Too fast for Group 3, AFM reassigns to Group 1
In this episode we’ll see me be one of the fastest riders in Practice Group 3, only to be reassigned to Group 1 because I’m “not fast enough”.
I had a discussion with Chris Van Andel at the 2nd round where I expressed my displeasure at the persistent mistreatment I was receiving — and safety issues involved in putting me in Group 1, when the people I was finishing the races near were in Group 4. Chris promises that if I will keep calm and bring my concerns directly to him, he’ll try to address them for me. I left the 2nd Infineon round in hopes of putting all this nonsense behind us.
When I arrive at Round 3, I find that they have somehow lost my pre-registration. So I show them the e-mail confirmation sent from their system — but they swear that the e-mail was impossible, and I had failed to register. Paddy very kindly took me into the office and entered me in the system manually so that I could race. She looked at my times, and assigned me to Practice Group 3.
I went out in Practice Group 3. I found the group surprisingly slow, but thankfully everyone in the group knew where the racing line was and passing safely was easier. And lo and behold, there were people in this group who were fast enough to pass me — first time this had happened all year. It was nice to practice with people at a reasonable pace.
A number of racers came over to talk to me between practices expressing admiration for my pace, and saying they hoped to keep up with me in the race. It was nice, I felt like things were finally settled and I’d be able to enjoy the racing now.
When I went for tech inspection that evening, Grace informed me that my times weren’t fast enough and that I was being moved down to Group 1 again. I asked her what the basis was, as the practice sheets had shown me near the top all day. She said that this was Paddy’s judgement.
Since I had promised to remain calm, I went quietly back to my pits. I waited until the day was over and AFM officers were done with their duties, and then I sought out Chris Van Andel to complain about this. Completely against what he had said at the previous round, Chris informed me that he wouldn’t act as AFM president and interfere in practice group assignments. He said that I needed to show the times Grace wanted to see to be in the group. I brought him a practice group 3 timing sheet and showed him that I was one of the fastest riders in the group. With the facts in front of him, he stonewalled and told me that he wasn’t going to talk with me any more. That if I wanted to race in the AFM, I would have to accept their judgement.
In short, he refused to do anything about the situation — even after he had personally offered to assist me, and claimed he would make sure that I was treated the same as other racers.
So I went and talked to Barbara. Barbara said that assignment was based on times — and that my times in practice today weren’t fast enough. I showed her the sheet which demonstrated that nobody in that group had reached the time she claimed today. I also pointed out that I knew several of the riders in Group 3 personally and they had never reached the times I did today in the group, nevermind the times she listed for being in the group. At this point Barbara said that this was a rule and she was going to enforce that rule.
Yes, it was obvious even to me at this point that the AFM was enforcing one set of rules for me and a different set of rules for everyone else. I didn’t know why, but it was dangerous for everyone. It was dangerous for me trying to do fast laps among the novice racers, and it was dangerous for the novice racers who are being passed at speed by someone who ran times consistently at the top of Practice Group 3.
Next up: How AFM lies about practice group assignments, and how you can see it for yourself.