SidecarCross.com

28 April Milton Park ACU Events Ltd
26 May Asham Woods, Leighton Frome MCC
30 June Preston Docks Iveston & Satley MCC
21 July Dean Moor Iveston & Satley MCC
11 August Wakes Colne Halstead & DMCC
29th September Canada Heights Sidcup & DMCC

13th October Reserve Date

Plenty of changes this year. The Northern ireland round is lost, Blythe has also gone. Wakes Colne comes forward a month, and Canada Heights comes forwards a week. The Preston Docks track looks fast and flowing and is a good replacement for Blythe.

not-so-good news is that we're at Milton Park and also the Preston Docks track clashes with the IMBA at Lower Drayton.

Taffy

September 29 is also IMBA in Germany and October 13 is also IMBA in Netherlands. Obviously the ACU and AMCA not consulting with each other to avoid date clashes and get more crews involved in both championships.

its not the ACU and the AMCA its the ACU and IMBA that don't talk and I don't think the International IMBA are the slightest bit interested in the worries of the National ACU (UK). last year IMBA chnged 3/6 dates at very late notice and what was a small clash also became a 3/6 clash if I recall again. fact is, if you are an international organisation you have to get these things done in November so that national bodies can work down and through from say, (a Country's) nationals to Clubmans and in our case at the same time the AMCA rounds. I can't speak for this years though but that was the problem last year.

It is IMBA that need to get their s*** together; and sooner rather than later!

Taffy

IMBA dates were published on here by Rien on 24 November 2018.

Hi Taffy your wrong this time all sidecar dates are done generally in this order GPs , IMBA, British , Clubmans/ scma and then AMCA and its been like that for a good while , if the acu had contacted the amca OR scma they would have been told about imba date. All imba dates are set in November. The issue being the clash of dates in the uk ONLY . if there is a imba abroad we loose maximum of 5 outfits , when it clashes at home everyone suffers due to splitting of riders/ passengers wanting to watch one or the other . As the imba is the ONLY sidecar international on these shores it should be supported everyone including organizations

just to sooth my own ego, last year's dates (so for the 2018 season) were qualified on the same day; December 13th 2017. least that's what it says.

this year it appears that IMBA came forwards a full 5 weeks while the ACU went back 3 weeks. yes, the ACU will have seen and known of that clash.

so i ask the question aloud (so does anyone know?) are the ACU meant to consider the IMBA UK date or isn't it on their radar at all? i doubt they have a rwesponsibility - just 'good will' i guess.

but a real shame either way. On a personal note, when trying to organise "The Nationals" some 20 down to 10 months ago I didn't get any support from the AMCA. its the nature of things.

Taffy

Hi Taffy , IMBA congress always takes place with in the first 2 weeks of Nov depending on how the weekend falls ( Been done like this since I have doing imba,s ) then dates are released , the problem with sorting dates with amca is : the amca rely on clubs to take championships ,solo or sidecars unless the amca decide to run an event them selves, as many clubs have not yet got back after xmas there fixtures have not been done , hence you can not get a answer off amca till this is done , quite often sidecars first meeting tends to be an imba , I think the ACU allocate dates then gets clubs to fill them ( sidecar wise ) :-)Personally I think ACU wait for GP dates then British end of . SCMA look for GP , british ,British imba then set there own at this poin, the t amca try to fit around sidecar dates taken as this is generally sorted by young ozzie

The rounds at Milton Park, Preston Docks, Dean Moor and Canada Heights will also include a round of the ACU British Cromwell Trucks Quad cross championship. Also probably the round on May 26 if it takes place in Ireland ?

All this discussion about how it should be done, unless you have actually tried to organise it then I really don't think you know how impossible it really is, no major organisation can start to look at others when looking for dates, the Acu have to wait for the GPs, the smca have to wait for the British, but the Imba are completely separate, where does it stop?
Unfortunately, and it's always been the same, the GPs and subsequent national championships will always be separate from the Imba and their national organisers!
Last year and again this year there is only one clash of domestic championship rounds, which is nothing like it's been in the past, teams across Europe, including British ones simply have to pick a series that suits their needs and more importantly their budgets and go for it, using whatever else is around as extra riding.
Even if all the federation's did get together teams couldn't drive them all anyway, as you could potentially have a world champion in GPS, who is also the Imba champion, which is still really regarded as a stepping stone to GPs,
And as for the comment on "how little help from the Amca" you got, you haven't mentioned that you were trying to tell them to alter their long standing regulations on qualifying criteria, race length Tec, are you really surprised
But what do I know hey,

Interestingly, in the solo world the British Maxxis, Michelin mx nationals, Bridgestone masters and Rhl Judd ktm british youth have all put their heads together and arranged not to clash with each other. That means 26 meetings all on different weekends from March 2/3 until September 21/22.

Interestingly, all these organisations are in England, which is exactly what the Acu, Smca, Smx & Amca have done, I have personally been in contact with them all over the last four months, resulting in one clash this year so far, with this being the British Imba round that is posted out early but we have no control over.
So I think it's been the best it's been in a number of years due to the on going contact between us.
Taffys point is that the main international bodies should get together, this will never happen as they are like two different businesses selling the same product but helping each other!!
But as usual, it's easy to do in theory, from a keyboard when a lack of understanding of the workings of it all seems to be the only problem here
There are more sidecar races, of varying standards to choose from again, so I personally think British Sidecar cross is in a very good position,
Looking forward to it.

where have I made the point that the "international bodies should get together?"

Yawn Yawn, same comments/moans every year, from where I'm sitting, its difficult enough persuading clubs to hold a round of any level in Sidecars, let alone trying to dictate the date, so as not to clash with other Championships, I take my hat off to any Organiser, or anyone helping to Organise a Championship, and giving us somewhere to participate or spectate the sport, can't be easy

Good point j j , in the AMCA the clubs dont want sidecars because the numbers are so low the clubs dont make money out of them. In the ACU British championship last year there were only 23 starters at Desertmartin, Dean Moor and Canada Heights. At Blyth 21 starters and Wakes Colne just 19 starters. The unfortunate clash of dates this year on June 30 between the British IMBA and the ACU championship at Preston Docks is a sad one. Because we never ever have a sidecar gp in Britain any more a lot of people like to go to see the foreign crews at the IMBA. These people then cannot go to Preston Docks on the same day. Potentially, the AMCA can field 8 crews at the British IMBA so that could lead to 8 less crews at Preston Docks. Last year there were only 15 sidecar championship meetings in Britain so it should not be impossible with a little will to avoid date clashes. Finally, it is impossible to have a FIM and IMBA sidecar champion in the same year. The IMBA rules state that an IMBA crew cannot take part in more tham 2 FIM GPs in the same year. That is why 4 foreign crews were stripped of their points in last years final IMBA champioship table.