You are all very welcome... As previously stated, we are all in this for the love of the sport and for the oportunity to do what we can to further the safety aspect of the sport! Pocono was a great experience for me, I'd never worked that track and had, in fact, only worked a handful of track days. I had mostly been focused on working races with MARRC at Summit. I started traveling to different tracks this year to spectate during both races and track days. I observed the different calibur of riders/workers etc. and saw the different ways different safety crews ran. I won't comment too much, but realized how much well trained well dedicated corner workers are needed everywhere!! The rest of the season for me is pretty full of working races and spectating (AMA ) but I am hoping to make it up to Pocono more next season!!!
Kumi, See you at Summit then on the 8/9 with CCS/ASRA..... stop by and say hi at the ThunderDuc #165 pits Appreciate you being there at Pocono when I come around...
Hey Chris! Yes I will definitely be there on the 8th & 9th. This past weekend was racing on the Shenny, it will be great to get back to the Main! See you there!
Mike, As an occasional corner worker I understand the reason for the standing yellow and how tiring it is to wave a flag for 3 minutes. I suppose part of it is my cautious side at a track day to play it safe and not pass under yellow and that's why I remember it that way. It doesn't help any that all the car groups I'm familiar with don't allow passing under yellow, standing or waving. Kumi, Like Renard said, thanks. We really do appreciate your (and your fellow workers) being at the track. A funny occurrence at the Indy F1 race was a corner worker on the front straight threw the blue flag, on to the track. REALLY!!! :shock: The commentators said some thing like, 'throwing the flag means waving not actually throwing it.'
Hello Walt, Three sighting laps of the Formula USA track is closer to ten minutes. 3 laps at well over two minutes plus the time from the first off the track until the last off the track. Non of this would matter if people attended and PAID ATTENTION at the riders meeting. Not everyone attends and far too many consider it a social event.
Perhaps the easy solution is no passing under any yellow flag, be it standing or waving. I think that would clear up any confusion and save the cornerworkers' arms.
Agreed. I will bring this up to Dave at the Coach's meeting on Sunday the 9th at Pocono. I've often felt a standing and waving yellow in the same corner could be construed differently by riders concentrating on the track. Yellow = No Passing in that corner for that moment. Deal with it. These are track days, not races. Mike
It would all be easier and when I think about it, even holding a standing yellow is tiring, even if it is 'only' 4 ½ minutes. (3 typical laps of Pocono East for a 'slower' group, you're right about the time for the F-USA track)
i've been away for work for the last month so i haven't had a chance to reply to some of the posts regarding the flag rules. to clarify the flag situation, a standing yellow means caution, but passing is allowed. a waving yellow means caution, no passing. stt has the corner workers hold a standing yellow for the first 3 laps of every session in order to remind us riders where the flags are stationed. during the first session of the day, there is no passing on the first lap- but this only applies for the very first session of the day (9:00 AM, 9:20 AM, 9:40 AM). after that initial session, passing (following the passing rules for each group discussed in the morning meeting) is allowed on the first lap of the session. the yellow flags are just a reminder for the riders to where the flag s are. red flag means session stopped (usually because of a crash), and proceed back to the pits with caution. it does not mean chop the throttle on the banking when you are going 140MPH ++. that is dangerous- especially if there is someone on your tail who doesn't see the flags. it also doesn't mean to ride back to the pits at 30 MPH- that too can be dangerous as other might be closing on your bike at a much faster rate of speed. just ride safely to the pits without railing through the corners or riding like miss daisy. the flag rules are discussed at every rider's meeting in the morning. keith, "bag and tag" usually goes over this, and his delivery is hard to forget 8)