MTB overall points

FISCHER,JAMES (HP-Corvallis,ex1)

2002-09-10

Mchael,



The decision to reduce the # of races was made late in the game. It was

deemed unfair to require 8 events when so many people were planning on the

Jedi to be their 8th event. Even with the announcement of the cancellation

of the Jedi as soon as the fires broke out in southern Oregon, there were

still folks that would not make the minimum cut-offs to qualify for overall

series placings without reducing the required number of events. Thus, the

decision was made to be fair to those folks who planned to race more mid and

late season events rather than the early season events.



The decision was made by the VW/Trek Series organizer after consulting with

OBRA. We had all discussed it and felt we had the best solution.



A precedent for this had been set several years ago when the Klamath Heat

was held, but no results were submitted until the day before the Finals.

When months passed with no word from the promoter (other than that he had

left the state), we decided to drop that event. There were still a few

complaints, but it seemed fairly well received by the racers.



Races get cancelled. Generally, it's the later season events that go under

due to lack of attendance, fire danger or whatever. The Series organizer(s)

should include in the Series literature a guideline covering this

contingency. This should have been done this year, but literature was

somewhat scarce.



The Series organizer(s) and promoters can do pretty much whatever they want

as long as it is included in their literature and conforms to OBRA

guidelines for safety and fair competition. When the info has not been

included, then OBRA tries to help the organizer(s) come up with the best

solution for all. Sometimes it's a tough call.



Please keep this one on the front burner for next year. When you start

seeing Series literature from the organizer(s), bring up issues such as this

one so that it may be addressed with ample time to avoid this sort of

dissatisfaction.



Regards, Jim Fischer

OBRA



-----Original Message-----

From: Michael Blahut [mailto:magic-@hotmail.com]

Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:32 PM

To: ob-@topica.com

Subject: [OBRA Chat] MTB overall points





At the finish of the final race we were told that the format of the

entire season had been changed. Your best 8 races would no longer count

towards the overall. It would now be 7 because of a cancelled race. How

can this happen? I was locked for 5th(prize cuttoff) but was bumped to

6th. I'm really bummed.



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Jim VanSchoonhoven

2002-09-09

I am sorry, but I have to agree with Michael, to change how the series was

scored at the last minute is not a good way to build trust. Some racers

actually do care about how they place in the overall series and do a certain

amount of races to get the points they need to place where they want to.



My main question is why even change the number of races counting towards the

overall, just becasue a race was cancelled. The most important point he

makes relates back to trust and doing things that were promised.



Believe it or not I have seen this same thing used on purpose in a series to

help the "right person" win money. I am not saying that is the case here, I

am just trying to point out how something that would seem very innocent to

most people can be used in the wrong way and give the appearance of wrong

doing.



I hope the promoters are listening to this simple, plea.



Jim VanSchoonhoven

----- Original Message -----

From: "Michael Blahut" <magic-@hotmail.com>

To: <ob-@topica.com>

Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:32 PM

Subject: [OBRA Chat] MTB overall points





 At the finish of the final race we were told that the format of the

entire season had been changed. Your best 8 races would no longer count

towards the overall. It would now be 7 because of a cancelled race. How

can this happen? I was locked for 5th(prize cuttoff) but was bumped to

6th. I'm really bummed.



To respond to the whole group send to ob-@topica.com.

To respond to the list manager send to ob-@teleport.com

To unsubscribe send to obra-uns-@topica.com



Michael Blahut

2002-09-09

At the finish of the final race we were told that the format of the

entire season had been changed. Your best 8 races would no longer count

towards the overall. It would now be 7 because of a cancelled race. How

can this happen? I was locked for 5th(prize cuttoff) but was bumped to

6th. I'm really bummed.