I don’t think it was up to you to mention the charity Wilkey; it was up to those who were promoting the ride, LONG before the ride took place. I looked at the threads on this site, as well as the WJ’s promo page and actual threads on that site; I see no mention of the chosen charity. I’ve been involved in many charity benefits in my lifetime, to say the very least. When you have a charity benefit, the number one thing you do is promote the charity first and foremost; common sense dictates that it drives your benefit. It appears this failed to happen, and that is a serious error on the promotional end; furthermore, it surprises me, for I have always considered the Junkies to be extremely efficient with management and coordination. The local charity is what establishes you within the local community, thus giving you a voice within the local community to make things happen (common sense). This cause can benefit you with city authorities and local businesses.
The idea of the sponsors being physically present, along with riders on the circuit, is totally logical to assist in all manners. The proposed date change of April is what conflicts with being right on top of another well known sponsor’s ride in March, a sponsor having a very good reputation at that, which brings you into the HUGE arena of corporate ethics; a can of worms you always wish to avoid as a host/promoter if wise. This is why I suggested attempting to work something out with that named sponsor, Thrust, who already has his ride date chosen and established (you don’t want to step on the toes of any sponsor…BIG faux pas in the eyes of many riders and other sponsors). Additionally, the proposed date change of April is only 90 days away from the Tona Meet, so you are asking much in getting many pro riders (or their sponsors) to cough up the expense of cross-country travel so soon thereafter, another gamble; in turn, that move could potentially hurt the Tona Meet on down the line (which in turn hurts the East Coast as well as the industry as a whole).
It seems that the logical and best way to avoid the major problems stated is to choose a different ride date other than April; again, the year end dates with warmer weather being when you have the better chance of drawing more participation from the riders located within both the Northern and Southern Regions. Not sure if I expressed everything well, being that I am still asleep, with having had little sleep and much to accomplish today.
Dj's vid was awesome tho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! still waitn on flipsides vids.
