Written by SALLY TITUS
OPC Rule 11, Scoring Points Paragraph 3rd, 4th and 5th bullets:
Old Rule:
3. In case two or more drivers have scored the same number of points for the series, thus establishing a tie, the match shall be awarded to the one of the tied drivers in the following manner.
· Break tie with most number of laps completed
· If tied on number of laps, break tie with the least elapsed time for both of his/her qualification heat(s).
· If a tie still occurs, and the number of laps are equal, the driver having the fastest heat shall be the winner.
· If a tie still occurs, the points for the two positions of finish shall be totaled and each driver shall receive an equal share of the points to be awarded.
Rule Change: ( changed areas high-lighted )
3. In case two or more drivers have scored the same number of points for the series, thus establishing a tie, the winner will be determined in the following manner:
· Break tie with most number of laps completed
· If tied on number of laps, break the tie with the least elapsed time for both of his/her qualification heat(s).
· If a tie still occurs, and the number of laps are equal, the driver having the fastest heat shall be the winner.
· If a tie still occurs, the points of all tied positions of finish shall be totaled and each driver shall receive an equal share of the points.
· If a Lemans start is used and a tie cannot be broken by the above method, disregard bullet # 4 and use bullet # 5. The order of finish will be determined by the starting position of the tied drivers.
OPC Rule 8 – Finish, par. 2 states that in races of more than 5 laps, a boat in order to be scored, need not be running under its own power at the finish … ie: every boat gets credit toward a finish position for every lap completed. Rule 6 – Par 2-B Lemans Start subpar 9 ... states that every boat lined up in a starting position on the start dock when the flag drops shall be considered a legal finisher.
Let me give some examples of scoring following the change in bullet # 5 above.
Example #1: 10 lap race … lemans ( dock ) start … 16 boats lined up for the start. 2 boats never get started during the heat but will receive position/points for 15th and 16th place. In the past, the scorer would add the points for 15th/7 and 16th/5 which equals 12 and divide by 2 and each boat ( entry ) would receive 6 points for that heat. Using the new rule, the scorer would look at the order in which the boats were lined up on the dock. Remember the line-up is “earned” either by time trial, by draw or previous heat finish, etc. The position/points given to these two boats would be determined by the starting position of the tied drivers. The boat which earned a better start position would be awarded position/points for 15th place and the 2nd boat would be awarded 16th place. This follows the starting position of the tied drivers, who have no lap times nor laps to break a tie.
Example #2: 10 lap race … lemans ( dock ) start … 16 boats lined up for the start. 2 boats never get started and do not run in the heat. As the race enters the first buoy and no boats have a time and/or a lap recorded 2 more boats crash into each other taking them out of the event. You now have 4 boats with no laps and no times to use as a tie breaker, therefore according to the above changes in the rule instead of adding 13th/14th/15th/16th place points and dividing equally among the entries you would do the following.
1. Look at the line up on the dock for the start of this heat. For this example lets us state that the line-up was as follows: boat #’s, starting with pole … 23,26,30,32,10,8,5,6,12,19,21,66,78,80,99 and 45.
2. The 4 boats in question were boat #’s 32, 6, 19 and 78. Following the rule change for 2013 the boats would be awarded positions as follows: #32 would be 13th, #6 would be 14th, # 19 would be 15th and #78 would be 16th. This follows the starting position of the tied drivers, who have no lap times nor laps to break a tie.
Example #3: 10 lap race … lemans ( dock ) start … 16 boats lined up for the start. Boats # 32 and 6 never get started and do not run in the heat. Boats 19 and 78 make a clean start along with all the other boats and make 2 laps, then they crash into each other on lap 3. This brings out the red flag and all boats line up on the dock for a restart. Boats # 19 and 78 are damaged and will not return to race again in this heat. Now there are 2 boats (#’s 32 and 6 ) who are tied with no laps or lap times to break a tie. Using the lineup ( Example #2 above ) for the start of the race boat #32 would be 15th and 6 would be 16th . This follows the starting position of the tied drivers, who have no lap times nor laps to break a tie. However boats # 19 and 78 do have laps and times taken before their incident took place. They would both have 2 laps completed, but whichever boat had the least accumulated time would be the tie breaker and would be placed in position #13 and the other boat in position #14. It can be determined that they went further than the two boats that did not complete any laps and the tie can be broken between these two boats by the times taken. If however lap times were not taken and the tie could not be broken in that manner, then please revert back to the line-up position of these two boats to break the tie.
I hope these examples do not make this look more complicated than the original rule. That is not the intent. Nothing has changed in the scoring of the event as in previous years except instead of dividing by the number of tied boats you break that tie by using the starting position of the tied drivers, who has no laps nor lap times to break a tie. This rule change allows the standard positions and points to be used when figuring all results for a lemans start.
