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1. Cut points in half, half way through the season
Or
2. Give out less points in early season, increase towards end
A1 to first 8 rounds, 14 points to rider 1, 12 to rider 2. 10 to rider 3 and then through in some 1 or 2 pointers for place 13-16 and maybe zero for rest (they still ride for cash and hoping someone falls, so no one more than current will just leave the track because they are in place 17). Then go back up after round 10.
They are going to have to do something and i think smaller changes is more easy to adapt to then just resetting the whole scoring at mid season. We are dealing with a lot of races for a single rider to handle. Even if Jason is likely to screw up a race letting someone else in, it is just boring to know that kind of action is needed to make it interesting again.
Problem for us real fans is Feld Entertainment is definitely not looking at it from a sporting perspective. That is obvious. And now they are going to use their minions like Daniel Blair and RC to push their agenda. Make no mistake, Feld wants to turn this into a chase. They can have Ralphie Boy doing promo ads spouting off cliches and nonsense to try to wind up the ticket sales. FS1 will run ads all week long about EPIC battles for the king of the chase. They don't care about the history of the sport, or the actual sporting component of Supercross. Obviously I'd still watch and attend SX races but if it went to a chase format I would never look at the champion with the same respect. He only had to be good over 5 races. Not 17.
Racing kinda should involve passing. I know. We don't see it a lot and you forget what it looks like. We don't have racing. We have more or less timed races of follow the leader.
We need more passing. More racing.
Just do two things and you will see better racing. I've been beating this drum forever.
1. Give some championship points in the qualifiers.
2. Invert the gate pick order for the mains. Last qualifier gets first gate pick etc.
Too much of a 20 minute race is determined in the first 3 seconds of the race and it leads to what we have now. Which is super boring races. Fans leave early during the mains. That's how bad it is folks.
If you give out some points in the qualifiers then no one will be tempted to sandbag.
Then invert the gate picks so just maybe you end up with more variability off the start.
It's so simple. Screw chase formats and all these other things that do nothing to address the racing you see on the track. Start at the track and you won't need to do anything else.
There, I just fixed SX racing for you.
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I can't believe we are on the same team (after you pushing for a inverted MotoGP style system for years IIRC) but yes I called out inverted gate picks on page 2. We have seen several races this year, including last weekend, where the start changed lot's of rider's fortunes. I'm not totally convinced that gate pick would make much difference, but I'd try it before a Chase.
When you mention points for qualifiers, do you mean heats? I believe that any track time in the night show should be for points, and anything that pays points better be in the night show. I'd be OK with qualifying hot laps being in the show for points, maybe on a 1/2 scale, the same would go for heats.
Then invert gate picks for the main event.
Every other idea so far does nothing to address the on track racing. In fact, the three main format being experimented with only further exasperates the problem of the start being even more important because of the short mains.
Might as well just do motorcycle drag races because the first 90 feet of the race is determining 85% of the outcome.
That's what needs to be fixed. And not with a bunch of gimmicky shit.
The general format of SX is fine. Heats, LCQ and then the exciting gate drop for the main event. Just implement those two things I mentioned and the on track racing will be much improved. Seems like a win win for everyone.
You sound like a person who doesn't like to change anything because "that's the way it's always been done".
Starting on 2 rows like in arenacross, now that would fix first turn pile up, put much more focus on qualification times + heat race position.
There is 3 problems to be discussed separately:
1. First turn pile ups (takes away championship chances)
2. Less intensity in heat and mains
3. The overall 17 round excitement
For 1 i recommend 2 row starts, 11 in each. For 2, that would partly be fixed with 2 row starts since position in heat races will be critical. You could discuss giving out 5 point to first 5 in each heat or whatever.
If you also give away less points during first 7-10 rounds, say 50-70% you tighten up the pack. Someone like Hill that figures out the bike late would benefit from it and still be in the game. Same with Tomac last year, he would have been champ since it took him 3-4 rounds to figure out the bike.
You could also consider giving more points in the end of the season with same result.
My primary reason is I believe that it does maintain interest in the whole series which translates to more viewers and story lines. The other main reason is that I am tired of riders taking off the rest of the season once they are out of the Championship. This would give the riders who have incidents throughout the season, or who might need to take a week off due to injury, still have a chance at the title. That is enough reason for me. I like to see as many guys who have a chance to win the race actually race all the races, especially the ones where the championship is on the line.
Now outdoors is a different story. World and National titles - no chase
Pit Row
Chase is stupid for a guy who stays out of trouble, finishes races, and stays off the ground. Why penalize that and reward attrition?
If they want racers to race at the end, make a monetary reward.
Golf doesn't need a chase because they play just as focused for each round, 1st or last round. The money is worth it.
Currently there is minimal reason to race hard because McDonalds pays as much or more than most racers make except top 10. If they have already won the title, there is nothing to gain so they mail it in.
If there was serious ching to be made, maybe it would be different?
yes better, just like the "change" we got with obama
He even mentions at one point "yes the chase wont change the overall winner, the best guy will still win" this right here is proof that the chase is pointless. If you reset the points in one of RC's perfect seasons, is it still a boring season, even though the guys behind him get a 2nd chance? yes its still boring, cuz RC was still gonna win.
honestly the problem isnt a chase, its the length of the series and the fact that we had 4 riders in the last 20years figure out how to win regularly and not get hurt (MC, RC4, RV2, RD5)
Think about the length of the series, its 17 rounds. I start getting sick of the races around rd12 more because its a grind. also which series is usually the most exciting?? the 250sx has always been more exciting, yes 250s are slower and you have young kids that add to the mix, but the series isnt long enough to build a lead that can be managed like RC or dungey used to do.
this is a racing sport, not WWF or Monster Jam.
nothing wrong with keeping the same format.
NFL and Baseball seem to think their format still works after so many years.
Take this year, for instance, Musquin wins A1 and then hurts his shoulder. The way it is now, he is incentivized to keep racing if he wants to keep his title hopes alive. With the "Win and you're in" chase format, he could take many weeks off in an attempt to get back to 100%.
All I'm trying to get across is that there are many different angles to this big of a format change and not all of them would be positive.
Made a little sketch about a chase format formulae that could make everyone happy I think. Because lots of you are scared because of someone running away with the championship who doesn't deserve it. But if you give them podium credits at the normal season, count them at their chase points at the start of the chase and you will have still people who benefit of being fit and healthy a full season and being on the box a full season.
My proposal is to drop the worst race or worst two races for each rider. This will help stop mechanical dnfs or first turn pile ups from ruining someone's season. I also think it would help with rider safety. For example a rider crashes during the week in practice and gets a small concusion. If he can drop a race he can make a decision to sit out and heal for an extra week instead of feeling pressured to go out and race when he shouldn't. Not saying racers will always make the smart decision and do this but at least it would be an option.
Finally I do not see how this could make weekly races or early season races boring because you can always improve on your worst finish
Post a reply to: Chase format discussion on Main Event Moto podcast