Acu Classic Championship

[tilertrialler]

The way the acu rules are for the classic championship in my opinion could do with revising.

At the moment there are 5 classes. Pre 65

[woody]

Two routes will definitely benefit this series. The proposal was put forward a while ago and John Collins was taking it into consideration for next year.

If you do a search back through the forum in Classic trials section you should find previous discusions on the topic

[john collins]

Yes we have been looking at the Classic series following the various previous posts

[nigel dabster]

Yes we have been looking at the Classic series following the various previous posts

Edited October 11, 2007 by Nigel Dabster

[jordi]

Yes we have been looking at the Classic series following the various previous posts

Edited October 11, 2007 by jordi

[john collins]

Fair points . We will look at it again.

I think the suggestion then is :

Championship class for O/50 - same as O 40 ?

Those who wish to Non Championship class - ride Non Championship sections - regardless of Class - no points in any case.

Class A - Ride Non Champ sections - but for Champ points.

In all respects when I say Non Championship sections - we mean organiser can mark up to 50% dual route with easier option for Non Champ riders.

This should mean that 50% sections can be reasonably competative - but as remaining 50% will be ridden by all - this should stop Championship class sections becoming too severe or stupid as the whole entry needs to be able to cope with them

At least that is what I think I mean.

[nigel dabster]

Fair points . We will look at it again.

I think the suggestion then is :

Championship class for O/50 - same as O 40 ?

Those who wish to Non Championship class - ride Non Championship sections - regardless of Class - no points in any case.

Class A - Ride Non Champ sections - but for Champ points.

In all respects when I say Non Championship sections - we mean organiser can mark up to 50% dual route with easier option for Non Champ riders.

This should mean that 50% sections can be reasonably competative - but as remaining 50% will be ridden by all - this should stop Championship class sections becoming too severe or stupid as the whole entry needs to be able to cope with them

At least that is what I think I mean.

I'm sure that is what's needed.

[jordi]

Fair points . We will look at it again.

I think the suggestion then is :

Championship class for O/50 - same as O 40 ?

Those who wish to Non Championship class - ride Non Championship sections - regardless of Class - no points in any case.

Class A - Ride Non Champ sections - but for Champ points.

In all respects when I say Non Championship sections - we mean organiser can mark up to 50% dual route with easier option for Non Champ riders.

This should mean that 50% sections can be reasonably competative - but as remaining 50% will be ridden by all - this should stop Championship class sections becoming too severe or stupid as the whole entry needs to be able to cope with them

At least that is what I think I mean.

I would agree with that, has to be the most logical solution.

[tilertrialler]

I think you will spoil the whole series by making a easier route non point scoring.

You will only get a few over 50s wainting to do the harder route and some of the older twinshocks struggle on the harder route.

what some of us do is just make up the numbers we are never going to win our class we aim to finish in the bottom half picking up as many points as we can beating the riders who normally finish around us. if you stop us scoring points we may stop riding the events.

Surely to encourge more entrys you have a championship in each class scoring points . and a clubman class riding the B route in each class scoring there own points , weather its right or wrong your average rider will prefer to ride a B route. you dont have to have awards but have a seperate championship for the clubman .

You cant always cater for the top riders , The top over 40. twinshock boys want the events harder, well give it to them but dont make us all do it.

I have done 6 rounds this year on the over 50 B route and they have been perfect serverity ( FOR ME). I would not do the harder route.well I would not enjoy doing the harder route and surely thats whats it all about.

Its fantastic to do a one lap 40 section trial, you dont want to struggle all day,

we all like to compete in a championship why not let the A class riders have one and the B class riders there own.

[andy m]

To John Collins. Re the Wye Valley twinshock event. I believe it was cancelled due to fears over the Foot and Mouth thing. Also the entries were slow coming in but they apparently flooded in at the last minute. I was going to observe on the day. Malcra will vouch for the reason for cancelling.

I think it will run again asap, Pitley and crew put a lot of work in to it so it will be a pity to waste it.

[tilertrialler]

Fair points . We will look at it again.

I think the suggestion then is :

Championship class for O/50 - same as O 40 ?

Those who wish to Non Championship class - ride Non Championship sections - regardless of Class - no points in any case.

Class A - Ride Non Champ sections - but for Champ points.

In all respects when I say Non Championship sections - we mean organiser can mark up to 50% dual route with easier option for Non Champ riders.

This should mean that 50% sections can be reasonably competative - but as remaining 50% will be ridden by all - this should stop Championship class sections becoming too severe or stupid as the whole entry needs to be able to cope with them

I think if you have over 50 doing same as over 40 you may have 3 people scoring points,

where as the top pre 65 riders want to do the hard route

[gasgasblue]

All sounds very interesting.

'A' and 'B' routes for each class

'A' and 'B' championships

Both ideas would make for more entries.

But when you look at the chapionship tables there are only a handful of regular riders making the effort, perhaps due to the long distances involved

So how about giving riders even more insentive to ride more rounds. Add two more rounds using exsisting central events ( Bemrose / D K Mansell spring to mind )

If there were 14 rounds and the best 10 counted towards the series riders would not just do the local rounds, but travel that bit more to make a championship of it.

Just a idea

[john collins]

It is starting to get complicated now.

A few things I am not sure about.

Firstly - please not let us go off on tangents about why this or that should be a round - we can only work with those who have applied - and at this late stage that is more or less done and dusted - caalendar 99% set - October remember.

a) For simplicity - let us still call it the Classic Championship ( this will change)

It is then a CHAMPIONSHIOP. Originally - as we have discussed many times - aimed at Pre-65 and Twin Shock - but then O/40 introduced - helped make events viable. Then O /50 introduced - which seemed logical.

Both O/40 and O/50 on modern bikes.

Accepted that there was a tendancy in a few events to aim sections a little too much at O/50 & O 40 - this is not how it should be - Organisers written too - and a watchful eye must be kept on this in 08.

Accepted - that series needs to be Traditional type sections, No - Stop rules, Should not be having the tight turns/steep drops more associated with modern type events - i.e traditional sections we would have ridden in 60'70's.

Now - In Championship classes - there will surely be riders who expect a challenge - and also who aim at whole series.

There will also be good riders - who perhaps only do a few rounds - probably those nearest their home - no real problem here - the way to encourage them to do more - must surely be to make the events as enjoyable as possible - and they may want to do whole series.

I think all above is probably accepted by most.

Now - as I think posts have shown - there will be riders - who perhaps are not as competative as they once were, who are not too bothered about Championships, age, aching bones, etc etc .

These riders wish to ride - possibly - like myself - travelling with a few mates who are still competative and wish to contest Championship points - but they would prefer an easier option - especially in perhaps the most testing sections.

This is the option I take in the Rhayder Classic - I think I could probably still get round the Expert course - but due to age and lack of riding through ACU commitments - I am not sure I would enjoy the day so much - so I ride the Non Expert route - I cannot be that much of a disaster as won that route in 05 - but frankly that was not particularly important as all I really wanted was a great day out - which I had. I had another great day out last year further down the field

Now the point I wish to make - is if one does not - for any reason - wish to contest a Championship - it must be good to offer some alternative routes - I like the 50% idea - because the rest of route does not become crazy for the rest - as not all contesting Championship will be top riders - but still wish to try.

On 50% idea - also those who opt for the easier sections - still get to ride half the trial on same sections as Champ riders - and can see how they do, compare with mates on other route ( especially if they beat them on a few of these) - so I think this is worth a try.

NOW - the bit I am strugling with - but will certainly put your views to T & E on Wednesday - is why does this easier option have to be a CHAMPIONSHIP?

For me - if I wish to contest a Championship - I would ride this route.

If I do not think I am up to it ( which is the case) I will take the easier option - ride for enjoyment - and of coyurse try to beat all the others on this route - but I cannot understand why I would need it to be a Championship? I just feel we are trying to have our cake and eat it ?

At the end of it all we cannot make Championships for every class at every opportunity - frankly it will devalue existing Championships . We are open to suggestions of course - and obviosly I may have got it wrong - and certainly we cannot possibly please everyone.

What we need now are any more ideas - and on Wed the T &E will look at it al

Edited October 12, 2007 by John Collins

[scorpa3]

As a Trail bike Championship organiser, we thought the idea of a number of dual route sections just for the championship riders made good sense. (The event was cancelled inthe end due to F&M, so we didn't actually get chance to try it)

Those in the championshp rode the hard route (on the designated sections) and everyone else there just for fun rode the non championship easy route. The remainder of the sections were just one route and so retained their 'normal' severity, thus appealing to everyone.

We did also decide to give an award to the best trail bike on the easy route, but basically speaking it is the A route that earns the awards and the championship status.

I think this is a good idea for a lot of single route trials. It gives the championship riders a few sections where they can pull away from the rest and also helps the organisers by making the rest of the trial appeal to the 'fun' riders and so get a decent entry.

[jordi]

Quote; "If there were 14 rounds and the best 10 counted towards the series riders would not just do the local rounds, but travel that bit more to make a championship of it."

Sorry, but 14 rounds are far to many, and there are no local rounds to Brighton.

There can also only be 1 championship route, an easier route should be for anyone who wishes to ride for enjoyment etc as John suggests.