The start of the 2021 Spanish Trial Championship will be one of those races that will remain in the memory. It will not be so much in the sports field, but on the technical and administrative side.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE PROBLEM?
Under an unbeatable organization, this first race of the season premiered new regulations, which a priori did not seem excessively relevant, but which have finally conditioned the development of the race and the opinion of the riders.
Below we tell you what these rules were and we focus on the last one: “bonus points for time spent in the race. This is where the discord has been focused.
All this was exclusively revealed to us by Jesús Plaza in this interview with Trialworld
NEWS CET regulation 2021
- New Veterans B Category
- The Trial-E category disappears
- Electric motorcycles race in their own right in the rest of the categories (limited to 125cc)
- Bonus points for time spent in the race
- Two hours to see the areas on Saturday
"Now each rider has a maximum time for each lap, three hours for the first lap and two for the second lap. Well, we're going to give a bonus to those who arrive earlier: every five minutes that the driver arrives before his time, one point will be deducted." Jesús Plaza (RFME)
BACKGROUND
The RFME, in its desire to seek more dynamism in the race and prevent the drivers from taking too long to see the zones and enter them, was looking for a rule that would allow the driver to set more pace, benefiting him with points in his favor for time invested in the race.
The new rule rewards, on both laps, drivers who arrive before the established time, in periods of five minutes. For each of these periods, the driver deducts one point from his scorecard.
THE PRACTICE
In races there are many factors that condition the queues and time needed in the race: route, zones, number of entries… So such a generic rule can be adapted very well or very badly, depending on how the race goes.
In Arteixo, given the volume of riders, it was decided to extend the race time by 30 minutes for each of the laps. Thus, practically all the riders have received bonuses on their card, leaving important alterations in the classification and putting this bonus before the spectacle of the trial itself. For this reason, we have seen drivers “chopping” zones for strategy, high speed rates in the interzone, and a show lackluster by the aforementioned regulations.
AFTERMATH
The RFME is aware that the planned objectives have not been met, taking into account a sum of elements such as the aforementioned extension of time or the absence of queues. The initial idea was that the rule could benefit those who best managed race time by a few points, not to generate bonuses that have ended up even exceeding twenty points.
Therefore, this regulation will be re-analysed by the RFME authorities, either to proceed with its elimination or to qualify it to prevent this situation from happening again in future meetings.
A very clear example is the winner of TR1, Miquel Gelabert. Having scored 27 points in the race, he obtained a bonus of 34, so he finished the race with zero points. The same time as the other two riders who have accompanied him on the podium.
The last qualifier, Gerard Trueba, should have finished with 66 points and thanks to the bonus he has finished with only 36 points.
In the coming days we will be able to expand this information with statements from the protagonists.
