NPS RACE IS WIDE OPEN AT MIDPOINT

Team Fragile Flowers at the 2021 USARA National Championship. The team currently leads in the NPS standings. Photo credit: Ann Ilagen

The 2021-2022 USARA National Points Series (NPS) is still wide open at the midpoint of the season. With no teams at the five scoring race mark, the next three-four months of racing will solidify the top teams heading into the USARA National Championship Sept. 16-17 in the eastern Sierra mountains.


In the NPS standings for the Female-3/4 division, Fragile Flowers is leading the charge after Olga Huber, Shari Hymes, and Barbara Phipps finished third at the Shenandoah Epic. In the Male-3/4 division, Some Assembly Required  with members John Farley, David Farley, and Rick Keilty, is out in front. 


There is a tie for first in the premier Mixed-3/4 division between Rootstock Racing and Strong Machine after Rootstock's win at the Shenandoah Epic Regional Championship. Rootstock Racing has three scoring races to Strong Machine's four. Look for both of these teams to add to their total. Rib Mountain Racing, VERT, and ARGeorgia round out the top five.


“The NPS season brought to you by Toyota Tundra is off to a great start,” says Michael Garrison, USARA Executive Director. “We are really interested to see how the next couple of weeks shakes things up with  lots of races on the calendar.”

The races to watch on the calendar are the Regional Championships (RCs), including the Blue Ridge AR and the Mission AR---both scheduled for the weekend of May 6-8 in two different parts of the country. The Longest Day follows on May 14-15. In addition to the free entry for the mixed division winner into the National Championship, all division teams receive five NPS bonus points for their participation.

Teams earn points based on a sliding scale dependent on the length of the race and their overall finishing position. For example, Strong Machine AR received 105 NPS points for their win at the 2021 Hard Fall 24 Regional Championship—100 points for winning a race between 15-36 hrs., and 5 bonus points for competing in an RC.

There are still 525 points available for a team to earn before the National Championship. Of course, they would have to win five of the remaining 24 hour RCs to rack up those points. Another attack point is to race in both RCs AND races in the NPS to maximize points before the National Championship.