Scoring
The traditional scoring way of the race was “Full Laps Only”. Many times racers would finish their last lap with some time left on the clock. There would not be enough time to complete another full lap before time expired. The “full Lap” way of scoring often resulted in a good number of class Ties. We explored a number of options, such as developing a third even shorter loop (maybe 2 miles or less). Calculating your last partial lap mileage based on your average. John & Ann tried declaring winners by who finished the last full lap first. Each solution seemed ripe for confusion and difficult to manage at the end of a long race day. But, if we are going to call this a 12 hour race (or a 6 hour) then we want to be able to let you race the full time allowed. We borrowed a page from the Saratoga 12/24 hour race and will mark each mile on the 7 mile loop. With 15 minutes left to race we will dispatch a course marshal to each mile mark location. At the end of race time (either 6 or 12 hours) the marshals will flag down each racer and punch his or her score card with the corresponding mileage.The racer will then complete the loop back to the school where they will turn in their score card for results tabulation. For this to work we need each racer’s cooperation. We can only do this if we can do it safely and in a timely manner.
So, here are the rules:
Once you reach your finial mile mark and have your scorecard punched, you must finish the remainder of the loop back to the school in the same direction that the race was routed. No U-turns on the route and returning to the school in the reverse direction. Even if you just make it to mile one, you are required to continue to ride the 7 mile loop in its entirety back to the school. This is a standard RAAM safety rule where there is no riding the course in the reverse direction. If we see you returning back to the school in the reverse direction, (we will be watching) we will not score the partial lap and we will penalize you 10 miles.
When stopped on the route to get your card punched, please do not block the roadway. Remember, the race route is open to vehicle traffic. If we can’t do this without blocking traffic and endangering racers, marshals and other users of the road we will revert back to the “full lap only” way of scoring.
All scorecards must be turned in 15 minutes after your respective race time is up. For the 6 hour class that means 14:45 (2:45 pm). For the 12 hour class it is 19:45 (7:45pm). If your are in the 100TT and are still out on the course, you too, will need to turn you scorecard in by 19:45. Failure to turn your scorecard in by the time deadline will result in you receiving no score. We need time to tabulate everyone’s score so that we can hand out awards in a timely fashion. It will have been a long day for everyone; no need for the awards to be dragged out any longer than necessary.
As the time winds down, you’ll have to ask yourself “Is riding back out on the route to pick up one more mile worth it?” and, “Can I get back in time to turn in my scorecard before the deadline?” It will be interesting to watch how racers decide what to do. If you decide that your race is done before race regulation time is up, please turn in your scorecard.
We feel that this partial lap scoring will generate a great deal of hard racing and excitement right up to the final minute. Not only for the racers but for us that are trying to manage it. With that in mind we reserve the right to revert back to the “Full Laps only” scoring without notification should we have concern for the safety of the racers and course marshals.
At this point we have serious concerns that we will not have enough volunteers to implement the plan to score partial laps. Other solutions might be that we score at the 2, 4, & 6 mile mark, or score only at the half lap point (3.5 miles). So, if you can talk someone from your crew to assist us score the racers out on the last loop, we can make this happen.