New England officials defend dust decision – DirtFish

“After Friday’s stages in which Block was 21 seconds down on Semenuk at the end of the day. The reseed at the end of the day Friday, earned Block second road position for Saturday’s stages. Again, putting him at a “disadvantage” in regard to potential dust for the entire day not just for the last stage.

“With the delay on stage 11 due to an SOS situation, the event became delayed and with great efforts by the NEFR control teams and course cars the event started North Road approximately 40 minutes later than scheduled.

“It was evident at the finish control that the sun also played a part along with the dust in making visibility less than ideal.

“As the clerk of the course, who has always been at the end of this stage over the years in order to ensure the safe running of this final stage along with safe management of the many, many spectators that year after year make this the fan favorite, I have never seen a dust problem like we experienced this past weekend on the North Road stage.

“In hindsight, perhaps a contributing factor to the dust conditions was the use of this stage in reverse early in the morning, however, we received positive feedback from a competitor of the “brilliance” of the stage.