FTM

Great to hear Terry I don,t think anyone (apart from other trackmen) realise just how much it takes over your life .I have been helping out with the Stox since may and a couple of speedway meetings but only on raceday as I am back driving trucks for a living its good to know at the end of your shift you get to go home in a normal week .

Hi Terry how are you mate are you still involved anywhere or have you hung up your rake and keys

Unfortunately for Steve his name is in the programme as he is the curator for the Dogs but you are miles away with your comment ref: shutting the place down He isn,t responsible for the decisions regarding Speedway track prep .I am not going to say anymore on the Subject as it could cause problems for me helping out next season if needed ..Sorry Gem xx

My statement refers to the fact that Max Clegg and Tom Perry were in the Elite League with Leics and although James Serjeant rides in the E/L for the Bees it is no secret that he has never ridden well at Beaumont Park and Dan Greenwood as you say rode in the Trophy which as everyone knows is 2 divisions below the E/L .which is why I think the Storm didn,t get a level playing field for their leg .But we shall never know

Sorry Iv,e not answered you Gemini I have been pretty busy doing my proper job driving trucks for Disney . The Trackman is listed in the Programme and I think that Colin has some input into the prep but he wasn,t responsible for the N/L Fours as he was away on personal buisiness all weekend .As you can see from the time on this post I have only just got in my house been out working since 3 pm Tuesday .I offered to help out only on race nights and on the Sunday for the 4 team .The Track was put in during the week but I don,t know who did it and I only discovered the 3 rd bend problem when I was sweeping the water off parts of both bends Sunday about 12.30 I put some fresh shale on both bends to blind in the inside part of both bends where they were wet .but after grading in and out the soft patch became apparent outside of the new stuff I had already put on .After talking with the Ref and Chris Louis it was decided to try and grade in reverse to lift off as much soft stuff as possible then run the wheel and grader around to try and improve the situation.We then added the cement dust and I am pretty sure that surface did start to dry off .On the day overall I don,t think that there were many falls or problems on bend 3 the riders were having trouble with bend 2 but there were no apparent problems with this corner so you will have to ask the riders why .As regards the Friday night moving of the Play Off 2nd leg Final I totally agree we have done a change over from Speedway to Stox on first week of the month for years and I was very sorry for Storm Fans who missed out on seeing the 2nd leg on their home track and defitnately didn,t agree it going to Leicester as Cradley were basically given it on a plate with Clegg and Perry being home lions riders .Was this another Fordgate scandal ??. Think I will go get some sleep now as I,m back to work this afternoon at 4 pm also after my last statement I will go and look for my Tin Hat Byeeee.

you thank me for my honesty then say it doesn,t wash with you and probably in your opinion with everyone else .Just what doesn,t wash with you can you explain what you would like to see written in my post .I agree with you and other fans the track wasn,t good and we worked hard at it to get it raceable to the Referees agreed standard .Never mind perhaps I would be better off ignoring posts instead of trying to explain what a lot of people don,t see in preparing tracks.

Carefull Rob with statements like that people will think you know what you are talking about Ps thanks for the comment ref.. me and Cov Track much appreciated on a bad Sunday..

I wasn,t using a three week old meeting as an excuse I had already posted about the meeting on the 19th oct which had 22 races of various stox, bangers, modifieds,and the old style stox from the 50,s which is a new thing this year but I am not or have never said the track has been any where near where it should be this year for Speedway .The main damage was done at the start of the season with the man appointed as Curator but he was in over his head as he had never experienced English conditions .A lot of damage was done as a result and with speedway stox twice a month and Greyhounds running again you don,t get as much time as you would like for prep .I have read most posts to do with the Cov track since I have worked there as Raker, Pits Pusher, Tractor Driver, assistant to Colin Meredith , Curator Myself x Twice ( 5years then additional 2 years ) and helping on Race days when I,m not Trucking which I do now .You seem to think that my posts are protecting Bees Track Staff from any criticism but I am just giving an inside view on most problems that an awful lot of Trackmen are confronted with .I quite agree Sunday,s problem on 3 rd bend caught us out at a late stage as the track had been put in since Friday but as soon as Referee asked for it to be rectified we did do so with the help of Adam Roynon and his cement and Len Silver thanks to them for their help.There were a number of falls but not many on the 3rd bend but more on bend 2 why I don,t know .I appreciate yourself and other posters are the paying customers and ask questions which they would like answered .I have always been honest in my reply,s which I think most Bees fans have appreciated . Cheers F.T.M.

i Have followed up your comment on Scunny Stock Cars by going on their site but what you don,t realise they are basically street cars with a few reinforced poles inside for driver protection and they are running on road tyres .Go to Coventry site and look at the big formula 1 cars on there and you will see a much heavier and stronger race car capable of tearing the circuit to c**p when you have 6 races per meeting and also bangers and mini stox etc etc as support events usually up to 30 + cars a race over 16 to 25 laps it is a nightmare for any trackman .But having said that they bring in much bigger crowds than Speedway so Promoters are not going to kill the Golden Goose

You have answered your quote yourself Mr Leslie because as you say you were not there. I am just suprised Jim Lawrence is getting stick over his handling as twice he had to put on the red lights at the start line where all the trouble started and once he had started the race the riders involved were the only ones contributing to the problems which ensued .Personally I think both sets of mechanics of the teams should be brought to task as well because Speedway in any way shape or form doesn,t need the atrocious scenes that occured at Coventry.Before any one asks Yes I was there on the Cov track curating team and I don,t think in 25 years I have seen anything worse .

Also left out the fact that James Serjeant was dragged backwards off his bike which was still running by a Cradley rider which caused the bike to lurch out of control collecting the unfortunate mechanic J S did not run over him as stated The referee was Jim Lawrence who had control of the meeting as far as I could see which were confirmed IMO by the two red light restarts of the ht before everything kicked off after the race had finished

Thats because I hadn,t posted anything until my previous post the only reason I replied is because of the petty sniping at others that you and and one or two other posters seem to enjoy IMO unneccessarily .I am allowed an opinion ,as are you ,so best of luck in your amateur riding /cycle speedway my passion is Track Curating. I didn,t intend my post as a personal attack so hopefully we will agree to disagree .

I,ve read about 8 posts so far from you tonight trying unsuccessfully to provoke a reply from P/L fans and I thought although I don,t support any of the 3 lgs I would reply as a speedway fan in general .You and KKS/Jespen Jensen / and what ever other names he has come up with in the past are the reason why a lot of fans no longer post on the forums .I would say grow up and get a life but that comment will probably fall on deaf ears .Never mind very soon you will have the forum pages to yourselves and can play together to your hearts content night night children

I,ve got access to some nice coloured wool and Knitting needles if you want a substitute for Speedway Gem LoL cheers Mick C

I think that anyone picking holes in the track prep for last night need to understand it is virtually impossible to prepare a perfect track for passing and exciting racing when the powers that be insist on practice the same day as the meeting .Iv,e had the same problem as Buster Chapman during different meetings at Brandon over a 12 yr period .There should be a free Friday from league racing before world team cup to enable the trackman from whatever staging track to relay track after Friday practice so you can produce the best race surface possible. B.S.P.A. take note try to give trackmen some credit and time to do what is an art ..