Coming off my first ever Road win (see, rednecks CAN turn right =p), the high it gave me was dashed in the next race by a number of incidents and berating from opponents. It made me think perhaps I’m not as fluent in Road etiquette as I thought, so help me straighten myself out to find out where, and if, I was wrong. These were all at Limerock in the MX5 (and all in 1 race ><).
Incident 1 – Warmups/Lap 1/ Turn 5 (the hill) – Someone took the corner quite slow, so as I rounded the corner approaching the hill in 4th gear, he was just cresting the hill in 3rd. As I crested the hill with a high closing rate, he moved over to the far right side of the straight. I passed him and reached T6 before him, but not knowing where he was I slowed considerably and stayed in the high groove. I then got hit in the right rear which spun me to the right and into him as he passed, which spun him to the left and into the guy following me, causing quite a kerfuffle. I was only mildly annoyed until he called me out and placed the blame on me, saying “he had the line”. It is my opinion that 1) being on the right side of the straight and approaching a right hand corner that he didn’t have the line, 2) I gave him more than enough room anyway, and 3) you shouldn’t outdrive your skills during Warmups. The replay clearly showed I stayed completely in the top half of the corner, whereas he drifted from the rumble strips up across the centerline of the track and into me.
Incident 2 - Race/Lap1/Turn 1 – Starting 3rd and not wanting a T1 mosh pit, I brake early, tip-toe timidly into the turn hugging the rumble strips only to have 2nd place dive from the outside to the inside edge and run over my nose, knocking me into the grass. He cried foul saying I ran into him and I should have braked. I did brake, but I think that on Lap 1/T1, my job is to hold my far inside line, brake enough to not drift high, but still go fast enough so that the 4-5 guys behind me don’t pile up. The replay showed I was solidly on the rumble strip with no drift to the outside before he clobbered me.
Incident 3 - Race/Lap2/Turn 7 – I caught back up with the same guy who ran me off on T1 and had a wicked run coming off of T7 onto the straight. I took a mild draft before pulling out well behind him to establish my line. He waits until the last minute to crank a hard right in front of me, and with such a run coupled with his last minute swing, I punt him and send him skittering into the grass (he didn’t wreck). He said he was blocking me and placed the blame on me for running him over (really?!). I hate blocking but I accept it for what it is, and always either do a crossover or let up and overtake them elsewhere. I believe this was his fault for 1) blocking way too late and 2) blocking on Lap 2 in the first place.
So what say you? I’m not really looking for advice on how to avoid this, as I am quite a patient and safe racer, but rather looking for a rock solid interpretation of Road etiquette and sporting code. Seems there’s a bit of difference between Road and Oval and I just want to know where those differences are. (Don’t feel bad for telling me if I was wrong, I prefer the truth.)
Incident 1 – Warmups/Lap 1/ Turn 5 (the hill) – Someone took the corner quite slow, so as I rounded the corner approaching the hill in 4th gear, he was just cresting the hill in 3rd. As I crested the hill with a high closing rate, he moved over to the far right side of the straight. I passed him and reached T6 before him, but not knowing where he was I slowed considerably and stayed in the high groove. I then got hit in the right rear which spun me to the right and into him as he passed, which spun him to the left and into the guy following me, causing quite a kerfuffle. I was only mildly annoyed until he called me out and placed the blame on me, saying “he had the line”. It is my opinion that 1) being on the right side of the straight and approaching a right hand corner that he didn’t have the line, 2) I gave him more than enough room anyway, and 3) you shouldn’t outdrive your skills during Warmups. The replay clearly showed I stayed completely in the top half of the corner, whereas he drifted from the rumble strips up across the centerline of the track and into me.
Incident 2 - Race/Lap1/Turn 1 – Starting 3rd and not wanting a T1 mosh pit, I brake early, tip-toe timidly into the turn hugging the rumble strips only to have 2nd place dive from the outside to the inside edge and run over my nose, knocking me into the grass. He cried foul saying I ran into him and I should have braked. I did brake, but I think that on Lap 1/T1, my job is to hold my far inside line, brake enough to not drift high, but still go fast enough so that the 4-5 guys behind me don’t pile up. The replay showed I was solidly on the rumble strip with no drift to the outside before he clobbered me.
Incident 3 - Race/Lap2/Turn 7 – I caught back up with the same guy who ran me off on T1 and had a wicked run coming off of T7 onto the straight. I took a mild draft before pulling out well behind him to establish my line. He waits until the last minute to crank a hard right in front of me, and with such a run coupled with his last minute swing, I punt him and send him skittering into the grass (he didn’t wreck). He said he was blocking me and placed the blame on me for running him over (really?!). I hate blocking but I accept it for what it is, and always either do a crossover or let up and overtake them elsewhere. I believe this was his fault for 1) blocking way too late and 2) blocking on Lap 2 in the first place.
So what say you? I’m not really looking for advice on how to avoid this, as I am quite a patient and safe racer, but rather looking for a rock solid interpretation of Road etiquette and sporting code. Seems there’s a bit of difference between Road and Oval and I just want to know where those differences are. (Don’t feel bad for telling me if I was wrong, I prefer the truth.)
