Official 2016 GNF thread

Look at the LW races remaining as of Saturday morning. I had a total of 60 bikes out in unsplit practice last year, that's a busy but not a full track at Barber.

It's always a crap shoot on the number of LW's sticking around, it's not that hard to split them out if I have enough entries as of Friday evening to justify it.

Not our first rodeo - pretty much our 44th in case you missed the top of the schedule....

 

It's six one half a dozen the other which works better.

Status for early in the week keeps lit like the other groups and easier to understand for the paddock as a whole since it's consistent.

 

The vast majority of time, people ask mainly so they can bitch about whichever way I do it. It doesn't matter how much experience I have or how many times we've done this people will still get on here and insist that I'm doing it wrong based on their limited experience. Same old stuff. Just like you're doing in your post flat out saying I don't know what I'm doing because the second round was split last year. I don't mind the insult, I'm used to it but there's no reason to try and play it off.

I didn't want to split it last year. It was crowded yes but not overly so and was no different than the races. It was announced before I heard about it at which point it was too late to do anything. Not a huge deal, just shortened the sessions in the second round.

60-70 bikes around Barber is not too many.

 

You new guys. A lot in a race is 25-30 per mile, a lot in practice is more like 50 per mile

We have allowed a few SV's into the 600 practice when they have multiple LW bikes but it has to be done on a case by case basis to make sure it doesn't screw up the 600's in any way.

 

Oh good lord, now helicopters in practice to make the point I'm doing it wrong?

Those same laptime differences are what you will have in the races...

Anyway, I have it split for all day Thursday, feel free to get an entire days worth of practice then. Friday morning as well. If by that point you don't have enough clean practice to be able to deal with slower machinery being out with you I'm not really sure what I can do for you.

Saturday may be split, it may not. There is no need to change the way it's listed on the schedule for either possibility.

 

True. Always amazes me when we have even 40 or 50 lined up for practice that they'll all head out in a pack making it more crowded than even the races are on the start instead of waiting a few seconds for everyone else to clear out and have clean track.

 

I am merely having fun pointing out what you're doing, it's funny to me. Not the victim at all, having people take shots at me actually is a part of my job. If you can take them, why can't I point them out? You did say it after all, why not own it?

I do listen to input all the time - just because I disagree with you based on my experience doesn't mean I'm ignoring the input. If I did ignore it I never would have read your post and never would have responded with my an explanation about what we do/did and why.

When there are Ninja 250 riders spread out across the track is it better to encounter them for the first time in practice or battling for position in a race?

 

I do not remember GNF laps ever being cut because of an issue in practice. Lunch break has been cut (although that's rare too), race laps no.

Last year Saturday - LW Twins Superbike and D Superstock ran together. Had a number of 300's, 390's, and a metrakit or two out there with the SV's in that race. Fastest lap of 1:37.6, slowest best time of 2:02.1 by one rider, the rest were all 1:55's or better. It ran 8 laps.

LW Twins Superstock did run by itself. Fastest time of 1:36.9, slowest best lap of a 2:02.8. Red flagged after 5 laps - all riders on SV650's not a small bike to be seen.

None of the races at the end of the day had laps cut. The only ones that ended early were due to a red flag in that race.

 

Quite simply what it comes down to is in the LW classes - ALL of them - there is a huge disparity in skill levels and lap times. The bike size doesn't matter, the type of bike doesn't matter. The fastest 125 will be faster than the fastest SV650 given the same good rider on both (which is why I do not allow 125's into LW Twins). The fastest Ninja 250 will be faster than the slowest SV650. Add in a mix of stuff like Ted on his Motard and metrakits and so on and you have a huge variance in machinery and displacement - and probably most importantly - race lines.

You will be on track with these faster and slower machines in your races. You will be passed by them, you will pass others. The LW grids at the GNF will be crowded. All of this should be sorted out in practice so you all have the best possible understanding of what will happen before championships are on the line and the red mist that happens with a green flag gets to you.

So yes, practice may be crowded. The races will be as well. Yes you may have to overcome packs of slow riders in practice - you will run across them in the races as well (especially at the GNF with running 33% longer races than usual at barber). We want as much of the oh shit stuff sorted in practice as possible.