Joker lane strategy

I HATE it when my potion gets loose!

He may have come out behind someone even better at riding a wide bike. It is hard to guess, as it is not like they are on the radio like Formula 1, if you ever watch that. They are very worried about where the car will come back out into traffic.

I think it'd be cool if they made a split section where both sections were the same speed and riders could choose whichever way they want to go each lap. Even having the sections identical would make it an interesting part of the track. I'm guessing a majority of riders would still end up choosing one lane over the other by the end of the night but I think it'd be sick having one rider turning left and the other turning right to then meet back up again in 10 sec or so. It could help in a situation where riders are being held up by someone slower when the track is typically hard to pass on.

Makes me think of that Mx vs ATV Unleashed (I think?) track that had the split start and after you turned back on the start straight you could go left or right.

Or at least something different. I cant think of one time aside from riders forgetting the joker lane where it ended up being any kind of factor in any of the MEC races regardless of if it's faster or slower. I do like the idea behind the joker lane it just isnt effective. Definitely would like to see something new next year.

I also hate when i have loose potion. Glamour magazine has some cool exercises to keep it tight

I was thinking some of the guys who got held up making a pass would take it earlier, use it like an undercut. By the time the second guy takes it the faster rider would have made enough time of the track to make the pass.

3 second advantage is what it should be.

One way to fix it would be to, before the race, randomly assign a specific lap each rider must take the joker lane.

I’m not a fan of the joker lane.

theycallmeebryan wrote:

One way to fix it would be to, before the race, randomly assign a specific lap each rider must take the joker lane.

I like that idea

I think they should reward you for taking the JL sooner. For the most part, everyone saves it until the last couple of laps because track position is so important unless you get a bad start or something. I think it would be cooler to associate the lap in which you choose the JL with a time reward. For example, depending on when you take the JL, you get time deducted from your overall race time. So the race would be based on time, and not so much the position you finish. So at the end when the checkers fly, you may not win just for crossing the finish line first.

If you enter the JL on lap:
1 - you get 1 second deducted from your total time
2 - you get .9 second deducted from your total time
3 - you get .8 second deducted from your total time
and so on....

This would encourage the riders to take the JL sooner for a time deduction reward. If you take the JL on the last lap (10), you do not get any time taken off your total race time.

Roostermx58 wrote:

I think they should reward you for taking the JL sooner. For the most part, everyone saves it until the last couple of laps because track position is so important unless you get a bad start or something. I think it would be cooler to associate the lap in which you choose the JL with a time reward. For example, depending on when you take the JL, you get time deducted from your overall race time. So the race would be based on time, and not so much the position you finish. So at the end when the checkers fly, you may not win just for crossing the finish line first.

If you enter the JL on lap:
1 - you get 1 second deducted from your total time
2 - you get .9 second deducted from your total time
3 - you get .8 second deducted from your total time
and so on....

This would encourage the riders to take the JL sooner for a time deduction reward. If you take the JL on the last lap (10), you do not get any time taken off your total race time.

In theory, this isn't a terrible idea. In practice, it would not work. Part of the "excitement" in these races is the pageantry of racing to the finish line; the flames shoot up, the fireworks go off and the winner is always thrilled that he won. If we move to this other format it will be: everyone crosses the finish line, we go to a scoring table, do the calculations, and then declare a winner once the math is done.

Roostermx58 wrote:

I think they should reward you for taking the JL sooner. For the most part, everyone saves it until the last couple of laps because track position is so important unless you get a bad start or something. I think it would be cooler to associate the lap in which you choose the JL with a time reward. For example, depending on when you take the JL, you get time deducted from your overall race time. So the race would be based on time, and not so much the position you finish. So at the end when the checkers fly, you may not win just for crossing the finish line first.

If you enter the JL on lap:
1 - you get 1 second deducted from your total time
2 - you get .9 second deducted from your total time
3 - you get .8 second deducted from your total time
and so on....

This would encourage the riders to take the JL sooner for a time deduction reward. If you take the JL on the last lap (10), you do not get any time taken off your total race time.

FuzzyLogic wrote:

In theory, this isn't a terrible idea. In practice, it would not work. Part of the "excitement" in these races is the pageantry of racing to the finish line; the flames shoot up, the fireworks go off and the winner is always thrilled that he won. If we move to this other format it will be: everyone crosses the finish line, we go to a scoring table, do the calculations, and then declare a winner once the math is done.

Imagine Joey lets Eli by and finishes half a second behind him and still wins the race because he entered the JL on the first lap

If you're near the back, take it early. If you're near the front, take it last lap.

It could in theory help to take it earlier, like when Tomac was behind Malcolm, but there's no saying where he is going to come out, he could come out into a battle of 2+ other riders and get stuck behind them even longer.

I find it annoying when Ralph is constantly going on about it and when the leaders should/will take it, it's OBVIOUSLY the last lap.

FuzzyLogic wrote:

In theory, this isn't a terrible idea. In practice, it would not work. Part of the "excitement" in these races is the pageantry of racing to the finish line; the flames shoot up, the fireworks go off and the winner is always thrilled that he won. If we move to this other format it will be: everyone crosses the finish line, we go to a scoring table, do the calculations, and then declare a winner once the math is done.

Agreed that you may not have the shoot up flames and know the winner when they cross the line, however this may encourage the leader of the race (and everyone else) to push all the way to the end because they may not know how the timing plays out. You never know how pushing 100% on those last couple of laps, and how a big mistake pushing all the way to the finish could affect the end result.