Went to the NEDiv Championship Event in Ayer, MA this past weekend. C/M
had six good drivers and than myself who was 2 secs back on Sat. On
Sunday I pushed my driving envelope harder and farther than I had in a
long time. I was middle pack after the first run, dropped 1.0 sec on my
second run and dropped another 1.1 secs on my third run. Now I was
leading CM (for Sunday only). I was excited and my fellow competitors
were excited for me too. But it was not to last. When the score sheets
got to impound it was determined that I had DNF'd all three runs (some
how I managed to miss an offset gate after the slalom I believe). Even
after 30 years at this I can still get lost.
Here's my bitch. At the end of every run my time was clearly displayed
so I could see it. So far so good. They were announcing times also.
Unfortunately you can't hear much with a full face helmet on your head
when sitting only inches away from an unmuffled racing engine. My grid
spot was a long long way from the timing truck separated by A/M, B/M,
C/M, Karts and other vehicles. Needless to say it was very noisy. I was
not nor were any of the other C/M competitors aware of my situation.
Like many competitors I travel alone to events, no wife, no girl friend,
no kids or co-driver to help out. I believe that I and every other
competitor deserve to be informed of our resulting times and penalties
in a timely manner. No driver should be allowed to unknowingly go off
course three times in a row.
This situation has happened before and I would like to see some sort of
visual signage indicating that the run was clean, penalized, or a dnf.
At least then we would know if something had gone wrong. Many events
post times for the drivers immediately so drivers can go see what's
happening. I don't know what the best way is to approach this problem
but after driving 500 miles to and from an event, and spending several
hundreds of dollars I really don't appreciate being basically
disqualified from an event because I was getting misinformation.
Maybe someone on the list has had similar experiences or may have a
simple solution to this perceived problem.
Any way, even though my bubble of excitement was burst and I was pissed
off to the point that I felt it was necessary to leave the event early,
I feel that the event was a good one, basically well run with few
problems and the course was well executed. On Sunday I finally drove
better than I have in a long time (except for the obvious boo-boo).
I sent this letter out right after the Divisional without getting any
response. CM just started showing activity again tonight so I've sent it
again.
Any comments would be appreciated.
I have since learned that the people receiving the cone penalties called
in from the course were located in a different location from the
announcer and the announcer could only report penalties that he actually
saw. If true, it would explain a lot. A bad situation.
Kurt Eikenberg
CM 88
I'll be going to Nationals After All
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