To find out more about
AMCA Judging contact
Chief Judge
Kevin Valentine
for a Handbook.
Email: amcajudge@optonline.net

Judging Department

We Get A Pat On The Back
By Kevin Valentine

Here we are again; it is hard to believe we are in the 16th year of our "new" judging system. In 1992 Peter Heintz introduced us all to this new idea about judging, whoever thought it would become the envy of all motorcycle judging worldwide. In the past 15 years we have made great strides in refining this system to what it is today. For the last three years Robin and I have worked hard to maintain the integrity of this system. I believe it has proven to be worth the effort, as the number and quality of the bikes judged has risen year after year. We get to talk to people at meets, get e-mails and letters, but when you get written about in a chapter newsletter things are great. This is a copy of the Viking Chapter article written by their editor Paul Meisel.

Farmington National Meet "I have attended our national meet for about 15 years, but somehow only made it on Fridays and Saturdays. As a result, I missed a very important part of the meet - the judging of the motorcycles. This year would be different. Last January I purchased my first bike that could actually be eligible to be judged - a 1968 Harley Electra Glide. So this was the first year I had a bike judged and the first time I attended the meet on Sunday. As your faithful newsletter editor, I can only offer my sincere apologies for failing to recognize all the people who worked so hard over the past years to pull off this important segment of the meet. I had no idea how much time and effort and how many people are involved. I felt it was time I devoted some newsletter space to share some information with anyone who hasn't had a bike judged or who hasn't attended the meet on Sunday.

One of the requirements is that your motorcycle must run before it can be judged. So the first thing I had to do was clean out the mice droppings, rebuild the carburetor, replace the hardened oil lines and other things necessary for this qualification. In the flurry of late night wrenching marathons, I completely forgot to pre-register the bike. Note to members - You are not charged the ten-dollar registration fee if you pre-register. I made a mental note of that for next time! With the bike finally back together and running (and properly registered), I was anxious to see how the judges would rate it. I was told that everyone starts with 100 points. Points are deducted for things that are not correct. You can lose up to ten points and still get What is called a Junior First. If you get from 85 to 89 points you get a Junior Second. There isn't such a thing as a Junior Third, so if you score below 85 points you are out of the running. After the judging comes the award ceremony. Everyone waits in anticipation for the award ceremony to see how their bike did. The thing I thought was most helpful was getting the score sheet. Your score sheet explains exactly what things you were deducted points for. This lets you know what to correct to get a higher score the next time you have it judged. My bike had some period pin striping (that's bad) and the fender panels painted. An automatic six point deduction. Ouch! My horn wasn't original, that was another point. My period tires didn't match so I lost another point there. There were other things which cost a half point here and a quarter point there. Many things I didn't even realize were incorrect. Several would be easy fixes. (The paint wouldn't be one of them.) All in all I found the judging to be a very enlightening and rewarding experience. If I took away one major thing from all this, it was how much respect I have for the judges. Everyone can't know every little detail about every make and every year of bike. But all of the judges did the absolute best they could to be as fair as possible."

Letters like this make me proud to be involved is this club. Thank you Paul.

Important Notice: I need all judges to e-mail or write me with the following information. AMCA number, name, address, phone number, E-mail address and what makes, models and years they judge. I am starting an e-mail list for all judges to be able to talk back and forth to share information. This will also help keep track of where all our judges are located.

© 2007 AMCA