marko

I think this was nothing more than a desperate attempt to get fans money and try and limp to ten heats no matter how farcical the racing got, ignore the fact fans pay to watch 15 heats of RACING, not ten heats of RIDING.

Exactly Cityrebel, I wished a had saved a screen shot of the rain radar at around 6:30 pm, I could have posted it and proved beyond any doubt the futility of attempting to run a meeting. Rain can die out but not when it’s on that scale and across such a huge area of the country.

I said a few weeks ago (continuing decline of speedway thread) that this was going to start happening, most of the tracks are so bare to the bone that just a little bit of rain at the wrong time (race time) will make them pretty much no go, and tonight classic example of that although given the nature of the rain that was falling around the region, I am not sure if even a deep track would have been recoverable by scraping the extra shale off but certainly a slick track, no chance at all. As already mentioned I was working this afternoon/evening so I couldn't have gone anyway, but having seen the radar at 6pm I can tell you now, I would not have ventured out had I been at home and not working, there was simply NO WAY this meeting was either going to be A. on, or B. go the distance.

This was all before another promoter pipped up, Im talking about much earlier in the season, and in fact the same thing has been happening for several years now, its not something new, lessons should have been learnt a long time ago.

I said earlier there was more in the way, apparently Lakeside don't care for forecasts, they just wanted to get the meeting on at all costs because they Fd up earlier in the season by having so many blank Fridays, well that's the price you pay, next time the weather looks dodgy people won't bother.

I’m at Shenfield now and rain has hit here but stopped, checking the weather radar though suggests the track is getting hit hard and that won’t be the last of it for the night. Good job we raced last week, oh hang on!

I’m at work so can’t make it tonight, not seen any rain yet though although clouds have been darkening around London and Essex.

Lakeside can’t run most Saturdays because of four wheeled motorsport using the venue, that’s proably why it would make sense for the Hammers to run the odd meeting at Rye on a Saturday night where no other promoters can complain about it. if they fail to complete fixtures this season, that I think will be the end of it, there is no gong back if you can’t make an effort when your clearly one of the fancied top three or four teams.

One factor which has meant meetings taking longer is the fact that the bikes are not allowed on the track whilst plant equipment is still on it and vice versa, and at Lakeside we have to wait even longer because the track man insists on driving both the grader and the water truck so we have to wait for him to do a few laps on one tractor, then get on another tractor and do a few laps on that. Big gaps between heats kills the flow of a meeting and atmosphere when there is one.

Most of the support I suspect comes from north of the river, I would certainly not follow the club if it moved into Kent because of the travelling plus the Kent track is a joke, there is more dirt on the M20.

Trouble is too many riders have conditioned themselves to the point they are only happy riding a track that is slick and bone dry, a lot of skill has gone out of the sport since they brought in the laydowns, its now all about whack the throttle and hold on.

Troy Batchelor would have loved this track

According to the current radar there is a huge rainstorm over the area as I type this at half seven, so there is no way this meeting could have gone ahead tonight even if it had not rained earlier, I don't know where they get there forecasts from but maybe they should consider changing it? "no more rain after 3pm" hmmm

Yes Tony, the forecast, but not the radar! there is potentially a big difference, anyway it doesn't matter, I called it right, they got it wrong, but we all lose.

Foolish to suggest at 3pm that everything was going to be ok given the amount of rain around if they had checked the radar before hand. Another Friday night lost, another fixture we now have to rearrange with a fellow Friday night track, all those Fridays earlier in the season when it was dry and we didn't run.

I wonder what sort of state the track is in after all the rain yesterday, a lot more of the wet stuff forecasted for this afternoon so its not good.

Would not surprise me, in fact a poster on the Lakeside forum, called this way back on the 26th July, and I have to agree, I can't see how we are going to get our fixtures in with limited Fridays, we are likely to be in the play offs, we are still in the koc and that early season competition which we won our group in.

Something else not helping is that every time you see a video on youtube from speedway portal or speedway gb the tracks are dry, they are already down to the base on the inside even after just a couple of heats, you cant expect the track to soak up and store water when there is nothing to soak it up, in the summer you get dust as we have seen a lot recently, but at least the meeting can go on, and providing the vision of the riders isn't overly impacted its safe, but if tracks continue like this, when we start getting the wetter whether in September and October, meetings will be rained off left, right and centre because the rain will just sit there, nothing to soak it up and therefore you cant scrub the wet shale off because there isn't anything of substance to scrape off. What on earth is going on? are promoters en bloc refusing to buy any more shale in the hope that some miracle will present itself as a cheaper alternative?

Historically most Mondays either in the past via Sky or now via BT the outcome in more or less the same, not many fans in attendance, no atmosphere BUT come the play offs, Still on a Monday night and suddenly the stadiums are alive and buzzing with record numbers of fans for that club, for that season, its great but where were all those fans the previous six months? So the question is, are the league meetings not seen as important enough? and if so, how do they get more people taking an interest in the journey and not just the destination? The play offs work, they generate interest and therefore money, no need to change that, but the play offs on their own will not subsidize everyone's season.

When it comes to football you will be surprised, not the very big clubs who attacking five figure crowds but lower down certainly, I understand one of the Thurrock teams, was recently in danger of losing their ground, Truro are having to ground share this coming season after losing the ground and apparently Weston Super Mare is now sharing with the rugby club, and many will have heard the problems affecting Dulwich Hamlet who for a non league teams had a fan base that some in League 2 clubs would be envious of. Look at the amount of brown field sites that you would never have expected housing to be put on because it would make no sense or very appealing because its slap bang next to a motorway or busy A road, no where is safe.

First thing I noticed on getting to the car park was how much fuller it was, it was nice to see the support back to the sort of numbers we have seen in the past, I think Panthers will probably bring a few people next week too, at all helps to strengthen the clubs argument for a right or at least a chance to continue.

Also interesting to hear Jon say there were some sort of caveats that if speedway wasn't included in the plan than they (the owners) would have to provide another site for the club somewhere in the region, how legally binding that is I don't know.

11 of the 15 races were pretty much from the gate and at least nine were stone wall from the gate not even a hint of a pass being possible, if people want to call that entertaining fair enough, hopefully some cooler conditions next week and a bit more grip so there is more than one racing line. If that had been on BT Sport, this meeting would be getting Hammered right now, (pun not intended)

Covatti tried his nuts off to be fair, but there was nothing there for him to hook up with on lines he was attempting to ride, if he could have stuck his front wheel to the white line he probably would have doubled his points but its not his way of riding.

The racing did improve towards the end but most of the passing there was, was because riders drifted off the inside, Ben Morley showed exactly how it should be ridden when its like this, rider of the night for me.