The Competition Committee members (Lisa Tate, Mike Haley, and Riss Estes) blocked the petition proposals and have blocked any attempt at a compromise (using Greg Babush's proposals) and left it so their "original" proposal for counting warm bodies in meets stays. It was already decided that way by the EC a few months ago so blocking a vote in the CC meant that it would stay that way. Lisa Tate, Mike Haley, and Riss Estes are saying that the decision has  been made by the EC and it is up to the BOD to change that if they want a different decision.

Lisa, Mike and Riss appear to be arguing that the petition wasn't valid because it didn't present the other side. Last time I checked they could have sent out their own petition with their side of the argument. Obviously petitions present only one side of the argument. They are the culmination of a process where one side feels that it is not being listened to and they are driven to force those in power to pay attention to their side. We already know Lisa's side as she has presented it in the magazine and in her proposals to change the competition system.

The EC passed the new competition system in their conference call a few months ago. It appears as though foreign pilots and foreign meets are worth zero. That is, you can have top notch foreign pilots come to the US and compete against you but they bring no validity to the meet because they aren't ranked in the US.

Prior to the EC decision (and still in the USHPA's Competition rule book), foreign pilots had some value. This is what the Competition Rulebook states:

3. The NTSS ranking is made up only of U.S. pilots. However, the NTSS recognizes, for the purpose of points calculation, an equivalent foreign pilot's ranking according to the most current WPRS ranking with the top 20 places equal to the top 10 U.S. pilots and the WPRS ranking 21 through 40 equal to the NTSS 11 to 20 and so on up to WPRS 140 through 160 equal to NTSS 70 through 80.

This is Greg Babush's proposal:

US pilots:

Pilots ranked 1st - 15th: 45 points
Pilots ranked 16th - 30th: 30 points
Pilots ranked 31st - 45th: 20 points
Pilots ranked 46th - 60th: 15 points
Pilots ranked 61st - 75th: 10 points
Pilots ranked 76th - 80th: 5 points

Foreign pilots:

Pilots ranked 1st - 100th: 45 points
Pilots ranked 101st - 200th: 30 points
Pilots ranked 201st - 300th: 20 points
Pilots ranked 301st - 400th: 15 points
Pilots ranked 401st - 500th: 10 points
Pilots ranked 501st - 600th: 5 points

So as things stand today (before the USHPA BOD general session) the EC changes in the competition system stand. Foreign pilots are worth zero for validity and foreign meets are essentially worth zero.

More reports soon.