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Archives: A Review of American Flat Track 2019 - Cycle News
While there is a lot of buzz currently with the recent growth of American Flat Track, Sumner also pointed out a few disturbing trends. In 2019 only 41 riders competed in AFT Twins nationals. That’s down from 73 riders in 2018. The maximum rider turnout at any AFT Twins national this year was 25. In 2018 the maximum rider turnout for a single event was 42. That stands in stark contrast to the heyday of the sport in the mid-1970s when it was not uncommon to have over 100 AFT Twins riders showing up to try to make a national.
American Flat Track also announced potential restructuring of who can participate in nationals starting in 2020, with AFT Twins being called SuperTwins. The new vision was met with almost universal disdain in the flat track community. The new structure would greatly restrict the potential participants in the series and also appeared to require quite high investment on the part of teams to even participate. Traditionalists decried the direction of the series as one that would exclude the man in a van with a plan, the low-dollar rider who would try to participate in the occasional national that came close to his or her home.
It remains to be seen how much of this new vision with actually be implemented, but one thing is certain, American Flat Track is moving towards a completely new business model, the likes which has never been seen in the 66-year history of the series.
While there is a lot of buzz currently with the recent growth of American Flat Track, Sumner also pointed out a few disturbing trends. In 2019 only 41 riders competed in AFT Twins nationals. That’s down from 73 riders in 2018. The maximum rider turnout at any AFT Twins national this year was 25. In 2018 the maximum rider turnout for a single event was 42. That stands in stark contrast to the heyday of the sport in the mid-1970s when it was not uncommon to have over 100 AFT Twins riders showing up to try to make a national.
American Flat Track also announced potential restructuring of who can participate in nationals starting in 2020, with AFT Twins being called SuperTwins. The new vision was met with almost universal disdain in the flat track community. The new structure would greatly restrict the potential participants in the series and also appeared to require quite high investment on the part of teams to even participate. Traditionalists decried the direction of the series as one that would exclude the man in a van with a plan, the low-dollar rider who would try to participate in the occasional national that came close to his or her home.
It remains to be seen how much of this new vision with actually be implemented, but one thing is certain, American Flat Track is moving towards a completely new business model, the likes which has never been seen in the 66-year history of the series.