I’ve never been in a position before where the top of the results table is of any relevance to me. But this year I’m taking a keen interest in the RGB championship.
But I’ve uploaded a snippet, and as you can I’m riding high at 10th on the table.
Now lets not kid ourselves here! Being 10th in the table does not mean that I’m the 10th fastest driver in the championship, far from it. In fact I’m regularly beaten by everybody below me in this snip of the table and there are several faster people than me sidelined by failures (like Colin Duce) but Hey I can only race the people who are on the grid.
The fact that I’m 10th is is more an artifact of the fact that points are awarded by class rather than by position on the road. So all other things being equal, say Tim Hoverd finishes 3rd in class C, but 10th overall on the track he would score 9 points, If I finished 2nd in class B I would score 10 points even if Tim actually beat me by 5 places on the road (which often happens) and this elevates me up the table despite being slower than Tim (Sorry Mate)
The thing that is interesting here is the Class B standings, because these are my peers, guys with the same power and similar (albeit lighter cars). a Quick squint at the table shows that I’m 5th in Class B behind Paul Rogers, Neil C-B, Josh S, Stephen. In fact Stephen, Josh and I are within 2 points of each other. The interesting wrinkle is that this is a “drop 2″ championship, meaning that over the fourteen rounds every body can only count 12 scores… so you drop your two lowest scores (but you can’t drop disqualifications which are shown in red)
So lets look at the table again, and make the assumption that everybody turns up and scores points in each of the remaining four rounds.
- Paul is plainly romping away with first place with an effective score of 105 pts as he drops just 1 and a blank
- Neil’s effective score is actually 66 points as he has been Mr Consistency so far and finished every round so he must drop two 7s.
- Josh is on 66 points too, as he hasn’t competed in every round so he has got several zeros to choose to drop. In fact when he races Josh usually comes second in class B.
- Stephen is on 64 as he has had a couple of DNFs so will drop these zeros.
- I’m actually on 63 as I can drop a zero and a 1 from Brands and Anglesey.
So with four rounds to go and assuming consistency Paul and Josh will likely be first and second, which leaves me, Neil and Stephen to fight for Championship 3rd in class B and an even bigger pot at the end of the season. And we’re all very consistent and tightly packed in terms of performance. I beat Neil at Anglesey, Brands and Donnington, Stephen beat us both at Brands but I beat him at Anglesey and Cadwell. So basically all to play for.
I need to beat both of them in the next three races as Silverstone and Oulton Park (2). If I do that then we’ll arrive at the last race of the season each with realistic shot at the Class B 3rd.
But If I have any more DNFs I’m out of the game… ditto for Stephen and Neil. At this end of the season every point and every finish counts 
which is why Neil’s 2nd from the pitlane at Cadwell could be crucial.
which is why Neil’s 2nd from the pitlane at Cadwell could be crucial.Thing is the last race of the season is at Mallory… and I’m cr*p there. Plus it’s on October 12th and likely to be wet. it may come down to whose best in the wet on the last day of the season…. what an exciting prospect
The other thing to mention is that a top 20 position means that you can “claim” that number as your race number for next year, I like 68 as it has specific importance to me … but a single digit number may cause me to reconsider
It’s been interesting to catch up with what you’ve been up to Adrian, clearly you are enjoying your racing much more than when you left the blog a year or so back. Good luck with the rest of the season, Nick (he who nudged Tim to nag you!)
Oops I seem to have deleted my previous comment.
Hi Nick Yes I have been wearing a MostBigGrin all season, Donnington was a little disappointing… but other than that it has been fab.
Thanks for the indirect nudge… I knew I needed to get it up to date. and you gave me just the impetus ineeded to do it.