No, I did not go to art school...amazing, I know.The results will be up today. There are a couple of things that I would like to point out before they are posted.
1- Learn to pin your number on correctly. If you are new to racing this is one of those things that you just have to learn, there is no step by step instruction manual...that I know of. If you have a new number make sure to wad it up first, this makes the paper more pliable and it will conform to your body better. Use more than four pins, at a minimum use six with two of them in the middle. Will Fyfe uses like 20 pins...don't go there, but you get the point. I like to bend the corners back so the pin goes through two layer of paper and is harder to tear. I've seen all manner of placement this year including - wrong side, upside down, horizontal up the back, down the back... When you do this it hinders scoring of not only yourself but the riders around you. Regardless of what you may think, we have a really good method of scoring these races. If you looked at the lap sheet for the 4 race and didn't know what you were looking at it may have seemed a bit confusing, but, there is a method to the madness and it's pretty clear when you run through the numbers where you were each lap. I can look at the sheet and see, say #40 was running in 3rd place on the first lap, 5th place on the 3rd lap, 10th place on the 5th lap and see a pattern to their race - starting strong and fading. I can tell if something is wrong if there is a big swing in the placement.
2- The way the schedule of races is setup is somewhat problematic in that there is not enough time between races for the officials to put numbers with names beyond what we need for podiums. That does not mean that we will not sort it out later and score you properly.
ok...3 points
3- We are running a series and points are recorded per the rules. If you are 16th place or below, you are essentially tied for 16th place as you all get 1 point, 2 points or 19 points depending on the race duration. So expect your results to be tied at 16. Don't like that? Be faster than 16th.Races that are not HUGE, we try to sort out exactly what place you finished.
The alternative to keeping up with lapped riders is to "pull" them when the get lapped. I do not wish to do this nor do any of you racing. I have travelled many hours to raced where midway through the race I found that I just didn't "have it" that day and got lapped. Being pulled in this scenario sucks. Everyone wants to race until the finish.
Several people have suggested using timing chips. Would you come out to race cross if entry cost you $40? I wouldn't.
Just keep in mind the system we use and how important it is for you to do your part and number up correctly. When the officials are yelling "1082, 1501,1099,....can't read it...crap, just missed the next rider because I couldn't read that #"
Being the "grassroots" type of series that this thing is, we are always open to you e-mailing and saying that your placement is wrong and we will help make it right, always. But, don't come up and say something like "those results are wrong, I know I finished waay higher than that. I finished behind some guy in a red shirt in 3rd place". Have some facts, grab the person in front and the person behind that you were battling with at the end...it helps.
Mitch Moses and Lee Neal, I believe both of you stated that you were left off of the results in the 3/4 race at Tuscaloosa, is this correct?
The results are being published now.
