The AMSOIL Arenacross series starts in Worcester, MA at the DCU center this weekend. The Pro Arenacross and Arenacross Lites classes will be the main attraction on Friday and Saturday January 4th and 5th with all the amateur classes bringing the excitement on Sunday, January 6th.
Even though most classes, bikes and riders will be similar to what we saw last year the rules will be changing for the popular Arenacross Class. It will be totally restructured. The biggest change will be easily noticed and most likely received well by the fans. That change is the number of main events. There will be 2 main events for these riders instead of the traditional one. However, they still need to stay within the allotted time schedule. That means the laps will be cut to around 12 for each main event. This will cause these races to be no longer than six minutes which will be not much longer than the heat races.
The second, and most controversial, change for 2013 is the points structure. Instead of accumulating points throughout the entire series to become champion the points will reset after round 6 but not reset to zero. The powers that be will give 6 points to the rider in 1st, 5 to the rider in 2nd, 4 to the riders in 3rd and 4th, 3 to the riders in 5th and 6th, 2 to the riders in 7th and 8th and 1 for the last two riders eligible to compete for the championship. That's right, only the top ten after round 6 are eligible to win the AMSOL Arenacross Class championship.
Then there is the strangest change the sport has ever heard of in the way of gate position selection. The gate pick for the first main is based on heat race result just like normal but the second main will be determined by chance and results from the first main. There will be three briefcases with number plates in them and one will be randomly selected. If the number plate has a 0 on it then the gate pick is based on the finishing order of the first main which would be just like last year. If an 8 is on the number plate in the briefcase than the top eight finishers in the first main get to pick gate position with the rider who finished 8th picking first. Basically the first row will be inverted. If a 16 is revealed the entire field is inverted with the 16th place rider from main event one having the first gate pick in the second main of the night.
This could prove exciting and confusing to the average fan but it will without a doubt make the racing a lot closer and bring this years championship right down to the final race.
Click here to see the full 2013 schedule and make sure you attend a least one because you don't want to miss the fierce battles these new changes are sure to create.
Comments