Snetterton - The race meeting
 

The entry regs state the following...

Maximum starters: 40
Entry Fees: £110 for the first 2 races per day

Sat Races: 2 x 10 lap NON-championship
Sun Races: 1 x 20 lap Championship

Therefore, it looks like it's a combined grid for all 3(?) races and £220 in entries. If that is the case, then I thought we could split the long race in to two 10 lappers, and that would either allow each class to have it's own grid and a 10 lap race each day - or keep the combined grids, but have 4 races over the weekend.

I also think that the races should be points scoring races - why would you travel all the way to Snetterton, pay £110 and go out for 20 laps - for no points???? Erm... Trackdays at Snett cost £80 for 2 hours!!

New Era have allocated the time for 4 races, so we should use it (plus, qualifying on Sat & a free praccy on Sunday).

If 40+ riders turn up, why not have 2 races per class - one per day, but if only 40 people are making the trip, why not have 4 x 10 lap (combined grid) races - maximum tracktime for our money.

:borg:

I have emailed the RC to find out some answers etc, but thought it would be interesting to have your feedback on this - It has been known for me to be wrong :o

:lol:

Simple for me I aint subjecting my bike to 30mins flat out round Snett. If it does go to 2 x 10 lap championship races I'll be there, if it is def a 20 lapper then no thanks.
Also not interested in non championship races.

Split grids and one per day would do me. It would be good to have practice each day too, if that can be squeezed in. I don't like the idea of the long race at Snett at all, a bit stressful for my tired old motor :)

Grabs popcorn and comfy chair ;)

I know what New Era have said, but I thoght Snet was gonna be one long race only? I'm not complaining, I need the track time. It'll be tough on the 583's, tougher if it's as hot as last weekend.

Well I can't see one long race being any different to the long race at Assen.

Before the season started it was decided that there would be two meetings which had only one points scoring round. These being Assen and Snetterton.

Now people want to change the rules half way through the season.
I for one have planned the season based on the original race calender, not one that was based on two points scoring races at Snetterton.

Still unless we get more than 40 entries in for the next couple of rounds Expect DD classes to be sharing the grids with either each other or CB5, Hornets etc.

It was only 8 laps Kev, which was reduced to 4 laps in the end. We raced for 6 laps if you combined both parts.


Not at all mate, just noted that the regs don't match what we were expecting.


Have you been drinking? You planned your season on having a 20 lap race at Snett, and not two 10 lap races? I can see how that would disrupt your planning! :rolleyes:


Agreed. I think that there will be more people doing both classes too - providing they're not combined grids of course!

Even if the Assen race had been run over the full 8 laps, that would have been approx 17 mins.

A 20 lapper at Snett will be approx 27-28 mins.

So it's not anywhere close to being like for like.

Will be interesting to have your opinion should you not get around the first lap, having made all the effort. You'll have to pack up and go home, rather than having a second chance in race 2.

Look at Clint last season. A long old way to go to not get a race. He would have got out for a second race though, had that been an option.

Just one good reason to have 2 races.

£220 entries , HMM this really is cheap racing..........

Why are we touting £220 in entries?
I thought it was £110 for first two races, then £25 per additional race - that would make it £135 wouldn't it?

It's £110 for the first 2 races per day not per weekend :(

:eek: Count me out of Saturday altogether then

Cant see why we've been given 2 x 10 laps non points on the Sat. Who's going to bother entering that ? Other than for practice of course. So we're having to pay for free practice now ???
I was under the impression that it was going to be a 20 lapper for one day only. My Confirmation of Dates email says Snetterton 3rd Sept only ( long race )
also Feb update confirmed :

Option A was chosen and therefore there will be one long race at snetteron on the sunday.

So - when was that changed then ? Because I don't have any emails telling me it had!

It'd be so much better to do a trackday before the meet than it would to enter the saturday races.

The original plan said snet was one long race, so that's what I'll be entering. I'd be a bit miffed if there was no practice/quallifying on the sunday!

Exactly, this gave a overall look to the season with two longer races one at Assen and one at Snetterton, as such these are the two races I hoped to drop, providing DNFs could be avoided.
My engine is now in its second season of racing still in its original state bar a few oil and filter changes. As such I was going to choose to not try and kill it at Snetterton by avoiding doing a 20 lapper. By not entering and both Assen and Snetterton I could give my engine a easier time, stick to my budget and hopefully score reasonable points in every other round.

So No Dom I haven't been drinking as nowhere in my plans did a 20 lap race figure, I found Sneterton last year the least enjoyable DD round that I did.

Ditto Skids - Max is hardly in his youth either and I was thinking along the same lines as you.

Why have to pay for 2 other classes on the Sat when they were'nt in the line up for this year anyway? Surely if they have all that free time spaces then it would have been better to allocate 2 slots for 583's and 620's to have a seperate grid for each rather than 2 classes not many will enter.
Or just give us 2 races mixed x 10 lap one sat one sunday.

Where's the wall so I can bang my head against it! All this uncertainty and changing is doing the series no favours whatsoever!

Just to add anyway that if the red flag comes out after 10 laps the race is then finished. under acu rules if the race is 50% completed then it can be finished at that point.

we will also be at odds in our camp anyway as i dont want my bikes doing 20 lap races particularly at snett if the weather is hot. but andy and paul both want to do this.

if there is so much time on the sat then new era must provide practice and also qual time on the sunday for the bikes.

OK, if I understand this correctly (and please correct me if I'm wrong)...

You don't want to go to Snetterton coz you're not keen on the circuit and also don't want to do 20 laps on your bike?

That's fine. You don't have to go.

BUT, you can't then try to influence what happens at that event, just so that it doesn't affect your championship.

It's not the Kev Ellis Trophy you know. There are 40+ people going to Snett, and if anyone should decide what format the meeting runs to - it's them!

I will be making a 600 mile round trip and spending £300+ to attend the Snetterton meeting. If I can get 2 points scoring races on Saturday, or one on Saturday and one on Sunday (or even 4 combined races), then I will campaign for that. It's a long way and a lot of cash to turn up Sunday morning to do 20 laps - which like last year (and at Assen), could turn in to far less.

If you're not going, I don't think you have a voice.

The point of dropping races, isn't so that you can drop Assen and Snett.

You should be rewarded for making the effort and spending the time and money to race in the series - not punished.

Just my 2p.

I thought they weren't points scoring on the sat Dom ?

I would prefer 2 x 10 lap races snet is renouned for killing engines so shorter rases please.

They're not - yet!

How many people are going to spend £110 to enter 2 non-points races?

Why not make them points races, it also makes the weekend more worthwhile - IMHO.

We could have 2 sprint races on Saturday, and a long one on Sunday???

OR, 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday - FOUR 10 lap races???

It's a long way to go for a potentially short race - Admittedly it's like Assen, but in Norfolk, without the razamataz or charm :lol:

OK, it's nothing like Assen, but it IS a bloody long way to go for one £110 race.

Think that would be better too - they appear to have the time in the schedule so why not have them on the sat - sun or both ?
And i'd rather Dessie didn't do the 20 laps.

Where there's a will ....


Erm - 2 ?



Mmmmm Assen :D ( sorry just learning how to do all them quote type thingies ;) )

...and you did it very well :D

The point for me is that we have planned to do sunday at snetty, now we are talking saturday aswell its not just about the extra £110, Big picture time, business to run time short etc not to mention fammilies.. This is the exact reason im off to derby Phoenix, Sometimes the riders having an input is a bad thing and it gets far too complicated, IMHO this will lead to the downfall of a very good series.
Glyn

I'm happy to race just on Sunday, but I'd rather have 2 races.

The Saturday issue has only come about coz NE have put it on the entry form (by mistake maybe?)

What do you mean by "business to run"? Is that like a job?

LOL A bit like a job, But one that never ends even after getting home.

Has anyone checked it's mistake yet ?

This is one of the reason,why i'm put off with this series...
THERE is too much riders input...when i turn up to race with the derby phoenix club....
you knew how many races you had on each day, and how many laps you got...

its a real shame, because the series is really good otherwise!!

Ummm... can I just say this is a series setup by the DSC for the DSC members, it's not a New Era championship and therefore we can change things if the majority want to (within reason).

There has been some confusion over the Snetterton meeting.

It was supposed to be a similar format to Assen (for those that didn't go to Assen) and be a long race.

Assen never turned out to be a long race.

Also, the way the entry form has the 'long' race at Snetterton, it shows it being another combined grid.

The maximum grid at Snetterton is 40 solos.

There are almost 60 entrants in DD.

Can you see where this is going yet?

Before anyone says "but you only had 40 at Castle Combe.", it became clear that anyone not in the top 22 of each class - would not race - therefore, a lot of people did not turn up.

This will of course happen again if Snetterton is not changed.

All the time DD is being made to look bad, when in fact it's the grid constraints of New Era.

The more this happens, the less people will want to do DD, and then we really will be down to 40 or less riders.

Anyway, I digress, also on the Snetterton entry form are TWO non-championship Desmo Due races on Saturday - something that was a surprise to everyone.

So my point was, rather than have these non-championship races on Saturday, and one combined grid of 40 riders on Sunday (for 20 laps) why not split the whole thing up so everyone can race if they want to.

Therefore the choices could be:

Saturday: Qualifying + 20 lap race for Class A
Sunday: Qualifying + 20 lap race for Class B

or

Saturday: Qualifying + 10 lap race for Class A and a 10 lap race for Class B
Sunday: Free Practice + 10 lap race for Class A and a 10 lap race for Class B

or if there really are only 40 entries...

Saturday: Qualifying + 2 x 10 lap races (combined grid)
Sunday: Qualifying + 2 x 10 lap races (combined grid)

...or just drop Saturday altogether - but then how do you get 50 or 60 riders into a combined race for 40 bikes???

Any suggestions?

...or we could just do what Derby Phoenix or New Era would want, and just have the first 40 entries to race with 20 reserves.

I know what I'd prefer ;)

I wouldnt say sat is a Suprise, Probably an error on New eras part, Either that or they are feeling guilty for effing us about, and have decided to repay us by way of allowing us to pay them another £110.
Seems fair to me, But either way I will not be there on saturday as i have planned to the original format and customers to look after.
Glyn

As I said before (I think) I'm happy to race just on Sunday AND in a long race - but you only get 40 to a grid, so what happens next???

What happens will depend on the number of entries at Oulton and Donington.
IF we put more than 25 out in each class at the next two meetings we stand a chance of avoiding combined grids for the rest of the year. At tracks with bigger grids there could be another class on the same grid with a split start similar to what we had at Cadwell.
Entries for the next two meetings ideally need to be in in advance of the closing date, entries after that date may not be accepted just like they did with the KTMs at Oulton a month or two back when they ended up with only 16 on the grid and sharing it with the CB500s.
If the numbers are sufficient at the next two meetings then it would be worth trying to get New Era to run practice and a long race for each class on the Sunday, which I believe is what was originally envisaged. What they have offered on the current entry form is not really acceptable although when you look at the Desmo Due briefing note v2.05 you can see where the idea of the extra races at Snetterton came from as it states

"To make up for the change in the 1st Cadwell race now being non-points scoring, we are looking at making Snetterton a 2 day meeting with three races (one long and two short) over that weekend. This obviously reduces everyone’s travel budget and makes up for the additional costs of going to Assen. "

Well after the riders vote Cadwell became a points scoring meeting and Snetterton should have become a one day meeting with a long race for points

I agree with chass about the 2 races would be better than just one long one, but thats just my opinion which i've said all along, even tho andy wants to do the long race. I am sure our riders just want to race tho.


Skids, are the grids for oulton and donnington still fixed at 40 starters max?
This needs to be confirmed and split grids sorted asap mate doesnt it?

I just wish we all knew where we stood.
Seems to me we get messed around all the time. If it were an sot/600/400 or any other class mostly in the normal format then you'd expect free practice, timed practice, 2 races. Fair enough - but we don't do we ? It always a last minute, have to ring up NE, beg steal and beg some more.
No wonder entries are falling with all this going on.
My 'team' will be at Oulton, just not sure if it's with one or 2 bikes as i'm moving the week before. My entries are already on their way for Donington and Cadwell.
But Snett - Hmm !!!

The circuits are governed by the licences they operate under and for Oulton and Donington the amount of Solos allowed on the track at one time under race conditions is 40 MAX

Sorting of grids will depend on entries getting in on time, the earlier the better. Once New Era have an idea of the amount of entries per class they will allocate grids accordingly. If entries are well in excess of 40 then we should have Class A on a seperate grid to Class B even if they are then on a split grid with another class. If sufficient entries are put in then there is always the possibility of Class B having its own grid with Class A sharing with another class unless Class A also gets sufficient numbers.
Once New Era have received enough entries to split our two classes we can then ask for them to adjust the progran so that there is a gap between the two classes to allow for those running in each class to swap transponders, take in some fluids etc.
So by Now hopefully everybody has there entry in for Oulton Park

sorry, fraid not.
not sure if any more entries are going in yet.

Mine is going in next week.

Closing date is the 24th June (next Saturday).

Can't get it off before that, but at least it will be in before the closing date ;)

That is not good news dude :(

I hope you can get out there, you're going so well. Fingers crossed for ya ;)

He he he! If you lot aren't entering a points scoring round cos it's 20 laps of Snett please don't change your minds as I could do with a decent points score :devil: