[Tony Leone]

There were 76 total X30 Senior drivers so we split you into 2 groups for Qualifying based on the times of the last practice.

We will commonly grid the Mini or Micro classes for qualifying as the gap between the fastest and slowest tends to be larger  but we’ve never done that for a Senior class that I can recall.  Also, the track at New Castle is huge.  If you don’t want to go out with the huge pack its better to stay in the back of the grid and go out when you think there will be less traffic.

The 7 minutes has always been yours to manage and not gridding you actually allows you to do that.  And even if we tried to let 40 drivers out in some kind of interval drivers would just be creeping around the track waiting for their teammates.

There were 58/76 karts that qualified within a second of pole.

[Tony Leone]

I know when K1 took over they stopped paying photographers when our pictures were used.  Maybe tech writers also lost any incentive they had to contribute. I also don’t know why anyone would opt to pay for a subscription if they could get it for free at a track/shop/event.

That being said, I don’t think periodicals in niche markets have much of a chance competing with the “now news” of websites like EKN and social media.  Without any exclusive or original content Go Racing just became another place to read old race reports.

[Tony Leone]

Your nomenclature is a little off, there weren’t 4 groups of any class.  Yes, they were split 4 ways (ABCD) but two always ran together, so only 2 groups.

Also, keep in mind the financial impact there would be on the teams if SKUSA cut the classes or number of competitors.  Further, while Rotax aren’t SKUSA classes, there are two series, Can-AM and Texas that run SKUSA and Rotax classes together.  Let’s not forget all the other world class drivers that were “in town” for the Worlds and it all starts making a lot more sense for their inclusion this year.

As an employee and someone that works closely with the scoring team I would prefer to move away from the split days.  But only because of the strain it causes for the girls in scoring with regards to the BIG classes and getting merges, grids and points finished in time.  It has grown to a 3 person team and the girls killed it this year! With 5 BIG classes too, the most we’ve ever had).

But the teams, drivers and casino LOVE the split days.  Most teams need to employ fewer mechanics and some mechanics can even work for 2 drivers and double their income.  And drivers aren’t stuck at the track all day.  This means more people potentially have more time to gamble :)

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