Trials Australia Forums

I see in the brief results list Michelle Owen placed second in the women's class. I didn't see Michelle Owen there on the weekend.....Perhaps it was Michelle Coleman???

She was there on Saturday!

Fixed.. Sorry Mrs Coleman!

I agree that the teams scoring needs to be reviewed.

The scores are too heavily biased towards classes that have high numbers. This is in contrast to the past that had been biased towards low scoring classes when the total scores for each rider counted thus making it good to have a good Junior, Greybeard, Classic riders in the team.

I think something along the lines to the series scoring of 1st=25 pts, 22, 20 etc. but with 2 scales being used. Using the 25, 22, 20 etc for classes with over 15 riders and 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for classes with 14 or less riders. I don't think is perfect but it's reduces the effect of teams that have a good veteran in them.

Just a random thought...

I havent checked to see how this years team scores were calculated... sorry for being too slack to do so...

Bottom line is the teams thing is just a bit of fun.... but it does attract serious competition...

perhaps we have tried to be too complex and accomodating of class entry fields etc in the past...

Maybe a better method is (position per class):

1st = 6 points
2nd = 5 points
3rd = 4 points
4th = 3 points
5th = 2 points
Finishing the event = 1 point

No bias towards class size... just make a team with a couple of good competitors in it and you should push past ten points... just to finish still gets your team a point... (Note - a definition of finishing has to be involved)

Just a thought....

Cheers

Not to take anything away from the NSW Waratah's - awesome team, and a good result, but yes the scoring system for the Teams that we inherited this year (not quite sure were it originally came from, but it has been used at the VIC's in 08 and SA in 07) is cumbersome and probably unfair. It seems pretty strange that a guy who comes out of the top three in Veterans can score triple the points of the winner of Women's or Youth!
Note to next organising committee - Drop this one, and start afresh.

Just one more thing for those who were not aware on the night.
Apologises for the cramped conditions in the presentation tent. The caterers Kitchen was destroyed by the high winds on Saturday and they had to be moved inside the big marquee. This meant we were down 20% of our floor-space.
Also the heaters were destroyed as they were in the catering tent as well. SORRY.
We still don't know why the PA system we paid perfectly good money for could not be fixed in time as they were called out Saturday afternoon! Wrists have been slapped , and the testicle clamps applied.

A few minor problems, but basically I think the weekend was pretty good and a step in the right direction for the professionalism of our sport. (leaving out Open Solo section setting in this comment).
The organising committee are getting together for a debrief in the next week. We will put a Pro's and Con's sheet together to help the next group to attempt it in NSW, and other states if they want to use it.
If you have any constructive criticism or praise please let us have it......NOW (be kind, we are all still recovering!)

Paul Arnott

Paul,
For my 1st Aussie Titles as a rider I can't fault the sections, just my riding! They were well set out and apart from a couple of sections, they were achievable. The map in the book was a great idea and easy to follow as well.
The Organisers did a fantastic job coping with the amount of riders, observers and the public. The Experts section near the food tent and pits was a good idea.
Pacific Park was the ideal location for the camping onsite, the facilities were great and far enough from the public not to worry about stuff being knocked off. Well done!

The gripes now: not enough mainstream media coverage. I know Channel 10 and FOX will have some footage, but it was a major sporting event. It was the 2009 Australian Trials Championship! If it was Supercross or the GP bikes it would have had alot more saturation in the media. I know what it is like to get people to come and look at Trials, I'm always on about it and it is a hard job to do. Congrats to Paul to get what coverage we did.

Hi Stu
thanks for the kind words.
Just to give you a wee bit of background about mainstream coverage. All major and minor newspapers and TV Channels were notified on numerous occassions leading up to the event. Unfortunately we are not mainstream or Extreme and seem to fall into a dead zone between the two. It is also finals time with football, Rugbys on the hop, Test and one day cricket in England etc etc. It's a pretty busy time for mainstream sport.
To Air a commercial on Sydney TV Channels is prohibitively expensive - minimum $3000 for a 30 sec slot at stupid o'clock in the morning, and more like $8-10,000 for a slot that would be suitable. And that's one slot! Way more for prime time exposure. And then you have to make it. $$$$'s we just don't have.
Even our "good friends" at ADB wanted money to place an "Ad" for the titles. So even in the dedicated motorcycle press there is no such thing as helping our sport - quite disappointing really. So much for us all helping each other huh!
Even shows like Speedweek the categories that get airtime pay for it. I just cant see most riders coping an extra $100 per entry to go into a promotions budget. We just have to make do with what we have (4/5ths of 5/8ths of &*%$ all!)

We have got airtime on HD One, MXTV, ABC's Rush TV, and probably FUEL/FoxSport so that will be good. Though I've got to say I'm not even going to start on that editing / compilation until October at least. I just have too much on at present. I need to do a paying job for a while!