PHILOSOPHY 

In the ideal world, Bracket Racing would be available to riders 7 days a week. The circuit would become like a golf course and each rider would develop a Bracket based on his performances in competition over a period of time, similar to a golf handicap. A rider would have to ride in timed practice a minimum number of times (say 3) before being assigned a Bracket. The circuit would have a course rating each day, based on the performance of all riders against their Brackets. This would see the riders’ times adjusted against the weighted average for the day e.g. if the track is wet and times are down by an average 20 seconds against riders’ normal Bracket times then their adherence to Bracket would be adjusted accordingly. The rider who returned the fastest race time on the day, relative to his Bracket, then becomes the winner of the competition. In this way, a rider who laps Mallala at 1:45 can compete on an even playing field with the rider who laps at 1:15. Additionally, one rider could put in his required number of laps during “competition time” in the morning and another in the afternoon, yet still be in the same competition.

Riders’ Brackets would be adjusted by an amount, say 1/3 of their under time average per lap, each time they ride so that the Bracket becomes indicative of recent performances. On a different circuit, the rider would be placed into the bracket with same percentage of “over run” from the par or optimal lap time. Interchange between clubs and states etc. could then be accommodated similarly to the inter club and international relationships between golf clubs.

The result is that each rider is competing with himself to improve his Bracket, and the reward for significant improvement may be a win on the day, plus an improvement in his Bracket rating. Groups of riders could opt to compete together, having their own competition within the competition of the day. Again this parallels golf where each group sets off together for their own match, but the results are also applied to the day’s competition.

Imagine the situation where there are enough recreational riders to support a circuit which has a standby ambulance and pickup vehicle, electronic (transponder based) timekeeping and one or two “flag marshals” who operate an electronic warning system from command posts which have vision of the entire circuit.

Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world, Bracket Racing is somewhat a fledgling, and circuit time, timing equipment, officials etc. required are not available on the required scale for this type of implementation. For these reasons we have implemented the Brackets in a manner which is more closely related to drag racing.

In its current implementation the objective is to allow any rider to compete on the bike he already owns. This presents us with a way to expose newcomers to the sport, with minimal initial expense. It is to be hoped that they will be encouraged to move on to open competition if they find they enjoy the thrill of competition. (Another parallel with golf here in the club based competition advancing to pennant and thence to professional - Bracket to open to professional).

Competition is preceded by timed practice. Based on the lap times of each rider, they are placed on grid rows with riders of similar lap times. They then ride in a Qualifier, where the fastest lap time ridden is used to set the Bracket in which each rider will compete. The qualifier does not count for points on the day. Its sole purpose is to determine the Brackets for competition.

In an effort to minimise the amount of over taking performed by riders, the race length is kept to 6 laps, with the fastest qualifying time to slowest within an event maintained to 1/6 of the fastest lap time where ever possible. Grid rows are double spaced to keep start line rockets from tangling with faster riders in the first bends. There may be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 riders for a row and a maximum of 5 rows on the grid (i.e. 20 riders). Ideally there should be a span of only 2 to 4 seconds over a grid row. In practice, spans of more than 2 seconds are only seen at the very tail of the field.

As currently applied, the pole sitter on each row is allowed to dip under his qualifying time by 1 and 1/2 seconds during competition without “breaking out”. This is to prevent “foxing” which is often associated with handicap competition (in a pure application as described initially this would be unnecessary). Variations to the breakouts are necessary with varying weather conditions. In extreme circumstances (e.g. wet practice, drying qualifying, dry competition), it has been practical to declare “no breakout”, but to still conduct competition on a per row basis. 

The principal aim is to encourage riders into competition. Rewarding the winner of each row gives every rider a chance of capturing that coveted trophy, providing that the brackets are applied fairly.

Bracket Racing continues to attract new riders to competition every meeting. The key has been to make competition attractive and available to them. We make their passage as easy and uncomplicated as possible. The rules are as follow:

No Slick Tyres

No Tyre Warmers

No Graded Riders (i.e. in South Australia A and B graders)

and the guideline for machines:

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