On August 13th we’ll again be operating our bonus award system, in addition to the traditional 1st-2nd-3rd format. You might be wondering how the bonus system works. Well, here’s how.
For this event we have 108 riders, which is quite a convenient number as it divides nicely by 9, 12, 27, 4, 6 and 18. Why does this matter? Well, it means that we can carve up the field into lots of smaller fields of equal size. In the end we went for six groups of 18. It doesn’t always work out so nicely, but generally we’re able to divide the event into several mini-events of roughly equal size.
Then we rely on the magic of Spindata to place riders into groups based on their expected performances on the day. Spindata is a statistical model that tracks the performances of many thousands of rides each year and ranks all active TT riders into what is effectively a very long league table. This enables a prediction/forecast the 108 riders at our upcoming event — the idea being that if all riders perform in line with their recent history, then they can be expected to finish in a specific order on the day.
So we’ve taken that expected finishing order and used it to define six groups — the theory being that the riders in each group are roughly on par with other, based on current form. Here’s how it looks:
| GROUP 1 | GROUP 2 | GROUP 3 | GROUP 4 | GROUP 5 | GROUP 6 |
| Jon HOWARD | Richard LLEWELLYN | Martin LINES | Roger WHITTLE | Paul ROGOLL | John HOWELLS |
| Matt FISHER | James MCGRATH | Rufus KING | Tony LAKE | Andrew ALCORN | Peter WILSON |
| Steven COTTINGTON | Mark WOOLFORD | Haydn DAVIES | Daniel KEMPE | Roger WOOD | Chris JONES |
| Conrad MOSS | Jonathan SAYCE | Phillip TURNER | Paul HEWITT | Paul BRICKELL | Peter LOADER |
| Karl NORRIS | Matthew HILL | Christopher NEWBY | Matthew LLOYD-LEWIS | Stephan WILCOX | Simon JACKSON |
| Tony CHAPMAN | Steven PINK | Michael PORTLOCK | Mark HAZELL | Steven BUCKLEY | Peter OWEN |
| Paul JONES | Jonathan MILLS-KEELING | Gary JONES | Marco MARLETTA | Mike BROADBENT | Robert JONES |
| Jack KELLAM | Tim RADLEY | Daryl STROUD | Chris LEA | Digby RUSLING | Neil BROOKS |
| Tim WOOD | Dan KINGSTON | Graham ROGERSON | Justin FORD | Peter IFFLAND | Russell BOON |
| Andy CRITCHLOW | Daniel WYATT | Vincent DOUGLAS | Steven LORAINE | Adrian OSBORN | Ian DEAKIN |
| Robert FRANCIS | Jeremy ADDIS | Simon DIGHTON | Paul WINCHCOMBE | Hugh DAVIES | David ENGLAND |
| Henrik PERSSON | Lee FRANCIS | Mark BRADLEY | Steve DUMMETT | Cliff VOLLER | Donald PARKER |
| Anthony JONES | Andrew J PARNOWSKI | Neil GREGORY | John MARINKO | Tom COX | Michael COLLINS |
| Samuel WADSLEY | Iwan MORTON | Matthew RUSSELL | Karl MOSELEY | Andy KELLY | Michelle LINDLEY |
| Owen BURGESS | Keith DORLING | Lee HOWARTH | Tim FLETCHER | Seb NAVARRO | Emma DAVIES |
| Jake SARGENT | Mark HAMER | George THORNE | Roxy WOODFIELD | Andrew SIMPKINS | Roxanne JONES |
| Christopher GIBBARD | Chris JONES | Mark SANDERS | Emma WYATT | Bethan OUSELEY | Joanna KNIGHT |
| Kate ALLAN | Andrew METHERELL | Robbie DISNEY | Claire EMONS | Joanne JAGO | Lisa ELLIOTT |
Regardless of age or gender, Spindata tells us that the riders in each group are of roughly similar ability based on their current form. We’re awarding a bonus prize to the fastest rider in each group, and this means that riders right across the spectrum all have a fighting chance of picking up an award if they outperform expectations on the day.
We like this idea because it means that riders at all levels have can compete against others who, quite literally, are in their league — they won’t all be challenging for the top honours but they can still earn a contribution to their travel costs if they can beat their peers.
So that’s it. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the system has proved very popular in the past and we’ll continue to operate a version of it into the future.