Overall Championship

Are you mocking me?

 

In the CRA, We have a #1 Expert and #1 Novice each year. The top 10 experts run the plate number of the position that they finished in and #1 Expert obviously runs #1 the next year. It's based on overall points, and it works great.
What you said above is spot on. People sign up for more races, set up second or third racebikes, or even borrow bikes to chase points. I'm not sure why there is a negative attitude towards this. Yes, $$ helps the chase but it still comes down to talent. Our #1 plate, or even top 10 are some of the fastest riders. You still have to place high enough in races to get points. Entering lots of races and not placing high will not get you enough points to get #1, or even in the top 10.
It does definitely help grid sizes. It also makes for some fun races when you have some of the fastest guys in classes that they would not normally be in. Having some of the fastest experts in LW, or Ninja 250 spec class is cool as hell.
I never hear anyone bitch about the #1 plate being bought, I see how you could think that but we don't see attitude about it here. I would argue that it's the same for a class championship. You don't have to win the races, just enter all of them and be consistently towards the top. It's the same for an overall #1.
Doesn't WERA have regional #1s? It works well for CRA because we are not big enough for it to be a problem. We don't have regions.

 

Exactly. :up:

You can't "buy" the championship because the ones who finish higher get the most points. You would have to get four 10th place finishes to earn more points than a guy who wins just 1 race.

So it is still a championship that is won by the fastest/best riders. But at the same time, it gives more people an incentive to enter more races, prep more bikes etc, like you said.

I also like the idea of the top 10 sporting their finishing places as their race number for the next season. That would put MUCH more emphasis on the overall championship as a whole.

You would have to actually earn the number "2" or "3" etc. So even the guy who didnt win the overall championship could still sport the #2 the whole next year, which would be pretty prestigious also.

 

I know a little how CCS works

You can race as many of the 20+ clases they offer and the points you earn go to a overall point total (No specialty classes count though or any ASRA ). There is a performance index that plays a factor on how many points go towards your overall total, based on how many riders are on the grid and where you finish, kinda like a batting average. So if theres a 3 rider grid and you come in 3rd, 26 points would go towards your class points and you would get zero towards your overall points for that race.Theres no performance index for class points just for the overall points. Most guys running for the overall plate are running 6 or 10 races a weekend between Sat and Sun. The Florida region practices on Sat and Race on Sunday and these guys are having to run 3 or 4 sprint races in a row because they race lightwieght,middlewieght,heavywieght and Ulimited classes. Running only 4 races a weekend would be almost impossible to win a overall plate. Just like in WERA some regions are stronger then others. The performance index helps with just showing up and someone running a bunch of races to win a championship.But at the last round, bet on someone showing up and running a bunch of races if they are in striking distance.
The top 10 plates are reserved for the top 10 overall points leaders and then you have your class champions.

 

...which again, means more people signing up for more races.

I honestly can't see a negative side to it.

 

Sounds like a decent system except I'm not sure I agree with performance adjustment for smaller grid classes. One of the reasons I like the whole premise of this thread is that it gives an incentive for some riders to venture into the smaller grid classes. If the overall points were adjusted for smaller grids, the thinking may be... "well, I'm not going to ride in DSS because that's usually a small grid class and the points after the performance adjustment won't make it worth the effort."

 

My thinking was "this will maybe cause people to sign up in some of those empty classes to earn more points towards an overall championship" (myself included ).

...which would mean that those "empty" classes would no longer be so empty.

But if there is some sort of "adjustment", it will defeat the purpose.

 

The small grids haven't always been a problem.And the guys running for the #1 plate race no matter the grid size.
There is some creative strategy going on though amoungst the players for sure.

 

I have to agree with Turner. And also with what Papa propsosed by calling it an "Iron Man Award". I could see it being considered significant enough to be recognized by some kind of award, but there is no way I would consider it to be any kind of "championship".

 

Note: If this somehow becomes reality, i get 25% of whatever the overall champion wins since it was my idea.

 

...and why is that?

Like i said, the guy who wins 2 races will still earn more points than the guy who finish 9th in 5 races. So the overall fastest/best riders are the ones who will be in contention to win the overall championship.

Riding around back/mid-pack in 4-5 different races simply will not cut it.

So like i said, it could be argued that this would be even MORE of a Championship because somebody will have to not only ride fast and place well, but they will have to do so in several classes, against many different people, on many different bikes, at many different tracks.

This could possibly be the hardest championship to obtain.

 

At least do it right....championest.
Steve

 

I think the points being adjusted for smaller grids is the right thing to do.

However, if it's all about championships, why not have "bracket" champions such as an "open" class championship, "middleweight", "twins", etc.

So whoever has the most points when all individual classes within a bracket are combined, wins that bracket.

You could make the overall champ the one who wins the most brackets and/or by the most points when bracket totals are combined.

That way you might draw more people into various races/brackets to win more of these coveted championship trophies.

 

I like the idea, I would sign up for more events. But, I want to race Chris on my 675 again and getting a 1k for F-1 and A-sbk :up:

 

This is how we view it. It's a big deal to run the #1 plate. There are a lot of class championship winners but only one, #1 plate.

 

That is a definite Grant :up: Next year is going to be fun.

I might have to break my R1 out so we can play in those other classes also.

 

I just thought about this again. Would "Ironman Championship" make you want to get it, or is it important to you that it state "Overall?"

By the way, one of the provisions should be that if you win an "overall championship" you're not allowed to brag about it on the Interwebs.

 

To me "Ironman" has a real negative connotation attached to it. Might as well call it the "old guy who trudges along, at all costs, to enter as many races as possible, without actually placing well in any of them" award.

It's a throwaway. Kinda like the Miss Congeniality award.

 

:up: I got to run the #8 plate this year which was way more of an accomplishment to me than winning class championships. I've won those and they are cool but getting to run a single digit plate is something to be proud of. A lot of the guys running the single digit plates, normally win some class championships along the way, but it's easy to argue that getting that single digit plate is a much bigger accomplishment.
I know that for me, when I started racing seeing the guys with the single digit plates always told me that they were the fast guys and some day I wish I could have one. I made it my personal goal and did it, after that I don't care as much about class championships anymore.
Yes, you can do it by points but you still have to finish high or win a lot of races to do it.

 

Trust me, if i were to win it...it would be in my signature, in like 10pt bolt letters.

Nope; IMO it should state "overall"....for the reasons stated below....

As previously mentioned, mathematically speaking you still have to place well (if not podium every time) in several classes to win it. So simply calling it an "Ironman" award/championship is a severe injustice to the guy who wins it.