Just spitballing here. If we have no aspiring AWAC (or possibly Nationals) competitors coming to any particular Regional contest, how about an alternate Advanced category at the CD's (and competitor's) discretion with Knowns not dictated by CIVA, and Unknowns designed to minimize energy and roll rate requirements, while retaining a decent amount of challenge. To balance the removal of some high energy figures that give the 6-cylinder monoplanes an advantage, how about pulling in negative snaps to add back some complexity without increasing energy requirements. We're already pushing hard in Advanced - why not just push the rudder as well. I'm sure the addition of negative snaps in Advanced would be controversial. I've had fun flying one in my Free for the last year (by choice) - Figure 4 to be exact, minus the push out.
Anyway, just an example sequence I put together that could be a Known or Unknown. I think there's quite a bit of challenge here without requiring a lot in the way of energy and roll rate (by Pitts standards). This sequence is 9 figures, same as the Advanced Knowns each year, and is 274K total, one point higher than the highest K Advanced Known in the last 10 years. Pilot skill being equal, I think a stock Pitts could hang with the monoplanes flying this. The monoplanes will still have an advantage though - we haven't even talked about cheated aileron snap stops yet, which is very real. Can't get away with that in a Pitts nearly as easily! What say you, Tony? ...and others of course too.
Eric