!
They are often not given the importance they deserve and their performances are sometimes controversial, but the only thing that is certain is that without their work, in most cases altruistic, trial events would not exist today.
As in any competitive sport, there has to be a referee, a control, a zone judge, people who must score the performance of the drivers as they pass through the zones. Many times they are the object of criticism and censure by a few whom they (the zone judges) surely admire.
Trial has evolved, so have the riders, perhaps that is why the performance of the so-called “controls” is becoming more evident every day and conflictive situations occur.
Here there is no repetition, no moviolas, no slow motion and if we add to this many times the lack of education of one or the other, the “party” is served.
Trial events today are no longer a meeting of friends, all riders want to win and for this they will try to do their best, but if they can also “trick” the control so that they do not see that foot or support that they should never have put, they will also do it.
The work of the zone judge is truly thankless and thankless and not everyone is willing to spend the high number of hours that the trial lasts, sometimes enduring adverse weather conditions.
Playing the role of zone judge can be fun, but it will become “torture” if you have to suffer the reproaches of some impertinent pilot who, on the other hand, may be right.
It is difficult for a control that has had some kind of bad experience such as those mentioned above, to repeat its function. The general comment would be…
“You spend the morning in the mountains, badly eaten, badly drunk, not to mention if it rains, sometimes you stop competing yourself, so that on top of that I have to argue with the rider and sometimes with the public.
It is true that being an altruistic action, the controls (sometimes) lack the necessary knowledge about the regulations and how to make the trial more dynamic (knowing how to avoid the dreaded queues), that is why it is always sought that the zone judges are people linked to the trial and if they are or were pilots much better. All of this makes the issue complicated and there are usually problems finding controls.
This means that more than once there are areas with a single control, so it is likely that you will not be able to see it in its entirety, you will not be able to properly attend to all the tasks that correspond to you… Seeing, aiming and marking (*) will also slow down the test and the passage of the following pilots.
(*) Seeing, aiming and marking are done in various ways depending on what the trial organization arranges.
is true that, like any high-level sport, riders would have to be judged by professional zone judges, leaving amateurs for social, regional or long-term trials.
It is also true that there is a great diversity of applications of the regulation and this should not be the case. The regulation is what it is, but its application must be rigorously applied, but flexible in its execution. Let me give you an example:
Leaning against a tree is a foul (1 foot), but brushing it is nothing and there are controls that by the mere fact of touching it, already penalize it with a foul.
The question would be, in the event of an argument, who is right?
It is difficult to guess which position is correct, but it is clear that the main thing is to act the same with everyone, because it is also true that certain favoritisms can be the cause of incorrect partisan positions. The logical thing to do would be to apply mutual respect between judges and drivers and try to ensure that the coexistence between all is absolute. The beneficiary will be none other than the trial in general.
The area judge must be aware that:
.- You must be properly identified so that the pilots can easily recognize you.
He is the highest authority in the area assigned to him.
Their mission inside the zone is to see, score and mark the pilots’ fouls.
Only he will authorize the pilot to enter the area, by means of a whistle.
– You must keep the area “clean” from other drivers or spectators.
You must remain in the area until the “Marshall” who closes the race gives you permission to leave it.
There are trials in which everything is done, it is written down on the scoresheet, the driver’s card is marked and it is even written down on blackboards that were in the area.
There are trials in which only the card is marked without writing down the score on a separate sheet. This makes the trial more dynamic, but in the event of a complaint by the rider, nothing other than the card can be consulted, assuming that the card is valid.
In Scotland, both in the mythical six days, and in the two days of Pre’65, the only valid score is the one written by the zone judge on his score sheet and the driver does not have a card. This makes the trial more dynamic and there are fewer confrontations between judge and rider in the same area, but the rider never knows (unless he writes it down or memorizes it) the accumulated score so the confrontation sometimes moves to the end of the trial between the rider and the organization.
I would like to comment on an aspect that affects zone judges, the dreaded queues.
In the queues at the entrances to the trial areas, you can’t always be trusting in the good will of the people, because everyone is from their father and mother and, above all, you can’t say what the right behavior is (or yes) because everyone will think in a different way. But precisely for this reason it is possible (it should be possible) to determine a common code of conduct (in short, of good manners) and to exercise it, and the authority to do so should be the area judge in this case, in order to achieve harmony in coexistence.
We can argue about whether the assignment of responsibilities is appropriate or not, or whether it is better that the code of conduct should be developed organically by the organization or should be imposed by the regulations themselves, or that society already imposes codes, but the reality is that in a common space rules are established, either explicitly or implicitly, and it is important to communicate them by educating those affected by them.
The fact that there is no law or regulation that imposes a financial penalty is not a condition for there not to be a rule: I would not like (and it is not possible) that the zone judge could issue fines because someone has slipped in, but I do think it is important to let it be known that passing in front of a lot of drivers who are waiting is rude and a total lack of education. It would be the responsibility of the organization, and in this case of zone control, to apply shift systems to enter them in a certain order.
In short: what I want to get at is that individualism and selfishness are the enemy of coexistence, and that the freedoms of one end where those of the other begin. And sneaking into a zone queue instead of waiting for my turn is no drama, it’s more of a silly thing and there are more serious problems in trials than this. Organizations are partly to blame, but the improvements in queues are not the sole responsibility of those in charge and controls but also of the pilots.
With politeness it sure would be fixed. This and much more is that simple!
David has provided the means to channel any comments, but if you want to make it more personalized, you will always find me at bonaigua@bonaigua-trial.com
Lots of zeros!
Victor Martin
“Bonaiguá”
