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I think the word "novice" and "intermediate" need to be dropped from racing, and we need a beginner class that truly caters to those who are new and don't jump at alll
However at lorettas.. the c,b and a classes have exactly the gap in speed every year They should.
I've worked for families accused of sand bagging for c class who practically lap second place locally who went to lorettas and got 10-20. In addition to that they are 15-18 seconds a lap off top 3-5 a times and 3-4 seconds a lap off of being the last place regional qualifier in b class.
one major issue in our sport is kids don't want to go a class anymore. It used to be as soon as you possibly could go a, and not be dead last everywhere you moved up...and the class has more turn out...which made the payout nice.
I don't know that answer... as the numbers just aren't there of riders anymore to have 30-40 rider state level a gates.
Those supposed C riders at Lorrettas that are 3-4seconds off the B lap times? That doesnt make them C riders. That makes them slow B riders that shouldnt have even qualified for Lorrettas. Watch them ride. They dont pass the eye test. They arent "novices". They are slow intermediates. They dont have novice skills or novice equipment.
When you let them stay down in a class where they dont belong, it chases would be noobs from ever considering entering a race in the C class.
And those B guys that are allowed to race B despite having large family budgets and traveling the country on the amateur circuit? They belong in the A class. That's why the A class isnt full. And that's why would be B's wont move up.
The answer is easy, the sanctioning body needs to step in and enforce a system for moving people up. Sure it will piss off the occasional guy that doesnt want to be moved up. But for every guy that is sandbagging that the sport caters too, it chases out lots of would be new blood from the sport. For example, look at the sport of tennis. It has probably the worst sandbagging of any sport I know. They have a rating system that nobody abides by. Serious players that are going for amateur national titles have this scam they run where they play one year, do well, advance far at the national championships, and after getting automatically bumped up at the end of the year, they stop playing competitively for 2 years and just train. So that they can apply to be put back down at the lowest level at the end of the 2 years. Then they come back and dominate all the way to the nationals. It's sorta insane. But at the end of the day, anyone that actually is a beginner gets smoked at tournaments. So why would they ever enter them. And so the USTA sits there and wonders why numbers are down on a sport that is relatively cheap to do and should have massive participation at tournaments. It's pretty fucking obvious why players avoid competing.
If the layman cannot tell the difference between a expert, intermediate, and novice from just watching the race, that is a big problem if your goal is to attract new blood into any sport.
From a business perspective, the answer is obvious also. Cater to the noobs that you are trying to get hooked. Not the guys that already addicted to the sport whom arent going away.
Take a look at factory amateur contingency programs.
Am riders can not receive money under any circumstances or the lose their amateur status.
However, they can receive a debit card for which they can receive cash without any problem. It isn't even a hush hush deal like when dealers would buy certificates for cash even though it said specifically not to do so on the certificates.
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Post a reply to: Mike Brown an amateur and a pro at the same time??