I would like to ban spectators or at least clueless spectators who ramble about and roll life threatining rocks down towards riders/minders/other spectators. In the 100s of events I have been to by far the scariest and most dangerous moments have not been on the bike or grabbing a bike,it has been while standing and casually observing a section!! Many of you were probably at TTC World Round ,last section when the bowling ball rock rearranged a guys face. My son Phil was shoulder to shoulder with him and I was within a few yards downslope. I had heard it may have been Raga s minder but dont know who let the rock go. 1 other time in Poland I was waiting for some 125 cc action to start and a 50# rock frisbee sailed between my legs ,had I understood why people were screaming I may have ducked down and lost a pelvis. So maybe it is timwe to section off areas that are above the section when on a steep slope and not allow access. ?? I doubt the perp was of "censored" probably just a careless person.

edited by admin.

Edited June 9, 201214 yr by bigfoot

Also if NATC is wanting to follow closely the FIM rulebook ( touching a marker) then maybe it is time to start a Friday afternoon course indpection. It would make the Saturday 1st loop move along much better and if there were any goofy placed markers the teams could make it known to the course marshall maybe a modification is in order.Of course they run a 2 llop 15 section format with many sections being the same both days so that may complicate things a bit .

Edited June 8, 201214 yr by northernnorm

Also if NATC is wanting to follow closely the FIM rulebook ( touching a marker) then maybe it is time to start a Friday afternoon course indpection. It would make the Saturday 1st loop move along much better and if there were any goofy placed markers the teams could make it known to the course marshall maybe a modification is in order.Of course they run a 2 llop 15 section format with many sections being the same both days so that may complicate things a bit .

Thought that was the job of tht NATC sporting stuard?

Thought that was the job of tht NATC sporting stuard?

He has zero power from what I have been told.......only makes recommendations (not even sure why the guy shows up)

He has zero power from what I have been told.......only makes recommendations (not even sure why the guy shows up)

Ain't that the truth...

He has zero power from what I have been told.......only makes recommendations (not even sure why the guy shows up)

In the days before the So Cal National the NATC Sporting Steward spent a lot of time with our guys adjusting the sections. His input from was very valuable and welcome.

Edited June 9, 201214 yr by Martin Belair

In the days before the So Cal National the NATC Sporting Steward spent a lot of time with our guys adjusting the sections. His input from was very valuable and welcome.

Unfortunately you end up with sections "adjusted" by a few, rather than more diversified sections set up by many.

In the days before the So Cal National the NATC Sporting Steward spent a lot of time with our guys adjusting the sections. His input from was very valuable and welcome.

I think that is good to hear and is the purpose. Kramit makes a good point as well, yet there needs to be a balance I suppose.

It is certainly not an easy job trying to get things sorted for the different classes(with a given area). And then trying to challenge the top class without killing off a few!

Unfortunately you end up with sections "adjusted" by a few, rather than more diversified sections set up by many.

You really want to go there?!! How can we have diversified sections set up by the many when the "many" don't show up work? The Thursday before the Ca. National 3 of us along with the stewart spent about 10 hours working on and finishing up sections the "many" didn't bother to finish (which I thought where all finished) The stewart was valuable help to us.

I have been in the unique postion of both building sections this year and as a Minder. I don't really like the new rule, but it's what we have. In the first 4 rounds my son has at least 8 fives for hitting gates. Nobody's fault but his own. What people don't relieze is that when you put a gate in, you have to keep it out of the way of all 4 classes. A spot out of the way for the Clubman is in the wrong spot for Sportsman or Expert or Pro. People only look at their own line, the sections builders are looking at all 4.

Since the topic of "hitting markers" came up again....one suggestion....has anyone considered making the markers smaller? i remember in the 80's we used little flags on the end of wire which could be used by color coordinating them to the classes....only problem i see would be they would be so small then everyone would complain they "missed" splits and got a 5