size bikes to ride
 
then we wait for the A and B class bikes to ride (many of which were already riding with the full size bikes anyway)
 
each practice is 15 minutes so we wait for an hour before getting to ride (remember this is due to the LARGE number of quads - otherwise we could have ridden with the bikes that were A and B class)
 
We finally get to go and while waiting I look around to see the "large" number of quads which is a grand total of ......................  5
 
So we ended up waiting behind all the bikes for additional time because someone decided that would be way too many quads. 
 
fine we hit the track
 
By now it is so rutted up that sliding through a corner is impossible!   
 
The lips of the jumps are so out of wack that it throws you funny and there isn't enough lip on ANY of the jumps to clear anything!
I even tried hitting the table top in front in third gear without clearing it due to track conditions  ( I have cleared a nice 75 table in the same gear - but not at Bartow)
 
It was so bad that we didn't ride the entire 15 minutes and decided to leave never to return. 
 
to add to this terrible experience as we are leaving the bring out the equipment to smooth out the track for the next round of bike  knowing they are the ones that can get through the ruts that THEY created in the first place!
 
Needless to say I will never go back. If you haven't ridden Bartow don't waste your money! If you want a track to roll over every jump without clearing any, and if you like to ride on ground so rutted up that you can almost fit a small car in withou seeing it, and if you like paying more than you should, and if you like wasting you time to wait to do all these things then by all means give Bartow a try. 
 

[Mrs.Nightbreed]

We  have been there a couple times. We didn't buy memberships either because we don't go out there often enough to warrant spending the money. I think they could have at least givin you the option. If you want to waste your 30.00 on a membership for 2.5 months then it's your decision. I would just go for the next few weekends to make it worth it. Dade city charges 20.00 for a membership that expires on 12/31 even if you buy it 12/1.

They seperate the quads even if there is only 2. A lot of quad riders prefer to wait and have seperate practice than ride with the bikes. But when we went they only had 4 groups, so we got 15 minutes an hour to ride.

Also they always grade the track several times a day in between rounds. Sometimes it is before the quads go out and sometimes after depending on the timing. It is usually at lunch time. Personally I think that shows that they are aware of how chewed up the track gets and are trying to help keep it up a little.

As far as sliding in the corners, it's a sand track. Corners always rut out in sand tracks, not much they can do about it. Besides it is motorcross not TT, the tracks all get beat up. I would rather ride a chewed up sand track than the jagged holes in hardpack like at Gatorback.

I agree with you about the jumps though. They ususally go out and fix the faces through out the day but there never has been any real big air jumps out there.

[debatethis]

grading throughout the day is fine, but they should acknowledge that the bikes usually have more people and rut it up more. Thus a good plan would be to have intervals to grade it not only when it's so cheweed up it runs the risk of flipping the quads. I am used to riding sand tracks, this was just my first time to bartow and they really let it go.
Not much air is not the issue, it's the fact that you can't even clear the jumps due to poor planning and design.
and for the price they should let you know that 15 minutes is all you get to ride every  hour and fifteen minutes. And hour between runs is a bit much. even if you spend all day 9-4 all you get is 1hour and 15 minutes of ride time. There should be a disclosure for that.
And the reason given by the guy running the track for not allowing quads on with the few A and B bike riders is "there are too many quads" and I don't see how 5 quads can be too many with no more than 7 A and B riders.


like I said, got plenty of time and money to waiste to get nothing but frustration and a few minutes on a worn down track then go to bartow

[53yfz450]

i love bartow. the reason the track was really beat the 1st time is because they have races the night before and dont have time to grade the track so they wait till noon. but you have to remember its a sandy track thats going to get whooped out.

[dreth]

Went out there for the first time today and I want to share my experience with everyone. 
 
First off you can't buy the year membership for $30 rigth now since they start over in July so if you don't have one you will pay the day  membership of $10 Plus the daily ride fee of $15 for every day you go out there. 
Fine I wanted to ride so I paid and figured if I like it I'll come back in July. 
My friend and I gear up and head over to the track.
 We were told that due to the large number of  quads present we will be running seperately.....OK fine by me
 
We wait for the kids to ride
 
then we wait for the advanced kids to ride
 
then we wait for the full size bikes to ride
 
then we wait for the A and B class bikes to ride (many of which were already riding with the full size bikes anyway)
 
each practice is 15 minutes so we wait for an hour before getting to ride (remember this is due to the LARGE number of quads - otherwise we could have ridden with the bikes that were A and B class)
 
We finally get to go and while waiting I look around to see the "large" number of quads which is a grand total of ......................  5
 
So we ended up waiting behind all the bikes for additional time because someone decided that would be way too many quads. 
 
fine we hit the track
 
By now it is so rutted up that sliding through a corner is impossible!   
 
The lips of the jumps are so out of wack that it throws you funny and there isn't enough lip on ANY of the jumps to clear anything!
I even tried hitting the table top in front in third gear without clearing it due to track conditions  ( I have cleared a nice 75 table in the same gear - but not at Bartow)
 
It was so bad that we didn't ride the entire 15 minutes and decided to leave never to return. 
 
to add to this terrible experience as we are leaving the bring out the equipment to smooth out the track for the next round of bike  knowing they are the ones that can get through the ruts that THEY created in the first place!
 
Needless to say I will never go back. If you haven't ridden Bartow don't waste your money! If you want a track to roll over every jump without clearing any, and if you like to ride on ground so rutted up that you can almost fit a small car in withou seeing it, and if you like paying more than you should, and if you like wasting you time to wait to do all these things then by all means give Bartow a try. 
 

i felt the same way about the main track so i rode the other track. the jumps were not as big nor was the track but NOR WAS THE RUTS! the little track was made of a clay like dirt at the time but i have not been back since.
I have found after riding almost every track in florida that all the sand tracks SUCK for me. they all get whooped out and rutted so i stick to the clay tracks............hard rock and seminole or get to the track early while its fresh and leave early. some guys like a rough track so they can train for races.

[Ride1Rob]

I used to go to Bartow sometimes twice a week. Bought a membership and it was basically a waste of money. There have been times when we (Quads) were skipped and didn't get a run. They'd stop for grooming right before we hit the track, then after the grooming they'd call the dirtbikes back up   . It was things like this and the track being so boring were some of the reasons why I haven't been back. It's been about 6months.