Am I a sandbagger?

[KawieKX125]

I race Novice class at a local supercross style track. After the race last night, I was accused of sandbagging by alot of people and wanted to get your opinion on the whole situation.

In the last race(2 weeks ago), I got 5th place and that was the best I could do. I was not doing the two huge jumps at the local track and knew that if I did these, I would gain alot of time. So I started to do them the next week while practicing.

Last night I won with a 30+ second lead on second place. All the same people as last race and this was a 7 lap race on a track with around 1 minute lap times. I am dong the big jumps now, but in practice, I was having a very hard time staying close behind the #1-3 riders in the class(from this I think I can assume that I have the same level of skill as them). They were flying. Race time comes and #1 gets stuck in the gate and #2 and #3 get in a pileup. I got the holeshot and never looked back. By the end of the race, second was no where in sight.

I felt bad, but realized that I would have had competition if the 1-3 riders had not had probelms. many parents and other riders came up to me and suggested that I move to ameteur as I was sandbagging. I responded by saying that I was not and I just got lucky tonight.

Here is my question-Should I move to ameteur or assume that I won by alot because I lucked out, not because I was doing alot more jumps than I had the first race?

Question 2-if they ride just as fast as me, but are more out of control and don't ride as cleanly as me, does that make me an ameteur? For example, some of the top novice riders have no concept of bike control in the air make stupid bobbles and mistakes while I don't.


Thanks for your advice and I know you can straighten this whole thing out for me. I have no idea what to do and really don't want to move up a class as I will lose my points, but if you guys think I need to , I will. Thanks again and give me your gut feeling on the whole situation. :)

 

[Adam 982]

NO!

Do not move to amatuer until you feel you are ready.. Race until you feel ready, or until you earn the proper amount of promotional points to advance you to the next class.. those promo point systems are there for a reason.. and the next time someone accuses you of sandbagging, just point that out to them..

 

[KawieKX125]

That was my feeling. Adam, there is no points promotion thing at the place where I race.
I think I will try the am/nov open and if I do well, I will move to am.
I was thinking, I have ridden with the mid pack riders in the am class and can beat them if I really try, so maybe I should just go to that class and it would make me faster as a result. Who knows?:think

 

[MARK IT]

I would say if you lose as much as you win your OK. But if you are winning
and haveing a hard time at it your OK. Let's say you win three weekends in
a row and you crash and lose the following week, Your sandbagging, or
you find yourself slowing down at the end of the race and playing on the course (these peolpe are Morons) your sandbagging. And sometims people
have to have excuesses for loseing and call other riders names. you shouldnt
have to move up till the next season any how. you don't sound like a SB but if you are correct you ways, a SB is a cheater.

 

[John.T]

Sandbaggers are the guys that win every race they go in by 30 seconds, now this was only 1 race right? Seems to me they are mad they didn't catch you! I hate when someone wins a race and then there called a sandbagger!! People have to win right? So is EVERYONE that wins a sandbagger? Until you start beating these guys every weekend by 30 seconds, you just tell them where to put it:D

 

[KXKen]

I don't know what you mean by novice and ameteur. Is this like is this like C or B? I've only raced in C class here in IL (a few times) and I think that something is wrong when there's 7 guys in A, 13 guys in B, and 40 guys in C class. When I can start placing in the top 5 I will move to an age+ class.

Maybe I don't have a good understanding of the situation but can you see where I'm comming from?

 

[MXP1MP]

Resentment from other riders..

I always thought of it this way, move up only when your ready or if your winning your skill level class all the time aka the competetion is no longer competetion to you.

 

[KawieKX125]

I guess I will see next week how I do. Hopefully the competition will not have problems at the gate and turns and they will be with me. If not, I will start to race the am/b class.
KxKen
C=Novice
B=Ameteur
A=Pro/Expert

Hope I cleared things up and thanks for helping me with my decision.

 

[KXKen]

Kawiekx125, please don't take my comments personally this is just my feelings about this. I think you know where I'm comming from.

 

[KawieKX125]

Kxken, no offense take. I am confused as to why your post would make me take offense:think . I was just clearing up the class system for you.:)

 

[KXKen]

I thought that my comments about the amount of riders in classes would make you think that I was accusing you of being a sandbagger. As usual my bad communication skills are as present as ever.

 

[Jon K.]

Aaron; is there a beginner class at your track? Or is your novice class the entry level class? Around here the beginner riders do not do the biggest jumps.
Our novice classes are actually pretty fast.:eek:
If your novice class is for entry-level riders and you are jumping the biggest jumps ......
On the other hand if your area is awarding year-end points in a class I would not expect anyone to move from that class until season end.

 

[KawieKX125]

There are not enough true rank beginners at our local track to warrent a beginner class. The old man class is a beginner one, but that is it. The other novice riders jump too.
A little bit of oddness from my local track;
The top B riders are midpack and up C riders in the North East race series. (NESC)
The top 250 am rider placed midpack in 250 nov a lorettas.
Go figure. I would probably get back of the pack if I raced in the big new england series.

 

[smilinicon]

You are as good as the people you beat, but you won because you rode your race. You are improving and others might not be, so they may talk badly. Winning one race is not sandbagging. Focus on the good points here. You did great and you have it in you. Leave those C class whiners behind and go ride B class. You will learn more. Anyone who can win a C class by thirty seconds will be no slouch in B class. Just get in shape for it. Racing is all about your doing your personal best - a lot of C class trophies are just clutter.

One last point: You won, yet it comes out as a negative experience. Is that what you want every time you do well this year? Move up.

 

[hoosierf]

kawie:

Move up! It's safer riding with more experienced riders and you will improve at a faster rate. If you are jumping the largest obstacles at your home track, it's time to move on.

 

[Ol'89r]

Aaron.

Don't worry about it. I have watched your progress from your first race and I feel you earned it. If you start smoking these guys every race, then, you may want to move up. But, don't let anyone force you until you feel you are ready.

Riding in your proper class and winning or finishing in a good position will give you the confidence you will need when they finally do move you up. If you move up too soon, you will never feel confident.

Being the fastest guy on the track doesn't mean your going to win. As you have seen, you have to finish in order to win. Sounds like you are doing pretty good to me.;) But then, I'm old, what the hell do I know.:confused:

 

[KawieKX125]

Good points. I guess I will go with the B class. More competition and places to learn. Plus it will be more fun actually having to try and win. I am also good friends with most of the B riders and they think I will be just the right kind of competition for them. Next friday, after the race, I will post a report. Hopefully it iwll be good.:)

 

[MARK IT]

Aaron, You just made the decision that a SB would never make own his own
and you are also a novice rider now to boot. Good luck!! always keep in
mind that your doing this for the fun of the sport, I know I tend to forget
this when I'm racing sometimes.

 

[KawieKX125]

The "fun" factor had alot to do with my decision. I have no fun in the novice class. The other riders are plain out of control alot of times and dangerous. The B class will be much more fun and competitive. It iwll give me more to talk about with my track buddies. :)

 

[yzeater]

I think that if you feel guilty, you aren't a sandbagger. I think most sandbaggers do it knowingly

 

[Saratoga]

Here is how my club decides whether someone needs to be moved up. 1) If they get a bad start or fall and then move through the pack to win they get bumped. 2) Lap times are compared to the next class up. If the lap times are the same or better, they need to be bumped.

If you are finishing 30 seconds faster then second place, you probably have enough speed to race with the faster class. If several people including parents think you need to move up, they might be right. Also, if others are not jumping the same distance as you, eventually you will land on someone. The really bad paralyzing injuries I have seen are caused by someone landing on someone else. Do yourself a favor and race against faster guys that will do the big jumps before you land on someone. You can get hurt really bad!

 

[azcourt]

My.02
You said something like If they ride as fast as me, but are out of control, does that make me an amature. Yes. You have learned control, they have not. They make stupid mistakes and you don't, you have progressed beyond them.
But still, do not move up in class until you are comfey doing so. If you keep spanking them, and your times will put you into the amature class, then think about it. Forget about the sore losers and their butthead parents.
Also, if 3 or 4 of you beat the field of 20 guys by 30 seconds, maybe there are 3 or 4 sandbaggers. :eek: