| One point at a Time:
1)As for the Qualifier race. I have read several posts on this, objections are in the minority but here is my view on it taking into account some of the points made in the postings
- How about a vote? Am I a minority?
2)People that may benefit are those prepared to take the risks and if the people that normally push hard in a timed practice session don't want to take the risks in a qualifying race to get as far up the grid as they could then they may find a few different people in front of them on the grid at two of the meetings.
- Those pushing hard (or those that are quick) in a timed round will generally go just as well in the race. It is more about not wanting to damage your championship races by making sure you finish. I see this as ruining the first (qualifying race) as you will have less overtaking because people want to make it to the end. If the following grids were based upon fastest laps from the race it might be a little fairer on anyone that has an off or a mechanical problem (how unfair would it be if someone came off in front of you that you couldn't avoid and you got a DNF?).
3) We can't have 3 point scoring races in one weekend as some people may want to miss that round for one reason or another and elect to drop the two races from their points scoring.
- So, leave it as just a race (the non-points scoring races last year were still fun), or compromise by making qualifying on best lap times from that race. If someone thinks they are going to make up a lot of places in a race then their laps will be faster (have better lap times) and still improve their qualifying.... but at least if they couldn't finish the race their weekend wouldn't be ruined.
4) If both races on Saturday were point scoring what would that make Sunday's race, if its non championship then from the comments it looks like people won't take risks. So does that mean they wouldn't take part in it, or would they just go out and not take any risks which as mentioned isn't great racing.
By having the first of the 3 races as a qualifier it does make it part of the championship and therefore adds value to all 3 races. A race not linked to the championship offers little value
- I agree the championship races should be last. Are you saying that if the first race is non-championship that we won't be racing eachother though?.... come on!! As soon as the lights go out we are trying to prove a point..... unless of course we are worried about the fact we HAVE to finish.
5) In normal quallifying many riders are out there with no idea how well they are doing and no idea where they are going to end up on the grid, sometimes having their best lap ruined by coming across someone going slower just where they didn't need to.
- Seriously, we all have some idea (within about 4 places) where we are going to come. Even if your best lap is compromised, your second best lap will put you within a place or two of where you would have been.... but someone falling at a hairpin in front of you and taking you out in a Qualifying race would put you at the back. I think it will punish more than it rewards.... and the punishment would be about 20 more places than any reward.
6)It's not a radical idea, other clubs have been doing it for years and even last year BSB adopted a system where the grid for the second race is based on what went on in race 1.
Other forms of international racing even reverse the front couple of rows for the second race based on the finishing order of the first race.
- But we are not using a championship race to determine a championship grid, we are using a non-championship race to determine a championship grid. If a championship race is determining the grid the reward for risk taking is two-fold, being both better points in that race and a better start to the next. We can only really lose. I would be interested to see who made up the most places in any single race last year. I would be surprised if anyone made up more than 7 places from grid position to finish position last year (on average Alan and Matt Lawson probably had the best record for consistently improving, even then it was normally only by a place or two), but plenty would have lost 15+ places from not finishing.
7) Thankfully NGRRC didn't make a bid (they haven't the space) for the DD series, with a timed practice, one qualifier race a day and one points race a day we would have had to turn down the offer dispite the excellent range of tracks they have to offer as many wouldn't have liked the format.
- I think you have done a sterling job and agreed a top format in terms of the sessions and the track time and the tracks and the price. I'm not taking anything away from that. Everything is just about perfect. I just hate this for all of the reasons stated above.
Maybe a vote on the 2-day/3-race format:
1) 1st race is non-championship, all 3 grids from Qualifying.
2) 1st Race is a Qualifying race to determine grids from finishing position.
3) 1st Race is a Qualifying race to determine grids from best lap.
If I lose the vote I will go with whichever the majority choose.  |