No need to card these three famous guys! Feets Minert, Alan Olson and Lars Larsson race every weekend, but their combined age is 210 years.
ASK THE MXPERTS:
THE INFAMOUS CHERRYPICKER QUESTION REARS ITS UGLY HEAD
Dear MXA,
I have been been racing as a Vet (Over-30) for a couple of years, but recently a guy showed up in my class (30+ Junior) who isn't 30 (he was in the same grade as my younger brother in school). He is winning the class, but is only 28. Should I blow the whistle on him or just ride harder and try to beat him? How does MXA handle cherry pickers? We cry like little babies. We even try to get our friends moved out of the class if they are winning. We badmouth them to their wives, kids or grannies.
In age-graded classes, every race promoter has an ethical responsibility to look at the driver's license of any rider in question to make sure they are Over-30, Over-40 or Over-50 (and even if the guy turns 30, 40 or 50 the very next day, he should wait and come back tomorrow).
The point of having different classes (which in SoCal are Beginner, Junior, Intermediate and Expert) are to match the skill levels of the riders to provide fair and safe racing. Cherrypicking violates the whole concept of classes and allows cheating riders to steal not only trophies, but the entry money from the riders who paid to race in the correct class.
In a sport where there are classes for Over-30, Over-40, Over-50 and Over-60 year old riders, there is a lot of fudging on ages...but it is cheating (plain and simple) to move up an age group before your time (we are, of course, quoting one of the greatest racers of all-time--Orson Welles).
There are valid reasons for a rider to move down from Intermediate to Novice (or even Pro to Intermediate), but no one should ever be allowed to move down and win. If a rider feels that he needs to move down because he was off for several months or has been injured, he loses that excuse as soon as he does well.
You can send your questions or comments to mxa@hi-torque.com
