Leaderboard

I most certainly won't trust you as what you have reported has been shown to be inaccurate. Cook was riding directly towards the pit gate. He did not 'aim' at a marshal, nor did he throw a headbutt as has been claimed on here. We all know they shouldn't have been riding. The marshall didn't need to do anything other than show the red flag to indicate the rider to leave the track or stop. He did that. Cook was leaving the track, the marshal instigated what came next by stupidly stepping in front of him which could have caused injury to both parties and damage to machinery. Cook was in the wrong initially, the marshal escalated the situation with stupidity. It's not a debate anymore, it's clear to see for everyone.

Total and utter tosh.. Viewed it over and over again. The marshall walks over to Craig Cook's path as he is coming into the pit gate. I will say again anyone who walks into the path of someone riding a speedway bike is asking to get hit. As for the alleged headbutt, contact is made with the shoulder not helmet.

So to summarise: Cook does not deliberately ride into start marshal. Indeed the start marshal walks into him. Cook does not head butt the start marshal, he shoulder charges him. Likely being more than a little pissed with the fella who just walked right in front of him. Rightly so. Cook does very little wrong. The start most certainly does. If anyone takes a ban here, it’s that sausage with the red flag.

Well looking at the footage it clear to me that the marshall walks into Craig Cook's path. It is not brightest thing to do walk in front of rider on a bike whilst in motion. That was definitely not a headbutt in was a shoulder barge. For me its the actions of an over zealous marshall.

So now we have the truth. Cook did NOT aim his bike at a marshall, indeed it looks like he was headed for the pits gate to ride off the track? The marshall steps in front of him. Cook did NOT headbutt the marshall as I suspected. He put his shoulder into him, likely angry at being stepped in front of which could have been very dangerous. All that said, the riders were wrong to set off with the red flags waving.. but from that clip, they weren't going into a corner fast and appeared to be heading off the track.. as you do when the red flag is waved.. IF that is the pits gate we can see.

Marshall is walking infield then takes 2 steps to left. Not a deliberate running into. Poor reaction from Craig but having seen it several times it looks more like a shoulder charge than a deliberate headbutt. However the Marshall could have been injured by Craig's visor and equally Craig could have been hurt by collision too. Both in the wrong to some extent and disappointed in our captain's reaction BUT it's nowhere near as bad as has been made out. Reeks of a witch hunt and not very dignified.

Christ alive. Y'all haven't half made a mountain out of a molehill. If you're going to walk into the path of a bike, then expect to get hit... And a headbutt? Where?

In my experience the ‘pusher’ role no longer exists - riders are pushed off by their own mechanic.

wasn't there but a Poole supporting friend who was has told me one interesting fact that no one seems to have picked up on. He is adamant that when Referee saw Cook and Vissing set off pushed by their mechanics, (a) Cook gestured with a wave to other Glasgow riders to follow him (b) as Cook went round 3rd turn (full home straight away from altercation point) the referee put red stop lights on. I've track marshalled at several Midlands tracks and other forms of Motor Sport and it's at that point as a Marshall that you immediately wave red flag. On that basis, as neutral but part of Marshalls fraternity, would support Marshall 100% even if he moved as like somebody said "he is last line of defence". Bloke should be praised and rewarded not attacked.

Just thought I would pick on this one to respond to and to try and lay some facts down around this as it seems to have got lost among all the comments. The three metre rule is clear at Arlington and observed. Every meeting the track staff go round laying down markers to show where this is and the track staff and photographers etc stand inside these bollards when under race control (or whatever its called) The key here is very clear. The bike were not meant to have been riden on the track at the time of this confrontation. Try to picture the scene. Before the riders parade and introductions, the bikes are stood on the track and across the track, pointing towards the main stand (which at Arlo is on the BACK straight). Then, when its all ready for the off, the annoucer says some announcing stuff, Sussex by the Sea is played and the riders, mechanics, little mascots (children, one with each home rider) management and various sponsors, guests etc, walk out onto the track. There are various people stading around the area on turn 2 (where the entrance to the pits is) and the first part of the back straight. The announcer introduces the away team and then the home team. When both teams have been announced, the riders are all pushed off to do some starts and check out the track by sliding into the turns. However, after the team had been announced and the home team had not, SOME of the away team push off and started doing practice starts before the home team were announced. So, we have plenty of people still on and near the track, pit gate wide open and Craig Cook flying down towards turn one. So yes, one of the marshalls walked out onto the track desperately trying to stop the riders flying round into turn 2 where someone could have got hurt. Craig Cook rode straight into him. Now I am a pragmatic person. I will often argue with my son when he is cursing for the ref because and Eastbourne rider has been excluded and I will say , well "maybe he did touch him, the ref has a better veiw than us" so I was still thinking that this could be a misunderstanding, maybe Craig was looking outwards and didnt see the marshall, maybe the track is patchy and he has a career to worry about and not wanting to risk riding a tricky track for his secong team in a UK league. All sypathy for him stopped when I saw him, wearing a helmet, head butt a marshall. Even less when heat refused to come out in heat one Even less when the reserves rode the track fine in heat 2 Even less when he decided to take his second ride and stormed to a win, easily. As for the extra track prep that went on before the start, it was a token bit of sawdust and a 5 minute track grade. Eastbourne track staff are good but I am not sure they can sort and unrideable track that quickly. Oh yeh and quickly. Someone on here moaned that this thread is getting boring. When it all kicks off like it did and involved one of the best British riders out there, its a topic for conversation. And trust me, I am not a Craig Cook hater. I like ALL our British riders, especially the top ones. I would like nothing more than to hear him apologise for his actions, to Eastbourne, Glasgow and the fans and move on from it. I certainly dont want Kings Lynn hit by a ban like we just have been for Georgie Wood being ill for an Isle of White match!

This whole scenarios a bit strange. From earlier reports riders are at high speed, ramming into marshalls,close to kids, putting everyone at risk when it appears they are trundling round when a Marshall makes a split second decision, probably well intentioned, that backfires big style. Wish every meeting was like this, get the crowds back big style.

Good idea that. Then when you want a guest from kings lynn Peterborough or Ipswich you will get the same response back.

As I have stated earlier, having seen the video of the Cook incident it clearly shows the marshal with the flag deliberately step into the path of the bike at the last second requiring Cook to put his feet down to slow the bike. This shows that Cooks intention was not to ride into the marshal but to slow down when the marshal stepped in front of him, that is clear. But and this is the thing no one comes out of this smelling of roses, The marshal acted recklessly if not foolishly at the best by stepping in front of a bike with no brakes. Cook who is a professional sportsman SEVERLY over reacted to the situation, yes there may have been booing and jibes but without his over reaction the scrum and the handbags would not have taken place. Like I said with what went on that night no one comes out of this looking good, Cook, the marshal, Glasgow, Eastbourne, and not least speedway

Wind your neck in ya clown.

No probs. I think a fair few of those perhaps not there are imagining things a tad differently, and staunch haters of Cook are revelling. My loyalties lay far from Eastbourne and not gonna lie, i wanted them to get battered as my trips to Arlington with Reading ended in defeat every time and i hold senseless grudges like that! I had a good view, i wasn't there watching everyone on the parade like some forensics guy , but it was very clear what happened and any claims to say otherwise is daft from anyone. Shame really, as it cost glasgow a fighting chance at making the final and keeping the tie close to the end.

Loving it. First meeting i go to in years and finally i can take part in a decent discussion that doesn't involve me calling starman a pillock!

The video certainly doesn't support the picture being painted by some of Cook travelling at speed, deliberately riding into the track marshall and then head butting him. What I see is Cook traveling slowly and the Marshall in the middle of track stepping in front of Cook. Cook didn't head butt him, he barged him with his shoulder. It makes those who weren't there but who have been prepared to believe the worst descriptions of the incident and call for Cook to be hung drawn and quartered, look foolish. The marshall should not have been on the track and should not have stepped in front of Cook, who should not have shoulder barged him. On this evidence it all seems a bit of a storm in a teacup compared to some of the original descriptions.

You need to fully understand the situation. First, I agree that Cook didnt deliberatly ride into the marshall. The marshall steps to the left as Cook goes to the right but the important thing is, the riders needed to be stopped. They should not have been riding round the track at the time. Lots of people are having a dig at the marshall but this was an unusual situation. The parade and announcements were going on, Eastbourne team being introduced and guests including children in the area. The Marshall just wanted to stop the bikes going round. The red lights were also on. I have met this marshall a couple of times and he is one of the most placid young lads you will come across. You can tell that by the way he walks away from the confrontation with Cook rather than retaliating

The flag marshal was attempting to stop Cook and the other two who rode off from the introductions before the home team had been announced. The marshal was under orders to stop Cook who should have been standing waiting for the intros to finish. Cook needs a ban and fine for ignoring the officials orders. Bang out of order.

Cook has got previous, when it comes to clashes, with marshals and their authority. This time, the marshal was asking for trouble, moving in front of Cook. I should imagine, Cook was pretty shocked at what the marshal did and that probably caused, his angry response (not saying it was justified). Its a classic case of two wrongs, don't make a right. Cook should not have been on track and the marshal, should know better, than to walk in front of a moving speedway bike. Cook did not handle it great, but there was provocation there. Cook should have been tackled, when he got back to the pits.

What was the man with the red flag doing in the middle of the track? It looks like the rider is going to go past the flag man (at slow speed) but the man decides to move to his left to block the rider cauSing the rider to ride into him. In reaction to that, the rider tries to head butt him - which is clearly not an acceptable reaction but the flag man was definitely in the wrong but that doesn’t excuse the head butt.

Think some of u need to get to specsavers, vid shows cook hit flag man then headbutts him if u cant see that get some specs.

I expect he will once there has been a hearing, you can’t just ban somebody without going through the proper procedures. The Lynn press release says that they think R/R is stronger than any guests who were available and willing. Getting good riders to guest on Mondays is difficult when they all want to go direct from Poland to Sweden.

I see hawd it and dawd it above attempting humour badly , I blame the schools.

All I can answer to that is that I dont recall this happening before in 50 years of watching at Arlington and I have seen several other clubs that have a similar format for the parade. Not sure how they do it at Glasgow. Like I have said in my posts, it would have been okay if Craig didnt kick off. As for the poster that says the marshall was reckless, he was the last line of defence so to speak, before the personel/staff etc on the track. Had he not done this we could be discussing a colision between a rider and someone else and everyone would be quetioning why the marshalls did not stop him! Just think about it. Your a marshall. At that moment you are stood down, flag on the ground, arms folded and thinking about the evening ahead when suddenly you realise some of the bikes are being pushed off early and then the are practice starting down the main straight and into turn one. Your job is to stop them going round into the back straight and hitting someone. If he was reckless, good on him, he put his own safety at rish to stop injury to others. You have to have been there to realise how potentially dangerous this could have been. And no, at this stage I am NOT saying Craig was out of order. All of it could have been a misunderstanding, not knowing the process or even a mechanic just saying 'ready' for the push off and some others following suit, completely unaware that they were doing wrong. What happened after the conlision was out of order.

Warning to anyone in the vicinity of Mr Taps that his bell end might become loose due to excess shaking on Monday. This could result in serious injury if said bell end were to part company from bell and hit you. You have be warned..... Ps I won't be there, as not a real fan

Hold on a sec mate, who else is pushing riders off these days ? Certainly not randoms doing it off their own back is it ? And what hell relevance is that anyway. I've never seen a rider pushed off without wanting to be, have you ? I get that you're defending all this madness, and i couldn't give two tosses about Eastbourne or Glasgow myself, but desperately trying to deflect things is bonkers. edited as it was a tad aggressive: but my point still stands, they aren't pushed off under duress, so even if it was a raker, what difference does it make ?

At least Norris and Ott had some charisma and charm about them, whereas Craig Cook has the personality of barbed wire coated in novichok.

Irrelevant as there won’t be any team changes unless forced

Very interesting footage. People very prompt to slaughter Craig, even when they weren’t there and now this video proves that Craig was goaded into a reaction by a moron whose intelligence can only be compared to someone with a forum name similar to a popular 90’s game. As for the other Cumbrian thinking this video proves Craig guilt, wow. The tinted specs are strong with you.Hopefully the high horses can be dismounted from. Handbags at dawn.

How can Cook be charged with being responsible for the brawl. He reacted to what the steward did, yes I agree. But surely what then happened is a result of those that over reacted to what they perceived as being a deliberate act, which it wasn't. As I suggested in an earlier post Eastbourne officials and volunteers and spectators are not blameless in what was a successful attempt to wind up and intimidate Glasgow riders and fans.

Anyone else think it a bit strange that all this was being filmed by someone standing near the scene of the incident by someone standing on the track?

Cook was mid track,,, flying round like a maniac trying to burst the track record and collect as much roadkill as possible!!!,,, but to answer your original question, looks like it until some fecking eeygyt tries to stop him with a flag on a stick.

Complete lack of professionalism from someone who allegedly is Chairman. If the incident is under investigation all footage should be embargoed and with the investigating authority until the matter comes to an official conclusion. As for releasing an edited video of part of events, just pathetic. Perhaps in retirement he misses the attention.

Apart from Danny

Its clear the Marshall walks into Craig and it looks like more of a shoulder shove than an alleged head butt, still should not have happened though.

I agree .

Back in ya box you

C'mon the Stars!!

Easy win for Ipswich. R/R for Lambert is very poor and it leads me to suspect Buster is allowing one of his other Cubs 4 easy points to pretend there’s no favouritism.

There wasn’t a problem – the track didn’t even need a regrade before Heat 5. The times got slower because there had been light rain during the first four races, but the riders didn’t look in trouble – Ben Barker raced from fourth to second in Heat 4 without any problems at all. It stopped raining after the completion of the fourth race, so you don’t need a crystal ball to tell you that it will then start to get faster – a bit of common sense would suffice. To be fair to the referee, it was the quickest track inspection ever. I think he went down to the pit gate, spoke to both captains, who told him it was fine and then went straight back up to the box. Maybe it allowed John Campbell a couple of minutes to spend a penny or have a go on Rob G’s new Brum car. Good meeting last night, with Heat 9 the pick of some tremendous racing.

Avoiding action or to go round the marshall and carry on riding round the track? Only Craig Cook knows the answer to that, but I know what I saw and NO RIDERS, Glasgow or otherwise should have started riding round that track with introductions still taking place and Eaglet Mascots and many other people on the centre green, completely idiotic and dangerous and I would add all the Glasgow riders came out to the parade with their helmets already on covering their faces, thats no way to be introduced its ignorant. Anyway I had no feelings for or against Craig Cook to me he was just another speedway rider but after witnessing ALL of his antics on Saturday, and I was in the stadium from 6pm watching from the back straight not far from the pits it was obvious from that time onwards that there was going to be a fuss made by the opposing team lead it appeared by Craig Cook. The referee said the track was fine to ride, Craig Cook never fell off, there were a couple of other falls by others but nothing out of the ordinary (yes Eddie did get excluded but only because he hit the air fence, carried on riding for half a lap and then the air fence deflated where he'd hit it so the referee had to stop the race). Eastbourne had a 4 point deficit going into this match and we were the underdogs, Glasgow could have made a good meeting out of it and possibly come away with a win but they threw it away even before the meeting started, the fans from Glasgow who travelled down deserved better and I hope the referees report was accurate and that appropriate punishments are dished out.

Whether the track marshall stepped in at the last minute or not is irrelevant, as whether Cook's actions to hit or avoid him are equally irrelevant. He should not have been on the track at that time endangering others.

For me, he can stick his stats and his webshyte up his arris.

They are favourites when anyone challenges him about Poole but massive underdogs during every preview.

If that's the case i like it.It's such a namby pamby society now.When somebody says or does something slightly out of place all hell lets loose and people want fines and bans and people to be hung drawn and quartered.It sounds like a throw back to the 80's and boy did we love it.We need controversy and bad boys in speedway that is what we are lacking imo.It may bring a few fans back ti may not but lets have more of it.How many people would come to watch Pedersen throw his toys out of the pram

Jon Cook has always been a slimy wide boy, and Craig Cook has always had some screws loose. Let's face it, sane people don't go for a drive whilst naked and drunk...

I was there last night and I've read all the comments on here, most being pretty accurate. I was in the stadium from 6pm and the only thing wrong with the track was, as Jon Cooke said, all the holes dug in it by the Glasgow riders, which I was witness too. I was watching from the back straight and it was obvious to me and others that Glasgow were going to make a fuss, but that said I didn't see Craig Cook fall off or have any problems riding the track he was complaining about. The referee said the track was fine for racing and that should have been the end of the matter, unfortunately it wasn't. I've only been supporting Eagles this year since losing my local teams (my original team West Ham years ago and then Rye House). Not since West Ham have I actually felt I really supported a team, Eastbourne management and the announcer make us fans feel really a part of the club. I've never booed an opposing team until last night but after the antics I saw Glasgow deserved the boos they got but good on their owner at the end of the meeting apologising for the antics, I hope he throws the book at Craig Cook. Re our announcer, it seems to me he, like all the fans, supports Eastbourne and good on him. Over the last few meetings he's managed to increase the use of air horns and now there is a really good atmosphere, isn't that why we go speedway to have a good night out not sit in silence like a load of zombies, and us home fans always usually applause good rides even by away riders last night being the exception.