White or yellow?

[Super Dave]

I'm confused.  You want to go expert?  You can ask CCS to make you an expert.

[Baltobuell]

 I guess I don't know now. In the midatlantic region, Darren, I can't catch, the kid is just fast. Shannon, I can usually hang with, and once or twice finished in front of. Danny is fast, but I usually finish in front. These are the guys I run with and I knew they were all talking about points and championships and stuff like that. I figured I was accumulating points and would be racing them next year. But I only made it to 5 races and 1 trackday. I've never won, so asking to go up seems like ego, and staying amature will seem like cherrypicking. Maybe next year will have a new crop of kids to spank me, never know. I guess I'll let CCS be my guide unless I win a couple.

[Thingy]

Here is anothe way, among many, that you can look at it.  Will you be safe to you and the others in the expert class?  One consideration that I looked before going expert was this:  Can the experts trust me when they are racing with me?  Do I blow a lot of corners in a race, or am I fairly consistent?  How fast I could go was not really a consideration.  I did not want to be all over the track and out of control racing with the experts.  I wanted the experts to trust my line (regardless if it was different than theirs), so that I did not take experts out that were trying to go around me, etc.  (I know that it is the passing riders responsibility to pass me safely)

Experts race very safe and clean.  But, they race very close as well.  As a first year expert, I experienced experts putting their elbow on my fairing going around me in a corner and passing me very closely.  However, every pass was clean and they never did anything to mess with my line, etc.  But, riders have to trust each other not to do something stupid when racing that close.  

I don't think that it matters how fast or slow you are.  It matters that you are safe, consistent, and don't do stupid things.  If you can do that, I highly recommend that you go Expert.  You will enjoy the racing more, improve your skills, and learn more than you ever thought possible.

-Bill
MW EX #13
Double Bravo Racing
  

[Super Dave]

And winning as an amateur doesn't mean that you'll win as an expert.

Sounds like you're looking at everyone else's performance to measure your own.  When you should always only measure your own performance, the thing you have control over.

So, if you thing you'll be cherry picking and that you'll be safe as an expert, it's time.

It will be different.  Sometimes guys go slower as a first year expert, sometimes not.  Just be safe.  That's really the guideline.

[FullMoonRacing]

...I want to stay amatuer because I finish mid pack in all other am. classes. Concerning F40, here's my finishes; 4-1st, 2-3rd, 1-4th, 2-5th, 1-6th, 2-7th, 1-9th. Two of these are last place finishes. With small grids, this is not what I would call dominating. ;D

HALF of the races you were either 1st or second and that's not dominating?  Wow, get a dictionary!

[the_weggie_man]

I think part of the problem, I saw it many times in endurance races, is that riders forget who they are racing against in combined races.

Amateurs are racing against am's and experts are racing against ex's. There is no combined/overall winner accept in the team challenge races. Even then you must remember what class you're racing in and let others go that don't matter in your class.

A racer has to remember that no matter how much he wants to beat the racer in front of or behind him, does it really matter in his race? Do you as an expert have to slam that amateur in a corner when he isn't in your class? the same goes for amateurs. Why kill yourself trying to pass an expert when it doesn't make any difference? At the end of the race, the experts get their awards, the amateurs get theirs.

I caught myself in the middle of an endurance race damn near high siding in several corners trying to beat a heavyweight bike when our team was running a middleweight machine. I finally woke up and figured out what I was doing, racing against someone that didn't matter! I didn't need to beat him, just all the other guys in my class.

Just something to think about when you're in combined races. And most important, HAVE FUN OUT THERE!

[Baltobuell]

  Absolutly! The point is fun. (one of the reasons I don't worry am or ex) I know as an ex I'll never see wood. But racing will still be more fun than anything "normal" people do. The front bunch in the ex ranks do have to take it seriously since some of them do have a future in doing it for a living. I believe most have a little different outlook about the whole thing and get a reward out of helping a guy in the next pit do better. That's where the "family and friends" thing comes in. It makes it fun, rewarding, and worthwhile.
 As far as the safe thing goes, last year I dropped it once in oil as the red flag came out. and once in the last lap of practice trying something different that obviosly didn't work. Racing with Shannon is to the point I may reach over and hit his kill switch I trust him that close and he apparently trusts me too. And that is fun racing no matter what color is on the plates.

[Super Dave]

But even as you go up the ranks, you must have fun.

When Rossi finds motorbike racing not as fun anymore, he will go do something else.

I've raced when it wasn't fun...I would have been better off doing something else that day...or even that year.

[Gixxer124]

HALF of the races you were either 1st or second and that's not dominating?  Wow, get a dictionary!

4 out of 13 is half? I don't see any second places listed. Take a math class and learn how to read. So there!  :P ;D ;D

[Eddie#200]

4 out of 13 is half? I don't see any second places listed. Take a math class and learn how to read. So there!  :P ;D ;D

Yeah, I agree with Kevin.  I wasn't dominating either.

[Gixxer124]

Yeah, I agree with Kevin.  I wasn't dominating either.

Thats right Eddie. Uh, what was your worst finish? 4th? ;D

[RC51Racer]

Lets see...

My first race as an expert... :)

I crashed broke a collar bone and 8 ribs..... :'(

Still wish I could have stayed a yellow plate.... :-/