Originally Posted by
rc pete
Great job by the Edmonton crew this weekend. Mandie, outstanding job on the mike all weekend.
One suggestion for the WCICS to adopt for next time: to do a pre-sort for qualifying, based on either some form of past results that make sense or even just having racers mark a preference on the entry form as to which qualifying heat A, B or C they'd prefer to be pre-sorted into.
Having it mixed across the board makes it frustrating for both the racers constantly having to make room for the faster cars, and also those racers trying to get around slower cars.
I agree that dealing with traffic is part of racing, but I think it would be more enjoyable for everyone if the pre-sort was closer than simply random.
That issue was identified, and the reps had a meeting about it afterward. That was indeed voted on at Calgary, then when we switched to the reps voting structure it was, unfortunately, not captured in the rule set.
So we reconfirmed with an official vote (no Lethbridge rep was available but the Edmonton, Calgary and Sask reps were unanimous) for the following:
1. First round of qualifying will be sorted based upon the current points standings. With this issue addressed we will still have 2 rounds before a resort so that if someone has one bad round, technical failure, or misses thier first round they don't get dropped to the very bottom (i.e. Pete breaks a part and ends up at the bottom of the D qualifier). If you've had 2 bad rounds, then I'm sure you understand what's going to happen on the resort. This is slightly modified from what was voted in Calgary, due to the above reason.
This also gives incentive to make all the rounds, as if you miss a race, say Sask, you'll be dropped down the points and be grided lower in Calgary.
2. The "mains" heat structures (which needs to be a balance between awarding points for the series, as well as ensuring that everyone has fun) will be the following:
Heats will be structured according to a 50% rule. When the number of racers in the last heat is at or below 50% of the max number of cars in a heat, the last 2 heats will be split, and if there is an odd number of cars, the faster heat will have 1 more than the slower heat.
Specifically, for Calgary, Edmonton, Sask where there are 10 cars:
10 cars, you run 1 full heat
11 cars, 6 in faster heat, 5 in next heat
12 cars, 6 in faster heat, 6 in next heat
13 cars, 7 in faster heat, 6 in next heat
14 cars, 7 in faster heat, 7 in next heat
15 cars, 8 in faster heat, 7 in next heat
16+ cars, 10 in faster heat, 6+ in next heat
For Lethbridge it would be:
8 cars, you run 1 full heat
9 cars, 5 in faster heat, 4 in next heat
10 cars, 5 in faster heat, 5 in next heat
11 cars, 6 in faster heat, 5 in next heat
12 cars, 6 in faster heat, 6 in next heat
13+ cars, 8 in faster heat, 6+ in next heat
This balances between making sure the last main doesn't have 1 or 2 people in it (we've seen that happen in the last couple of years), with also understanding that we're racing for points, and it is possible for the guy who qualified 10th, to end up winning that race.
On a personal note, almost exactly this happend in Edmonton to myself. I was 8th in 12th stock, actually assumed I would be in the A, but with 16 they split it in half. My B winning time would have put me in 3rd in the A (of course it would have been a different race, who knows what would have actually happened).
Before anyone complains, yes, there are a multitude of different ways to do this, and it changes the balance between making sure the guys racing want points (and yes, we're aware Snowbirds, ETS, IIC, etc fully stack all the mains and if that leaves 1 guy in the last, so be it), and the guys that just want to have fun. This is what was discussed, voted, and decided. If you have questions or comments, please talk to your WCICS rep directly. They're listed in the first post of this thread.