Thanks Allan. By running one scratch race at each meeting where the lap times are taken into account, but no points, no speed bar, it gives those who want to push a bit, the opportunity to race fairly hard without being slowed down by the traffic.

They then have to accept that those times set in the scratch race are still going to be used for the handicaps anyway, so if they decide to use a different tyre in the scratch race, they run the risk of being over handicapped. Their choice, their risk. Remember we also use historical lap times too, so that faster time rolls over to future meetings.

I still stand by the credo that it is not only all about participation, but AES is an entry level race series for those graduating from Classic Trials and we owe it to them to not be frightened off by having to spend megabucks to keep up. As long as their lap times are acceptable (ie. not too slow - in which case they should revert to trials) we want them to stay.