Tough time at FatCat
By TMX Archives on 22nd Mar 13
Heavy overnight rain followed by a mixture of rain and then snowfall made conditions tough for riders and spectators alike at the opening round of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at FatCat MP, near Doncaster.
The overnight rain was so heavy that the circuit was waterlogged first thing on Sunday morning, with large puddles around the circuit.
The track team had their work cut out using plant and pumps to drain the water away.
The start was delayed while the work was carried out and a ‘Wet Schedule' was implemented, whereby the MX1 and MX2 classes get two motos apiece and the Youth MXY2 class gets just a single race.
Racing got underway, but at around 12.30pm it started to rain and at around 2pm that turned to snow and then sleet, making for tough conditions.
At the end of the day four tractors were used to tow spectators off the parking areas.
The decision to switch to a ‘Wet Schedule' proved a sensible move and enabled the abbreviated programe to run to its conclusion.
However, in an effort to try to ensure parity of the points available for the MX1 and MX2 classes between a two-race ‘Wet Schedule' and a normal three-race format a different scoring system – approved late last year – was implemented.
This awards points on the following scale to the top 20 finishers – 37, 33, 30, 27, 24, 22, 21, 19, 18, 15, 15, 13, 12, 10, 9, 7, 6, 4, 3 and 1 point.
This gives riders scores of ‘approximately' 1.5-times the normal allocation for each of the two races, but because of ‘rounding' to avoid ‘half-points', it appears quite absurd – to the point that the gap between ninth finisher and tenth is three points (18 to 15), yet the tenth AND 11th place finishers both earn 15 points!
What is wrong with awarding half-points – 25 plus 12.5 equals 37.5 points – if this makes the scoring a more equatible and fair system?
When questioned on the matter ACU chairman, Brian Higgins, explained: "The reason for the approximately 1.5-times points being allocated is that ACU Events wished to have as close as possible to the same number of points available if a ‘Wet Schedule' needed to be adopted for the final round, to ensure a championship was not decided by a decision or ruling off the track.
"Equally, ‘half points' were considered as a bad procedure so the points are awarded as per the Championship Conditions booklet and adopted at the FatCat event on Sunday.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing and yes looking at the scores we have, further thought needs to be given to the ‘Wet Schedule' points allocation ahead of next year's series.
"However, once published, changes cannot be made to the 2013 conditions.
"I would stress that we NEVER go into an event with a ‘Wet Schedule' in mind. This is an emergency plan – on the day – to enable teams and riders already at the venue and spectators to have value for money.
"We would never plan a wet meeting ahead of the ‘Race Direction' meeting, which takes place early on a Sunday morning.”
