ok heres the story i got straight from the horses mouth( mr smith is the master of track memory and i dont ever question it…lol)
in 94-95 hc had 2 sets of doubles in each straight ( 4 ) except for the first one which was the starting hill then table to double to 1st turn… rest of the track was double double turn…double double turn… blah blah… it was boring..so they changed it and put in decision maker ams one side, and big doubs on the other… that stayed for about 2 yrs and hardly anyone was jumping it. dan said he thinks scotty was jumping it at around 9 yrs old but thats about it. then they took out the decision maker and put in the “rhythm section” which was a small doub, larger doub x2 then step up. that was the yr i invested in a chest protector for dan and boy did he use it. i think the knabes donated a truck load of hay for the pole areas ( just for dan… he didnt quite make them most of the time) but thats what happened. iremember when he started jumping every week he would say at least once on a saturday..to brian lynch…i hate this track it sucks yada yada..i cant get these jumps… he kept tellin him to keep trying and then marcus helped him out and in about a month or 2 he got them down.. not smooth but no more rolling down the hill sideways ( ps fox got so much business from us ( north jersey racing)we got them as a team sponsor for chest protectors…lol)
so i dont know what the moral of the story is…. for some if the frustration of not getting it right away is too much they may quit…or persevere and keep trying out of stubborness or the love of the sport… whatever it is i think each kid/rider will have to make that decision…
i think comparing back then to now is impossible to do…you had one year where greg morgan couldnt jump squat then when everyone started jumping that straight he did it and then went and finished world#1..so go figure… i feel challenge is always good each rider has to ride within their abillity.. if a rider will quit if the jumps are too hard then they may have possibly quit playing soccer or skateboarding or anything else when the going gets tough…. who knows…
dont dumb down the tracks but make them do-able.