A shitty situation at Gingerman

[Jeff]

Okay, so yesterday at Gingerman in the Middleweight Superbike race, a bit of controversy arose.  I shall now describe it per MY views, understanding and interpretation...

This was a 7 lap sprint race and had a fairly large grid.  I was dicing with 4 guys somewhere in the top 10.  We had received the crossed White/Green flags indicating 4 LAPS had been complete.

Coming into T9, on (now) lap 5, the red flag came out.

We backed off and came off the track.

Exiting the track, I looked down pit road.  There were NO BIKES and NO OFFICIALS.  Nobody ahead of me went down pit road, they all returned to their pits.

I went about 100 - 150 feet down pit road and some guy was motioning for us to turn back.  Without much thought, I spun around and went back to my paddock (which was RIGHT on the other side of pit wall, right near the entrance/exit of the pit road).  By the time I got there, there were people motioning to go back out, so we did.

We waited on hot-pit road for a few, and they said they were restarting the race and running 3 more laps because the entire grid did not get to the green/white flags.

5 of us (myself included) were disqualified from the restart as we left the hot-pit lane.

I didn't argue as I knew it would not make a difference.

Did this make a difference in my season?  Yeah.  It may very well have cost me 10th place overall due to a couple of precious points and a hit to my performance index.

Thinking about it today, a couple of questions come to mind.

1.  Why were there no officials on pit road indicating what to do?

2.  In a 7 lap race, where is "half-way"?

The whole thing in my mind is a shitty situation.  I understand that I left the hot-pit lane which violates the rules.  I get that.  But by the time I was at T9 of 11, working on finishing LAP 5 of a 7 lap race, I had resigned to the fact that the race was indeed more than 1/2 way complete.

Getting waved off the track by somebody who had no official say was really stupid on their part as well as ours, but in the lack of CCS official representation, with the knowledge of where we were in the race, it seemed appropriate.

And finally, I would bet LARGE sums of money that there were more than 5 people who went into the paddock and returned to the hot-pit lane.  There were surely more than 5 between T11 and where I saw the red flag in T9.

It's over and done with, bitching won't make a difference, so please understand that's not what I'm doing.  What I'm more over doing, is trying to get anybody else's take on what happened and (a) how to avoid it in the future, and (b) how to possibly handle it differently on the CCS side if something like this happens again.

[racerhall]

i agree that was a bunch of bs
i was in the lead by 10 seconds and got the half way flag and the next lap just as i got to the start finish i got the red flag
i assumed that the race was over but i saw everyone in the pits (because i was the last one in),  so i went to the pits and waited to hear the bad newsw that it wasnt over and that 5 people were dq for leaving the hot pit, to top it off i had a bad restart and got second in that race 

[Jeff]

but hey, at least they let you re-enter the race after leaving the hot-pit lane...

[HAWK]

Who told you to leave hot pit lane? A situation like this will in the end slow down the race day as in the future you are not going to trust anyone telling you to go to the pits. The next time you see a red flag mid race my bet is you aren't going to leave pit lane for anyone and that will cause race delays. CCS needs to address this situation and make assurances to those that were harmed this weekend. Wasn't there a CCS official standing at the end of pitout all day? I know there was a guy there all day I just thought he was CCS.

[Plarposaurus Wrecks]

Don't you know the rules? And some guy motioning you out of hot pit lane wasn't an official. Having never raced CCS before, I thought it best to head to hot pit road because I know AMA does the same thing.

I'd imagine, if there are no offials, you don't bother taking any chances and head to hot pit. Which brings me to another point, always be sure you've got enough fuel in your bike for a few extra laps.

I do like the way CCS grids folks on their position from the last fully completed lap.

Those of you who didn't go directly to hot pit should have known the rules.

[Super Dave]

Um, yeah, racing 101...

Red flag:  proceed to the hot pit and wait for instructions. 

Leavin' the hot pit is leaving the race with no possiblity for return unless you have been instructed to go to the cold pit.

Sucks, but the rules exist. 

Wad a bike up on a red flag, you can't go in and change bikes and come back out.  Leaving the hot pit would allow that.  As for half way...anything is up to the race director.

[Jeff]

I knew the rules.  I wrote that clearly above...

I guess I just became complacent in the fact that for EVERY red-flag incident I've been through in the last 6 years of racing with CCS, there have been officials clearly indicating ON PIT ROAD what the riders were to do (stay on or go off).

Adding it all up, I made a choice that in retrospect was obviously wrong.

My opinion still remains though that in the future, this situation should be handled better by the officials.  

There should have been an official at pit out/in indicating what to do, like they do in every other event I've raced (which is several hundred) over the last 6 years.

Fuel wasn't an issue, and doesn't even come into play as you can add fuel to the bike on the hot pit road during a red-flag.  The "can't leave hot pit road" is to prevent a rider from switching bikes.

[racerhall]

i never left the hot pit lane
and i always have at least 1 extra gallon of gas

[Jeff]

Ultimately, like I said, it doesn't make a crap bit of difference now because it's over and done with.  And the decision to leave the hot pit lane was my own. 

I just wanted to get this out there so that CCS could make note of the scenario and work to help prevent it next time. 

Again (before anyone jumps), the rules are clearly stated.  That is the racer's responsibility.  However, that doesn't prevent CCS from "assisting" us by clearly indicating what we should do (like they have done in every other red-flag scenario I've been in until this one)

[Gixxerblade]

 

[Super Dave]

I just wanted to get this out there so that CCS could make note of the scenario and work to help prevent it next time. 

Again (before anyone jumps), the rules are clearly stated.  That is the racer's responsibility.  However, that doesn't prevent CCS from "assisting" us by clearly indicating what we should do (like they have done in every other red-flag scenario I've been in until this one)

LOL, sorry for jumping your shit, Jeff...  It just becomes a situation of helping or enabling.  Racing's a big liability, so are track days, so that's what the rules are for.  Sucks for you, and you knew the rules, but, yeah, we often look to someone in a white shirt for guidance.  But in their absence, well, back to the rules.  How was the rest of the weekend?

[grasshopper]

Who was yelling at who rite by the tower later in the day. Probably around race 13 or 14? I saw someone from across the pits yelling and screaming at someone else on a bike. Then a bunch of people rushed up and pulled the guy back. And I heard really loud "I'll KICK THE SHIT OUT YOU"

Did this situation have anything to do with that?