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How many races does a top guy get a great start and his main rivals are buried and that decides the whole race?
When the top guys all start together how awesome and rare is that?! It's like wow here we go it's on.
Why not take a look at the starting gate.
Right now if you qualify first or last the only difference is where on the gate you get to pick. Last place guys still have nearly the same chance of a Hole shot despite qualifying last.
I say make the gate diagonal. First place pick is on the inside, second place is one over and six inches back, and each position is six inches behind the next.
This would to my eye give a more distinct advantage to the better qualifying spots, allowing the top guys to all start together and thus less races getting wrecked before the second turn.
Also we should consider black flagging lappers after maybe 2+ laps down, or having a 106% rule like f1 did. The Lappers are downright dangerous and confusing trying to figure out positioning on the race track for many viewers.
When the top guys all start together how awesome and rare is that?! It's like wow here we go it's on.
Why not take a look at the starting gate.
Right now if you qualify first or last the only difference is where on the gate you get to pick. Last place guys still have nearly the same chance of a Hole shot despite qualifying last.
I say make the gate diagonal. First place pick is on the inside, second place is one over and six inches back, and each position is six inches behind the next.
This would to my eye give a more distinct advantage to the better qualifying spots, allowing the top guys to all start together and thus less races getting wrecked before the second turn.
Also we should consider black flagging lappers after maybe 2+ laps down, or having a 106% rule like f1 did. The Lappers are downright dangerous and confusing trying to figure out positioning on the race track for many viewers.
Set the water truck to spray 20' wide.start at one side, one pass, next 20' two passes. Next 20' 3 passes, y the time you get to the other end of the 140' gate you are looking at 14 trips.
Now to make it interesting, have a drawing After qualifying to decide which end the fast qualifiers start from.
Put 10 pins for dry side, 1 pin for the wet side.
Whatever side the fastest guy gets, then the second place guy lines up next to him, and so on down the gate.
Tada......
Mx/sx fixed.....you are welcome
The Shop
Anyone want to go back to a staggered restart in SX and see how much better the racing is? I find it hard to believe sending the fastest guy out first leads to a great race.
Someone else had mentioned it but the best change that could be made is award championship points for qualifying and then invert gate pick based on qualifying. Maybe then a staggered start would make sense but that's a big maybe. I still feel that a great starter should be rewarded. It's a skill and mindset that one must develop.
Given the setup you describe, you're talking a 9.5" start area difference for the top qualifier to the last qualifier in SX, and a 19.5" difference for outdoor races.
If you implement this at all the National tracks, you're talking about reconfiguring every start on the circuit...which also affects every amateur race held there. How would you handle that at local races?
I also think with that much of an angle, you'd either have to make every gate somewhat wider, or figure out a way to completely reconfigure how starting gate are made. Coming across the gate at an angle, every rider would get some kind of sideways.
Although the current ones aren't staggered they kind of can seem like that due to the angle of the fist turn. If it's a long sweeping narrow left hand turn the guy on the far right gate pick has to go a hell of a lot longer way around than the guy on the inside which is a disadvantage IMO ( unless your RJ Hampshire)
staggered start sounds like a fuckin terrible idea. if anything the only way a staggard line would work is if the fastest guy is at the back of the pack lmao battle royale. Or why not just get everybody behind a gate and do a 20 rider wide short straight rhythm into the first corner
I really liked the monster energy cup drop styles a lot. Im impartial to the gate starts, might give privateers a more equal playing field maybe.
But anyways, I'll say it again for the hundredth time. The problem in SX is we don't see enough passes being made. The first 50 feet of the race has become too important and negatively affects the remaining 20 laps.
Changing the points system or some kind of "chase" format doesn't do anything for the on-track racing and that is the problem. The problem is the on-track racing is stale. By lap 3 in a lot of races you might as well just pack up and beat the traffic home.
Another problem with racing is the lack of exposure for some of the second tier teams as well as privateers.
So how can we fix the on track racing and increase exposure?
Well simple.
Pay some championship points in the qualifiers and then for the main event invert the gate pick order.
And don't say well people will just sand bag the qualifiers to get a better gate pick. No they won't. Go back and re-read the sentence above. If you pay some championship points in the qualifiers then the riders will race to win them just as they do now. And frankly the heats are about the only time we see actual racing with the current race format.
By inverting the start picks this will allow some of the second tier teams to get better starts, thus having their sponsors get a little TV time. This also will mean that the faster riders will not get a great start and thus will need to make some passes to get to the front.
We need to go away from the first 50 feet of the race being uber critical to the point it's hurting the remaining 20 laps and creating a race environment that is making spectators yawn.
Anyways, It's too easy. So everyone just stay focused on changing the points format or some other stupid thing that does nothing to improve the on-track racing.
not sure it would fit in the sport but who knows.
Heck if you wanted to add some changes, i would say do an automatic restart halfway through, add in a joker lap, and have more than 1 main event (this is SX specific though).
Old school bitches. It worked.
Pit Row
Seriously, this is a great example of a solution without a real problem..........
AT THE END OF THE DAY, the better man always wins. No matter what you change.
The number you pick is your gate not an order to pick a gate. The second ten go in numbered order of gates remaining.
It can work easily and only take 5min.
Another system is an invert draw. Top qualifier goes up and draws the invert for the main, 0, 2, 4, 8 or ALL. Obviously the "0" pill is the most desirable. Gate picks are then done accordingly.
A lot of drama can be pimped in either scenario.
I've seen both systems used in the World of Outlaws and IRA Sprint Car series'. It works.
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