Originally Posted by
Flatballer
3 laps total. It's basically exactly the same as a flying 200, they just have the timing loop in a different place.
What should I have done when the guy cramped in front of me? I felt I didn't have much choice in the matter and the relegation was silly.
Was there room for you to pass on the right? If so, that would have been the way to go.
Did the rider who cramped retire immediately? If so, then you have a case that, even though you passed him on the apron, it didn't improve your place in the race. If that's so, then you should have got a warning.
Basically, there are several forms of penalties, some of which are:
- Warning
-- Let's say you are in a sprint and you leave the sprinter's lane and obstruct the rider coming around you and he still passes you for the win. You'll get a warning.
-- Pulling off a paceline without looking. You aren't required to look, but good practice for local racing.
- Forfeit placing in a sprint (Relegation)
-- Like in a points race, if you went under someone to place in an intermediary sprint, you'd lose the points gained for that sprint only but stay in the race.
- Forfeit a final placement (Relegation)
-- Let's say it's a long scratch race and you are in the lead pack of 5 and you go under someone for the win. You could get relegated from 1st to 5th...but not to dead last.
-- BUT if it's a pack full of riders in a bunch sprint and you do something wrong, you may well be relegated to dead last. This happened to Sarah Hammer in the World Championship Omnium in 2011, if I remember correctly. She left the sprinter's lane coming out of turn 3 in the final sprint of the Scratch race (fuzzy memory, hahaa)
It really boils down to: If you bent the rules to get ahead, you forfeit whatever you gained in doing so.
Then, of course, there are more severe penalties for unintentional dangerous riding and intentional dangerous riding.
- Unintentional dangerous riding in a pack will get you relegated to last or even pulled from the race if the director feels that you are a threat going forward. This is why people are pulled for riding too slow. They are just adding to congestion and are not contenders in the race. Yes, they may have a personal goal of finishing, but they are simply in the way.
- Intentional dangerous riding (hooks, bumping, chopping) will get you disqualified from the race and maybe the entire event. There could even be monetary penalties, suspension of license, or revocation of license.
- If you take your hands off your bars to assault another rider, there will likely be hell to pay.