*Hence, the contestants are
basically "on their on"... not on an assigned task. *With a separate
Club Class with similar performance characteristics, the CD can indeed
call an Assigned Task where you do have "real racing".

I don't want to get in to the big club class argument, but let's not
put too much stake in assigned tasks.

First, none of the other classes -- standard, 15, 18, open -- fly
assigned tasks that often anymore. I haven't been to a contest in 10
years that had more than one assigned task. Unless you get a different
pool of CDs, don't count on that to be much different in club class.

Second, you can achieve an "assigned task" in the MAT structure by
simply calling a lot of turnpoints. I don't know why this is not done
more often but it should be. You get all the joys of assigned task
racing -- start gate roulette, big gaggle flying, everyone on the same
course, leeching, watching your buddies go by, and so forth. But after
X hours everyone gets to go home rather than land out the bottom 25%
of the fleet.

There are lots of good reasons for a club class in the US, and a few
cautionary reasons against it, but "so we can fly assigned tasks"
doesn't seem all that pressing given the above two points.

John Cochrane BB