Published on 07/12/2005

South Park, Pennsylvania - In an effort to stay ahead of the game, the NBL was testing out a transponder based scoring system......

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South Park, Pennsylvania - In an effort to stay ahead of the game, the NBL was testing out a transponder based scoring system in South Park, the same system that is used at all UCI sanctioned events such as the UCI Worlds and Supercross events. According to the NBL's Jeff Sack, the transponder system will eventually eliminate the need for finishline scoring personnel. The transponder is actually a plastic device containing a microchip that attaches to the rider's front axle. When the gate drops, a timer is activated. As each competitor crosses the finish line, a sensor records when each microchip crosses the plane of the finish line and gives each rider an elapsed time down to the thousandth of a second, making it virtually impossible to mistake each rider's placing in each moto. From there a computer program scores each rider and can formulate moto sheets based on the information gathered from the transponders.

This system was developed by AMB Identification and Timing based out of Smyrna, Georgia. AMB is the same company that does the timing for the UCI Worlds and most recently at the UCI Supercross race in Aigle, Switzerland on June 18 and 19, 2005. The Swiss Supercross race was the first time the UCI has implemented the Olympic-style moto format. In the Olympic format, all riders have two qualifying laps on day one. The 48 fastest riders then qualify to race in day two's four rounds of competition where the top four in each round advance to the next round. Lane choice in round one is determined by the fastest qualifying lap times then in each following round, from the previous round's fastest times.