As you have probably read by now, there was a major glitch in the timing
system which resulted in reaction times not being added into the run times.
This doesn't sound like that big of a deal since "it was the same for all".
That might be true for most part if this had been a single event just for
trophies, but it was the first of the season, and a season points event. This
could directly affect anyone who is racing for the end of the year
championships, and profoundly affect the associated year end payouts
potentially by thousands of dollars in prize money and contingencies.
A perfect example is that of my wife. She finished 5th in L1, which due to the
low turnout meant she missed the ladies challenge completely. She had been
cutting 5's and low 6's reaction times (we saved the timing slips) so all she
needed was for Diane to have been .25 sec slower in reaction times on her
fastest runs compared to Donna for the positions to have been reversed. Not to
disparage Diane's abilities in any way but she was driving a totally
unfamiliar car in the event, so that difference was definitely within the
range of feasibility. I have no way of knowing for sure.
4th qualifier for the challenge is a payout position, plus by not qualifying
she received no challenge points at all.
Others have said they saw several other instances in the challenges where the
slower person back was shown to have the advantage when switching sides.
This could have had a profound affect on the finish results. I personally feel
this error could have been caught prior to the event had the system been given
a thorough testing after it was modified.
If you are planning on running for season points, or if you are unhappy that
this event was not conducted according to the rules, then I urge you to email
Howard Duncan and/or call Tasha (Tasha doesn't appear to read or answer
emails) to support throwing out this event as a points event or at least
making it optional to be counted as one of your first 4 events for season
points.
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