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About
The Motorcycle Road Race Development Association was originally put together to provide a vehicle to provide invoices and payments to Partners of the Formula 400 Tri-State series in 2006. However as plans progessed for 2007, we started to look beyond the 400 class to see if we could help other areas of road racing. It soon became clear that the association could go beyond its original design and provide a series with aims to help develop the smaller capacity classes and in particular Junior road racing. In 2007 the MRRDA together with St George Motorcycle Club in NSW, Hartwell Motorcycle Club in Victoria and Motorcycle Sportsmen Motorcycle Club in Queensland hosted the inaugural 5 round series. The classes were Junior, 125GP, 250GP, 250 Production and Formula 400. The series went beyond pure race meetings, extending to a number of seminars held in NSW, QLD and VIC covering the topics of media awareness and Sponsorship. In doing so we were able to assist the series participants to be able to use the media to their advantage and be better equiped to go and get personal sponsors. In 2008 we took the next step forward and with the help of Honda and production house AVE, took the series to TV. Seen on SBS Speedweek as well as Fox "Inside Speed", the series was seen by thousands of people around Australia many of whom felt the need to let us know how exctiing the coverage was. We were also delighted to see our series winner Mike Jones join Honda Australia's race team for 2009, while Josh Hook and Brody Nowlan were accepted to race in the Red Bull Rookies Cup. In 2009 we included the 2 stroke Juniors as well as Nippers and an age limited 600 Superstock class. Unfortunately we did have to drop the 250GP and 250 production based classes as a regular feature to fit these new classes in. Since then with the invent of the Moto3 class, the 250GP mono, or Moto3 classes are back in alongside the 125GP bikes. In recognition of the changing times, the MRRDA runs a MAC points system. MAC stands for Marketability, Attitude and Character. Gone are the times where being a good rider is all you needed. These days you must be presentable and an excellent ambassador for your Sponsors to carve out a successful career in motorcycle racing. To support the system, at each event we run info sessions that cover off different aspects which include media awareness, the roles of officials and how to present yourself and your sponsors. The MAC points are added on to the on track points to help determine our series winners. The MRRDA is a non profit organisation run by passionate volunteers. All monies raised through Sponsorship or any other means is put straight back into the race series and associated seminars and training. The association is run by a committee made up of a representative from each of the 3 clubs and each of the classes. The committee is completed by a Chairman, a Treasurer/Secretary and a partnership representative. This committee is respsonsible for all actions of the MRRDA with the driving focus being the development of motorcycle road racing and young riders in Australia. |
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