NONE of those classes are gonna be slow........... and they are all gonna be deep in talent too, but best shot this year would be in 2 stroke I would guess of the three since it's new and most of the class may be running 125's from the schoolboy class in that too. So if you're on a 250 and good on the smoker....... that might be easier. But that is just a guess on my part. Could be lots of 2 stroke riders that have been waiting for this and it will be packed too.
As a comparison, Randy Saloman and I were running almost identical lap times last year at LL in two different classes, He was in +25 and I was in +40. While I had a 28th (letting the pack go on the start), 14th, and 17th in my motos, he got 34th, 35th, and 32nd place running a pretty good pace down there and trying as hard as he could, just to show how fast +25 is going these days. The +25 class is FAST FAST FAST and DEEP in Talent all the way back.
The RPV value (or Power Ranking) is how they determine Alternates for Loretta Lynns. The formula is this:
Power Ranking is calculated in two steps (see examples below):
1.Finish position divided by number of riders in the class
2.Multiply the result of step number one by 100 and then subtract 100. The number is rounded up to the nearest thousandths.
Example:
At Red Bud for the MidEast you finish 12th of 58 entrants in the +25. 12 / 58 = 0.206 0.206 x 100 - 100 = -79.310 (They drop the negative) so = 79.310
MC Motopark in IL for NorCentral you finish 8th of 38 entrants in the +25. 8 / 38 = 0.211 0.211 x 100 - 100 = -78.947 (they drop the negative) so = 78.947
So since 7 guaranteed spots come from Mideast and you were 5 away in 12th overall. You still have a better shot at getting into LL than the guy who finished 8th (2 spots out in the North Central which only guarantees 6) based on the larger class at Red Bud.
It's a gamble to see if you do better in your own region that has lots of racers or travel to get to smaller region and think you can get in there. At least this year, guys won't be able to do both Steel City and Red Bud as they are on the same weekend. This may lead to a bigger turn out at North Central region as people that want a back up can get there relatively easily.
It's all numbers and until the racing is done, you can't tell where you stand and what would be better...... so just try your hardest and see what happens. There are fast riders all over the country these days so it's hard to dodge them by riding somewhere else.