Joe,

The low turnout is true enough but as Tim says, the majority of the "new class" would come from the over-flow of Masters pilots that could really use the buffer between the current Masters and Advanced. The gripe is that Masters is the biggest class and it takes them forever to get through it not because of an extra 4 maneuvers but because...it is the biggest class. Really, since it's the number of total pilots, what's the difference in if they are flying Masters or "Expert" (for lack of a better term), they still have to fly a flight. This still allows Masters to be harder and gives us that are forced to move a fighting chance instead of having to fly against the best of the best. It really just makes sense. I understand the fact that sometimes there are only 3-5 pilots in the classes now but I'd rather see 5 people that are of the same skill level competing against one another rather than seeing the guy who just came out of Advanced competing against Stephen Byrd and Tony Frak.

I remember in the early 90's where Masters was the smallest class and there were only 3-4 people there. Maybe Masters is so big now because it's the end of the line?? Add a new class and give us another goal!