Posts
329
Joined
9/10/2008
Location
abilene, TX, USA
Edited Date/Time
1/12/2025 9:34am
Feels like last night’s race the start gate layout and subsequent gate choice(s) was very complicated and created a far more jacked up turn 1 situation than necessary? Was there even one start all night that wasn’t all F’ed up?
I wasn’t a fan of that start one bit
Split was to wide.
They talked about it in the press conference aswell, said pretty much every start last night riders locked bars with eachother, way too sketchy.
I had a straight shot from the club section, first row, and I can say for certain that last night was top 3 all time worst start layouts I've ever seen. That being said, it made the racing better for sure because NOBODY could get a clean jump.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
I only noticed 1 rider from the outsides inside gate that wisely cut over to join the other group.
Sketchy, caused bar banging, and frankly one of the most uneven starts I’ve ever seen in SX. A horrible start on the inside still put you top 10.
2nd Worst SX start setup ever. Just horrible.
You know what the worst one was.
I didn't like that short split start. I like it when they run the start nearly the length of the stadium floor. I think it makes for better racing.
Also in regards to the full track... I'd rate it a 2 out of 10. Wasn't a fan of it either.
That start looked terrifying. Split starts need to be for places like Glendale.
Excite Bike
It sucked.
Not a big fan of the effect it has on the riders converging together.
Didn’t care for the split start and definitely wasn’t a fair gate for all. Saying that, the gates are the same distance apart as always so why so much locking bars?
Since when is the gate meant to be fair across the board? Isn’t that why they try to qualify well? Starting grates and holeshot devices are bad because it evens the playing field but if there are better gate positions than others, that’s somehow unacceptable? I don’t get it.
If you were #12-22 lining up it severely bent you over. Starts designs are ment to even the field as much as possible not bend them over.
What was the center gap? 20 or more feet?
Detroit 2024?
Good. What’s the point of qualifying fastest if it gives you no advantage? To be fair, I would like to see them make the start smaller and possibly go two rows so I’m firmly against the ‘start needs to be as even as possible’ narrative.
“Timed” Qualifying has 3 purposes . #1 its practice. #2 Making the night show. #3 gate line up order.
But thats a different subject.
I agree that in general start design should reward qualifying and the resulting gate pick, but last night’s short funnelled straight and tight turn caused issues from everywhere on the grid.
Every gate drop looked like a Hail Mary and hope you come out the other side okay. It was simply a bad start design no matter how you look at it.
Pit Row
Noticed on RDL the fake start Chase had a really good jump and thought maybe he had starts as a point of emphasis during the off season. Looks like he had a good jump in the main so hopefully they found something to get him out front off the starts this year
The split gate sucked, absolutely the worst layout. Gates were to far apart and the start straight was to short. Honestly the whole track layout was crap.....
I think it was Arlington. Long start into a sweeper left, rythym into a bowl turn into a rhythm that crossed back over the first turn with 15 seconds of the gate drop. Stupidly dangerous and I recall there being chaos on one start when guys/bikes were laying in the track as the pack came back towards them.
The pileup was Detroit, when ferry smashed into that padding and mcadoo had the incident that got the sport on barstool or something.
Remember that one too. Different situation. I Think Covid era for the one I mentioned.
San Diego Limegate
That blueprint for that start should be shredded and thrown in the fireplace.
The blueprint for the basic track designs should too, what happened to the creativity you know?
I really wasn't a huge fan of the track itself either. Too many little, short chutes imho. Also, the 9 whoop thing is ridiculous. Eli had a great idea in his GT interview. Maybe not make them huge but a lot more frequency which I took to mean a lot more of them.
Post a reply to: A1 Split start gate no bueno?