Grading System

wav1

Well approx. 3 weekends of racing in to the new season.whats the feeling out there on how the new grading system etc is working especially with the new A2 only races.My own feeling on it from the start,was that the mumblings/complaints etc would come from the A1s and I think that's about the way it is.They have the smallest fields to date,but with about a dozen or so A2s upgraded after last weekend you should start to see the effects of that soon bringing the A1 field sizes up.The other categories all seem happy enough.What do you think?

if in doubt

Less A4's being upgraded to A3, more A3's being upgraded to A2 and more A2's being upgraded to A1.

Seemed like a decent proposal at the time and it looks to be working so far. A1's were always going to be the smallest field but in a couple of weeks we should see that continue to grow.

The issue of the best juniors taking the points in A3 was never really going to go away - glad they weren't bumped up to A2 at the AGM. The better ones on the development squads will end up riding at a higher level anyway after Easter and with the points changes making it easier to get out of A3 it shouldn't be as big an issue as it was before.

Are race organisers feeling the strain of putting on the extra A2 races or is it working out ok for them as well?

wav1

if in doubt wrote: »

Less A4's being upgraded to A3, more A3's being upgraded to A2 and more A2's being upgraded to A1.

Seemed like a decent proposal at the time and it looks to be working so far. A1's were always going to be the smallest field but in a couple of weeks we should see that continue to grow.

The issue of the best juniors taking the points in A3 was never really going to go away - glad they weren't bumped up to A2 at the AGM. The better ones on the development squads will end up riding at a higher level anyway after Easter and with the points changes making it easier to get out of A3 it shouldn't be as big an issue as it was before.

Are race organisers feeling the strain of putting on the extra A2 races or is it working out ok for them as well?

you sum it up pretty well imo.Juniors not dominating as much [maybe yet]as previous years.
Maybe a bit of an extra strain putting together a programme of races and a little more expensive with extra vehicles etc,but I think its a small price to pay if it improves things and makes riders happier.Totally off subject but A4s got a bashing in the past re crashes,but over the past two Sundays the major issues were at A3 level.Speedy recovery to them all.

wirelessdude01

Thing with A3 at the moment is that the better juniors haven't really come out to play yet. The likes of Jake Gray only started racing last weekend.

if in doubt

I think one of the main reasons for a big pile up in an A3 race at the weekend was the race setting off so soon after the A2 one and catching them with a lap to go. Can be chaos on a road if one pack is catching up on another no matter how experienced the guys are.

It'll be interesting to see how many move up from A4 to A3 as the year goes on, it's only 5 points more but it'll make a difference to a lot of riders.

Imagine 2 years down the line and everybody's complaining about the size of the A2 field and how nobody can get out of it...

Arthurdaly

The new system is working in my opinion. The a3 category does not appear to be dominated by the juniors as it has done in previous seasons, maybe the quality of juniors has decreased this season but there are no dominant juniors mopping up all the points. Very good riders that struggled to get out of A3 last season are now moving on from a2 to a1 early in the season and I think that trend will continue on the assumption a2 only races will continue.

smurphy29

Agree with what the others are saying. I think the main differences this year, and I'm at something of a loss to explain them, is that the points have been bagged by actual A3s and riders are progressing through the grades, and secondly the field sizes in A3 seem considerably smaller than the dangerously huge fields we witnessed last year. So far anyway.

So far so good in my opinion. The A2s have every right to be delighted, and the A1 fields will gradually swell over the coming weeks.

That said, there was a bit of craziness with the A2 and A3 bunches coming together at the weekend in Newbridge, and I do think it had a bearing on the outcome, and felt sketchy at the time.

harringtonp

wav1 wrote: »

makes riders happier.Totally off subject but A4s got a bashing in the past re crashes,but over the past two Sundays the major issues were at A3 level.Speedy recovery to them all.

My own feeling is that there is not too much of a difference in incident probability between the two categories. Yes on average the handling and experience is better at A3 but on average too riders are closer together and there is less space in the bunch.

nilhg

smurphy29 wrote: »

Agree with what the others are saying. I think the main differences this year, and I'm at something of a loss to explain them, is that the points have been bagged by actual A3s and riders are progressing through the grades, and secondly the field sizes in A3 seem considerably smaller than the dangerously huge fields we witnessed last year. So far anyway.

So far so good in my opinion. The A2s have every right to be delighted, and the A1 fields will gradually swell over the coming weeks.

That said, there was a bit of craziness with the A2 and A3 bunches coming together at the weekend in Newbridge, and I do think it had a bearing on the outcome, and felt sketchy at the time.

In fairness it was only half the A2 bunch, the other half were well up the road. It looked fairly obvious at the finish line when the A3s were starting their last lap that it might happen, is there a case then to pull the slower group out?

Plastik

I can't remember which race it was but it happened in an A3 race last year where we caught some size of an A2 bunch and they were pulled over by their lead car to let us through.

Hmmzis

In my humble opinion the new changes to the grading system are working well so far. Our club has seen its A2 ranks grow considerably and a lot of the lads will be A1s before they know it. Last weekend alone two A3 guys got great results and upgrades where one of them started the weekend without any A3 points at all.
The separate A2 and A2/A3 combined races also are great hunting grounds for lads looking to upgrade to A1.
In comparison to last year we had huge numbers in A4 and A3 but very few in A2 and only one active A1. Now that is starting to look a bit healthier. It also seems to be more motivating in general and that has a huge impact on performace of the riders as well. They see that their piers and themselves are able to make the race, get points and upgrades instead of being hammered every time by the juniors.

Stevieg2009

Plastik wrote: »

I can't remember which race it was but it happened in an A3 race last year where we caught some size of an A2 bunch and they were pulled over by their lead car to let us through.

I think that happened in moynalty?

slow

Field sizes are down this year. 51 A2s in Newbridge, 61 in Navan. I think the fact that there were races in all four provinces on Sunday gave lots of options to riders. St Patrick's Day will be interesting when there's only one race outside Ulster. The medics in Newbridge had a tough job. A crash requiring two ambulances in the A3 race followed by a nasty fall in the A2 gallop. There will be a good few upgrades from A2 to A1. Some will be able to mix it with the big boys, others will only be making up the numbers.

Taxuser1

Quality of juniors in Leinster is poor. Waiting for nrpt lads in Des Hanlon but not many others there

Gallant_JJ

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

I think that happened in moynalty?

Your correct, yes was moynalty

aworthycause

As someone who bagged an upgrade to A1 last weekend I can say it's been thoroughly enjoyable. I've no idea of the bigger picture across the various grades, but racing against lads on a similar level has been great. The A2 racing has been fantastic, and something I'll miss from now. Lads are working well, crafty, no nerves.

manwithaplan

All good from my perspective too. It's very hard to see much of a difference in standard between A3 and A2 to be honest - certainly the A2s are no more scary than last year's juniors. There might be less overall variance in standard within the grade though and I would agree that the bulk of the racers are more tactically aware. The upgrades to A1 will continue at a good rate as long as the A2 only races continue, which should sort their issues. The Hanlon should be fun - 150 odd km is certainly new territory for me and it's great to get an opportunity to race over that kind of distance.

So well done CI - it seems a measured approach, which didn't reduce the issues down to how to deal with "those pesky juniors", is paying off.

wav1

All seems positive..Great to see.