21 replies to this topic

[pirt3]

nomoretickets, on 13 May 2013 - 10:58 PM, said:

I just wonder about Friday in the 4/5 race. There was a crash, and several riders who where involved (either went down or nearly did and had to recover) were pulled by the follow car immediately. Sure, I get there's no free laps when you go to laps, but with the field still within sight, why were riders capable of continuing pulled when they were not even close to being lapped, and may have even been able to ride back on to the pack?

I was not one of the riders pulled in this incident, I'm just curious as to the rational and rules should I ever have the misfortune of being in such a situation.

Overall I feel like (unsurprisingly) the officiating of the races was phenomenal. These races were awesome. Big thanks to all you who made it possible.

Follow car immediately? I was the Official in the pit and i'm pretty positive there was no "official" in the follow car. Matter of fact there was no follow car. There was at least one Official behind each race on a Moto and i can tell you that if he "pulled" riders he probably was instructed by the Chief referee via radio. This needs to get looked into because if in fact the Moto official did pull riders without the CR's knowledge, its a no no.

[nomoretickets]

billh, on 14 May 2013 - 10:17 AM, said:

pylondesigner, on 14 May 2013 - 07:24 AM, said:

I also learned that the more dangerous crash occurred at the finish line when several riders got together.  I thought that there was a rule that required riders to maintain their line at the finishing sprint. I'm sure Mark can quote us chapter and verse.  This is something that the less experienced riders need to learn quickly and correctly. There have been a lot of finishing line crashes in the STL crits the last several years. Jumping lines within the last 300 meters can result in some very serious and even deadly accidents. Everyone is gassed at the final sprint and moving at +/- 40 mph and bad things can happen very fast. That is what the officials should be concerned about and not someone that is a 1/3 of lap back.

what I heard third hand from a friend of a friend actually involved in the crash . . . who went sliding across the finish line . . . face first . . . was that someone came out of their pedals in the sprint, and went into his front wheel . . .

From what I heard, I don't think anyone left their line. One guy went down solo and the rest was from people trying to avoid him and either loosing control, clipping the fence or other riders.

[cleeland]

Regarding the crash in 4/5 finish, while I did not see the actual crash as I waited for my race, the folks that came thru in that sprint weren't going 40, and had tons and tons of room around.

As far as getting pulled inside laps, it sucks but it's part of racing. If you got pulled you got scored. If you got pulled you weren't in the money or prize contention anyway. Consider that you neither hit the deck nor caused an issue and could line up the next day. Have perspective.

[tarmac72]

Russian Bear, on 13 May 2013 - 08:51 PM, said:

tarmac72, on 13 May 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Then you have no real business being in the race. The CR did you a fovor.

I think the ability between top 2s and middle of the pack 3s at an event this big is too wide in my opinion. I understand why it was structured that way on saturday since it's an NCC event. Friday had p/1/2 and a 2/3 fields though. Not sure about sunday, wasn't there. Just how racing goes sometimes.

i think the event has grown large enough to emulate what Tulsa Tough does.
P/1- Field
1/2- Field
3's get their own.
As far as Friday night goes, even though most of us can hang in there with the Pro's- this is there job, not ours and to me, they are there to legitimately get paid. So they don't need us pack fill 1/2s getting in there way. just my .03

[nomoretickets]

pirt3, on 14 May 2013 - 10:27 AM, said:

nomoretickets, on 13 May 2013 - 10:58 PM, said:

I just wonder about Friday in the 4/5 race. There was a crash, and several riders who where involved (either went down or nearly did and had to recover) were pulled by the follow car immediately. Sure, I get there's no free laps when you go to laps, but with the field still within sight, why were riders capable of continuing pulled when they were not even close to being lapped, and may have even been able to ride back on to the pack?

I was not one of the riders pulled in this incident, I'm just curious as to the rational and rules should I ever have the misfortune of being in such a situation.

Overall I feel like (unsurprisingly) the officiating of the races was phenomenal. These races were awesome. Big thanks to all you who made it possible.

Follow car immediately? I was the Official in the pit and i'm pretty positive there was no "official" in the follow car. Matter of fact there was no follow car. There was at least one Official behind each race on a Moto and i can tell you that if he "pulled" riders he probably was instructed by the Chief referee via radio. This needs to get looked into because if in fact the Moto official did pull riders without the CR's knowledge, its a no no.

I didn't go down in that crash, so I'm ony going off what I heard from other people. I found it odd as well, which is why I asked about it.

[Russian Bear]

tarmac72, on 14 May 2013 - 01:09 PM, said:

Russian Bear, on 13 May 2013 - 08:51 PM, said:

tarmac72, on 13 May 2013 - 11:31 AM, said:

Then you have no real business being in the race. The CR did you a fovor.

I think the ability between top 2s and middle of the pack 3s at an event this big is too wide in my opinion. I understand why it was structured that way on saturday since it's an NCC event. Friday had p/1/2 and a 2/3 fields though. Not sure about sunday, wasn't there. Just how racing goes sometimes.

i think the event has grown large enough to emulate what Tulsa Tough does.
P/1- Field
1/2- Field
3's get their own.
As far as Friday night goes, even though most of us can hang in there with the Pro's- this is there job, not ours and to me, they are there to legitimately get paid. So they don't need us pack fill 1/2s getting in there way. just my .03

Agreedo.

Edited by Russian Bear, 14 May 2013 - 02:29 PM.

[Typo]

My 2 cents is I would rather see them pull riders then leave them in. A year or two ago my son was in the Edwardsville Cat 4 race and they left lapped riders in and of course the field caught a group of lapped riders coming out of the last turn and my son had to sprint thru them (he was off the front) it was very dangerous! He won the race, there was no crash, but it caused alot of confusion for racers, spectators and officials. Better to pull then have this kind of situation.