NeilWatson

It certainly is! Gives you an extra 30 minutes to get to the stadium. Of course, why do you ask?

Revised start time for this meeting now confirmed as 8.00pm

Presumably because the Gold Cup is a semi-final so affects following fixtures, the NT final doesn't.

I don't know that's the case - do you?

No we couldn't... You can't Our facility would be a guest or RR both riders averages are too high

Sky meetings are unique as their staging is a co-operative effort between both parties. For a normal meeting, I'm afraid economics play a significant part in our decision-making process. It's no secret that speedway is an expensive sport to promote, and the majority of a Club's income comes via the turnstiles. Sometimes postponement is obvious and inevitable. However there are meetings where we may feel we could present a racing surface by start time, but much of our costs are incurred much earlier in the day: rent, medical cover, referee, track-staff, hospitality catering etc. Do we press on, when we know full well that the Internet has been buzzing with doom-merchants reporting bad weather at various points near and far and so we run the risk of racing in front of a minimal crowd, or postpone early to save costs and hope for better luck next time? It is an inexact science, and I'm sure we don't get it right every time - but the decision has to be made and there's only one person who can make it! The critics are always quick to judge when a decision goes against us (our recent Sunday meeting v Cradley for example) but they are also (often the same people!) quick to say we postponed too early.... As an aside, I was greatly amused this morning by the poster on the Forum who commended us on a good decision to postpone tonight's meeting 'because it was raining in Bournemouth'.... So enjoy tonight's meeting, and I hope you'll all turn out in force on Friday to support the Bees or the Pirates.

I agree 100%. I have watched the Raiders a number of times this season (yes, my relaxation away from Coventry business is watching speedway!), and their set-up is exactly what I believe the ethos of NL speedway to be. I believe that Coventry and Kings Lynn also follow the same path, while acknowledging that some of the stand-alone NL Clubs may have differing philosophies.

Completely irrelevant. Our three outstanding meetings were all rained-off at the first staging or (in Mildenhall's case) the second staging. Coventry were not alone in finding it impossible to re-stage rain-offs before the cut-off date. Don't forget it's not only Coventry affected - Kings Lynn could have qualified for the Gold Cup too.

And no doubt would, if we were racing.......

I have taken on board everything that's been said in this thread. Should we stage double-headers in the future I will make sure that a revised policy is in place to cater for the different circumstances.

My comments here are either factual responses to fans' enquiries, or an attempt (often in vain) to bring a balance against a few posters who seem to delight in using insults, innuendo, and downright lies to bring discredit on our Club. This is made difficult at times by the confidential information I have access to that others outside the Club do not, which would often put a completely different complexion on topics where posters are convinced they are right, when in fact they are totally wrong. I am privileged to be a speedway promoter, but I am a fan first and foremost and enjoy sharing my love for the sport where I can. At the end of the day, there is always the ignore button if you're so concerned about my contributions! Back to the racing -Coventry 32, Cradley 24

In your opinion, a phrase that is missing from so much propounded on this site. It was not our opinion, nor that of the referee. £4125...

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=80320&p=2680321 and other posts in that thread. You are very free with your use of the word 'lie' - an extra £10 in the BenFund bucket tomorrow from whoever's wrong about the Turnstile notices? I assume you'll be there as it's not a double header. It might :-)

The facility for an absent EDR rider is either a guest or RR.

If that comment is aimed at me, I don't have any involvement at Peterborough this season!

Danny Ayres is quite capable of racing at PL level, he also gave a great performance for the Bees in the Elite League a few weeks ago. He may have had a tough couple of rides tonight but as others have said, Plymouth are a good side and had a lot to race for.

But you are quite happy to misquote me. I didn't refer to 'rules', you asked on another thread what Coventry's policy was and I responded. You should at least have the honesty to re-title this post ' Warning to anyone attending a double-header at Coventry' as the current title is misleading and assumes my colleagues all have the same policy. For the record, while our policy is as stated, in exceptional circumstances which would make the current policy clearly inappropriate, we would of course make an appropriate adjustment to the policy on the night and make an announcement to those affected ((ie) the fans actually in the stadium). That's the beauty of having a policy not rules.

COVENTRY’S Elite League play-off semi-final against Poole will now take place on FRIDAY (September 18). The decision has been taken early due to a poor weather forecast for the initial staging date on Monday. The scheduled National League match between Coventry Storm and Cradley on Sunday goes ahead as planned (midday start).

You mean when the referee approved a delay to the start time, then the referee postponed the meeting prior to the new start time? Hardly the Coventry promotion's fault, was it.

(1) There are signs outside the turnstiles (unless they've all been removed in the last couple of weeks which I doubt but will check tomorrow). (2) I will check with the staff, but in any event the terms are so clearly stated both at the stadium, in the programme, and, lets be honest, by custom (the current procedures have been in place for a number of seasons) that I find it difficult to believe that there is actually any confusion. 10 heats from 30? 23 heats were raced last night You're entitled to make that decision. Personally I never want to run another double-header either, but fixture pressures sometimes make it inevitable. Won't - as in I have much more pressing things to do today than type out a fairly lengthy piece of text. I am happy to email a photo of the terms if you wish to send me your email address to neil@coventrybees.co The terms are generic as the actual value of a re-admission ticket varies depending on the admission price and heats completed. Personally, as a speedway fan, I just want to watch the racing - I would never decide whether to attend a meeting or not just because of some perceived worry as to what might happen if the meeting is abandoned. Perhaps I'm in a minority.

As I said, the re-admission terms are clearly stated at the turnstiles (outside before money is paid and entry gained) as well as in the programme. I also stated that the turnstile staff were not on duty at the end of the meeting (which is when I presume your query arose).

The re-admission policy is exactly as for a normal meeting - if a meeting ( and a double-header is simply a 30-heat meeting in this context) is abandoned before Heat 10 the re-admission ticket accrues some value towards a future meeting. Last night's meeting was frustratingly abandoned after 23 heats. The re-admission policy is clearly stated in the match programme and at the turnstiles; by the close of the meeting last night no turnstile staff were on duty but I was in the speedway office should anyone have had a query ( which they didn't). If anyone thinks that we as a promotion somehow engineer these abandonments as a way of 'making money' they could not be further from the truth. The particular circumstances of last night's abandonment could well have also cost us a Gold Cup place. Re-staging dates for the three outstanding Storm meetings will be announced in due course. (Edited for typo)

We have approached a number of riders, both new to the UK and established names.

We have every intention of making the final, and if you read post #28 you will see that regular fans will actually get a REDUCTION for the semi-final.