5/3/99

Dear NESC,

My name is Mark Snider, better known to NESC as #152 Vet novice rider. My intention in this letter is not to intentionally be critical of NESC or Capeway Rovers in particular, but rather to speak my peace. I hope you will give my thoughts the same consideration that any business would afford its paying customers. After all that is what I am, a paying customer.

So that you have a better understanding of why I took the time to write this letter I felt it was necessary for you to understand who I am and why I have certain opinions that I hope may be of value to the NESC, the promoters and riders. I am the founder and President of the Electronic Resellers Association International, Inc., a 4-year-old organization that represents the interests of over 800 Hi-Tech Electronic Distributors in 27 countries around the world. I am also the founder and President of a recent start up company called Hi-Tech Parts, LLC which is an internet based Hi-Tech Electronic part search database. My point in this is that over the last 6 years I have become somewhat aquatinted with what it takes to survive in the business world. If nothing else I have learned that nothing stays the same for long and unless you are prepared to continually re-invent yourself your eventual demise is imminent.

I have lived in the Plymouth Mass. area for most of my life and have been attending motocross races for the last 25 years. It was long enough ago that I vividly remember Jo Jo Kellers step dad having to hold him up on the starting line because he couldnt touch the ground.. As a spectator during this time I never had any issues with NESC and I always loved coming to Middleboro to watch the races. Unfortunately, now that I ride instead of watch my opinions have changed dramatically.

I was at the NESC event held at Capeway Rovers on Sunday, April 31st. Fortunately I finally gave up and left a little after 8:00 PM but understand some riders were still there at 10:00 PM waiting for trophies, money or both. It is reprehensible that any organization (Capeway Rovers) or their promoting body (NESC) would allow this to happen. It is inexcusable. Having said this let me say that I do understand that there are factors involved in what happened, some of which were avoidable. For starters I am guessing there were far to many riders for the staff to handle. By staff I am including scorers etc. My point is illustrated by the fact that there were only 2 people in the trophy booth trying to tally up the motos and posting the results. Considering the number of riders signed up and the number of motos run it should be no surprise to anyone that the scoring dragged on into the middle of the night given the number of people on hand to process the information. While I am confident that the staff was doing everything possibly to process the scores the bottom line is that there simply were not enough people on staff to handle the job. Unfortunately the staff that was on hand probably took the heat from dozens of unhappy riders although it was due to no fault of their own. In business this is called gross mismanagement. My point here is that either this is a business or it isn't. If it is a business than it is time for the owners of these tracks who profit from these businesses to treat them as such. What happened at Middleboro is not something any responsible businessperson would do to their paying customers and my feelings are likewise for the fiasco at Southwick on opening day. When you can estimate based on experience that a certain number of riders are likely to show up it is only reasonable and responsible to have the staff on hand to handle it. To expect a paying customer to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours as I did on opening day is a disgrace. Again, I know the staff on hand was doing everything possible to move things along and they are certainly not to blame. The problem was not with the staff that was there, it was with the lack of staff needed for the job to be done efficiently and professionally.

Middleboro 25 Years Later In the past couple years Capeway Rovers made a step in the right direction by at least attempting to improve their facility. While I appreciate the new building which is certainly a plus, as a rider I don't go there to use the bathroom or get a cheeseburger. The vast majority of the paying customers that are there on race day are there to do just that, race. On a personal note I would much rather they spent the money fixing the track instead of erecting a building. While I do not walk around taking surveys I can honestly say I have yet to meet anyone who likes racing at Middleboro. By the time practice is over the track surface is a mess and naturally it only gets worse as the day goes on. Even though I am only a 15 minute drive from the track there are some weekends that I just choose not to go to Middleboro because I am not interested in riding on that track. The lack of equipment and or personnel on staff to at least try and improve the conditions also compounds the problem. While I can say that Central Village is not my favorite track, I certainly applaud their efforts for working very hard to provide a quality product that is in excellent shape on race day. They also do an excellent job of working throughout the day on race day top make continual improvements. The key ingredient here is the personnel and equipment Central Cycle Club has on hand ready to do the job.

With confidence I think I can speak for a very large population of the riders and say that it is time Capeway Rovers did something to improve the track. The recent modifications to the track were a nice addition but it did nothing to solve the problem. Middleboro is a sandpit filled with boulders. After every race they bring out a front-end loader to push the dirt and rocks back where they used to be. The end result is a race surface that lasts about an hour. Why can't Capeway Rovers make an investment in soil? Clay is very easy to get and usually you can get it for free. The only expense is trucking it in. In addition, it would be a big plus if they started to build and groom the track with the proper equipment. They need a small bulldozer not a front-end loader. There are riders from within NESC who are willing to help. I know because I have spoken with them. Expert rider # 50 Paul Letendre drives a bulldozer for a living and has designed and built several tracks in the south shore area. I am confident he would be more than willing to help out. The bottom line is that Capeway Rovers needs to be willing to work with the NESC and the riders to improve the facility. The $34,000.00 they are giving away is great but I think if you asked most riders they will tell you the money would be better spent improving the track.

I made 2 trips to Jolly Rogers last year. A great place, fun to ride and professionally operated. In short a very good time and well worth the 3 1/2-hour drive. What is interesting is that I chose to drive 3 1/2 hours to go to Jolly Rogers instead of the 15 minutes to race at Middleboro. Given the current circumstances, when Jolly Rogers competes against dates at Middleboro I believe you will continue to see the number of riders at Middleboro decreasing. I hope the management at Capeway Rovers and the directors of NESC don't bury their heads in the sand and pretend Jolly Rogers doesn't exist. It is a great facility and I think it will have an ever-increasing impact on the NESC and the track owners unless they are open minded enough to embrace change. By conservative estimates my guess is that Capeway Rovers gross receipts for Sunday top $40,000.00. I am very supportive of track owners making money. If they couldn't they would all be housing developments. These owners are certainly entitled to make money and as far as I am concerned they are entitled to whatever they can generate. The problem is when track owners are generating considerable profits with a product that is sub-par at best. Given the situation I don't understand why the riders have not banned together in protest and not show up at the track. I would hate to see it come to this but unfortunately some people refuse to listen until it starts costing them money.

NESC The people who pay a fee to NESC for membership and the track owners to race are your customers and should be treated the same as any responsible business owner would treat their customers. What appears to be and underlying problem is that your customers (the riders) have little or no say in anything relative to the overall operation of what I will refer to as the business of Motocross in the Northeast. There are many that feel as though the NESC has become a dictatorship with a take it or leave it attitude. Yes, the NESC does have rider representatives. The question is whether or not anything of any substance is accomplished via this format. I believe the riders are looking for change and they are looking for a voice in what appears to be relatively closed door meetings. Again, if Motocross in the Northeast is a business than I suggest the principals behind the organization get together and recruit competent people that understand business to assist in the organization. Doing so will provide a positive lasting impact for the NESC, the track owners and the riders. Positive change and an open mind can go a long way.

The Current Scoring System Let me start by readily admitting that I know nothing about the current scoring system. What I do know is this. If you go to my internet website and put in the part number of any integrated circuit, my website will sort through 6 Million records in a matter of seconds. I do not know what software program you are using to run and manage these events but I do know without hesitation that the current system is grossly inefficient. In general the overall scoring and posting of such should be a relatively simple task that should be accomplished very quickly and easily. I have a computer programmer on my staff and I would be willing to donate my time and efforts to at least evaluate the situation at no cost to NESC. I believe what is now a mess can be fixed rather easily. The programming necessary to fully automate these events should be extremely simple. Again, I am willing to donate my resources if the NESC is willing to listen.

I have been an avid fan and supporter of this sport for many years and I don't want anyone to misconstrue my intentions in this letter. I am a supporter of NESC and Capeway Rovers and I would like to see both organizations continue to grow and be successful. From experience I know it is impossible to fix a problem without knowing that it exists. I took the time to write this because I am concerned and I sincerely believe that my thoughts represent the feelings of the vast majority of your paying customers. If anyone would like to comment on my thoughts or opinions regarding this letter I am available at my office number listed above or I can be reached in the evenings at (508) 830-6709.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Snider

-- Mark Snider (msnider@erai.com), June 27, 2000

Answers

Outstanding.. Well written letter and thoughts. If they dont even respond to this then it is evedent that they could care less and only are in it for the money and not the riders.

Your analogy of this being a business and how it is run is dead on. Do you think for 1 minute if your local Home Depot treated you like this that you would ever go back? I dont think so. The fact that some of these NESC reps have been known to curse at customers flabbergast me. I, like you, have a tremendous amount of experience in running a business, although not my own, I always treated it as such. There's one key ingredient missing is this North East Motocross business, CUSTOMER SERVICE... They haven't got a clue.. And it's a damn shame, because we have good tracks, great customers(riders) and some of the fastest experts in the country.

Also, I'd like to comment on your thought's about Central Village. Once again you are dead on. Do you know why Central is so good? Because the RIDERS run it. They maintain, design and build it. They care, it's called pride. I would dare to say the other track owners dont care, but you know what, I dont beleive that's true. I honestly beleive they dont know what their customer wants. Why? Because the current medium for feedback stinks and they dont listen to it anyways.

Overall, I'm not the type of person to bash other individuals. But what I would like to say is that the NESC is a Customer Service focused business and they need customer service focused employees. And as anyone that is in the business knows, it's not easy to satisy 100% of your customers 100% of the time, however, the NESC isn't even close.

All of this is a real shame, and I sure hope that it can all be resolved, I want to spend more time having fun!!

See ya at the races.

-- Ron Sabin #270 (ThefourSabins@aol.com), June 27, 2000.

Mark and Ron's comments are dead on...

Now. Can anyone imagine how fast the NESC will listen if every rider, I mean everyone A, B, and C alike boycotts the next event(s). I'm not sure how to convince everyone not to ride but If we did just one race I'm sure that would get the NESC's attention! That may be the only way to get someone like Mark (or Jack?) in as a rider President/REP... Maybe something worth considering...

-- Lee Correa (lcorrea@ciswebdesign.com), June 27, 2000.

That letter is very well written and the first that I've seen to be worth while. Someone who is willing to step up to the plate and agree to take charge is an excellent candidate to run an organization. The same person also started to companies that appear to be sucessful. Yvonne isn't really doing that much for the riders, nor are any of the rider reps. Maybe a FULL change in the race committee is required to bring the organization back to where it once was. Having been forced to sit out the full season so far this year with an ankle injury, it's allowed me the time to sit back and watch things, not only as a rider, but as a spectator. It's kind of been an eye opening experience to watch how everything runs, instead of just worrying about when I have to be down at the starting line. The quality in organization has severely decreased due to poor decisions from the members of the race committee. Most members have no ties to being a racer, but more ties to the politics and business side of the events...not a favorable situation for the riders. Maybe the answer is for all riders to boycott all tracks, but how do you tell a novice who spent so much on his bike and gear to race for the first time not to race??? Do you think he'll listen??? You'll always have some riders showing up. Hopefully enough riders would stick together and demand change. I'm in favor of giving Mark Snider a chance... Shane Anderson NESC Am #699

-- Shane699 (shane_699@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000.

Shane,

I think I've rode with you at Rocky Hill now and then? I'm #136 on a Honda CR250 ... Anyway, I just like to clarify that my point of everyone boycotting a race was a hypothetical scenario. I realize there would be many folks who would ride, especially those first timers who have no idea what all this fuss is about. Still, If the majority of the racers blew off a race or two I'm sure the point could be made. I honestly don't see any other way to get their attention. Ideas are welcome. Shane, hope you heal up fast... I broke my ankle years ago so I can relate.

-later.

-- Lee Correa (lcorrea@ciswebdesign.com), June 28, 2000.

Hey Lee, I do remember riding with you. Hope you've been doing well this year. I've been healing pretty well. I recently started riding again and once I feel I'm in good enough shape and that I'm going fast enough, I'll come back to racing...hopefully sometime in July so I can race the fall series. Anyway, I hope you're right that if most riders sit out a few events, the promoters will open their eyes. People have commented that the promoters don't depend on racing to make their money...but you can't tell me they wouldn't notice a decrease in profits from the events??? Hit them where it hurts...and the riders need to stay together to better the series for themselves... Shane

-- Shane Anderson (shane_699@yahoo.com), June 28, 2000.