Inside a Night at the Oval

Night at the Oval is always fun, but each night of track-inspired bike racing is also a bit different.
Part of that is down to who shows up and how many people are racing. Another part is how many races we can fit in and which races we do.
So how does it all work?

Stephen Mally/The Gazette-KCRG TV9

Each night racers are divided into groups depending on how many are racing. Often that's just A & B, but we'll see. The groups take turns racing on Hawkeye Downs' 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile, &/or 1/8 mile tracks, allowing for multiple short races with rest periods between.

The   Fun   Stuff   (Races)

How many races we fit in and which we do varies from night to night. Here's a rundown on the types of races we might do. But don't study this too hard, as before each race a handsome USA Cycling official* will remind us all of how the race is run. (*Yes, I'm kissing up shamelessly, but NatO would never happen without our handsome USAC officials.)

Most nights each group starts out with a scratch race. This is a straight forward criterium (a circuit race on a shorter circuit) with no turns. However-many laps around the 1/2 mile oval track and the race is scored entirely on the finish order. Why is it called a scratch race? I dunno. If you know, leave a comment.

photo by Angy Snoop (angysnoop.smugmug.com)

Another favorite is the points race. Points are awarded to the first three riders on every sprint lap, usually every second or third lap. Riders who score points are placed based on their total. Riders who don't score points are placed behind them in the order they finish the last lap.

"I run the snowball quite a bit," says (handsome) USAC official Larry Howe. "It's a variant of the points race. Sprint laps every other lap, but only first place gets points. How many points increases each sprint: two for the first sprint, four points for the second, six for the third sprint, and ten points for the finish." Riders with points are placed accordingly. Riders without are placed behind them based on their finish.

Win & out is just what it sounds like: the first rider across the line on each lap wins the lap and retires from the race. The winner of lap #1 wins first place, of lap #2 is second, and so on for however many laps. Riders remaining on the final lap are scored in their order of finish.

Devil take the hindmost isn't quite as grim as it sounds.

Bruce Timmerman and Larry Howe making it happen.

Basically, it's miss & out -- the last rider each lap is removed and given the respective finish placement. Lap #1's last rider will be last place, lap #2's last rider is second to last, etc. (While cycling would love to take credit for "devil take the hindmost," the proverb predates the bicycle by at least 300 years.)

In the big C race things start to get a little crazy. Both the 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile ovals are used to create a circuit like an outline of a C. This multiple lap criterium involves the closest thing to turns and elevation change you'll see all night. It's scored by the finish order.

The spiral of death/spiral of life gets even crazier. One lap each of the 1/2, 1/4, & 1/8 mile ovals in a spiral .... then back out. The course is unique, to say the least

By tradition, the two last 1-lap races of the night don't count in the night's overall results. They're just fun.  Big gear is one lap in ... your biggest gear. Start with both feet on the ground, and it's a rush to clip in and grind up to speed. You're not allowed to shift out or your big gear.

Little gear is one lap in your smallest gear, and the same rules apply. Goofy enough that it's probably good that big gear and little gear don't count. Still, we'll list how everyone finished just for bragging rights.

Scoring   the   Night   at   the   Oval

Night at the Oval is an omnium, a track term for a collection of shorter races. Every racer gets points for each race, and the fewest total points wins.
In each race, explained Howe, "the winner gets one point, 2nd place gets two points, all the way down the line, so 34th place gets 34 points."

photo by Scott Wall (douglasaveimages.smugmug.com)

Sit out a race and you get the maximum points (so one night when 40 people were suffering in the heat, eight people got 40 points for skipping a race and the very last person who actually raced got 32). "The tie breaker is the rider with the highest place finish in any race. If that is equal, it's the finish in the final race of the evening."

Speaking of scoring, with any luck at all racers will be able to follow along as the night's results unfold on CRANDICRacing.com. Fingers crossed...​

Sponsors   and  . . .  Prizes ? ! ? ! ?

Night at the Oval has never made a lot of money. Renting Hawkeye Downs isn't exactly cheap (even when they cut us a deal), so many years the event barely broke even. This year, however, NatO has received a lifeline through the generous sponsorship of four area bike shops: Goldfinch Cyclery, Geoff's Bike & Ski, Sugar Bottom Bikes, and Northtowne Cycling & Fitness. If you enjoy racing Night at the Oval, please let them know that you appreciate their support.
Finances aren't the only reason that prizes are a bit tricky here. We're not even sure which groups will race -- A & B? add a Juniors Group? or Women? a C group strictly for beginners? -- and in the past we couldn't finalize results for days afterward (again, working on it).

In the future hopefully we can offer more prizes, cash, or whatever. For now, though, we can at least do this: in each of whatever group races, the top placed male and female will get a night of free racing whenever they choose at Night at the Oval. Except Juniors, of course, because you all race free anyway.

Registration for Night at the Oval is online only at BikeReg.com.

Come race your bike.