Proposed Amendment to the Downgrade Rule

[roadracer162]

I believe you all have some very good points. What I believe and act accordingly is that it is up to the rider(s) to self police. On occasion there have been some riders that claim to be amateurs but have more than sufficient skill and speed, coming from other organizations, to be classified "expert". I approach the "Event organizer" and make my thoughts known. He has been gracious to at least look into each request for inquiry and he has acted appropriately. I suggest the same can be done in whatever region you may be racing. Some times it will come out in your favor and other times it just won't.

For me racing in only the Sportsman classes on a 17 year old bike I would never have been bumped to "Expert". I requested the bump based on the recommendation of the event organizer

[Peter998]

2010 was my first year racing. I had a great year and finished 2nd overall in the Atlantic series. The guy that won the overall was bumped to expert last year and took his once in a lifetime downgrade to compete and win as an amateur. I have nothing against him, he is an excellent and very dedicated racer, but the reality is that he won 8 regional championships racing as an amateur but definitely competing on an expert level. I agree with Squrrel22 about the downgraded rider being bumped up again when they hit a certain points / rating milestone or even a combination of both. The question is what should it be?

[mikendzel]

2010 was my first year racing. I had a great year and finished 2nd overall in the Atlantic series. The guy that won the overall was bumped to expert last year and took his once in a lifetime downgrade to compete and win as an amateur. I have nothing against him, he is an excellent and very dedicated racer, but the reality is that he won 8 regional championships racing as an amateur but definitely competing on an expert level. I agree with Squrrel22 about the downgraded rider being bumped up again when they hit a certain points / rating milestone or even a combination of both. The question is what should it be?

I know who you are talking about here, but I don't think he is the target of this rule.  The person you are talking about raced every weekend except Daytona, and did 8-10 races per weekend.  He actually didn't win all that much, he just raced a ton.  There are some other racers over the past 3 years who have downgraded and actually won almost everything they entered.  A dude from Florida downgraded from expert and won a ridiculous 90% of the races he entered.  He was at VIR, and would have qualified for the AMA Daytona Sportbike race.  That's stupid.  It is what it is, albeit I do think this rule is a good idea.  Or at least CCS policing the issue a little better....