Nationals: Where the hell were ya?!

[slowpoke]

6 or 8 lap races go by far too quickly, slightly longer allows race craft to be practised, rather than just straight out sprinting skills.

I reckon at the highest level in NZ (Nat's) the races should definitely be at the longer end of the scale (20 laps) for exactly the reasons you've stated....BUT, at the club level, closer sprint type racing would be more exciting for spectators and give the slower riders more exposure to the faster guys. There's not much to be learned from riders you can't even see or that are separated by 50 or more metres. Once you can compete on sheer speed in a sprint race THEN you can start to think about racecraft in the longer format races.

I think another problem we have at the club level is we try to be all things to all racers. By that I mean so many classes are run that the skill level in each class is diluted. Racers should be trying to fit the available classes rather than running a myriad of different classes to suit everything from buckets to Superbikes. Maybe we need to trim the number of classes to get more people into fewer classes for bigger fields, better, more competive and more exciting racing to attract the viewing public and potential sponsors.

[Cleve]

I reckon at the highest level in NZ (Nat's) the races should definitely be at the longer end of the scale (20 laps) for exactly the reasons you've stated....BUT, at the club level, closer sprint type racing would be more exciting for spectators and give the slower riders more exposure to the faster guys. There's not much to be learned from riders you can't even see or that are separated by 50 or more metres. Once you can compete on sheer speed in a sprint race THEN you can start to think about racecraft in the longer format races.

Basically that is what does happen although VMCC have a few longer ones in the middle of the Winter series just to spice things up a bit. All other club events I have done have been 6-8 lappers. Anyway regardless of length of race if there is a fast guy there (Sam Smith, Jay Lawrence etc) you don't see them by the end of the 2nd lap at best so not much to learn...