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

Heat starting position-followed by cars locking into main

1-4, 2-2, 3-0, 4-1, 5-1, 6-3, 7-1, 8-1, 9-0, 10-6, 11-1

6 of the 7 cars to start 10th in their heat locked into main.

2 of the 21 cars starting 3rd, 4th, or 5th in their heats locked into main.

The top 3 in main started 11th, 10th, & 7th in their heats

Not a very fair format.

I agree that the format was unfair. Here are a couple of my observations about the format from another thread:

The pill draw/passing points format which was used introduced too much randomness into the distribution of drivers into the five main events. Top drivers who started near the front of their heat races had little or no opportunity to earn passing points. Average drivers who started near the back of their heat races could easily earn passing points by passing mediocre drivers who were "moving backward" through the pack. Long arguments can be conducted on the relative merits of two point drops vs. three point drops per finishing place and how many points should be awarded per pass. In my opinion, however, this format did not achieve what I believe to be the goal of heat races and semi-main events: To produce an A Main event where the best drivers are racing the best drivers.

I think the grid for the Saturday night A Main shows the failure of the format. Some average drivers with a lucky draw in their heat races ended up in the A Main. Some top drivers in fast cars ended up in the B Main or the C Main because of the place they randomly drew in their heat races. While luck will always play a role in sprint car races, it should be luck on the race track, and not just luck in the pill draw.

The decision to base passing points on the pit board lineup instead of the actual lineup at the green flag.

Drivers received passing points based on the starting lineup on the pit board, not on the actual starting lineup at the green flag. This has been confirmed by other posters. This means that drivers received passing points for cars that were supposed to be in front of them in the lineup that did not even come onto the race track. Awarding passing points on this basis is ridiculous.

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Fair or not, the cream rose to the top as it usually does. All drivers had a shot and the ones who didn't make it, missed the A-main for reasons other than the pill draw. I'm not a big fan of the pill draw format either, that is unless there is a qualifying heat race on top of the regular heat race. But the fact is when you take everything into consideration, the race played out fine and made some drive a little harder than usual.

Jonathan Allard, Kyle Larson, Brent Kaeding, Sean Becker, Wayne Johnson, Tim Kaeding and others throughout the night put their cars on the edge and that's what it takes sometimes. When it came B & A-main time all the usual suspects were there.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

The pill draw format works well with a race track that is racy. Granite we were very, very fortunate to get the race in Saturday, so we had to make do with what we had. The only negative about the way it went down Saturday night was the 2 pt. drop off instead of the 3 point drop off per ASCS rules. With the 2 point drop, people who started on the front row and ran 1 or 2, were very, very lucky to make it into the main event. None the less, after the carnage saturdays feature did get pretty entertaining. Cant complain too much about racing the day after a down pour...