"mainstream" classes are the only ones good enough

Started by Mahly, December 23, 2001, 03:54:12 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mahly

Who else thinks this is a bad idea. If your not in the "mainstream" classes, your points don't count for a regional overall championship? And not entitled to single digit numbers?
Another question, why do we need ametures riding unlimited bikes? NOT that there aren't ametures who are good enough, but the idea that you go through some glorified waiver called a race school, and the next day you can race a GSX-R 1000!
Will the class make money for CCS? Hell yeah! I guess nothing else matters anymore.

CCS MW EX #113

RickyRacer

I don't know what you mean by "mainstream". Points are points. To win and overall regional championship you need money and lots of it. For example; Take expert racer Jeff McKinney and SE regional champion.  The man has money and a bike for just about every class. A Ducati 750SS, 748R, 996SPS and a GSXR 750. He is also known as "Iron Butt" cus he races all weekend. He races those bikes in every class and every race they qualify for.  If you want to win a regional championship, you need a lot of points.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying anything bad About Jeff. He is a good rider and a nice guy. And he has won races.  But it takes lots of money and he's got it.

As for amateurs riding unlimited bikes, I have to agree but how would this be accomplished?  It be too complicated to setup.  How long would an amateur race before he's allowed to move up?  Would this racer also need to place well? Do you see were I'm going?  

I like/want to race twins and do not want to be told what I can race.  If for example; CCS said that I had to start off racing small singles, I would just take my business somewhere else and I suspect others would too.
"HEY!, quit being a hog and pass the racepipe"
SpringsRacing
DUCATI MIAMI

Papa_Thiam

Honestly, I think the whole championship structure needs to be thrown in the trash. Not saying anything bad about anybody, but this whole system doesn't make the slightest bit of sense to me.

- Track championships: you're not rewarded for dominating your class (as it should be for any "championship") but for entering as many classes as your budget allows.

- Overall regional championships: same deal. The more money you spend on bikes and multiple entries, the better your chances are.

- National championship: one-race event. I know having a national series is too complicated (although WERA has one) when CCS already has a huge number of regional events, but I think there is something wrong with crowning a national champion based on the results of one race. Just like college teams being crowned based on a friggin poll. Neither one makes sense to me. But I guess, at least in the one national race, everyone (who can travel to Daytona) has an equal chance.

What I propose:

- get rid of track championships: they don't make any sense

- get rid of overall regional championships: they don't make any sense

- put more emphasis on promoting and rewarding regional championships in each class. In my opinion, these are the true champions. If you feel it's too many "champions," then some classes have to go. Up to you.

- while you're at it, change the NASCAR-style points system where one is not rewarded for winning races, but rather for showing up at the greatest number of events. Just widen the gap a bit at the top. No offense to anyone. It's just a fact of the current point structure.

- Maybe the National CCS championships should be based on 3 events. One East, on West Coast, on central. Try to rotate the tracks. E.g Daytona one year, VIR or Road Atlanta, or Pocono the next. You can still have your yearly Daytona event since you run FUSA there. But CCS would only be there in the fall every 2 or 3 years.

As far as allowing novices to ride big bikes, there are good arguments on both side. But the fact is that there are very few "true" unlimited entries among Amateurs, and if revenue is the reason CCS is allowing it, this should be revisited. I don't think it would cost them that much. All year at Summit, there was one ZX9-R and maybe one GSXR1000. Everything else was 750 and below. But the more used R1s and GSXR1000s there are on the market, the more of them we'll be seeing fall into novices hands and head to the tracks. The time to act is now.

That said, I believe in giving every man and woman the freedom to choose how to die. However, in racing, that also impacts the lives on others.

MudDawg


QuoteI don't know what you mean by "mainstream". Points are points. To win and overall regional championship you need money and lots of it. For example; Take expert racer Jeff McKinney and SE regional champion.  The man has money and a bike for just about every class. A Ducati 750SS, 748R, 996SPS and a GSXR 750. He is also known as "Iron Butt" cus he races all weekend. He races those bikes in every class and every race they qualify for.  If you want to win a regional championship, you need a lot of points.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying anything bad About Jeff. He is a good rider and a nice guy. And he has won races.  But it takes lots of money and he's got it.


Oh bullshit.  He ran a ton of zero effort races.  Didn't try to go fast....just went in circles until somebody finished the race.  He brings the absolute best equipment and then putters around.  He's not a horrible rider...but he's winning because of HP & money....not talent.  

Eric Kelcher

I would think there should be a limit on number of classes you can recieve points in like 4 since most bikes are eligible in 4 of the eligible classes and most people only have one bike.
Eric Kelcher
ASRA/CCS Director of Competition

Mahly

Ricky, check your CCS flyer that came in the mail, basically, ALL sportsman classes, F-40 Singles (super, and 125) and a few others are concidered not to be mainstream, and not to be used for overall championships.
Papa_Thiam, Your idea for championships is right on!!! Only this wouldn't offer any reward for entering as many classes as you can afford, and CCS would loose money...CAN'T have that
I couldn't agree more about the location of the national championships as well! Daytona requires Bhp in spades. My GS500 would get SMOKED by any Amateur on a hotted up EX500. Are we giving the championsip to skilled riders....or engine builders???
CCS USED to limit amateurs to 750 or less (4 piston). I don't think man has evolved that much in the last 10 years to change that to unlimited. In fact, I think Amatuers should be limited to 600cc !
CCS also had a rule that you had to have "good" results, and a good safety record to move up. It's been done before, it can be done again....but then there would be less entry fees.......ummmmmmmmm  nevermind.
CCS MW EX #113

Mahly

#6
 ??? Another question: If these classes ARE excluded for overall championship status....shouldn't you get a lower entry fee??
 :oBLASPHEMER!!!!
CCS MW EX #113

RickyRacer

MudDawg

The fact that he has tons of money was the point I was trying to make. Sorry if it got loss. I just didn't want to slam the guy.

Mahly
I just got the flyer. It seems you can still run an SV and only miss out on the Middleweight Sportsman class. (F-40 if over 40)

Instead of winning a Regional championship through overall points, how about through most class championships?

Or maybe they should divide up the championships into weight classes? Have an Ultra Lightweight, Lightweight, Middleweight and a Heavyweight class champions.
"HEY!, quit being a hog and pass the racepipe"
SpringsRacing
DUCATI MIAMI

JAHAWK

I think novices should have to ride light weights. If they are a true novice they really can't be learning much on a 1000.

MudDawg


QuoteMudDawg

The fact that he has tons of money was the point I was trying to make. Sorry if it got loss. I just didn't want to slam the guy.


No problem.  In fact...I get the same shit leveled at me.  I run superbike classes....because it's incredibly simple to figure out who's cheating.  You can't hide displacement.

When I get a raft of....kaka...I point out the fact that prior to a pair of engine failures 3 weekends from the end of the year....I had been winning all 5 of my chosen classes in my region.  (Lt Superbike, Lt GP, GT Lights, Hvy Sportsman, and Supertwins)  

Yes $$$ can help....but you still have to attend the events and keep finishing well to win championships.  (Only if they are contested....and the Mid Atlantic region has people doing that for most classes.)  Unfortunately the plate system can be bought.

I was none to happy to see an large sphincter muscle (in my opinion) show up to purchase the #1 plate in my region.  I had been leading the points until CCS added to SE regional races to the schedule to make up for Rausch Creek not opening.

My take on this...allow up to 5 classes per weekend to count towards the plates.  The best 5 finishes out of however many you run.  That means more people can give it a shot reasonably....and one person can't realistically buy it easily.  Yes they could hedge their bets by running extra races with lower numbers of entries.  But it would still pit them against the leading riders.  I also think that it would entice more  racers into running an extra race or two to try for a plate.  JMHO.

CCS

#10
It seems that I have answered this question a million times from both sides. The last two seasons I had to justify having the Sportsman/SuperSingles/GP Singles/Formula 40 classes as part of the Track and Overall Championships and now I have to justify excluding them. No matter what we do some one will be unhappy.

By the riders survey, more than 80% of CCS's customers want the Track and Overall Championships to continue. "Nuff said, give the customers what they want.

By the same survey, 100% of those who answered said that Amateurs deserved a purse paying class, and the only class that would allow participation by ALL Amateurs regardless of machine is Unlimited GP.  And before you all start that "Amatuers can't ride open bikes" you had better have some facts to back it up. In 1999 and 2000 we studied every crash based on engine size, and guess what! Amateurs on 600's are twice as likely to crash as Amateurs on true Unliimited machines. (Something like 10-12% of 600 riders crashed while 5% of Unlimited riders, on Unlimited machines, tasted the tarmack.) Perception is reality I guess. We didn't take this step lightly and our experience with GTO and Unlimited SuperSport Amateurs is what we based our 2002 classes on.

Please understand one fact, whether it's CCS or WERA or AFM or any other club, if you don't make enough money to cover the bills (and there are lots of them, average anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 PER weekend, depending on which track you are at), you won't be in business long. Even our affiliate clubs, like the CMRA, have to make sure they show at least a nominal profit to extend their existence. They have been around as long as anybody and if you ask their BOD they will tell you straight up how hard it is to keep our sport rolling.

You know we do have a true touring National Championship, the Formula USA National Road Race Series, and even with the purses second only to AMA Superbike, there are only 20-30 riders/teams that can afford to follow the series coast to coast. If you want to chase a true National Championship that travels from coast to coast (not just East of the Mississippi), sign up and come on.

And did you also realize that NRRS and CCS are willing to put the money where our mouth is? We will pay out more than $750,000 dollars to racers in 2002, and that is cash, not counting the contingency money offered by a manufactuer. That is the largest amount of cash purse offered through one organization.

contd....
Kevin Elliott
Director of Operations-CCS/ASRA
Fort Worth, TX
817-246-1127

CCS

#11
Now back to the Sportsman thing. When we split Sportsman into AMateur and Expert, the average turnout per class drops to an amazing 6 riders. While we hope that the numbers increase, that is why we did it, we also realize that the abuses of the system we saw over the last 3-4 years would increase. You could get 48-50 points just for showing up on the grid and that is not the way we want to see the Overall and Track Championships decided.

 All this talk of "best 5 classes" and who wins the most class championships is bull. It doesn't solve the underlying problem that you all perceve, that he who spends the most wins. Ask Jeff Purk, or Steve Keener (who also racked up a fair amount of Sportsman points with his SV) or Eric Anderson about what it cost them to race for the Number One plate in 5-6 classes. The equipment, the tires, the leather repair (yes, they all fell down) and what they spent in entry fees is probably the smallest bill they paid. To race and win any championship, regardless of how it is structured, costs money and lots of it. Whether you do the AFM "One Class-One Champion" thing or total points, you spend a bunch of money on equipment. Rob Mesa is a very talented rider, but he also had to spend plenty to wint the AFM #1 just like Chuck Graves did to win the WSMC #1. They spent their money on equipment, not entry fees. One of the pieces you miss in this discussion is how cheap each class entry really is. Go car racing, where for a couple of practices and one 10-15 minute race you pay $185-$250. Compare that to the 3-4 practices and the 4-8 classes you can run with CCS for the same entry fee. You know what makes this possible? You all enter 3-4 classes every weekend and you share in the high cost of track rent and insurance. So everytime one of those guys enters 8-9 classes, he is picking up the slack from the guy that can only run one class and helping us all to keep racing. Enough, I digress.

This is a no-win situation for CCS to be in. We either make the majority happy and the minority unhappy or vice versa. All we can do is to try to give our customers what they ask for, tell them up-front what the rules and procedures are and do our best to follow them so each rider has the protection of a set of fair and evenly enforced rules. Going into the 2002 season you all know how the programs and championships will work, and if you choose to compete for one of these goals, you can be certain we will be behind you all the way. If you choose not to compete for a title, then we will welcome you to any event you feel like attending, and if you choose not to compete at all then we wish you the best of luck on your future endeavours.

I'll get off the soapbox now, it's someone elses turn.

See you at the races.

Kevin
Kevin Elliott
Director of Operations-CCS/ASRA
Fort Worth, TX
817-246-1127