NEW IN 2015....

 

An incredible and dedicated staff of 24 people recently met at Go Kart Racer in Sacramento for what was supposed to be an hour and a half meeting to discuss plans for the 2015 season. Almost 4 hours later - we wrapped it up and a few of us made it out to the Kart track to rub some rails, but my sincere appreciation goes out to the entire djsa race staff for providing some invaluable input and suggestions for the upcoming season...

 

Following is an abbreviated version of what was suggested and discussed for 2015 ~

 

1) Awards dinner will be at Go Kart Racer Sacramento. The top high point racers from every class will be recognized, as will the Juniors and Top 10 overall from both divisions. Originally I was going to look into having the dinner catered so that Dewar and Miss Drexel could sit back and enjoy themselves, but "the General" isn't having any part of that - so it looks like some of the BEST bbq'd Ribs, Tri Tip, and Chicken this side of New Orleans will again be on the menu with the creativity of the "Masterchef" thrown in to accompany the main course.

 

Complete info will be posted soon, but I predict the tickets for the awards party will be close to the same as what its been the p[ast few years...

 

2) For the past 9 years I've been trying to run a lot of the djsa activities while maintaining a full time job at the same time, but with my retirement now being "official", I anticipate having a little more time to take care of race business so to say....but - the 2 keywords that the staff is going to be on the war path about - is time management... and this is going to fall back onto the racers.

 

There are many things that can set a race day back, and then it becomes a snowball effect chipping away at the time we have to race or hand out awards at the end of the day. Add to that, 101 last minute registration nightmares that pop up and bam - we're starting racing at 1pm instead of 1030am so - in the interest of getting in full days of racing, and getting the racers and staff home at a reasonable hour the following changes will take place for 2015.

 

A) The cut off for pre-registration for all our races will now be the Sunday before the upcoming race weekend at 9pm. It beats me why I've been accepting race entries up until 9pm the friday night before a race weekend, but most the time I'm at a race site with no internet, and no way to print out race entries, and after unloading the trailer and getting the course set out - the last thing I have time for is to update class rosters or running orders.

 

Having this important info a week ahead of time allows me to get ALL the race info to Maria a week ahead of time, and she can easily get everyone's info into the computer which will basically SAVE us about 2 hours work on saturday morning... and it doesn't get ANY easier than how I let you enter now...

 

Once I get a COMPLETED 2015 entry form from you, all you have to do is email your intent to race a week before the race. I'll print your forms out and have everything ready for you... In turn we'll have a complete race order established several days before the race weekend, and you'll know ahead of time what the practice and race order of the day will be. All it takes is an email from you - a week ahead of time.  

 

Registration will most always be open at 8am. You MUST sign in and get your wrist band to be able to practice, and if you're going to race, practice is mandatory, so if the order of the day is 800 novice stands, X-2 Army experts, and SCXP experts, then I'd plan on being near the front of the sign in line at 8am if I was in those 3 classes...

 

B) From then on, when announcing calls your class to the line for staging - thats not the time to put your gear on and head to the south end of the lake to warm the ski up... thats the time to slide on over to the start line to select your spot on the line. If you're not there to claim it, you're going to end up with whatever's left over, so to avoid that headache - when announcing calls your class as being "on deck" thats the time to warm up the ride... when announcing calls your class to the line, the only place you should be - is on the startline... 

 

Time management - if the staff buckles down, and the racers do their part, we should all see nothing but FULL days of racing for the season... Your help in this area is greatly appreciated.

 

3) Juniors - I have NOTHING but pride in how the juniors in every class have progressed from running time trials, to gwc races, to even running a few exhibition races during the year. Although I still feel its important that a junior racer's focus is on "riding" as smooth and fast as possible during time trials and not necessarily on trying to out race the person next to them, the "Junior A's and R's" have pretty much taken things to an all new level... because of that - the following changes will take place in the Junior's program. 

 

* Unless otherwise noted - all Junior racing will be on sundays. 

 

* Sunday morning will include practice for Junior A, B,and R's.

 

* Junior B's will continue to run TT for points, and a GWC for bonus points.

Time permitting Junior B's will run 2 timed laps and we will keep the best lap time. 

 

* Junior A and R classes will run a one lap time trial for start line picks. At the end of time trials Junior A and R's will run a scored GWC heat, and then after the first round of adult racing, the Junior A's and R's will run a 4 to 5 lap heat race during intermission. The place scores from the GWC and the intermission heat will be scored for series points.  

 

For the adults - 

Saturdays will be 3 heat format unless otherwise noted -

Sundays will be a 2 heat format to incorporate running juniors in the morning -   

      

4) The Raffle drawings... the raffles have become a fun part of the day on race weekends, and they certainly help me out when it comes to covering race expenses.

 

X-2 Army Update -

 

Based on rider input, and on a trial basis, we are going to modify the X-2 novice class to a "stock/novice designation - the same as the Sport Sit 800 stock/novice class, meaning -

 

A novice X-2 racer with 3 years or less of race experience can run this class on a fully modified ski, or a veteran racer may enter this class on a completely STOCK ski. I would like to see this class modification run "on the honor system" but if there are any issues that arise, tech inspections may be performed to confirm a veteran racer is in fact running a stock ski. 

 

There aren't that many expert X-2 guys running stock skis, but the intent behind this is that the guys just starting out will have some pretty awesome role models to learn from out on the course. 

 

This modification will not effect the 2 interns currently running the class in any way. Advancement requirements to the X-2 Army expert class will remain the same for interns and novice racers, and will not change...

 

Those requirements are -

1) 5 top 3 podium finishes in the season

2) X-2 Army expert class recommendation

3) race director approval       

 

Any questions, please hit me up...

 

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550 and 750 classes -
We've tried a hundred and one things to try and generate interest in the 550 and 750 standup classes, from cash can racing to $5 entry fees but nothing has really worked.... so we're going to follow the lead of the Great Lakes Watercross Series and try this -

All 550, 650, and 750 "vintage" skis will now be competing against each other in thenewly created "567" Vintage Triple Threat class.It is my hope that the 4 or 5 guys currently running the 550's, the 2 or 3 guys running 750's, and anyone with a 650 that got shut out of the action a few seasons ago will now make up a class of 12 plus guys who will be putting on one of the coolest shows of the day...

How can these 3 classes run up against each other you might ask??? Pretty easy concept! The 550's leave the line on the band, and 30 to 45 seconds later the 650's leave the line, and 30 to 45 seconds after that the 750's leave the line. Depending on the length of the course the last couple laps of these heats should be OFF THE HOOK waiting to see if the 750's of Jesse Harden, Loder, and Konefat, can catch up to the 650's, and the 550's of Prodo, Watson, Gray, Dalhberg, Alexander, Roberts, the Austins, and even those crazy Copenhavers... hey, it's only weird if it doesn't work but if it doesn't work we'll try something else... (but I think this is gonna be pretty cool to watch!)

X-2 Army -
The mightiest vintage race class on the planet will again be doing battle as an open expert class, however - for the brand new guy getting into the sport, lining up with "the army" of 16 skis could be a little intimidating... heck, you guys intimidate me from the top of the flag tower, but for the guys with 3 or less years of race experience, and for new interns running the class, we will be adding an "X-2 Novice Class". This class will run independent of the X-2 Army for their own points... and before you start rolling your eyes back thinking I'm dividing the class - I'm not, but think about this... 

Look at the high level of talent in that class - and you'll see that most the guys in that class have expert level ability. The guy just starting out is going to have a long road to travel before being able to run up front in the mix, and I would prefer to have a safer and somewhat less intense X-2 class where these guys (and our interns) can ease intoracing, and learn how to do it right at a slightly less hectic pace. 

The X-2 Army will still be the Army, but new racers and select interns running the novice class will have the option of moving up to the regular X-2 Army class, but only after achieving 5 "top 3" finishes in the novice class. Some guys with super natural talent will always be the exception to the rule, but I will make the determine as to when newer racers have demonstrated the ability to be in the same class with the army... The bottom line is this. When you get 16 skis on the line, things can get crazy. I dig crazy, but I dig safe crazy. Establishing a novice X-2 class will allow the opportunity for new racers to ease into the sport and maybe have a little more fun in a more controlled class rather than being thrown into the shark tank and saying "here ya go"...

Both classes will continue to run with vintage hulls and up to 800cc motors. 

 

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