The idea behind this policy is a result of what happened at the Maple Grove National Open a few short weeks ago. A Super Comp racer pulled into the waterbox and was patiently waiting for his first round opponent. Unfortunately, his opponent was unable to get his car started. At that point, the guy in the waterbox should have had a "bye run" and the guy who could not get his car to fire should have been out. However, the official called on the next car in line to pull out and race the guy in the waterbox. After getting his car to start, the other competitor (whose car wouldn't start) was then permitted to run the next guy in line. If you followed all that, you would see that a racer got Screwed out of a bye run and another racer was permitted to run after messing up the pairings. There are many times when I pull into the lanes for first round and dont like who I'm paired up with. But the bottom line is I don't pull out of line in order to avoid racing a "hitter". However, there are people out there who will do just that to get a duck and better their chances of making it to the next round. I am in favor of this new policy and I think it will help stop a certain Super Comp Racer/Transmission builder and his wife from playing games in the Staging lanes.
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