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TMGP - Texas Mini Grand Prix - going strong in 2023

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sloan

sloan

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Location
Houston, TX
First Name
Sloan
Last Name
Essman
I haven't seen much posted recently about mini bike racing so I figure it's time to start a new thread!
Minibike racing on kart tracks is going strong and has seen a bit of growth locally this year. If you want to have too much fun on 2 wheels than should be legal, come check out an event. Next weekend (July 29-30) we'll be at North Texas Karters in Denton running a 4 hour endurance race Saturday that'll start at 5:30pm and end under the lights. Then Sunday it'll be 20+ sprint races. In August we'll be in Katy, and 2 weeks ago we had a 6-hour endurance race at Speedsportz in New Caney (my team came in 2nd overall and first in class... on a GROM!)

The season and event schedules are on the main page: https://texasminigrandprix.com/
There's a fairly active Facebook group too (just search for "TMGPS").
Not trying to promote my channel but my wife records every sprint race and I post them up for the racers to see themselves. If you want to see what it looks like with both kids and grown adults on tiny bikes there's LOTs of examples from the past few years. Both the kids and the adults look forward to us getting them posted after every event. BTW I'm #228 on the Green grom. https://youtube.com/@swfcpilot

And here's another video that another member made several years back that REALLY shows what it's all about, fun racing, friends, and family:

Come check us out. Spectators pay $10 at the gate and I think 10 and under get in free. If you have any questions, post them up here or shoot me a PM. But be careful. It doesn't take much to get hooked on some of the cheapest racing around!

Ignore the Covid stuff on the main web page. That's been obsolete since last year but other than the schedule the page doesn't get updated much!
 
Tourmeister said:
I can't believe they let that long white haired hippie dude in there! :-P
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Ha ha. That hippie schooled a lot of us and even ran a full 4 hour endurance race by himself! lol He retired from racing a few years back and has been traveling all over the US on a DRZ. I think he just got home a couple of weeks ago.
 
Yeah, I have been following his prelim ride report ;-)
 
yeah, he usually brings a folder full of photos out to a Katy event when he gets home from a trip and they're spectacular.
 
I was interested until I saw that it’s not exclusively little kids. Buncha grown dudes on mini bikes….nevermind.
 
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TMGP is the best way to prove to yourself that you are not a champion roadracer. Also the cheapest way to find out. And safest way.

That said, the Hayden's started with tmgps. My tmgp race partner won the 100 year pikes peak in the middleweight class. And got some top 10's in Motoamerica. Jeff phillips runs tmgp. Allen, his son, kills it in CMRA. So, you may find out you are fast too.

Ignore the haters. Anyone racing tmgp can show you how to ride better. Street riders just don't understand how different the track is.
 
In 2005-6 my son’s and a few friends raced endurance in the TMGP. Even today they say it was a highlight of their youth. I highly recommend this series for young and old riders.
 
Colin Edward's Texas Tornado boot camp teaches you how to slide. Its about $2,400 for a weekend. You can run a full (local races only) season and buy an xr100 for that. Learn to slide it in a dirt field. Spoon on some street tires. Get comfy on the track doing practices and running an endurance race with a friend. Voila, you're a roadracer, ready to buy a Ninja 250, and run some CMRA ultralightweight endurance for a season. Now you're ready to "actually" roadrace a 600.

www.texastornadobootcamp.com

COLIN EDWARDS' TEXAS TORNADO BOOTCAMP

If you are looking for one-on-one daily training options (including beginner riders) or are looking for information about the MOTOCROSS side of bootcamp, please click HERE or visit...
www.texastornadobootcamp.com

Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association – a safe, affordable, fun and competitive motorcycle roadracing experience

cmraracing.com cmraracing.com
 
Texas Tornado Boot Camp is actually super fun and cool. Same with the Mad Dog race nights. Old school fun, while hanging out with a world champ.
 
Small bikes on small tracks feel like big bikes on big tracks, with a LOT less expense involved. You can race all season for about the price of a big bike trackday. Plus, you can bang bars with less worry. It's tons of fun, don't knock it till you try it. I still want to do it more than the small taste I already got.
 
Ex Roadracer here (CMRA 1985 to 1994) Am glad to see this series as hopefully it will groom some up and coming racers to compete at the top in the future
That's how Spain and Italy produce so many fast racers
I'll haveto come check out an event
 
Denton was a lot of fun. Hot as double heck though. Temps up around 102 and feel-like north of 110. Thank goodness the endurance race on Saturday started as the sun was starting to go down! My wife recorded all but a couple of races. I'll post a link to the playlist when I get them all uploaded in the next day or 2. She would have gotten them all but I had a crash while trying to work my son over in the Formula 6 Heavyweight race and she missed the next 2 making sure that me and my Grom made it back to the pits ok. We're both fine, just bumps and bruises!

Next event will be in Katy August 19-20.
 
The next round will in/near Katy, TX August 19-20. Endurance race is on Saturday, Sprints on Sunday. Sunday is really the best day to come spectate as it's easier to keep track of what's going on with the individual sprints of 6-8 laps. In a 4 hour endurance it's "just" bikes going round and round unless you're watching on the RaceMonitor app. I'm normally at every round and on or nearby my Grom #228 pitted under the cover. Stop and say hello and if you don't see me just ask as practically everybody knows me! lol

This is the schedule including directions to the track. The times aren't set in stone and assume every listed time is prefaced by "around". lol

The track address is
Gulf Coast Kartway
29726 Stockdick Rd
Katy, TX 77493

I'll post a reminder when the weekend gets closer.
 
Thanks for spreading the world Sloan! I hope to return next year. Just fired up the endurance bike for the first time since the pandemic hit, can't get the smell of race gas out of my nose and it doesn't bother me one bit!
 
As I type this we are about 25 hours give or take from the drop of the green flag for the 4 hour endurance race in Katy tomorrow. I was outside a few minutes ago and it's HOT again compared to a few days this week that felt SLIGHTLY cooler and dryer!

Again, sprints on Sunday are more entertaining to watch and easier to keep up with but if you do come out Saturday your $10 wristband is good for Sunday too.

There's no concessions other than a cooler of drinks with a collection jar so plan to bring any refreshements you need. There are a small set of bleachers to watch the action but bring a chair if you want to just hang out under the big paddock cover.

We're typically done racing on Sunday around 4pm, sometimes a little sooner, then we hand out medals and there are door prize drawing. You may get lucky and win a bag of zip ties or something even more valuable AS IF there's even anything more useful than a zip tie! :D

Here's the schedule link again with directions:
 
I realized today I didn't give an update to the last round but we had a fun weekend. We took a vote in the riders meeting and agreed to make all the races 6 laps verses the regular 8. It was so hot that I think it was a good choice. As usual there was a lot of good racing. My wife recorded all the races from the flagstand and tries to get footage of everybody. The kids had a good turnout with 12 & under, and Junior Motard being good races. The Formula 6 and Grom races with several of us all in contention for the top step of the podium and Motard Novice were good battles from start to finish.
Here's the playlist with all the races with the exception of Race 15 - 12 & Under that we missed due to a battery issue.

For the next round we head to Denton Sept 16-17
 
How many groms you all getting on the grid these days? I ran Denny's Grom to try out the minigp several years ago and won the class because I was the only one. :D
 
gixxerjasen said:
How many groms you all getting on the grid these days? I ran Denny's Grom to try out the minigp several years ago and won the class because I was the only one. :D
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The last round there were 8 in the Grom race. 1 was a Kawasaki Z125 and another was a 135cc Benelli. 5-10 is about normal. Along with the CRMA, TMGP changed the Grom rules to be a Formula class which basically allows any modification as long as you keep the stock engine size or close to it. Most of us had modified ours anyway to be more competitive in Formula 6 and other classes which would then leave only 1 or 2 eligible for the actual Grom class itself.

I took mine to a couple of CMRA rounds this year but other than when my son would bring his, I was the only one on track. It was rather interesting however running wide open for 99% of the track and topping 70 mph in places on little 12 inch tires!
 
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