New Racers and the Duct Tape X

[Doc]

Thought I would move this discussion out of Gmans thread...

[OreoGaborio]

New racers is what the Novice class is for. A big X wouldn't have made a fuck-all bit of difference in Gerard's race as there were no novices on the track.

[Pittenger5]

I wish there could be some leeway in between novice, am and expert. For example, Im thinking of bump to AM soon, but Im a little worried Im gonna be a rolling roadblock and someone could get hurt trying to get around me. BJ runs about 8-9 seconds a lap faster than me, let alone the SVs and other bikes, but Im regularly top 3 in Novice, am I doing anyone a favor staying in novice? I wish theyd let me practice with the Ams and experts for a session and see how I can manage and get some advice from those guys whether to bump or wait until I can drop a couple seconds.
Or if someones coming off a bad crash and lost some confidence, if they could bump DOWN a class or two to get back into the swing of things without an expert flying up their ass when they're already jumpy.
I guess this would be tough to regulate and manage, but maybe something could be done to try and avoid accidents like this in the future

[a13x]

I'm with Pete.

I just went to the AFM club races and there is NO Novice class. The 600 grid had 73 bikes on it. SEVENTY-THREE. That's experts and am and guys that just showed up. They all went off in one wave.. one. Yea it was nuts.

The Novice class is for Novices. When you are ready to bump up do so. If you think you are rolling roadblock, stay in Novice.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

The 600 grid had 73 bikes on it. SEVENTY-THREE. That's experts and am and guys that just showed up. They all went off in one wave.. one. Yea it was nuts.

holy hell!

[ahtune69]

Question is how many went down in turn1?

[Tricky Mike]

Yeah, that's nuts...

[a13x]

No one fell down, somehow.

[Doc]

Dolla,
The Amatuers and Experts that will be passing you should have enough experience and skill to get by you cleanly... Just hold your line and you will be fine.

At least that is what Gino told me....

[Kurlon]

So... I've got a CCS license for a rank that doesn't exist in CCS elsewhere... what happens if I decide to play outside of LRRS?

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

So... I've got a CCS license for a rank that doesn't exist in CCS elsewhere... what happens if I decide to play outside of LRRS?

Yellow Plates, ( you are considered by CCS an AM already) In Lrrs You are novice

[TheIglu]

Even running my wonderful 1:31's in practice last week, I was comfortable running with the Expert motards running in the teens.

They truely are smooth and safe. Sometimes things do happen, that's racing.

There are also experts that I LAP regularly. But, those experts are smooth, hold their line and are not spooked by getting passed.

It's the riders choice to run races that have the fast guys in them. It's also the passers choice to make the pass. It's just a fact of life when we have such a mix of bikes in each heat.

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

The only way to make racing truly safe is to stay home

[OreoGaborio]

The only way to make racing truly safe is to stay home

NOW you tell me!!!!

[eboos]

I would be a duct tape X type rider. I am still new to the track and would benefit from a lot more track time (work schedule prohibits). I noticed that I have gotten better last weekend by not getting freaked out when passed or riding close with others. I figure it's going to take me at least half the season before I am up to pace, but I am trying to be more predictible and hold my line.

[Doc]

So be that guy and start rocking the X.

[Kurlon]

Hold your line, and everyone is happy. It's the passers job to get around you, so you can just focus on the task at hand and let the faster riders worry about finding their way around. Took me awhile to learn that mini racing... eventually it started clicking that many of my colisions started as a result of me trying to 'make room' rather than hold my line.

Now I just crash on my own.

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

eventually it started clicking that many of my colisions started as a result of me trying to 'make room' rather than hold my line.

DING, We have a winner

[Paul_E_D]

This is the conundrum of racing. It's a problem even in the AMA and sometimes WSB. I have seen both sides of the problem. As a fast expert competing for championship points, I can tell you that I was erring on the side of aggressive passing, not safety. In a competitive 8 lap race, you don't get a second chance. A LOT of effort and money go into winning. It's hard to throw it away so someone whose still feeling there way around can be safe.

Don't get me wrong, I would always take myself out if possible when my judgment went wrong, but I know I've made some people shit their pants.

I can remember when motards were in the 125 class, we had to make insanely dangerous passes on the first lap, or we could forget winning. Once I went up the inside of five motards into 3. I was screaming and it became clear that I wasn't going to make it as a motard going much slower headed frrom edge to edge. I had the bike on it's nose and I was tipping it in towards the rumblestrip. The rear whel was 4 feet in the air and it started coming around, but it rested on the guy to my left's arm/shoulder. Luckily he noticed and gave me a little room I put the wheel down and we made the turn.

Another time Eric bumped a guy from the inside of 7, and I bumped him around the outside!

I guess besides being predictable, it's important not to use the edges of the track just in case someone really fast is coming through. You really don't need to strafe from edge to curbing until you're getting near the lap record for your bike...

[Pittenger5]

Its not even going for championships, for newer racers even battling a single guy for 5th place in novice is a big deal, hell it was for me.
I was battling a motard all race, turns out it was for 5th and 6th place, come down to the last corner entering the chicane, and theres a slow rider there, motard goes left, into the dirt, I go right in the middle of 11 and 12, slow rider sees the tard to his left, tries to drift right to give him room, I'm right there, fortunatly, he either saw me, or we made it to the straight to give me room to get around him, not sure which. End up draggin the tard to the finish and I beat him by a wheel for 5th place. (Got wood too! woohoo)
Was it a pass that should have been made? Probably not, it was dangerous, the slower guy probably shit himself, the tard probably shit himself, Im pretty sure I squeeked one out, but in the heat of the moment you just go for it. It could've been worse if the slower guy moved out of the way any quicker or the turn didnt widen out enough as fast as it did. Had he followed his line the tard would've made it through the dirt, I wouldve made it on his right, and all would've been good. Fortunatly no harm came of it, but it couldve been a lot worse.