Welsh Championship Guidelines 2020
Classes
The classes for the 2020 Welsh Championship are based on bikes, and are as follows. They are recommended though not compulsory at Welsh Championship meetings and are in line with the AMCA rulebook.
| Class | Comment | Number Boards (as per AMCA) |
|---|---|---|
| Pre 60 | Eligibility as per AMCA, see section 34 for specific items for pre60 | White Plates, Black Numbers |
| Pre 65 / Metisse | Eligibility as per AMCA. suspension: forks 190mm travel, max 35mm diameter. 120mm rear shock travel. | Black Plates, White Numbers |
| Pre 68 up to 350cc | As per new (2016) AMCA rules and bike list in handbook | Blue Plates, White Numbers, with ‘<‘ symbol visible on the board |
| Pre 68 over 350cc | As above, but bikes over 350cc | Blue Plates, White Numbers |
| Pre 74 up to 250cc | Eligibility as per AMCA. Forks 200mm (7.5″) travel, max 35mm diameter. 110mm (4.5″) rear shock travel, and should not be laid down. Maximum capacity 250cc. | Green Plates, White Numbers |
| Pre 74 over 250cc | Eligibily as per AMCA rules for pre74 machines, with same comments as pre74 250cc. | Red Plates, WhiteNumbers |
| Pre 78 | Any bike made before 31 Dec 1977 and available during the 1978 season and that are not pre74 eligible. Must be AMCA Twinshock eligible. | To be determined (no AMCA spec) |
| Twinshock | As per AMCA eligibility rules (these are not covered in the Classic rule book). Any bike manufactured with two rear shock absorbers with drum brakes and air cooled including up to 1984 Husqavarnas, pre 1982 Monoshock Yamahas and water cooled originals that were manufactured pre 1982. Forks must not be greater than 46mm diameter. Certain specials will be permitted provided they are within the spirit of twinshock racing. Bikes should not be eligible for any earlier classes, ie pre74. | Yellow Plates, Black Numbers |
| Twinshock 125cc | As above, but up to 125cc capacity. | To be determined (no AMCA spec) |
| Evo (at host club discretion) | Pre 1989 monoshock, liquid cooled, disk brakes | Any |
The AMCA Classic rulebook can be found here on the AMCA website (and the sections 22-36 in particular). Post 1974 classes (pre78, Twinshock and Evo) are covered in the main AMCA rule book here, again in PDF and are the afterthough included in Section 36, page 20.
Race Order
Depending on the number entries, the following race order will be usually be adopted, so to show how classes might be combined. This is allow clubs to other classes to be included so as to make meetings viable. Note this a suggested race order, based on previous meetings and how best to combine classes. Clubs may run meetings differently, based on the entries received and run classes in their own races.
- Pre60 / Pre65
- Twinshock
- Pre68 upto 350 / Pre74 upto 250cc
- Sidecars (optional)
- Pre78 + Twinshock 125 B and D Groups
- Modern (optional)
- Twinshock 125 A Group
- Pre68 over 350 / Pre74 over 250
- Evo (optional)
Machine Eligibility
The Welsh Clubs and Championship takes a relatively flexible approach to bike eligibility and prefers people to ride rather than not. The process for complaints for machine eligibility is also outlined in the AMCA Classic rulebook. As a rule of thumb, a bike should ride in the earliest class for which it is eligible.
Classic bikes, (pre74 and earlier) cannot be used to ride in post-classic (ie Twinshock) classes and many clubs will stop people riding in later classes even if they are looking for an additional race. This is because of accidents caused by combing classic and post classic classes in the past.
Scoring
The aim of the scoring system used for the solo classes is to reward race wins but also to allow some flexibility for riders who miss rounds (as there are no dropped points/rounds in the Welsh Championship.
For Classic and Pre78 classes:
1st – 25, 2nd – 22, 3rd – 20, 4th – 18, 5th – 16, 6th – 15, ….. .. 20th – 1
For the Twinshock class only
1st – 35, 2nd – 32 3rd – 30, 4th – 28, 5th – 26, 6th – 25 …… 30th – 1
Some guidance around the scoring:
- one bike can only score championship points in one class at a meeting; the same rider can ride two different bikes in two classes and score in both.
- to score points, the bike has to be eligible for the class
- you may change bikes during the season and still score points in the same class, if that bike is eligible.
Welsh Championship scoring is done from the lap-scoring sheets provided by the clubs (and occasionally from transponder output) and not done directly by the Coordinator. Decisions over eligibility and the interpretation of the sheets is down to the Coordinator and his decision is final .
Rider Numbers
The Welsh Championship doesn’t allocate numbers, riders should use their AMCA rider number. Riders on day licenses may need to change from their normal rider number if it clashes with that of an AMCA license holder in the same races. AMCA license holders are required to use their allocated AMCA number.
In some cases Riders have asked to use a number they might use in other series (such as UK Evo or National Twinshock) and this is possible as long as it does not clash with a rider number of an AMCA rider.
The definitive list of AMCA license holders and rider numbers (2019)
Race Length
This is usually determined by number of laps, with the aim of providing a race length of 8-10 minutes. Some clubs in 2020 may want to run races based on time elapsed, say of 8-10 minutes +1 Lap to ensure consistent race lengh between the classes.
Licenses
AMCA license holders should expect to show their current valid license when signing on for all meetings.