Ranking enhancement proposal

[Peter Klang]

First out I would like to give Corky a big Standing applause for putting the world Ranking System up on the web. This is in no way a blow off to his work. See this as a next step in his work. I have given some of you a first peak at this and taken in some responses. One that I think was very good is to do have pre set statuses, but no limit on how many. Status is pre set from history. Example, Paris always has a lot of racers, they would with in this system be a Major, but can be reduced to main if the the Americans would choose not to come. Organizers will receive the status they historically lived up to. This would work as an incentive to work hard as a promoter to put on great events and really market the event long before race day. This will increase information flow to the racers and give them better info and more time to plan there session. Racers won’t feel the session is shot if they miss one main event. It will be more races to get your points. The point system will reflect your place in more fair way.

I would like you to look at this and get back to me with ideas and thoughts. Remember that this is for you – the racers and organizers best.

There has been some discussion on various forums regarding the current point system and ranking status on competitions. I as a racer want the opportunity to get my travel tickets as far in advance as possible to get the lowest possible cost and to minimize my use of vacation days from work. As a race organizer I want to get a great starting field (which require high status and/or a big prize purse).

To focus both racers and organizers energy towards skateboarding I feel we need a system that solve the status by itself and have a point system who reflects accurate points to how hard the competition actually was.

I studied the races from Europe and USA 2003-2005 and noticed a big difference in points earned. Before I go into some examples I just want to say a great starting field makes it more interesting for all.

I looked at some of the races and noted that some competitions with Prime status had harder/better starting fields compared to some Main events. I also saw what happened if we put two great events to close to another, like Antibes and Morro bay in 2005.

To understand my point there are some things to bear in mind.

• I made a list of the top 16 ranked Europeans.
• I made a list of the top 16 ranked Americans (USA and Canada)
• I looked how many of these racers came to the events.

Following results in some events:

• Paris 2005 (Major) great starting field 15 Europeans and 12 Americans
• Stockholm 2005 (Main) great starting field 13 Europeans and 13 Americans
• Gruningen 2005 (Main) 13 Europeans
• Antibes 2005 (Main) 9 Top 13 racers, 12 racers in the Pro class total.
• Hannover 2005 (Prime) 7 Top 16 racers from Europe
• Monaco Cone 2005 (Basic) 7 Top 16 racers from Europe
• Morro Bay 2005 (Major) 15 Americans and 2 Europeans
• Red Clay 2005 (Main) 12 American Top 16 Racers
• The Farm 2005 (Main) 7 American Top 16 racers
• Hood River 2005 (Main) 6 American Top 16 Racers
• Colorado Cup June 11 2005 (Prime) 6 American Top 16 racers

There is a big difference when comparing 2004 too 2005 in Antibes and Morro bay. In 2004 it looked as following

• Antibes 2004 (Main) 13 European and 3 American Top 16 Racers
• Morro Bay 2004 (Major) 12 American and 7 European Top 16 Racers

And in 2005 as following

• Antibes 2005 (Main) 9 European and 0 American Top 16 Racers
• Morro Bay 2005 (Major) 15 American and 2 European Top 16 Racers

These two great events were put too close to each other and both suffered. However it enabled for some racers to pick up big point even if you did not do that well.

Another issue in this argument is the points in itself. It’s not a big difference in points, not enough to really reflect the difference in taking a 12th place and those who make it to the semi final.

Using the current ranking 12: th place gives you 308 points in a Main and if you make it through to top 8 you have 340 points. To go thru to semi final at a Main event is hard (should be any way) but that only gives you 400 points. A difference of only 60 points from the top 8 and only 92 points from 12th place.

If you make it to the Final and even if you Win - Hurra! You get 500 points. Well that’s all great but you only need to place 11th at a Major to get 504 point, hell even I have done that. To win a Prime gives you 390 points. Basically you only have to enter a Major to get 390 points.

The new system will give incentives to organizer to put up web-sites with information long in advance for racers to easy plan their travel and know what to expect. Good organization will make racers to come back and Organizers will avoid putting events to close to other big events. Racers will be awarded points after how hard the starting field was and will also be given a chance to decide how many events they want.

Your best 8 races will count regardless of where you earned them. It could be one race in Paris but three in Morro Bay. Remember there is a BIG difference in placing top 4 compare to 16th, the points should show just that.

To get a certain status, it’s the number of top racers that attend the race, not what has been decided and said in advance. Below is the minimum number of top racers that I’m suggesting that need to attend a race for the different statuses. Keep the numbers in mind when you view the new point system that I’m proposing further down.

• Major in Europe, 12 European and 6 American Top 16 racers
• Major in America, 12 American and 4 European Top 16 Racers
• Main in Europe, 12 European Top 16 racers
• Main in America, 12 American Top 16 racers
• Prime in Europe, 6 European Top 16 racers
• Prime in America, 6 American Top 16 racers
• Basic in Europe, 4 European Top 16 racers
• Basic in America, 4 American Top 16 racers

America only needs four Europeans compared to six Americans in Europe to get a Major status but we Europeans have not travelled to America even close in comparison to how much effort the Americans are doing coming over to Europe. So if we have many great organizers putting on many event do to good marketing, early information and/or big prize purse why should we have restrictions on the number of events being of a certain status, why should we have to go through all the bullshit fighting for status, let the racers decide by there presence at a race.

Let’s have fun racing and let’s have a fair point system.

Following racers are Top 16 (America gets top 17 due to their domination in the current ranking)

Taken from the World Ranking 2005.

1 Luca Giammarco ITA 4370
2 Chris Hart SUI 3864
3 Ramón Königshausen SUI 3803
4 Maurus Strobel SUI 3741
5 Janis Kuzmins LAT 3428
6 Paul Price GBR 3151
7 Anders Hellquist SWE 3111
8 Christoph Baumann GER 3045
9 Marcus Seyffarth SWE 2769
10 Jean-Paul Alavoine FRA 2734
11 Stephan Hinzen GER 2716
12 Peter Klang SWE 2631
13 Salvis Skarainis LAT 2473
14 Gints Gailitis LAT 2404
15 Jojo Linder SUI 2382
16 Pierre Samray FRA 2349


1 Jason Mitchell USA 4290
2 Kenny Mollica USA 4130
3 Michael Dong USA 3817
4 Chris Barker USA 3619
5 Mike Maysey USA 3585
6 David Hackett USA 3514
7 Richy Carrasco USA 3347
8 David Pirnack USA 3281
9 Noah Heinle USA 3036
10 Steve Olson USA 2989
11 Keith Hollien USA 2972
12 Gary Fluitt USA 2971
13 Brent Kosick USA 2924
14 Jonathan Harms USA 2838
15 Claude Regnier CAN 2835
16 Barret Deck USA 2754
17 Bobby Mandarino USA 2652

Given the format above the points will look like.

MAJOR MAIN PRIME BASIC
1 1 400 1 000 700 400
2 1 260 900 630 360
3 1 134 810 567 324
4 1 021 729 510 292
5 919 656 459 262
6 827 590 413 236
7 744 531 372 213
8 670 478 335 191
9 603 430 301 172
10 542 387 271 155
11 488 349 244 139
12 439 314 220 126
13 395 282 198 113
14 356 254 178 102
15 320 229 160 92
16 288 206 144 82
17 259 185 130 74
18 233 167 117 67
19 210 150 105 60
20 189 135 95 54
21 170 122 85 49
22 153 109 77 44
23 138 98 69 39
24 124 89 62 35
25 112 80 56 32
26 101 72 50 29
27 90 65 45 26
28 81 58 41 23
29 73 52 37 21
30 66 47 33 19
31 59 42 30 17
32 53 38 27 15
33 48 34 24 14
34 43 31 22 12
35 39 28 19 11
36 35 25 18 10
37 32 23 16 9
38 28 20 14 8
39 26 18 13 7
40 23 16 11 7
41 21 15 10 6
42 19 13 9 5
43 17 12 8 5
44 15 11 8 4
45 14 10 7 4
46 12 9 6 3
47 11 8 5 3
48 10 7 5 3
49 9 6 4 3
50 8 6 4 2
51 7 5 4 2
52 6 5 3 2
53 6 4 3 2
54 5 4 3 2
55 5 3 2 1
56 4 3 2 1
57 4 3 2 1
58 3 2 2 1
59 3 2 2 1
60 3 2 1 1
61 3 2 1 1
62 2 2 1 1
63 2 1 1 1
64 2 1 1 1
65 2 1 1 0


All events that in 2005 lived up to these requirements can call themselves World Cup race and promote their race as such. If there is a new Organizer he/she has to put on an event the first year without calling it World Cup until he/she has 4 confirmed Top 16 riders coming to the event. To get a web-site is strongly recommended.

Following this format 2006 will allow Buckeye, Ottawa, Hood River, Red Clay, Boulder, La Costa, Pump Station, The Farm, Texas Sizzler, Paris, Hannover, Gruningen, Riga, Brixlegg, Stockholm, Antibes and many more to get Main/Prime Status/points.

As for the Championships;
• The World Championship 2006 in Brixlegg
• World Championship 2007 America
• World Championship 2008 Europe
• European Championship 2006 in Riga
• American Championship 2006 in Colorado?

• The European and American Championships should be decided by each continent itself, as for the Euros I think it should be in different countries every year. The Location should be decided before New Year by the committee.
• The committee has representatives from ISSA and big race organizers, each having one vote.
• The World Championship should be in Americas every other year (2007) and in Europe (2006) every other year, until other regions get to a level of slalom racing where they can organize such event.
• The decision of location should be made in the same fashion as the American Championship and/or the European Championships


The new system will still only count each racer 8 best results. The difference will be the opportunity to get satisfying results according to the rider’s personal goals. The point awarded will better reflect the true value of a placing in a race. Finally will the argument of who should or shouldn’t receive certain status. This system will allow the Organizers and the riders to determent the status on a race and truly give the sport a professional fair status and ranking system that we all can use in search of event sponsors and personal sponsors.

Please give me your response
Peter.klang@seb.se
+46-8-703-76 86 96

[Jadranko Radovanovic]

Peter,

I think your proposal can be an important thing in the ISSA members (private section) on the Forum. We will discuss there about a body and bring the ideas and thoughts together.

I hadn't got time yesterday to get some topics running (because of work) but i will be able over the weekend.

I will feel free to post a copy of your post in the privat section Forum.

I saw you aren't on the list, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to join it.

25$ or 20€ paypal to issa@slalomskateboarder DOT com

/J-Rad