2010 World Indoor Championship
Report: Trials Central
Date: 19.01.2010
Website: www.trialscentral.com
Views: 1524
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Following the outcry by the competitors who deemed the new rules for the SPEA FIM Indoor World Trial Championship unfair, threatening to boycott the Championship unless changes were made and the total confusion experienced by spectators at the opening round of the 2010 Championship in Sheffield two weeks ago, the FIM have reacted by making changes to the rules and naming conventions prior to the second round taking place in Marseille, France this weekend.

Firstly, the naming of TX1, TX2 etc that caused so much confusion for those trying to follow the event, both live and subsequently on Eurosport has been replaced with the far clearer "Qualification, Last Chance, Semi Final, Final"

The new method of qualification/elimination is easiest explained thus:




To further clarify (or at least we THINK it further clarifies!)...

QUALIFICATION

  • 8-10 riders will take part in initial qualification.

  • The starting order will be determined by ballot.

  • There will be one ballot for fixed riders and one ballot for wildcard riders.

  • There will be no double lane race in qualification.

  • In the event of a tie, the riders tied will re-run one pre-selected section.

  • The bottom two riders will be eliminated at the end of qualification


LAST CHANCE

  • The bottom four remaining riders from qualification will take part

  • The starting order will be the reverse of that in qualification

  • The riders will compete in one dual-lane race each (the rider in position 5 will race the rider in position 7 and the rider in position 6 will race the rider in position 8)

  • The losing riders in the dual-lane races will score one point

  • The riders will also compete over two normal sections.

  • The bottom two riders in Last Chance will be eliminated

  • In the event of a tie, the tie will be resolved by the position the tied riders finished in the Qualification stage.



SEMI FINAL

  • The four top riders from Qualification and the two top riders from Last Chance will compete.

  • The starting order will be:
    1st: The bottom of the two riders from Last Chance
    2nd: The top of the two riders from Last Chance
    3rd: The bottom of the top four riders from Qualification
    4th: The second bottom of the top four riders from Qualification
    5th: The second best rider from Qualification
    6th: The top rider from Qualification

  • The riders will compete over three sections

  • The riders will also compete in one dual-lane race. The races will be:
    1. The rider 6th in the start order for the Semi Final will race the rider 3rd in the start order for the Semi Final.
    2. The rider 5th in the start order for the Semi Final will race the rider 2nd in the start order for the Semi Final.
    3. The rider 4th in the start order for the Semi Final will race the rider 1st in the start order for the Semi Final.

  • The losing riders in the dual-lane race will score one point

  • The bottom two riders in the Semi Final will be eliminated

  • In the event of a tie, the tie will be resolved by the position the tied riders finished in the Qualification stage.




Still following this?! Right... the Final!

FINAL

  • 4 riders will take part in the Final.

  • The starting order will be the reverse of the positions in the Semi Final (i.e. 4th man in the Semi goes first, 1st man in the Semi goes last)

  • The riders will compete over 4 sections.

  • The final score will be determined by the riders points in the Semi Final PLUS their points in the Final.

  • In the event of a tie for first place, the tie will be decided by a single dual-lane race between the tied riders.

  • In the event of a tie for places other than first, the tie will be decided by which rider performed best in Qualification.

  • If more than two riders are tied in first place, the riders positions in Qualification will determine the top two riders. The top two riders will compete in a dual-lane race with the remaining tied rider(s) positions determined by their position in Qualification



It still seems rather complicated compared to the good old days of all riders riding sections one way, then them all in reverse with the dual-lane race thrown in for good measure and the best man won, but fair play to the FIM for listening, realising it wasn't going to work and adopting changes quickly.

For the armchair TV fans we've produced this Guide in PDF format so you can print it and hopefully follow events in Marseille better than you could at Sheffield!

TC Guide to World Indoor Trials 2010.pdf
 
 
 
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