FIREBALL DETAILS

This event is a Buffalo Bicycling Club race. You must be a member to participate. To join, click here.

Our Thursday Night Fireball series stages on criterium training course on Grand Island.  This will be a scored series, separate from the BBC Sunday Series Club Races.  Our course is linked below, a 1.9-mile circuit with 3 corners.  The A field will do 9 laps for 17.1 miles (about 37-40 minutes), and the B field will do 6 laps for 11.4 miles (about 27-30 minutes).  Come out and practice cornering, top end fitness, and race tactics to help sharpen your handling skills and racing craft!  It is important, especially for newer riders, to get out to these as much as possible to develop skills.

 

Scoring: Check here for the current leaderboard

Parking:

Park at the small parking lot just outside of Beaver Island State Park on West River/West Oakfield Rd.  Many members generally ride to this location as free parking is limited.

Meet up at the Finish line at the corner of West River/West Oakfield and Ferry Rd

Course:

Click Here to View the Course Page.  A 1.9-mile flat criterium circuit loop with 3 corners, excellent for practicing cornering and tactics!  Finish line on the corner of West River/Oakfield and Ferry Rd.

Schedule:

The B field will start first at 6:30pm for a 30 minute race

The A field will start last at 7:05pm for a 40 minute race

What You Should Expect on Race Day:

  1. Please plan to arrive 30 minutes early to get into your riding clothes and get your bike ready
  2. Write down your name on the sign-in sheet when it becomes available, head out on the bike get a few pedal strokes in the legs to warm up.  SIGN IN IS AT THE FINISH LINE AT FERRY RD AND WEST RIVER
  3. We’ll start the B group first for a 30 minute race, and the A race after for a 40 minute race according to the amount of race laps noted in the Course Description
  4. At the end, make sure you know your finishing place and report it to the event organizer

Thursday Night Fireball Individual Scoring:

This race is part of the club’s 10-race Fireball Series. There will be an ‘A’ and ‘B’ field scored at each race, with additional separate scoring below. Points are awarded in each race by finishing place:

1st = 15 points

2nd = 14 points

3rd = 13 points

4th = 12 points

5th = 11 points

6th = 10 points

7th = 9 points

8th = 8 points

9th = 7 points

10th = 6 points

11th = 5 points

12th = 4 points

13th = 3 points

14th = 2 points

15th and after = 1 point

 

First and Second Half of the Season

The Thursday Night Fireball season will be split into two halves for scoreboards reflecting a first half and second half of the season.  This allows for more focused leaderboard competition and a reset mid-season to start over to compete on a new leaderboard!

First half of the Fireball season will be:

Second half of the Fireball season will be:

Your best 4 out 5 races for each of the two season halves will count towards your standing for each half-season.

 

Age Based Brackets for Sunday Series Racing

New in 2025, we are including a version of separate scoring for all age brackets!  In the A and B fields, you will race against everyone for points, but your points will be pulled out into separate leaderboards for your age bracket.  How does this work?  If a rider in the 35-44 age bracket gets 3rd place out of everyone racing, their 3rd place points will go towards the 35-44 age bracket competition.  This encourages aggressive racing because you have to compete against everyone to earn points, but also allows for everyone across the board to compete directly in your age group for final standings!

The age brackets for the 2025 BBC club races (both Sunday Series and Thursday Night Fireball Series) are:

  • 24 and under
  • 25-34
  • 35-44
  • 45-54
  • 55+

Here’s an example of how it works.  Compete against everyone for points, then compare your points to your age bracket: