geoff, thanks for the background info on the original intent for the formation of the class. my suggestions may stray from what that intent may have originally been. wyeth and i were discussing this at the last round and as she mentioned in the thread had similar ideas back when the class was proposed.

most important to me is if this change or any other takes away from the quality of the racing in this class, then it shouldn't happen. this was my first year racing this class and it was really great racing every round and tons of fun. i wouldn't want that to change obviously.

that being said, my intent in allowing ROR riders in was simply to add more of the fastest racers to the class to just make it that much more of a fast class for even those racers like me who aren't running at the front of that pack. when you have ricky, christman and travis graham in there already, it doesn't seem like a stretch to let any of the ROR racers in there if they were interested. but i do recognize good reasons for keeping this a more 'amateur' class in spirit like geoff mentioned.

as far as the form 40 gtu/gto idea, it stems from basically trying to make the class competitive for the 600 riders as well. the top 7 bikes basically every round were all liter bikes, with mostly 600's and a few slightly slower 1000's or similar bringing up everything behind those bikes so it wouldn't change a whole lot for the liter bike riders and would make for some more competitive racing and chances for podiums for the 600s. it isn't just about a chance for a podium although i know that drives a lot of decisions for racers as to what classes to enter. but if both classes continued to have the good turnout that this year had, i think a GTU/GTO division could be something that could attract even more riders to the class. wyeth brings up a great point though about grid size, and there is certainly some question as to whether or not there would be enough overall participation to split it into U and O. i also agree that if it does become a split class that it should still just be a single wave start with both O and U together, unless the grids become big enough to warrant 2 waves.

if there are compelling arguments that this change will negatively impact the basic intent of the class or the quality of the racing, then we should keep it as is. i will still gladly enter this class next year and beyond if it stays unchanged. this class was never about the podiums for me, just a chance to race against the fastest and most experienced in the club since i don't feel comfortable entering ROR at this stage of my own racing experience.