This is going to read like an episode of Yes Minister, for which I apologise in advance, but it is necessary. Had an excellent day out at a trial, so in the mood to write this up.

With an increase of over 30% of rider entries at Welsh Championship meetings, it’s raised the issue of rider numbers, especially where there are clashes at meetings, and in particular within Classes. I’ve had at least 10 people contact me about this, during this season already.

Yes Minister, well known for stating the facts in a relatively long winded, but sometimes necessary way.

The Guidelines for the Welsh Championship were updated at the beginning of season as it had already been an issue over the last couple of seasons, but to explain it further here.

  1. The Welsh Championship does not allocate numbers but relies on those managed and coordinated by the AMCA. All events are run by AMCA clubs. The definitive list of AMCA rider numbers is available online to view as a PDF file.
  2. If you are an AMCA license holder, then you should use your allocated AMCA number for entering Welsh Championship events, as this will mean there are no conflicts with other riders (there are 1 or 2 exceptions where the AMCA do allocate the same number twice)
  3. If you are riding on a day license, then whilst its possible to be allocated your usual riding number by the club, the club may have a conflict and you’ll be asked to change your number.
  4. If you are an AMCA license holder, but use a riding number different to the one you have been allocated by the AMCA, you may also be asked by the club to change your number if there is a conflict. Some clubs may insist you use your AMCA riding number at their event.

Some riders compete in different series, not run under the auspices of the AMCA, so this can get a little complex and changing numbers for different events isn’t nice, but may be needed. For ECMO events, riding numbers are allocated by them and are different from AMCA numbers.

If you change bikes or numbers during the meeting, it’s not always to pick up the scores for the championship. When calculating these, I pick up the numbers from the riders list and then from the programme if they don’t match. If they can’t be worked out from there then, it’s not possible to score a riders points.

So, in summary

  1. If you have an AMCA license and riding number, always use it.
  2. If you don’t have (or use) your AMCA number, you might be okay to use it, but expect to be asked to change it from time to time. Increasingly clubs will insist you use your AMCA number.
malcra
malcolm.hungerstone@gmail.com

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