Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

Just wondering if anyone knows what the rules are regarding transferring cars from the heat races into the main event. Last night it seemed like all the cars started in the main event by their qualifying times regardless of how they finished in the heat races. There were a couple of cars that flipped during their heat races (finishing last) and they still started the main event with their original times from qualifying. It did not seem like there was any benefit to the cars that finished the heat races in transfer spots. What is the purpose of the heat races?

I was not there but usually only top 4 in the heat are locked in the main and the rest are lined up by there qualifing time no matter where they finished in the heat race...

The fast time driver draws a pill to determine the invert, based on qualifying time, not heat race finish result.

I think they pills are 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and maybe 10.

If the fast time was on the pole last night, the pill must have been a "0".

Uh no, generally you have to finish in the top 4 of the heat to be able to retain your time and be included in the cars that are in the invert for the main. Even if you are the top qualifier, if you dont transfer out of the heat the best you could start would be right behind the cars who did transfer out.

You are correct, if you have enough cars to have a B main event, which has not been the case at most races at Oceans. That was the context i replied in, if there was no B main and all cars make the main event.

I am not certain that you have to finish in the top 4 to get your time back, even with no B main, you may be right.

I was answering the question why the lineup was the way it was. As far as i know, pill pick is what is used to set up to the first 5 rows.

i understand that you may be saying the heats should be worth something. even if they came up with a system that took the top four or five cars out of each heat, depending on the number of heats, and lined them up by time and then drew for an invert and lined the rest up behind them by time would be better than just lining up by time. in my opinion you have to reward the cars that finished up front in the heats. we have a problem with there being no qualifying points as well. you get no points for fast time, yet you line up behind slower cars in the heat. if the slower car wins the heat it gets 6 points. if you finish second behind it you get 3 points. so you are being penalised for going fast, with no reward for it. most sprint points have 5,4,3,2,1 for qualifying points.

TW-O is correct, there has to be a reason to do well in he heats or what is the point?Here is another option: Take the top 4 of each heat and give them their times back, then run a B and line-up the finishers behind those locked-in. I believe there was 26 cars there. There must have been time for a B....didn't they have a dash for the micros? Lastly, they should not start more than 22 cars in the main, there is too much disparity in talent in that series and when you just throw the last 2-4 cars in the mix safety becomes a concern. They are the "spinners" anyway and having them in the trailer will make up the time lost to the B.

I'm glad that some of you were able to understand my question. I couldn't figure out exactly how to word it... I was just surprised to see cars that would have ended up in the B (if there had been enough cars) starting the A main in front of cars that had finished their heat races in transfer spots.

I looked back at the results from the last Golden State race at Ocean to see how they had determined their main event line-up. They only had 20 cars and 3 heat races that night so it was the same sort of scenario where all of the cars that were there automatically "transferred" into the main event.

In the Golden State race the 15 cars that were the top 5 finishers from the 3 heats lined up in front of the 5 cars that had not "transferred". The dash cars (first 4 rows of the main...) were the 8 fastest cars that had finished in the top 5 from each of the heats. The other 7 cars that had "transferred" through the heats were lined up next straight up by qualifying time. The final 5 were the cars that had not "transfered" through the heats also straight up by times. This system seems to better reward the drivers who do well in the heats and creates some penalty for the drivers who would not have transferred.