And now it's time for me to tell once again the sad story of Nancy's first record attempts. Please be informed that the chances of this happening again -- especially now (it was in '03 that it happened to us) are pretty slim, but still. . .
We showed up with a bike set to run in a class where there was no record shown in the book. Cool -- open records are pretty easy to claim, and sure enough, she qualified and backed it up. got to impound -- and found that the "open" record wasn't really open after all. On the master list of records, kept in the trailer by the officials, there was very clearly a record speed and record holder. somehow that information didn't get transferred to the record book/rule book.
Moral of the story: Don't be afraid to ask for a clarification that the record you think might be available for you - by being open 'cause it isn't listed - don't be afraid to get confirmation. It can save some major boo-hoos.