Number of competitors for club meet?

[GSVR]

I haven't been racing that long so maybe some old hats could put there views across on this.

Rnd1 of the Vics had around 160 entered and this time Rnd2 I read its around 185. This means some people may not qualify and if there isn't another group/class for them to go into the wont get to race.

Also big numbers mean alot more time is required all round. These days if theres something other than a minor crash chances are the race is red flagged. In the old days riders used to wait injured for the end of the race (or so I heard).

So my question is should club race entry be limited to say 35 per class and once this is filled no more. This would create incentive for people to enter early and avoid a big last minute rush for organisers. My fear is if competitors go to meetings and don't get value for money they will loose interest and numbers will drop off and general interest in racing will decrease.

I'm espeacilly interested in hearing about the 80's when racing was huge compared to now.

[boostin]

To give a really crap reply, I dont think limiting the class to the first 35 entrants is the way to go.

Just recently there was a thread on getting more people into the sport, I think that limiting to first in first served will not help.

Having said that I dont know what the answer is...Starting earlier, finishing later, more 2 day events, droping motards (pt on the motards bit) ?

[bistard]

With Clubmans A & B,if you have entered the Formula classes & dont qualify,you will some where to race!!
There has to be maximum feilds,for saftey reasons & if they are exceeded,then the only fair way to do it is by lap times,then the incentive is to go faster & qualify next time

[ArcherWC]

so what happens when the clubmans fields are too big???

[bistard]

so what happens when the clubmans fields are too big???

Between the two Clubmans classes,there is facility for 70 riders & two lots of lap times,If they are both full then I would say the sport is in bloody good shape
Dont panic guys,you will get to race!!

[boostin]

Good point, don't think they have had to exclude anyone from racing yet.

At round one some people got bumped into clubmans, but still had somewhere to race.

[FROSTY:Me]

If its any help
back in the awd days --OMG now I sound old
anyhoo we used to have such big feilds in 250 proddy we would run a and b grade -might work for F3--but it adds yet abnother class to get through.
also I think given the number of entrys possibly the club may need to use the one bike one class rule.
hmm 180 entrys divided by 3 formula classes-2 clubbie classes tards and post classics--so 180 divided by 7 equalls 26 roughly per class soit shouldnt be a problem

[GSVR]

You logic works Tony if no one cross enters.

Streetstock guys are no longer allowed to cross enter into F3 has this made streetstock more appealing now you can only enter one class?

Of course everyone could get to race even if 500 entered but the quality and quantity would be so low I'd be saying hey why not race my mates at trackdays or testdays.

With big entries you get delays gridding up, more offs and races being shortened or declared after not even running half distance.

Why are more than 35 bikes allowed to qualify? This is where your meant to be pressing for the one quick lap and riding 110% so theres even more chance of a mishap if your on your one good lap and someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time?

[flame]

Between the two Clubmans classes,there is facility for 70 riders & two lots of lap times,If they are both full then I would say the sport is in bloody good shape
Dont panic guys,you will get to race!!

yerrrr....naa, sounds right, but it's not, because clubmans A and B run together, so I don't think it would be a good idea to have 70 bikes on the track at the same time. So A & B would probably also be limited to 35 bikes total too.

[steveyb]

If you don't qualify, you don't qualify!!! You need to go away to test days and trackdays and learn to ride faster.
The likelihood of a rider not qualifying for clubmans class is almost NILL!!
Riders that are worried about that will be only in Superbike or Supersport.
I was in that situation at Taupo. I was entered in SBK and SSP, but was selling a set of tyrewarmers (see, www.tyrewarmers.co.nz go the extra mile) so forwent my qualifying session for SSP. I thought, it will be OK there won't be too many riders. OOPs! There were too many, so I was excluded.
Such is life. So I went out and was in the top 15 for SBK on the twofiddy, so would have been sweet for SSP.
The moral is, if you don't qualify, it is an incentive for you to go and train and practice and try harder next time.
For VMCC to have 170-180 entries means the sport is in good health I would say!!

Steve

[flame]

Between the two Clubmans classes,there is facility for 70 riders & two lots of lap times,If they are both full then I would say the sport is in bloody good shape
Dont panic guys,you will get to race!!

yerrrr....naa, sounds right, but it's not, because clubmans A and B run together, so I don't think they would have 70 bikes on the track at the same time. So A & B would probably also be limited to 35 bikes total too.

[steveyb]

If you don't qualify, you don't qualify!!! You need to go away to test days and trackdays and learn to ride faster.
The likelihood of a rider not qualifying for clubmans class is almost NILL!!
Riders that are worried about that will be only in Superbike or Supersport.
I was in that situation at Taupo. I was entered in SBK and SSP, but was selling a set of tyrewarmers (see, www.tyrewarmers.co.nz go the extra mile) so forwent my qualifying session for SSP. I thought, it will be OK there won't be too many riders. OOPs! There were too many, so I was excluded.
Such is life. So I went out and was in the top 15 for SBK on the twofiddy, so would have been sweet for SSP.
The moral is, if you don't qualify, it is an incentive for you to go and train and practice and try harder next time.
For VMCC to have 170-180 entries means the sport is in good health I would say!!

BTW, I raced in the 250 Proddy 30 min race as support for the WSBK meeting at Minefield in 1992(??). We had 50 bikes on the grid!!! It was manic!! But Davy Cole cut through us like a hot knife through butter anyway on his NSR250. GO HONDA, ICHI-BAN!!

Steve

[steveyb]

yerrrr....naa, sounds right, but it's not, because clubmans A and B run together, so I don't think they would have 70 bikes on the track at the same time. So A & B would probably also be limited to 35 bikes total too.

If this ends up being the case then the customer will dictate what happens and two classes will need to be run separately.

The customer is always right, aren't they????

Steve ;-)

[scracha]

If they are both full then I would say the sport is in bloody good shape

So it's got nothing to do with the fact there's very few tracks and very few races?

[cowpoos]

I reckon if theres more that 35 entry's per class...the cross entered racer's get booted first rather than the slowest...if you on a f3 bike and out qualify some supersport riders...neat...but they turn up to race in their class...same with F1...or any other class that can be cross entered!