Originally Posted by ancker

This is a mass-start race...

Why would you expect TT helmets, tri-spokes, rear-discs, skin suits, or booties?
Regardless of whether any of the riders have them, common practice is to not use them in a crit/road race. I do count plenty of 'aero' helmets. So clearly they think the non (or very few) vented helmets give them an advantage over the more common super-vented helmet. At 1:37 in your video, I could 4 out of the 8 visible helmets in the front row as 'aero'.

I know plenty of racers who have a cheap-ish crit bike with 'just good enough' and 'wouldn't cause a divorce if I broke it' equipment, but also have a $10k super-light road beast in the garage. I suggest using equipment selection for a "Local SoCal Amateur Race" isn't the best sample.

Further, I suggest Cat 3s are more likely to have just one set of race wheels. So if they can afford one set of nice deep carbon wheels, they'll ride them in crits, road races, TTs, etc. Whereas a Pro/1/2 might have more wheelsets to pick and choose from for a particular situation. Might explain your observation of more aero gear in the 3s.

I guess my point is that you seem to be making sweeping generalizations based on observations that have an enormous amount of unaccounted for variables.