Who else got a WERA bump up letter today?

I said it before and I will say it again, every year there are 4 or 5 fast novices per region and they end up racing each other for a championship. Either they finally had the coin to commit to a season or whatever resources they needed. Either way it’s still racing. What’s the big deal?

 

To be completely honest, that was an original concern of mine. Like i said before, i never sat on a bike of any kind till '07. I started doing some track days in '08 and I can remember riding the Novice track day group in '08 thinking "there is no way i will be able to race" because of looking at the lap times of the "Novice" racers.

I wanted to race, had the money to race, had the bike to race and damn sure had the competitive drive...I have always been a competitive person. But i simply wouldnt take the plunge because of comparing my lap times to the guys who were racing.

Was i wrong in doing that? Looking back on it, probably so. But at the time, there was no way i was going to show up for a race weekend KNOWING i was 6-8 seconds off of a Novice Podium position.

There is some validity in what you said, for sure. There are many people who use that situation simply as an excuse. If that excuse wasnt there, they would find another one. But for me, it wasnt just some excuse...it actually was the reason why i wasnt racing. And i know there are many others who were/are in the same position.

Once i got faster, felt like i could at least hold my own, then i went and got my race license.

Had a Novice podium lap time been 1:05 instead of 1:00...I would have been racing months earlier.

 

There isnt a "big deal". I am simply having a discussion because i am bored. The only point i am making is that "Novices" who are running top-5 Expert lap times do have an affect on the size of the Novice grids.

I am simply making a point......I guess just to follow up my original point that lap times vs crashes is probably a better judge of who/when to bump somebody. If you can show up at Tally and run flats or Barber and run :35's consistently, without crashing...you have no business as a Novice...simply put, you aren't a Novice. You just so happen to have yellow plates on your bike.

Will anything ever change? I doubt it.

Do i have a solution for it? No.

Im just sayin'.

 

This is EXACTLY what happened in my case. I raced off and on throughout the years but I never could financially commit to doing a "decent" amount of racing. I ran very respectable lap times this year (except for Roebling 17's) and I STRUGGLED to stay in the top five. I won ONE race this year. I think that this year in the Southeast we just has a TON of fast novices. I can't wait to race with those guys at the next level. I had a couple of VERY good results taken from me due to lap traffic. It doesn't bother me at all. I just hope that next year there are enough experts on the grid so that we don't have to combine with the novices.:up:

 

I did the same thing by looking at lap times before I gridded up. I was a good 3-4 seconds off of mid-back marker novices during my track days. Then when I finally gridded up, I dropped those 3-4 seconds in my first race.

My first race out, I managed 2nd, with I believe 11 seconds between me and 1st place. My next race weekend, I raced the same guy, and was only 6 seconds behind him at the end, but someone else was .5 behind him.

 

My bad. I completely forgot about that part.

 

I agree. Any novice that got least one podium or running expert lap times in some tracks should not have a choice to stay novice!.
my 2cent lol

 

Ok, back to playing ZUMA.

 

Even if those podiums came from a field of four?

My best laptime at Summit is a 1:22.9 In HWTSS and a 1:22.202 in CSS. I only had 3 Races total in my first year, with 8-31 being the first, and 9-18 being the second and third. I got started late in the season due to my track partner seperating his shoulder in April.

So you really think it's fair/safe for me to accept my attendance bump and grid up expert for my first full year? Honestly, I just curious of your opinion, I plan on petitioning either way.

http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=2003098&perclass=1
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=2083886&perclass=1
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=2083896&perclass=1

 

Someone running a 2:45 lap time was scary to watch. I was on the sidelines but I was holding my breath.

 

RE: TakeItApart.....

While i have no idea what a good lap time is at Summit since i have never been there, no...personally, i see absolutely nothing wrong with you petitioning to stay Novice.

Even though you podiumed, like you said...there were only 4 ppl on the grid. And you only have 3 race weekends behind you.

IMO, your situation is the EXACT reason why the petition process was created and exactly how it should be utilized.

Now the guy who protests a bump after having several weekends, 16-18 races, 10 podiums, Regional Championships and/or even a National Championship as a Novice while running mid-pack/top 10 Expert lap times as a Novice is blatantly abusing the "system" by petitioning.

.02.

 

For some one who analyzes stuff alot (so I hear), you could've looked at the links I posted to get an idea of a decent lap time.

Nice name BTW!

 

I could have, but i just dont have the patience.

My message-in-a-bottle connection pisses me off when i try to visit some websites and i cant take it and have to close it before i start throwing shit.

 

Chris,

Fast 600 Novices for Summit are .18/.19 so a .22 just isn't cutting it.

 

:.... those slower experts or lappers kept you off my ass at tally

I didnt mind them one bit

 

I was just talking about Gerber on another forum, and the guy I was talking to said he did like :16s there. Gerbers first race was at Nashville, and he was a top 5-10 novice by the end of the year. Are you sure about those :18s being fast 600 novice? I know Gerber progressed a LOT this year.

I have never been there too, just going by what another guy said and what I know about Gerber

 

Mmmm-kay. There was a guy at the GNF (yes, the GNF) riding an EX500 with white plates in the DSS Race late on Saturday. The entire field lapped him twice (no exaggeration) with the leaders lapping him THREE TIMES!! Check the results if you have any doubts. I watched this race. The guy was literally riding like he was on a parade lap. Granted this is not really the norm, but there are some pretty slow summbitches who in my opinion are hazardous to other riders and have no business sporting white plates.

 

The guys lapping him were in an entirely different class from what I gather :up::up:. And it was 8 laps.

 

I can assure you that two DSS novices lapped him twice (one on a 250) and they only got 7 laps so I guess it was 7 not 6. Pardon me. I really don't mean that they are dangerous riders, I just am wondering why the fuck they have white plates.