Protest Bump to Expert?

In all fairness to me, I didn't stay in novice to sandbag.. Surprisingly, I never received a bump letter, although I expected it. So to blanket all the novices who run below the times you mention as sandbaggers is not fair. It actually annoys me to be quite honest. Especially without knowing the circumstances of each rider.

Some definitely do, but there are guys who don't. It is up to WERA to change the rules to place riders in the appropriate group. The perception of WERA is that they will bump anyone, but it is not completely true. Some of the decisions still make me scratch my head. Again, I should have been in novice this past year. But I wasn't bumped and was already some invested in the season to just move up.

 

And I would also somewhat agree with that speed generally has nothing to do with the number plates you have. White and red plates don't necessarily mean fast, it almost more experience driven then anything these days.

 

I have no idea what your lap times were last year, or the year before that. I wasnt referring to anyone in particular, i was making a generic comment about the tracks most of us frequent and are familiar with for the sake of the discussion.

Yes, there are reasons/circumstances for denying the bump. And that is something each individual has to decide. But i still stick by my very generic statements. If somebody has multiple years on the track (TDs or racing), they have at least 5 full completely race weekends, and they are running sub :36's, :03's etc...they have no business in Novice.

If they obtain those weekends/speeds etc during the year, of course finish out the year. But to have that "resume", and then begin another year as a Novice on the same bike? That is the definition of sandbagging IMO.

I dont even know if that applies to you or anybody, i havent looked up anybody's transcripts or lap times. I am just referring to my opinion.

 

I always thought there should be novice, amateur, and then expert, this past season was my second season as a novice, after my first season as a novice(only doing races at barber nola and tally both seasons ) and only able to turn 42s at barber I got a bump letter for some reason to go to expert, I had a fair amount of points from rarely having a dnf, so my overall position wasn't bad, but I didn't understand the bump. I switched bikes midway through last season and took a while to get used to it, so I requested to not go to expert. I still only do low 40's at barber, but am going to go to expert and hope that I can keep up since I've completed two seasons as a novice. I think in the end the lap times don't matter, it's points and position that matters.

 

I don't disagree, but that doesn't appear to be the case or the criteria that WERA uses. It generally based on points and finishing positioning at the GNF. I think other factors, such as you stated, need to be considered as well. But that would probably be to time comprehensive for the WERA staff to really evaluate each rider to that level of detail. Again, there is no exact science and everyone is going to have an opinion/gripe. Like many things, it is a no win situation.

 

I agree. I think the criteria WERA has is pretty good. We can sit around and analyze every scenario/rider, but they obviously can't. Hence the protest ability.

And if the grids were bigger, the criteria would probably be perfect. As it is now, somebody can run in a small class and finish in the top 5 for the year and/or podium at the GNF. But in reality, they may have only raced against 3 dudes all year. So they could "earn" a bump letter, but not be anywhere near ready to be Expert (unless they were going to run in the same small class as an Expert).

I also really like the Nov/Am/Ex layout. But we would need alotmore riders for that. The grids aren't big enough to break into another third.

 

Much respect and IMO, that is how it should be. You have done 2 full seasons with a lot of seat time and are likely very consistent and comfortable in pretty much every situation. So it is time to move on.

BTW, I've got a ton of laps at Barber and we put on a lot of Speed Academy schools there, next time we are there feel free to hit me up if you have any questions.

 

Yeah for sure I will, for some reason I don't go well there compared to other tracks I've ridden I know where I can make vast improvements there I just haven't been able to put it together, I can do 03s at tally and 1:53s at nola

 

The biggest key to Barber is that high speed kink in the back section (after the museum corner). It connects the 2 "long" straights so how good you get in and out of there really impacts your lap times.

When JD40 showed me a couple of tricks and helped me in that section, I picked up almost 2 seconds immediately.

 

You Jeff would be a perfect example of how your no bump helped WERA make money. Which I am most happy about to be honest. Hopefully you will be around in 3-4 years like most. You ran 36's at Barber the year before and had what....6 race weekends last year? So yeah you could have easily gotten a bump but meh.... it's whatever. But I'd say by the look of it you did well with Cont... Very well.

I would think that the OP is looking to have your exact season.

What part is not fair to you though enough to annoy you? You ran basically the same times this GNF as you did last GNF. Which admittedly are faster than mine. I'm not fast.... yet... lol But seriously, you saying that it's WERA's fault for not bumping you because their bump system is flawed? lol

Me thinks you got called a sandbagger given your first sentence. I'm trolling a little here though. But in all seriousness if I was the OP I would take the bump.

Boom

 

Yep, that's my prob there. I almost crashed reeeeeal bad going through the right kink and it would have been a very bad high side there. So my skirt blows up there every time. And I have crashed in the last two turns so that messes up my down the front straight drive too.

 

Too many people I race against read this forum, so I won't get into it publicly. But hit me up when we are there and I'll help you out.

If you bring the 10, ill be on the Panigale, so we can go out in 1000cc practice and I'll show you.

 

Yup,
Sounds like we got a sandbagger in our midst .... things like this make me sad what our country has become.





do some crosssh*t over the winter and you'll be fine

 

And the top 5

I did well on the contingency side of things, yes. Except for tires.. lol.. I actually improved upon my laptimes last year, I think my best last year was a 36, this year I dropped down to 34s.. I think I would have had improved upon that if I didn't crash out. And no one that I'm aware actually said I was sandbagging. But I could understand if people had that impression, so no argument there. But I had the expectations of going expert this year, but I did not get bumped. Mainly because I did not run a full season and did not have enough points, but since I did have two 3rds during the national GNF races, which I thought was an automatic. I actually inquired about this with WERA multiple times and even talked with Evelyne who suggested I stay down. I figured I would just run a complete season then move up. I never protest last year because I didn't have to. Again, not saying the system is flawed generally, it is flawed due to the level of participation so to speak. Small grids especially in some of the regions.

If I protested, then you can call me a sandbagger all day long, but I never have. And I'm not hanging it up, I'm looking forward to moving up and continuing to improve as I did this year. Just defending myself on this issue. I know Chris wasn't really directing his response at me, just felt the need to clarify my particular situation.

I suggest that the OP move up, you'll get much faster. I sort of wish I did, I think I could be a littler further ahead. But I learned a lot this year that will help me at the next level.

 

After listening to some good advice, I've made a decision. Skip to end if you don't care about my thought process.

Since my main goal is to just have fun, and unfortunately I have limited resources and still trying to figure out how I'm going to afford to do a "season", protesting and staying in Novice is the smart move. Assuming I can get the results I think I'm capable of, the contingency money would allow me to run more races and get more seat time. Although I feel like I have a lot more track experience then the typical new racer, I still have a lot to learn about racing so a season to work on that before trying to keep pace with fast guys makes sense.

As I was reminded, the cost to be competitive is much greater for experts. You can't just show up all casual like I did and expect to have a good weekend with those guys/gals, they take this stuff seriously and a podium is a real accomplishment. It's pretty obvious that the top guys are not only very talented, but they also have the resources/focus/sacrifice/whatever that most of us don't. Some have plans of doing this for a living. I'm not sure if I belong in that group. But I'm also not sure if I'm the kind of person that the Novice class was meant for. It doesn't sound like the general population has an issue with me bumping up, I'm not scared, so protesting would be primarily about chasing $. That seems kind of silly to me. Never been what riding is about.

I've never been smart or economical when it comes to motorcycles. Why start now.

See you guys on the grid next year. I'll be the one on the kawasaki with a WHITE plate #986!

 

Does that mean I can change my signature line now? Or do I have to wait until 2016?

 

Meh, I'll be on the R6. It's actually getting set up the right way. I have to rebuild the trans in the 10. They are garbage. But I'll talk to you at Tally and you might inspire me to fix the 10.

 

You sandbagging sanbagger!! Lol. I'm kidding, y'all gonna be at Tally? That's the only place o don't suck at.

Lol you can change it now!! You'll get faster guaranteed. It does make sense for it ESP money wise though.

 

I won't be at Tally, but I'll be at Roebling for sure!