Upgrading

• Mandatory Upgrades: A rider must upgrade to the next most difficult ability class whenever the following conditions occur:
  
  
  • Novice Male to Intermediate Male: 10 wins. A rider’s wins will reset to 0 after an upgrade has been issued.
    
    
  • Novice Male to Expert Male: 15 wins. This will apply to 30-39 and 40+ Male 20” categories only.
    
    
  • Intermediate Male to Expert Male: 20 wins
    
    
  • Novice Female to Expert Female: 20 wins
    
    
• Championship Upgrades: Those riders who are of the correct age and of Expert ability can elect to upgrade from Challenge to Championship class in either Junior (age 17 – 18) or Elite (age 19+) when registering for their license. IChampionship riders cannot switch to Challenge class for period of 1 year when the rider must write a letter to the BMX Committee stating the reasons why they should be allowed to return to Challenge status, all such riders will begin their Junior or Elite career with 0 Alberta BMX Cup points.
  
  
• All riders who upgrade from Novice to Intermediate, Intermediate to Expert, Novice to Expert in the case of Female classes, Challenge to Championship and Junior to Elite may continue to use their awarded plate with the requirement of placing a zero (“0”) in front of the first digit on the plate. They shall use this number until such time as they achieve another valid awarded number.
  
  
• When a rider accumulates enough wins in order to upgrade to the next skill level, it shall be that rider’s responsibility to return their current license to the ABA or track operator for replacement. If the ABA office does not receive the rider’s license within 2 weeks of this upgrade, the rider will not be permitted to register at any Alberta Cup BMX race following the expiry of the 2 week grace period until such time as that rider returns their incorrect license for re-issue. Further, following the expiry of the grace period, such a rider who attempts to register at an Alberta Cup BMX Race or provincial championship with an incorrect license will be fined $50.
  
  
• When downgrading from Championship Class to Challenge Class, or in any ability level downgrade at the amateur level, a rider will lose all accumulated Provincial Series points earned at the higher level.
  
  
• When a rider upgrades from Novice to Intermediate or from Intermediate to Expert their District Points are transferred to their new ability class. For example, a Female rider with 300 Novice Points who upgrades to Expert will begin her Expert career with 300 Expert Points for the current season.
  • District Points are not used to determine ability class upgrades; this is still done by tracking the number of wins earned by each Novice and Intermediate rider.
• Age Group Upgrades: Currently, the ABA respects the UCI regulations concerning Age-Group upgrades. As such, Age-Group upgrades are not permitted. As a result, upgrades to Junior (17 & 18) or Elite (19+) by those not old enough to be in those classes are not permitted.

 

• Double Wins: Any rider who earns a win at an event with higher rank than a District Race (i.e. Alberta Cup, Canada Cup, or National Championships), will be awarded double wins towards an upgrade in ability.