Flat Track – Better the Second Time Around

AMA Flat Track racing always looked exciting. I’d watch it on TV with my dad back when I was a kid. I wanted to see them race in person, but they didn’t run anywhere near my area of New Jersey. We had plenty of tracks, but none that ran bikes. Around here, the big thing was dirt modifieds and sprint cars. A half-dozen or so tracks were within a couple hours of where I grew up, and we were always at one of them, but no motorcycle racing. I’d occasionally catch drag bikes at Atco or Englishtown, or head to Englishtown for a motocross show, but there was no flat track racing.

A few years ago, I had the chance to see flat track racing at the New Egypt Speedway. I’d been there so many times to see their regular weekly stock car races, and I covered the track back in my newspaper days, but this was finally my chance to catch some flat track motorcycle racing in person!

I was probably expecting too much, but to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. It was nothing like what I’d seen on TV. There weren’t many bikes, and there were even fewer fast riders. Even though the bike count was low, there were a lot of classes. Some heats had just a couple of bikes, and many guys were running in more than one class. It was nothing like the typical car racing I saw on a weekly basis, where car counts were high and racing action was competitive. I didn’t even last the whole night, as the show seemed to drag on forever. I left early, vowing to not come back for another flat track show.

A couple of years went by before I’d show up for another flat track race, but this time, I wasn’t coming for the race. New Egypt Speedway was hosting another AMA flat track race and I figured it would be worth the price of admission just to grab some photos. Racing photos weren’t going to be great, since the whole track is behind a fence, so I grabbed a pit pass. I knew I could at least get some close-up shots of everyone working on their bikes in the pit area.

As I took photos in the pits, I talked with a couple of people who told me the format had changed a little. They were now going to combine a few classes that didn’t have enough riders, allowing the night to flow quicker and not having a race with only two or three bikes.

Once it got too dark to take decent photos, I figured I’d head home and start going through the photos I’d taken. As I made my way out, I caught a bit of racing action and was surprised to see that it was much better than the last time I’d been there.

OK, maybe I’ll stay for a few minutes and catch a race or two?

Turns out I stayed the rest of the night. What I figured would be just an evening of taking some pit photos turned out to be an enjoyable night of flat track racing. While I have no delusion that New Jersey will become a mecca for AMA Flat Track racing, I do hope it continues to improve and draw in more competitors to my local tracks. Maybe they’ll manage to draw enough riders to justify more than one or two races per season!

If there was one thing I’d change to make the evening more enjoyable it would be getting better announcers. Perhaps I’m spoiled by the regular commentary of Pete Wortman and Nick Leach, who usually supply the weekly stock car racing play-by-play action at the New Egypt Speedway. Nick and Pete are really good at being entertaining and informative about what’s happening on the track. Seemed as if the announcer was an afterthought at the AMA event. He barely spoke, and I often had no idea what was going on, what class I was watching, or how long the race was going to be. Maybe they’ll bring Nick and Pete up to speed on AMA Flat Track racing and bring them in to cover announcing duties? Regardless, it was a step in the right direction and I’m hoping they continue to improve things in the future.

I now see that Bridgeport Speedway, another track close to me in South Jersey, will be having a flat track show in the upcoming 2023 season. I might have to start paying attention and see if there are going to be more shows in my area.