Junior Races

[ouch]

Thought I’d run this by you all and see what you think.

Instead of having the junior races tagged on at the end of the meeting when a large majority of fans leave, how about running them during the main match?

 

Run the heats as follows, one race before the main event, and before heats five, nine, twelve and fifteen.

The advantages to this would be the main guys being around and no doubt observing the youngsters and offering guidance if they want and have the time. The juniors would be riding in front of a decent crowd who would I’m sure cheer them on. Moving a junior heat if necessary could fill any delays in between heats that result in the fans standing about, and the race before heat fifteen would help fill that long gap.

I’ve watched to juniors many times and find them to be as entertaining as the main lads and as the fifteen heats are usually finishes between 9.00 and 9.15 at Belle Vue it could easily be accommodated. If rain or any other hold up threatened before tapes up then the option to move the juniors could be taken if need.

If it helps bring the young British riders along any faster then even better.

[Peter]

Instead of having the junior races tagged on at the end of the meeting when a large majority of fans leave, how about running them during the main match?

Problems have been encountered in the past when junior races have been staged during the main meeting. I remember at Sheffield once, a junior crashed during the interval and a long delay ensued. In addition, some clubs just about manage to fit in 15 heats before the curfew, nevermind 20 or 21.

[Kevin Meynell]

In addition, some clubs just about manage to fit in 15 heats before the curfew, nevermind 20 or 21.

 

Not so long ago, every meeting had at least 20 programmed heats which were usually completed in under two hours. You could easily run 20 heats in an evening, even allowing for accidents, if you stopped all the messing around and timewasting that's become so prevalent today.

 

The only reason that it takes so long to run 15 heats these days, is because promoters have to disguise the fact that the number of heats had been cut. If they ran at the same pace as in the past, the meeting would be over in an hour-and-quarter.

[BertHoven]

Not so long ago, every meeting had at least 20 programmed heats which were usually completed in under two hours. You could easily run 20 heats in an evening, even allowing for accidents, if you stopped all the messing around and timewasting that's become so prevalent today.

 

The only reason that it takes so long to run 15 heats these days, is because promoters have to disguise the fact that the number of heats had been cut. If they ran at the same pace as in the past, the meeting would be over in an hour-and-quarter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I feel that meetings are run far too quickly now. At one time you could mark your programme, have a brief chat about the heat just run and wind up any nearby opposing fans.

 

Now, at least at Belle Vue, there is barely time to mark your programme before the riders are put on two minutes and they're lining up for the next race.

 

Coupled with that the team manager has publicly declared that he doesn't like intervals, therefore, guess what, the poor fan has either to endure extreme discomfort or miss what could be the best race of the night whilst he dashes to the toilet.

 

Oh for the days when meetings were run with the supporters foremost in the official mind.

[Kevin Meynell]

I feel that meetings are run far too quickly now.

 

Well, I don't know how things are run at Belle Vue, but at Oxford there are still indeterminable delays. When I first started going to speedway, the main match was usually over by 21.00, with the second-half/junior match completed by around 21.45, if not 21.30. These days, you're lucky if the main match is finished by 21.30, and that's an improvement over the previously couple of seasons where they regularly struggled to complete 15 heats before 22.00.

 

I realise everyone has different views on this, but I prefer to see swiftly-run meetings. I do not enjoy standing around watching an empty track.

[whowasthatberntpersson]

Its the gaps between races that has long been a problem.

Its one of the reasons speedway has had difficulties attracting new fans.

Lets face it who wants to sit or stand around for extended periods during races, do the maths, if a meeting lasts for two hours with only twenty minutes of racing or on track activity thats a lot of minutes with nothing happening.

 

My local track in Australia (Pioneer Park in North Queensland) incorporates sidecar racing, Junior speedway(Under 16's), and stock bikes in the main program. I think its fair to say that if they had 15 speedway races without the extras people wouldn't believe they were getting value for money.

 

Strange as it may seem even with the many extra races the local meetings still finish around 2200.

Edited August 16, 2005 by whowasthatberntpersson

[Kevin Meynell]

Strange as it may seem even with the many extra races the local meetings still finish around 2200.

 

I don't think it's strange. It should easily be possible to run 12 heats per hour (1 heat every 5 minutes).

 

My local track in Australia (Pioneer Park in North Queensland)

 

BTW - which town is Pioneer Park in, and do they run speedway all year round?

Edited August 16, 2005 by Kevin Meynell

[BrizHeathen]

Pioneer Park is in Brandon which is one hour's drive South of Townsville in North Queensland.

 

They most certainly do run all year round, see my previous post under Queensland news (International world of speedway).

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

You should have been at Tamworth for the U21's last season BH, something like 50 events were held on both the Friday and Saturday.

 

The sad part about that was there were some newcomers to speedway sitting near a speedway fan I know and after watching the first 20 heats of juniors, junior sidecars, evolution class and goodness knows what else said "we aren't staying to watch any more of this garbage" and left before seeing a heat of the main event. I can see them telling their mates speedway is a load of old cobblers which is a shame as the U21's turned out to be a terrific event. If only they had stayed !!

 

It would be nice if we could get the mix just right.

[BrizHeathen]

There is that about it Lunchy.

 

I guess the point I was trying to make was the amount of time it takes to get through a meeting in the UK is probably too long considering the relatively small number of races.

 

You are right the mixture has to be just right, my idea would be to run juniors (Under 16's) before the main event, give people the option of turning up early if they want, then put the learners on after the main event, again giving people an option whether to stop and watch or not.

 

Having said that my boy rides Junior speedway and loves being part of the main program, a few Junior races do not take a long time to run. I guess its easy with the small infield tracks we have in OZ.