Minimum Entries for Clubman Series Status - Blackwood Rally

The WA Executive Council of CAMS recently withdrew the 2008 Blackwood Rally's status as a round of the WA Clubman Cup Series. As such, competitors who competed in this event will not be eligible to receive championship points.

The Executive Council based this decision on their reading of section A16 of the Conditions for Western Australian Rally Championships (CWARCS) which reads "A16 Minimum Entries - The minimum number of total entries for an event to be eligible for Championship or Series status shall be 20. Where a Clubman Series event is held in conjunction with a National Status (ARC) event the minimum number of entries may be reduced to 15."

The Executive Council's interpretation of this rule is that the WARC field must be 20 and the Clubman Series field must also be more than 20 if the events are to qualify for championship status.

This is not the way that rule A16 is read by many competitors and organisers. The Acting Chairman of the Rally Panel, Wendy Walker, requested that Executive Council permit the Blackwood Rally to retain its status as a Clubman Cup Series event, however this request was denied by Council.

In the past this rule has been bypassed. For example, in 2006 the Lewana Stages had less than 20 Clubman Competitors, yet this event retained its Championship status.

If this rule is to be consistently applied to events in 2008, it is highly likely that the Clubman Series will be under threat due to a lower number of crews competing.

Despite this, the Clubman Series remains a robust and competitive championship. As the field competes in seeded order, the field remains competitive. As such the requirement to maintain a minimum of 20 entries has little bearing on the quality of competition. Indeed, 20 is simply an arbitrary number that is not, in any way, based upon the competitiveness of the field.

As the CWARCS for 2008 are yet to be ratified, we have the opportunity to change rule A16, by eliminating the requirement for events to have a minimum number of 20 entries. As the CWARCS are yet to be ratified it may be possible for changes to the CWARCS to be appied retrospectively.

Don't let your Clubman Series die! Value your Clubman Series colleagues! Tell the WA Rally Panel and Executive Council that you don't support rule A16. Most importantly, show that you support this entry level to the sport of rallying by signing this petition.

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