Ron P

Since today kicks off the first of two days of racing in Key West. I thought a discussion about the scoring system might be in order.

This started for me at the award banquet at the SBI Worlds in NO. After having a conversation with Bob Oliver (owner/driver Super V Firewater) about his 3rd place overall finish, I walked away scratching my head.

Three boats ran in Super V. Instigator, Muscle and Firewater. In the first race, Instigator won, Firewater was second and 45 seconds later came Muscle in third.

In the second race, Muscle won (got some different props), Firewater came in second just 20 seconds later and Instigator broke early in the race for a third place.

So, who do you think won the title?????? It ended up being Muscle because a 1st and a 3rd beats two 2nd place finishes. Even though Firewater had the lowest overall elapsed time between the two races, they came in third for the championship.

Do you agree?

Here's how SBI scores.

500 points for first
450 for 2nd
405 for 3rd

There is also a 1-point bonus for each boat beaten in the class. So the points read

502
451
405

So Muscle won with 405 + 502 = 907 (they beat instigator because they went more miles in the two races) over Firewater’s 451 + 451 = 902

Now before ya say "that's just SBI" the same thing would happen in APBA. They use 100, 90, and 81 for 1st - 3rd plus the one point bonus. (They also add 10 point per position for the second race) So if three boats ran in a class and had the same results the score during the first race would be.

102 for 1st
91 2nd
81 3rd

The second race scoring would be

112
101
91

102 + 91 = 193 then two seconds would be worth 192 and the boat that won the second race would score 81 + 112 for 193 as well. So once again a first and a third beats two 2nds.

So it comes down to this question. Should two seconds beat a first and a third? Or at least be equal so time would take over. To me it seems like the score for third place should be a few points lower than 81. More like 78. In SBI, the 405 should be 400 or 395.

Wadda ya tink?

Ron P

No one has a comment?

CigDaze

I agree with that you're saying, Ron. In your example, the guys with the lowest combined race completion times didn't get 1st overall. The system is inversely progressive and doesn't factor in completion times.

How's this?
You start with a base number, like the following:
1st=100
2nd=95
3rd=90
4th=85
5th=80
and so on...

Then, simply factor in your race times. The factor would be based on the first place boat's time divided by subsequent times.

RACE ONE
Let's Say:
Boat A is 1st and took 56min and 08sec. (3368sec)
Boat B is 2nd and took 56min and 57sec. (3417 sec)
Boat C is 3rd and took 58 min 12sec. (3492 sec)

Boat A gets 100 points, period. (His time is the precident)

Boat B gets 95 points multiplied by the time factor:
95 X (3368/3417) = 93.638 points

Boat C gets 90 points times his time factor:
90 X (3368/3492) = 86.804 points.

RACE TWO
Boat C is 1st and took 50min and 39sec. (3039 sec)
Boat B is 2nd and took 51min and 03sec. (3063 sec)
Boat A is 3rd and took 55 min 26sec. (3326 sec)

Boat C gets 100 Points.

Boat B gets 95 X (3039/3063) = 94.255 points

Boat A gets 90 X (3039/3326) = 82.234 points

****************************
It works perfectly. The boat with the best time-weighted finishes gets the rewards. Look, the best total time, gets the best points.

Boat-----Finishes------Total Time----------Total Points
A-----------1,3---------1:51:34(3rd)-------182.234(3rd)
B-----------2,2---------1:48:00(1st)-------187.893(1st)
C-----------3,1---------1:48:51(2nd)------186.804(2nd)



If you don't finish, your points are cut down based on percentage completed. Say you're the second boat to drop out out of a five-boat fleet in the 6th of 11 laps. It would lend itself to reason that you would be considered 4th place, right? That would make it:
85*(6/11) which equals 46.36 points.


What do you think???

Ron P

Now that is a scoring plan that is hard to follow, but will give the true winner the win! Great work.

CigDaze

Thanks Ron. That's what I was trying to come up with.

The 2nd place finisher in the first race is just barely behind 1st place boat. He should be rewarded well for it.

But in the second race, the previous 1st place finisher was way behind in third. He should be equally penalized for a slow third. Meanwhile, again the same 2nd place boat was just behind the 1st place winner. (1st and 3rd shouldn't necessary equal 2nd and 2nd finishes.)

He should be rewarded for it.