Was my son robbed..???

[srellis]

This weekend we trekked halfway across the State of Kansas to attend an MX race at a track that we have raced a few times. My son rides in the 80 Jr class at this track. It is a long course and they always have a good turnout so motos are usually 3 to 4 laps long. Yesterday the motos were set at 3 laps to get everyone through on time. Due to a smaller that ususal turn out for the 80 Jr. class they decided to double gate them with the 80 Sr group riding first.
In the first moto my son took third. He was really pleased with how he rode due to the fact he usually places 7th or 8th against this group of boys. In the second moto he was really focused on seeing if he could at least finish second as he was pretty close to the second place kid in the first moto. So the gate drops and he gets the holeshot! He holds first for the first lap and a half but the kid that won the first moto passed him but didn't slow down enough for the next turn and slids out. My son finishes the second lap in the lead when we noticed they had the checkered flag out!!! The flagger grabbed the wrong flag for the 80 Sr's race by mistake. My son was really excited that he won. WELL......
Enough parents complained that they didn't get a full three laps so they made the decsion to rerun the race. My son was pretty upset about this decision but got up the line and had a lousy start. He ended up crashing while trying to make a pass to go from 4th to 3rd and you could tell his heart just wasn't in it. I think he ended up taking 6th that moto with a 4th overall (I think). It out him out of the trophy range of third overall. :whiner:

The kids always thought that once the checkered was out the race over. Period. Nomatter how many laps have been run. If they had gone one lap too many would they need to rerun the race? Would they score it after three laps if they go 4? what if someone had been passed on the fourth lap?

Should they have combined the scoring from the shortened second moto with the rerun moto?
How would you have handled it to make it fair to everyone?

We really enjoy racing at this track and I know the track owner was under a lot of pressure to make this decision. I'm glad I didn't have to make it.
OK, I feel better now.

 

[mx547]

in my opinion, yes, your son got robbed. as you say, when the checkered flag is out, the race is over. the promoter should have given the complainers a partial refund or raincheck or some other way to appease them. running the moto over was not the correct way to settle this.

 

[jmics19067]

yeah it was a tough break, but it is a great oppurtunity to coach your son that he can do it. with a 3-1 score that he knows he can do, he has the knowledge he can come back swinging when life just doesn't seem right.

 

[490Dave]

Yea, i think he was robbed of at least a trophy and an apology. mx547 is right too, it'll be a tough pill to swallow and the record books wont show it but at least he'll know, YES I CAN!

 

[Erick82]

Heck no, he got to run three motos for the price of two, sounds like a good deal to me. He also got more track time, racing against better competition. I think the experence of dealing with adversity and how you accept that challange is a way better leason, but if you are into racing with your son just to collect pieces of plastic then he got screwed. I guess it is how you look at it.

 

[JPIVEY]

Yes he got robbed, and no there should not have been a rerun of that moto, no rain checks and no refunds

Freak'n Moto parents need to step back, a checkered flag means race over, period

 

[srellis]

Originally posted by Erick82
Heck no, he got to run three motos for the price of two, sounds like a good deal to me. He also got more track time, racing against better competition. I think the experence of dealing with adversity and how you accept that challange is a way better leason, but if you are into racing with your son just to collect pieces of plastic then he got screwed. I guess it is how you look at it.

I tried to get him to look at it that way but it's hard to convince a 10 year old to look at it like that...

Maybe next time a NASCAR restart??? Single file in the same order??!!

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by srellis



Maybe next time a NASCAR restart??? Single file in the same order??!!

i have seen that done when a moto was red-flagged due to a serious injury.

regarding refunds etc., i believe the other riders and their parents would have a legitimate complaint about being short-changed the amount of track time they paid for.

 

[Zerotact]

THey shoulda bit the bullet and issues thropies for bolth races, and if they had to split the prizes... if there were any. Little kids sometims can't get the whole picture, all they know is they won, and someone told them they didn't.

 

[truespode]

Originally posted by Zerotact
THey shoulda bit the bullet and issues thropies for bolth races,

From what I've seen at the races the mini-parents would go ballistic if that had happened b/c even though they really want the trophies it is the "points chase" that these parents are after.

Ivan

 

[nephron]

Susan, was it at Jetmore?

...and, IMHO--just encourage him, support him, and try not to (gulp) focus so much on the points???

Remember, it's just for fun. Make it fun for him!! :thumb:

 

[justql]

The kid got robbed. When your dealing with kids trophies are what matters. I have met Susan and her boys. Super nice folks that are not in it for the trophies, but the boy should've got it.

 

[kbud]

i can see it both ways. i am normally a mid pack finisher and if i got 1st, i would be excited that i can do it, but there's also bragging rights. i would give about anything to say i got 1st when asked how i finished, especialy if i was 10.

 

[BunduBasher]

hey, the kid won fair and square, can't ever take that away from him - he got to see the checkered flag, and no doubt he felt great. yes he was robbed, but life ain't just about winning, a good lesson in life I would say, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you get robbed - such is life. At least he knows he can win, and this should do his confidence a world of good . tell him the DRN'rs think he is a champ regardless, and next time we want to see the trophy !!! :thumb:

 

[srellis]

Well 24 hours later and a chance for his baseball team to go to the championship game on Wednesday and all is forgotten...!!!

Thanks for the input and support... I just wanted someone elses viewpoint.

We didn't make a big deal out of it at the track and we didn't complain to the track manager after the races. I don't want to give the impression that we were trying to cause trouble.

Nephron... It was not at Jetmore. We didn't go to that race. I heard in was really dusty and that they didn't get time to water enough due to the car races the night before. I hear the track would have been great if it was watered...

 

[nephron]

Somebody went down in the first turn there, and the winner was controversial. That's why I asked. Sounds like you handled it well, Susan. Maybe any of us would have had a more difficult time.

 

[JTT]

I can tell you as a regional Referee, that I would have counted the race as complete after the two laps. Mistakes happen with flaggers...it's a fact of life. In this case the race was more than half complete, therefore, in my book, score it based on that last lap. It's the call of the ref though. Too bad, as mistakes do happen, however someone is alway left with the short end of the stick...claulk it up to "character building" I guess.

 

[Sawblade]

Originally posted by JPIVEY
a checkered flag means race over, period

Yup! I know of one track in my area that states in their racing rules that if the checkered flag comes out before the allotted laps are completed, the race winner will be determined by the scorekeepers lap sheets.

The promoter let the emotion of the parents dictate his decision. Whats gong to happen next time someone doesn't like the out come of a race? Re-run it until they win?

Susan,
Tell you son we are all proud of him! :thumb:

You should contact the promoter and discuss with him that you feel this was handled poorly.

 

[srellis]

We are just going to leave things as they are. We don't run that series on a regular basis so we didn't care about points. My mother-in-law asked them if they ran by AMA or NMA rules. They said they didn't and it was just their decision.
Last year my son was riding that class when he came upon a yellow flag with two downed riders in the middle of the track. The flagger yelled "Go around". He wasn't familiar with the track at that time and he turned right which took him back on the track going back uphill. Unfortunately he also skipped a downhill turn and gained a position on the kid that was ahead of him. After the race I made him go up and tell the scorers what happened. They said they didn't have anyone protest him but we insisted that he be dropped a place. He took it in stride and instead of an 8th place they scored him 9th. We didn't want to get in the middle of anyone's point race. So we are trying to have some learning and character building. I think we are doing pretty good.

We look forward to going back to that track later this summer for their Summer Nationals and hope to do even better.... They really do do a good job with the track.

 

[truespode]

Originally posted by srellis
I think we are doing pretty good.

Based on what I just read I think your doing pretty DAMN good!!

Ivan

 

[nephron]

The typical humility of an American Farmer. I had no doubt you weren't a mini mom, Susan. And also, absolutely no doubts about your character. Just tryin' to help steer the spirits in the right way, you know? Hope you'd do the same for me, cuz my time's coming! :eek:

 

[oldguy]

Srellis
Congrats to you and your son for clearing up the error on that race. That is a lesson which your son will remember a long time and he can do a quick character assesment next time a cheater beats him.
As far a s the origonal question he should have been scored on the first outcome not the rerun. Things happen at races and mistakes are made but as always the squeaky (mini parents) wheels get the attention.

 

[srellis]

I'm going to toot my own horn and tell you how great a kid I really have.

Two years ago we tried the Cub Scout thing with my boys. They go to a very small rural school that has 25 students but the town has a grade school with over 100 students. When Bryan enrolled in Cub Scouts he was the only one from the rural school that signed up. He didn't know any of the other boys. The first outing we had for the scouts was a camping trip to Oklahoma. We bought a tent and some fishing equipment so he could go fishing in the river by the park we were camping at.

When it came time to fish, the boys were there for quite some time without catching anything. Next thing you know, Bryan has a bite!!!. He reeled it in and it is a small fish about 4 inches long. Being a girl (!) I didn't want to touch the fish to get it off the hook. (It was bad enough getting the worm on the hook...).

One of the other boys came over and said he would get it off for us. No one else knew Bryan had caught the fish. I instructed the boy to throw the fish back. He just looked at me and took off down the river embankment with the fish. About 15 minutes later, lo and behold, this boy pulls in his line and he has a fish on the end. Oddly enough the fish is not moving and looks EXACTLY like the one Bryan had just caught. All the other boys come down to see the comotion because he was very loud about being the first one to catch a fish.

With tears in his eyes he looked at me and said, "It's OK Mom, we know who really caught that fish"

Boy, did my heart break... How do you teach stuff like that to an eight year old??

 

[seatec]

WHy did you heart break? Mine would've swelled up with pride if my (non existing) kid would react in that way.

 

[Kawidude]

We need to start a "How To Raise Your Kids Right" forum and let srellis be the head moderator. Sounds like you've got a great kid there. I hope my kids turn out half as good as yours!