Will there be any practice time at the airport on Thursday or Friday??

We will be arriving around Thursday lunch time and be good to check the surface, etc before getting straight into racing on Saturday??

Pictures from todays SOO3 Pre-Event NBN News Story....
on air 12/11/2009 6pm NBN TV NEWS.


Abby getting interviewed ..

Brett from BBKC/Qld Club getting interviewed ..

John from Hunter Hawks/NSW Club getting interviewed ..

Journalist ..Johnathon from NBN NEWS trys land sailing

NBN News Cameraman Brett, Gets some great Tracking shots in a Blokart

Cool ! Good to see everything is going well!! Hot and windless in Melbourne!!

On behalf of the victorious Victorian team consisting of Jon Guymer,John Buzzo,John Toomath,Ray Brett,Brian Campbell,Ben Lazzar and myself we are proud to announce that Victoria is the State of Origin winners led strongly from the front by team captain Ben Lazzar some very good individual performances over the weekend but also a great team performance with every one getting high average placings. The event was held at Evans Head aerodrome NSW in some very trying and mostly light wind conditions which seemed to bring the best out of the Victorian Team who basically gave the other states a lesson in how to Blokart consistanly in all conditions,will post results when we get them but for now back to planning for defence of the trophy on our home soil. G

Re Scoring System
The results for the State of Origin shows
-----Qld- Vic- NSW
Win-- 2-- 2-- 1
2nd-- 1-- 1-- 3
3rd -- 3-- 0-- 2
4th -- 4-- 1-- 0
5th -- 3-- 1-- 1

Can someone explain how the trophy went to Victoria?
If averages are taken into account, does this mean future events will turn into a rep team only event and there is no use sending extra competitors that want to have a go.
If Victoria could have found enough from their state to fill their team to similar numbers to us, then the result would have been very different.
Their competitors did sail well, as did a lot of others, but to only send a select team and then a scoring system that suits small teams is a bit harsh on the other teams that can supply a full field.
Maybe a rule needs to be added to qualify for the overall trophy, a minimum number of competitors must be fielded.
If a minimum field cannot be met then the individual can run for an individual trophy but not the team trophy.
Another way to average out the score is for the team that doesn't fill the quota to take maximum points + 1 for each vacant position.
This would encourage all states to bring as many competitors as possible and help to make this great sport grow.

Darren
Proud to be a Queenslander.
CQBC

I would just like to thank Danny, John, Rick, the time keepers and all the NSW blokart Club members for an awesome and well run event.

The venue was fantastic with an amazing turn out of competitors from 3 different states, it's always good to catch up with some familiar faces to race against,
Something this sport of blokarting shows, is that regardless who wins we tend to walk away with a feeling of camaradarie and asking when and where is the next event

Once again, thanks to all concerned for a well run 2 day blokart event.

Cheers
Phil C

Oh i neally forgot, congratulations and Top Honors to the Victorian team for taking home the Prestigous " State of Origin Cup ".....Well Done Guys but be prepared for next years challenge.

BeeGee said...

Darren,

The scoring system catered for the different number of competitors such that the fact Victoria had fewer competitors did not impact the results in any way. The scoring took into account all results from all competitors in all races except the kids and ladies races. The scores were added then scaled up to adjust for the team size. Because of Victoria's smaller team size, its results were scaled up far more for us than the other two. The scoring system did not suit smaller teams any more than it suited larger teams.

With all due respect, by merely looking at the top 5 places, you neglect to account for the fact the lower places were dominated by NSW and Qld. These were incorporated in the scoring just as much as the top 5 and so the apparent discrepancy is easy to explain.

As for the 'selection' of team members, I am sure my colleagues would tell you that had we selected our team members, I would not have been among them. I did have a better series than I usually have, but regardless, we left many better competitors behind. Probably the only advantage we had was the fact that we are all well experienced sailing on bitumen, and we have the ripped luff pockets to prove it.

Brian

So the way I read the results Victoria were given a 2:1 loading. Am I correct? Because that's the way it reads.

Brian I see your logic in this scoring method but I fail to see the necessity for it. Fielding a comparable sized team to the other states and points allocated without a loading would have been a far fairer way of doing things. Complicating the issue by weighting scores does nothing for the credibility of an event such as this. In fact it reminds me of the bad old days of the America's Cup.
Considering the individual finishing positions of the MBC contingent, they raced extremely well. But that doesn't make for a competition win under any other points system I have seen in any credible professional or amateur sport.
The fact that the scoring formula wasn't made public prior to competition also raises questions.
I'm sorry Brian but if a team of seven can defeat a field of 44 we have some serious ethical issues to address with regards to scoring formula's in this sport.

Hi Guys,

I don't know Brian C. very well, in fact I only just met him at the weekend, but I do now realise the man has the patience of a saint !! .. On behalf of the NSW Club, many thanks Brian, for taking the time to patiently explain the Equaliser / normaliser we used to even out the imbalanced team numbers. (Please note well : this was used with the Best of Intention, and Fairness in mind, ... no other reason or purpose)

As Brian has pointed out - no "Secrets" have been kept from anyone, or any club, ... its just good old mathematics.

Below is a scan of the Equaliser/Normaliser we used - it had been checked, and double checked before we installed the SOO3 Event final scores.



If you look at the RAW scores, at the top of spreadsheet (non-normalised), keeping in mind this is a "Low-Point Scoring Sytem"... Vic would have won, followed by NSW, but as we all know this is not a true indication/reflection of the numbers each team entered... Yes ?

NSW Club intends to set-up Rules & Score Guidelines for future events and we are more than happy to make public any scoring system used.

Some people don't realise NSW Club put a hell of a lot of effort into securing this Event's Venue - please keep in mind everything was organised remotely, not locally.

Please also realise - this is an Unique "Team Building Event" in Australia at this present time, ... others are individual based events, .. I agree with Phil C. when he says " lets remember the feeling of Camaraderie from an event like this .. " Its the great people that make the Event.

The local community, just like the local Council(Richmond Valley Council), at Evans Head welcomed us, and our Sport, with open arms - We should spend our efforts embracing this Positive ! .. and I sincerely hope it serves as an example to other councils, around our big country.

With the ABA Nationals just around the corner(March), save your energies for the next competition, because its back to every man (or woman) for themself.

Below is the back page of Todays Local Paper(Lismore/Richmond Valley/Evans Head area), its great publicity for Our Sport - My appologies for headline - Journalistic Freedom I'm afraid.. no puns intended towards Vic.



This Newspaper Clipping Courtesy Brett F. from BBKC - thanks Brett.

Regards
John S.

Congratulations on holding such a successfull event and getting such good publicity for the sport - well done all. Hopefully there'll be an SA team in the near future!

Looks like you all had a great time. I couldnt make it again this year because it falls on my wedding anniversary and sons birthday.

If the dates are different next year then ill be there for sure.

Great results and looking forward to the Nats in march. All the best.

Joe Millen

"State of Origin 3".. Great Newspaper Story : Evans Head Local paper




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... another "State of Origin 3".. Newspaper Story : Lismore Local paper