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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 4, 2019 P127 of variables (weather), then I'd buy into it. Until then, the MXoN is a very prestigious one-day race that is, without question, worth pursu- ing and winning. Come Monday morning; however, it's back to reality. We just had an excellent ex- ample of why an all-or-nothing, winner-take-all, final-race format loses its luster. What if the Budds Creek National was the final round of the series, and everyone on the starting line began the day reset with zero points or something like that? Shane McElrath would be the 250MX Champion right now. Up until Budds Creek, however, McElrath was not on anyone's radar and not a championship contender. I'm not taking anything away from McElrath, he's champi- onship material, that goes with- out saying, but just not this past season. For whatever reason, he was having a tough time up to the Budds Creek race. His best finish before Budds was a fourth and his average moto finish going into Budds was around 10th. If Budds were a one-day, winner-take-all championship, well, he would be wearing the number-one plate right now, and that would feel a little weird to me, especially after having watched Adam Cianciarulo and Dylan Ferrandis battle it out so hard for wins all summer long. No, I'm not hip to a playoff system that leads to a one-race, whoever- wins-takes-the-championship final. At least in NASCAR's playoff system, you don't have to win the final race to take the title but you do have to finish ahead of the four other qualifiers. However, I wouldn't be op- posed to trying some playoff-type system in motocross. Perhaps make the first six, seven or eight rounds (whatever you chose) of a 12-round series, as we have now in MX, a sort of "qualifier" series for the remaining however-many rounds. The qualifying riders— perhaps 10-20 of them—would then be eligible for championship points (using the same system we have now) given away during those remaining rounds. (Non- qualifying riders would still be allowed to race the final six, five, or four rounds and go for points like they usually do. This would be good for privateers and their resumes.) You could also throw in some bonus-point system for the top riders from the first six, seven or eight rounds, and that would keep them interested in doing their best even after they've already qualified for title conten- tion early in the season. With this system, riders would still be rewarded for being consistent and adapting best to ever-changing racing conditions over the summer months; these are two things that I think are essential elements when it comes to granting something championship status, especially when it comes to outdoor MX. Keep in mind that even if you went with just, say, four rounds, that would still amount to eight motos; five rounds would amount to 10 motos; six rounds 12 motos! That is still a lot of racing. Also, multiply all those motos by 30-plus min- utes, and you still have what I feel qualifies as constancy status for a motocross championship. Per- haps you could have one throw- away moto in the championship rounds so one first-turn pileup or one loose radiator hose doesn't end your title hopes right then and there. Plus, with this system, you still have to be fast, consistent and you'd always have a handful of deserving riders still in the cham- pionship hunt at the final race. This system might sound a little familiar; it's somewhat similar to what the AMA Arenacross Cham- pionship utilized during its final few seasons. It wasn't perfect, I know, but it did keep my interest in the series right down to the last race, which I couldn't say happened many times before going to their playoff method. NASCAR's playoff system seems to be working well, as does NHRA's. Unfortunately, no points sys- tem is going to be perfect. You'll probably be able to poke holes in whatever formula you come up with, and unseen flaws will inevi- tably pop up no matter how hard you try not letting that happen. But again, I'm okay leaving things the way they are now. It's not a broken system by any means; as I said, it's worked pretty well up to this point. But, hey, could something be better? I'm open to ideas. Got any? CN