The Clyde Marshall Shield and A-Grade Team Pointscore

The 2009 Central Division road season sees the introduction of a simple pointscore that will apply to the teams time trial and the three non-championship road events on the Central Division calendar. The team with the greatest number of points at the end of the series will be awarded the the Clyde Marshal Shield. The pointscore and teams format will only apply to A Grade.

Teams

• Club based teams where all riders must be affiliated with the same club.
• Barbarians teams where riders can be from any club. The Barbarians concept allows riders from smaller clubs to form a team.

Rider Interchange

Rider substitutions are permitted, with each team allowed to use up to 8 riders during the series. There is no limit to the number of times that riders can be interchanged. All interchange riders must conform the the basic team rules outlined above.

Swapping Between Teams

Riders are allowed to swap between teams from their own club or the Barbarians teams as often as they like. Riders cannot swap between teams from different clubs unless they change their affiliation.

Structure

A single team pointscore will be maintained for the series, and will be calculated as follows:

• For invitational events the first 4 placegetters earn 15, 9, 6 and 3 points repectively.
• For the teams time trial each rider is awarded points according to where their team placed, with the first four A Grade teams receiving 5, 3, 2 and 1 point for each rider. The fourth rider must finish within 105% of their team's time to score points.

Rules Affecting Teams

Teams must field at least 3 riders in each race. Where a team cannot field 3 riders in an invitational event that team will be classified as 'Did Not Start'.

The individual riders affected can choose to race in either A or B Grade for that event. If they race in A Grade they cannot earn any points for their team but can prevent other teams from earning points by finishing in any of the top 4 places.

TTT teams are 3 or 4 riders only. The fourth rider's time must be within 105% of the third rider's time to score additional points for their team where their team places in the top four times.

Rules Affecting Individuals

Riders who fail to present in their club attire will be deemed ineligible to start.

Riders who are not on any A Grade team roster cannot race in A Grade as individuals and will ride B Grade unless they can find a team to race with.

A displaced rider is any rider who is on a team roster but is ineligible to ride with that team because they have filled all 5 available positions. Displaced riders cannot race in A Grade as individuals and will ride B Grade unless they can find an alternate team to race with.

Q.Which events are the team events?

A.There are three road races and the team time trial:

• Sat 04/04/2009 Minmi
• Sat 09/05/09 TTT Kooragang
• Sat 20/06/09 Wootton Way
• Sat 05/09/09 Calga

Q. I'm a top class A Grade rider and I haven't been picked in a team. Can I still ride A Grade?

A. Sounds like you have no friends or you just aren't as good as you think you are! But to answer your question, no you cannot rider in A Grade unless you are nominated on a team roster.

Q. I've just turned up to race and only one other team mate is here. Can we still race in A Grade?

A. You can choose to race in either A Grade or B Grade. If you race in A Grade you can certainly ride to place, but you won't score any points for your team if you do. But by taking a place you effectively steal points from other teams. Enjoy the racing and have a solid chat to your slack team mates afterwards.

Q. I've just turned up to race and I'm not one of the five riders my team captain picked to race today. Can I still race in A Grade?

A. You can only race in A Grade if there is another team that needs your services. That team can be another team from your club or one of the Barbarians teams (ie. you cannot race for a club team from a different club). You would be expected to pull your weight for that team, and any place points you earn belong to the team that you are riding for. If there are enough displaced riders looking for a ride then you can form a new Barbarians team. Any place points that your newly formed team earns stay with the newly formed team even if it never races again. Both these options could be tactically advantageous because you would effectively be stealing points from other teams.

Q. I'm only in it for the money. What prizemoney is on offer?

A. At this point in time the prizemoney stays the same as it always has been for individual riders who place 1st, 2nd or 3rd. If sponsors are secured there may be a small smount of prizemoney available to the winning team at the end of the series.

Q. How does the interchange works? Can we change riders during a race?

A. You cannot change riders in a race. Each team can field a maximum of five riders in each road race and four riders in the teams time trial. The interchange allows you to replace riders from race to race. It is there in case injury, illness, work commitments, etc. prevent a team mate from attending. Each team can use a maximum of eight riders over the four team events.

Q. I'm a team manager but I'm not exactly sure how the team entry works. Are we supposed to nominate all eight riders up front?

A. You can nominate up to eight riders up front but it would be MUCH smarter just to nominate five for the first race. Keep your options open by leaving the other three positions vacant. Only fill them if you have to.

Q. There are eight riders nominated for my team. Can we field two TTT teams?

A. No. Three of the riders will have to race the ITT in B Grade. One rider can choose whether to race B Grade or race A Grade in a composite team of displaced riders. Displaced riders can still earn points for their team while racing in one of those composite teams.

Q. Huh? How does that work?

A. Points are allocated for each rider that finishes the TTT. So if your team wins with four riders together then they get 20 points. If your composite team comes in second you earn 3 extra points for your team.

Q. What if one of my TTT riders has a mechanical and pulls out?

A. If your team was to win with only three riders then your team would receive 15 points instead of the maximum of 20.

Q. What if one of my TTT riders has a mechanical and rejoins the race?

A. That rider would have to finish within 105% of the team’s finishing time to receive any points. So it isn’t possible for any single rider to demolish themselves for the team, then blow a gasket and still pick up points. The mathematically challenged can use this example: If the first three riders cross the line in exactly 60 minutes then the fourth rider would have to finish before the 63rd minute to pick up any points.

Q. Who was Clyde Marshall?

A. Clyde Marshall is still alive and kicing, God bless his soul. He hails from the Cessnock Cycling Club and for many years almost single-handedly kept the Central Division concept going. He has stepped back from a lot of the organisational work these days so you might see him out racing in the lower grades from time to time. Knowing Clyde he'll be trying to steal a win with his guile and a little bit of tenacity. Be sure to say G'Day if you see him.