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 ..

This situation with red lights is getting worse with the upgrade of technology in cameras .There has been quite a lot of incidents at Leicester this season on the 3rd/4th bends of people taking shots of the racing from the crowd .The old time flash bulb on cameras were not a problem but nowadays a bright red light emitting from the crowd on the terracing is obviously in a split second racing scenario going to result in situations like last night .At Leicester numerous appeals to stop using the red flash were totally ignored by the various people using the cameras and I,m worried that unless some legislation is brought in very quickly a rider or riders are going to get hurt in a totally unnecessary accident .Please take notiuce BSPA and eradicate the problem..

Congrats to the gb team last night totally unexpected. I think Rosco is going to have to sweep very very hard in Poland on Saturday to get Steady and Danny bikes to anywhere near the front of their races as they didn,t look competitive towards the end of the meeting and you definately need speed on Polish tracks .Having said that if Darcy Ward has another night like last night and( Nikki ,NKI ,AJ etc etc have bike problems ) in the words of actor James Cagney "TOP OF THE WORLD MA " This last bit won,t mean anything to posters under 40 yrs old I,m showing my age sorry

What was wrong with the track I Wasn,t there to see first hand any details

It could cost you a lot more to watch the top riders if the current trend continues because IMO the top guys won,t be racing in UK next year as unfortunately Poland ,Sweden, Denmark can offer much more than our declining ancient E/L (the term Elite is used loosely here ) so you maybe flying to tracks afar if you want to see top stars .Also this is a discussion forum with different opinions no need for the HIgh Horses comment IMO

Interesting comments from both sides of the fence with Top Stars getting flak for wanting to earn money for themselves and family if they are married I Think British Speedway should change to one night a week on a two week cycle (1 home 1 away) with maybe a premier lge side or N/l side on the off week . The ultimate non negotiable main point being if Poland/Sunday Sweden/Tuesday Denmark/Friday ( or whenever their racenight is ) have a rain off it is up to them to bite the bullet and accept British Speedway takes priority on our nominated race night ,not as happened with Eastbournes Cameron Woodward and Joonas Kylmokorpi last week .Also if the rider or riders decided to stay abroad with their other employer they would automatically be banned in all other leagues for 28 days for not upholding a binding contract. Gb promoters will only be paying big stars once a fortnight, fans will turn up if they only get a once a fortnight chance to see their favourites, and if (as Coventry/Cradley/Mildenhall etc etc ) promoters field a cheaper team on their second week it will be a success as the fans have voted with their feet /entrance money this season in the N/L where The Storm (coventry) have been riding in front of some very impressive crowds . My last point is Track Curating must be improved and the shale has got to be the best ,which it has not been in the last few years ,this, although it is a major cost, if you only run top flight once a fortnight, you in theory shouldn,t use so much over the course of a season,and Curators must be paid decent money for the job .They (as far as I know ) have to be licenced by the control board and they are subject to at least one visit per year by the C/B inspector and they have their own rules and regs pages in the B.S.P.A. handbook which must be adhered to at all times .If they don,t do the job properly they can be banned . Just a few points/ideas I have been mulling over for a few months be interested to know if you are in agreement or wish to shoot me down .

To be fair I don,t think Andy has been to Cardiff before and if its your first time it is a fantastic experience.If any fans get a chance to do the pits tour and walk up the tunnel it is awesome believe me .Iv,e done 7 Cardiff G/P,s as assistant trackman with Colin Meredith before the Danish Organisation took full control and it is nothing like normal racing mode .It really is superb ..

It was a shame we had to have sky commentary team as when I first switched on and saw Scottie and Crumpie I was over the moon .Eurosport had what was potentially a top class commentary team at their disposal, I suppose Sky must have a clause in the contract to still use shouty and Kelv .Fingers crossed for a change in the near future. Good news is I had £10 on the mighty Grin at 7/1 pick up 80 smackeroonies in the morning

1960,s Jimmy Gooch Ron How Oxf Cheetahs my first intro to Speedway as 17 yr old Chris Morton Peter Collins during B/V good times Greg and Billy for and against the bees through out their uk times Tommy Knudsen David Bargh always good for maximum pts early in the meeting So many to choose from like everyone else but I think it has to be Greg and Billy for the simple reason they used to do it against us and then we had the chance at Brandon to watch them do it on a regular for us particularly in ht 15

Two stories involving yours truly British Final late 90,s Sunday afternoon at Brandon Stadium. I had been employed as new Track Curator after Colin Meredith had gone to Oxford at the start of the year .Very sunny day and watering had been paramount all day since 5 am .Around about I think it was after Ht 12 I was asked by the ref to give it a fairly good soaking and proceeded to the tractor and water tank which in those days was allowed to be in the centre green .I started off across the green to the exit on the back straight drove down the raised paving onto the track then to my horror the weght of the water in the tank which was under 3/4 full lifted the back of the tractor up into the air breaking the tow pin on the back of tractor .We then provided the whole of the crowd to ten minutes of complete amusement and laughter with first myself trying to push the bowser back down onto a level position but to no avail then 1 other raker helping, still no good until eventually it took 4 of us hanging on the front of the bowser to change the water level and reconnect to the tractor to a very understanding round of applause . Second story First match in charge of Brandon at home to Oxford (my home town team) with new manager Colin Meredith in charge We had a very poor day with weather lot of rain but luckily as it was the first match of the season the track was well packed down .1 hour before the start we had a heavy downpour the ref and both sets of riders walked the track and were understandably worried but I asked the ref to give me a crack with the big blade to take off the top surface to the outside of both bends and on the inside of both straights I reckoned about 45mins to an hour which he agreed to .The meeting started 55 mins late the bees lost 26 52 with Laurence Hare riding at number 7 scoring 15 pt max . Not two of the best days of my life but you got to have bad to have good.

Is it just me or did anyone else not get the Final transmitted by Eurosport as the riders were getting ready on the ramp my coverage ended NOT IMPRESSED