Hard racing, or racing foul, the line is thin...

Let me preface this that I do enjoy racing and I am doing it for fun, but at the same time that does not mean that I should not make any official protest when it comes to actions of a fellow riders that may have been a foul. I wish I had pictures or video from last nights races, but unfortunately I do not. But let me also delay in the action by recapping last nights races.

It was nice to see Simon out again as he is essentially the top rider at our club, hopefully he has worked out his personal schedule so that he can race more often. We had a total of 5 riders in my moto, so that meant a transfer of 1-1-2 for our three qualifying heats.

The first heat I had a terrible start, but still raced hard while I had no chance to actually qualify, especially considering Simon was sure to win it. I ended up bringing up the rear and making a strong push for a 4th place finish but came up short only to come in last.

The second heat was more interesting, i was right in the thick of things until Turn 3. I took the middle high line while Brandon (13 year old) took a low to high line which resulted him making contact with me. He seemed to have fallen hard while I stayed up, but I had his bike attached to mine while coming out of the corner, I do not know how that happened. I slowly finished the race and walked over to the berm waiting to be sure he was alright as he was still down on the ground. He eventually got up, grabbed his bike and finished the race. You have to admire that, too many people simply quit and walk off the track after a crash.

The third heat is where our track officials became involved. Three riders remained, Jamie, Brandon, and myself, two are to qualify, so I had to finish at least in 2nd place to make the main, and it's been a couple of weeks since doing so.

Once again I was right in the thick of things, riding hard, Jamie and I were battling it out for first and Brandon was right behind. Jamie and I entered Turn 3, rubbing elbows, great racing, I was on the inside and was forced to let off a bit so that we did not wreck, no worries, just part of racing.

Going down the stretch into the final turn Jamie had the lead, I was in second, and Brandon was close behind me. I took the middle high line and Brandon took the low to high line, though this time he hit me hard enough where both of us fell off of our bikes. We both quickly got back on for a mad dash down the straight. While making that dash I was on the outside and Brandon was on my right. Just near the end of the rhythm section Brendon then moved further to the outside making contact with me and sending me off the track outside of the white lines, I had no choice but to slow down otherwise I was going to crash into the side of the jump on the first straight.

So now we finish and I start questioning myself, are the two points of contact in the final corner and on the final straight fouls by Brendon, or is it simply hard racing? A couple other of parents, one who randomly races in our class felt I had been fouled in both places as well. So I approached the track officials to bring it up.

After some deliberation with the corner official it was deemed that the crash in the corner was simply hard racing and two riders taking two lines that essentially converged.

However, now comes the question, was it a foul on the final stretch? We have rules that do not permit any rider from intentionally blocking another rider down the final stretch, but there is some confusion, does this rule apply from the last jump to the finish line, or for the entire final stretch? The head official was of the understanding that it applied from the final jump to the finish line, and the contact was before that point. So the ruling was that I was not fouled and that it was simply hard racing, however with that the official will be contacting the ABA to get clarification as to how the rule is to be applied.

So as a result, I failed to make the main...

Oh well, all in the name of having fun.