FTM

Why would the Track Curator need to take a day off if the track is being used then He must be wanted on site for obvious reasons

R.I.P.Dougie I got to work with him for 1 year when I was employed as assistant trackman /general dogsbody by Jim Lynch for the Racers as other people have said he was very protective of his track but I still managed to learn a few new things once we got to know each other a very good bloke he will be sadly missed by a lot of Reading fans .

Interesting to see while watching the cricket coverage from Australia over the past two nights during the highlights show after finish of play there is a 2 to 3 minute showing sky sport coverage for 2014 right through to October nearly every summer/autumn sport you can think of apart from one. SPEEDWAY. With uk having the World Champion I would have thought they would have at least mentioned Tai and Cardiff GP .They were advertising the Cardiff day out up to the end of the new year but in 2014 zilch. Hope our sport doesn,t go the same way as Premiership /Championship lge1 and lge 2 footie coverage which is now the sole domain for live play via B T sport or it could disappear of our screens forever .

If that happens Steve you can forget winning the league for the foreseeable future IMO

Having been Track Curator at Cov for two periods totalling 7 yrs and Peterborough for 2 yrs,once the horrendous weather came in before the Stox meeting believe me there was not a cat in hell,s chance of getting the Speedway meeting on.Abbo posted previously the track was dry on the inside but already down to the base while the cars were having trouble getting through the deep shale (mud) on the outside .That is where the trouble starts .To prepare a track you have to have a workable surface of dry shale to mix with what is already on there but this old shale has to be fairly dry also .I had a similar problem more than once and all you can do is keep turning over the old stuff going round and round the track until you get something resembling shale but you are obviously totally reliant on the weather.This entails many hours of moving the old stuff then mixing in the new. On top of all this you have to work in a possible sleep pattern if you are lucky .Three days goes very quickly and I know most trackmen go way beyond what normal workers have to put up with regarding lack of sleep.Just a quick guide to prepping a track . 1 Dry out as much as possible old shale involving many many laps of the track on tractor with grader or small spikes then once it looks workable 2 JCB or tractor with bucket attachment load new shale from shale bays drive out to track spread it evenly over all parts of track this can take anything up to 2 hrs just driving in and out of bay to track and back . 3 Then more driving tractor/grader mixing old and new together over and over again until you know its worth laying as a surface . 4 This then involves filling water tanker/tractor and bowser full of water for weight purpose then driving round and round very precisely to remove any tyre marks in track surface. Most times this took me between 5 to 6 hrs for the first base track then you have to repeat the process maybe another three or four times (repeat 2 3 4* the tanker needs to be refilled with water as you have put a load down on the finished surface you have prepared ) before you get the track up to its SCB recommended height in regards to the inside kerb .If the weather is ok you can take 2 days (with sleep in between ) to do this but if dodgy you have to keep at it all through the night . As we all saw this Xmas weather wasn,t good before the stox and the big cars do rip into it due to the fixed differential system they use on their set up .Add to all this (I have bored you with so far) once the track is as it should be the Air fence has to be erected I don,t think we ever got below 8/9 hrs to get it all totally right /safely secured. So as you can all appreciate the time scale with out the crap weather was pretty tight and with the weather we had IMO impossible . Hope this insight into a trackmans nightmare wasn,t to boring Happy New Year to every fan cheers Mick C aka FTM

your post imo is obviously not taking on board anyones post from people before you .If there had been no stocks on boxing day the meeting would have definitley been on as although there was a horrendous days rain and wind on Friday the track was already looking pretty good and the remedial work needed overnight on Friday into Saturday and then possibly sat night/ sun morn would have been one of the best winter tracks. ,Why do you need to put the boot in when someone is trying to give fans a meeting in the close season. I noticed through out the season you have been the same on Leics site. As other posters have said the cars did the damage but they had their date already in situ from the end of 2012 .No one is bigger than the man upstairs controlling the elements and Mick,Neil.Colin etc were right in cancelling .

I still stand by my idea of dropping the bags into a trench would be a more secure way of ensuring the bags didnt lift on impact The photos you have shown of both systems still have the bags sitting on the track surface and as I stated before a bike hitting the fence at speed at the bottom of bags will invariably lift them up giving virtually no protection for a rider hurtling into fence at speed.I don,t know if your comment about being silly was aimed at me, or other poster, if it was me as I said at the start of my original post I have erected and taken down air fences from the inception so I don,t consider my comments silly in any way and maybe your comment could be retracted.

I understand what you are suggesting but I don,t think there is a need for extra materials as long as the bags are fastened securely below ground level the bag will take the impact approximately 2 to 3 feet up on the front face which IMO will negate the bag lifting up out of the trench .There maybe a small problem of the bike bouncing away from the fence but no more than normal .as always safety is paramount and to negate injuries to riders the assembly crew must be A one in their building of the fence unfortunately this is not always the case as you don,t have enough time or manpower to change over from dogs/stock cars bangers etc etc to Speedway.I don,t know how Doc Bridgett works his miracles at Wolves cos I think they still run dogs Mon afternoon before Speedway at night If you ever read this forum Doc could you enlighten me and others . Cheers Mick C

I,m very proud to say it was My son Chivsy his friend Jay, and Pete and Jane Ballinger well done you guys and I am looking forward to a celebratory bottle at Xmas

Iv,e read with much interest the pro,s and con,s from many fans about the Air Fences but IMO there is one major design fault with the instillation of all fences .I was trackman at Coventry when they were first introduced although they were trialled the latter part of the year before .I think if there was a trench dug the width of the air bag about 2 feet deep around the edge of the fence the full length of both bends( the bags have their height increased by two feet to allow them to be within the FIM rule book) if the bags are then secured in the trench below the surface of the track I honestly don,t believe we would have had so many serious injuries in the time since they were introduced .The main cause of injuries is as most fans acknowledge the bag lifting and rider following bike under fence if the bike hits the bag halfway up the side there is no reason for it to lift.I saw Chris Louis get his serious leg injuries at Coventry when he hit the Stock Car gate cos his bike lifted the fence ,he went straight into the bottom girder on the gate which is obviously heavy duty to resist impacts from Cars.We never had anywhere near as many serious injuries when we had the wooden fence in situe.The Cov fixing is IMO one of the best in the country because we have the Armco barrier and eyelets are screwed into this and metal cables run through the eyelet loops tightened both ends of the corners and all the bags have strong fabric loops and clips fitted to this cable. It has consistently passed the FIM and British League speedway,s inspection but because they sit on top of the track surface a bike going at 60mph + is always going to kick it up hence the Chris Louis and latterly Chris Holder injuries.As a comedic end to just to enforce how much they should be fixed down when we were setting them up the first ever season we had a fair length of bags connected together on the top bend but not fixed down and the wind started to pick up, before we could get from the pits to the bend we lost 12 bags over the top corner of the track ,dog track fence and corner of the stand we had to hire a cherry picker to get two back from up a large tree needless to say we fixed everything down after that one at a time.

Naughty Gem but very funny

You beat me to it F/P I was thinking along the same lines are Phil & Neil going to pull names out of the hat or will the riders geographical home base be used in consideration of where they are sent .your point above highlights the problem straight away .If its a case of you go where we send you the selectors could find themselves with a vastly reduced squad of riders willing to take part .I can see the races involving N/L riders against each other being very important to the overall team results as I think the Swedish league (might have the wrong country could be Poland)operates a similar system of like for like abilities and as most 1 to 5 averages balance there selves out the reserve races could turn out to be the key to win .I hope there is a set precedent that only reserves can be used in said races and there isn.t a back door system to allow a top scoring rider to be used in a tac sub replacement if one team is way behind .I have seen polish matches where reserves may only get 2 rides and in 1 extreme case 1 ride when a top man had up to 7

Ive just heard my Auntie has grown a pair of B******S which now makes her my Uncle I think probably my post is nearer the truth than any of yours ever will be

your dead right with the end of your quote cos last year we were up to our necks INNIT

Glyn Taylor had same problem last weekend but him and his trackstaff worked their collective butts off to get a decent racetrack on including taking off a large amount of soaked shale and relaying surface . Some are commited and some are not ........

I think tonights result at Leics is the worst thing to happen for the fans of the lions .IMO it will convince D/H that it would be the right thing to go E/L after the drubbing they gave Coventry. The match itself was obviously a great result for the Lions beating a very underperforming Bees (NKI is exempt from this criticism) but a normal 1 to 7 for Leics won,t ride as well as the team tonight .I don,t think D/H and his co promoters could afford to take a massive hit on their finances if the team start to lose against tougher opposition of E/L standard especially at home .The only way Leics could survive in a higher lge IMO is if the E/L is watered down with the GP riders not being part of the British scene .I know a lot of fans like to watch GP stars but I think maybe they could be scheduled to appear on British tracks in a mini GP series of individual meetings not just on EL tracks but some of the better run PL as well.BL speedway should be able to pull in bigger crowds with more balanced teams with riders who would be available most weeks of the year as they wouldn,t be tied up on foreign soil for friday practices and saturday race days with big possibilities of flight cancellations or other problems rearing their ugly heads. Also I know the majority of fans appreciate their own riders winning 46--- 44 with good close racing than a 60---30 borefest.Just my opinion on the way the British scene has gone downhill in the last 5/10 years it will be interesting to hear other fans comments Cheers MIck C retired track curator.........................and I still miss the buzz ..

Hi Gemini reference your choice of scarves if its as cold as it was when I was there two weeks ago there is no problem wear both hope this helps with your conundrum cheers Mick C

I don,t think any fans need to man up as you put it Poole have probably done enough to be Champions but it would have been good to win it from honest out and out riding beating teams fairly and squarely .You say Matt Ford will be around for a fair more years but the bigger picture Poole fans and he needs to worry about is will he have any other teams to screw over because every other clubs supporters will not pay good money to be cheated by him and the other commitee members in his pocket .We are in times of money being tight for most speedway fans and eventually enough will be enough as( if most of them are like me) I want a 50/50 chance of my team winning not something like the Belle Vue / Poole Fiasco of this season. Hopefully thats bored you a bit more

badger1969 I never had any dealings with Mick when I was at Peterborough/Oxford because my paycheck was paid by the promoter Colin Horton a lot of fans always comment on this without knowing anything about what happened but lets face it thats the mentality of some fans with most clubs .I,ve now probably upset a lot of people but when you get covered in S**T it sticks to you and a lot of people enjoy rubbing it in but and its a BIG BUT most of the time it ai,nt your fault HAD In answer to your question no I don,t have proof I wasn,t party to Sandhu,s dealings and I would imagine nobody else on here was either but I was involved with both promotions as Trackman so you hear things the normal fan doesn,t

All this talk about KK riding at Poole in 2014 according to the talk around Leicester the last 3 or 4 weeks He is going to be Leicester No 1 in the Elite League already signed by D Hemsley over his back fence at home as KK is his next door neighbour watch this space.

Main Positive for this season If MIck Horton hadn,t have stepped in at the last moment you and all the other Bees fans would have had B****r all to watch so in my eyes that seem a major positive to me.

All promoters need to tidy up their stadiums to make them more presentable to their own fans and away supporters there is a lot that needs to be done in most (if not all clubs) .Most stadiums have more than one sport on their itenary and when a Sky match is shown there are an awful lot of overhead or long shots showing stadiums shortcomings and vehicles connected with Stock Cars or Greyhound not really in the best condition making the Stadium itself looking like a Scrap Yard effect.It doesn,t take a lot to tidy up most fans would probably volunteer to help and if there was a little incentive as well even better with a bit of money spent in the process but therein probably lies the problem Promoters don,t like to spend money .I think that the case of bigger crowds will never be changed well the meetings are shown live as most fans prefer to not spend hard earned cash if they can watch in the comfort of their own warm front room also not knowing who your 1 to 7 is going to be every week doesn,t help Maybe Sky could show matches on the same night from say 10pm to allow fans time to get home or record for later viewing so the diehard fans could get a double fix of their favourite sport .Most football matches are over by then which would give Sky another chance to increase their coffers with what is a fairly good fanbase sport to maybe attract more viewers .

First part of your post I agree with don,t agree Poole was a good racing surface at all Reference massive double hole /bump which caused Josh Grajczonekj to come to grief on turn 1 there are those that will say he was knocked off by Hans Andersen but there was no contact although Middlo says there was .I watched the replays from all sides and Hans was past Josh,s leg and bike when he was lifted up in the air caused by the poor racing surface. I am not a Swindon fan before anyone asks I think they were let down badly by Troy Batchelor and I know Peter Kildemand is an out and out racer but feel he should have had the captain in his ear last night telling him if you are beaten out the gate and round the first bend just consolidate 2nd and 3rd place for a 3 3 thus protecting their 10 pt lead Don,t think Rosco was switched on last night which was a shame .

Two points concerning tonights meeting at Wolves Pt 1 I also think Nils riding style caused the crash with Chris as he has a tendency to go in hard then lock back when into the bend as has already been said Chris was on the inside as they got to the apex and if you slow it down chris keeps a straight line as Nils turns into him IMO causing the crash . Pt 2 having seen the crash what planet was Lindgren on in the rerun out of last corner blatantly turning across Jason Doyle trying to slow him up for Adam Skornicki to get the 5 1 a very dangerous move as was proved by the reaction of Jason on the slow down lap resulting in Freddie being dumped on his arse which he thoroughly deserved .The horrendous amount of serious crashes we have had this year could have been added to with ease .I know riders have done this system of slowing opposing riders down for years but there is a safe way which wasn,t what I saw tonight .

Perhaps Nige has signed his mate Kelvin as team manager