the AMs had a LOT easier quali than the pros, and the course dried up quite a bit while the AMs were qualifying. there's only 1 rider in the top 10 quali who had a 2xx # plate, and he was #10. just look at all of the 300s and 400s towards the front of the quali listing, and you'll see that the course got a lot faster. Most of the people who had numbers in the 200s range were farther down the list...sayndesyn said:A shame that he wasn't racing pro? I think it's hard to judge what class you should be racing if it's your first time on a course and not sure where you would stack up.
http://diablofreeridepark.com/images/pdf/USOPENQUALIFIERRESULTS.pdf
besides, in the final tally, the top 2 of AM would've been #43 and 50 in Pro class. not really sandbagging...