Tony Steele !

[Wizza]

considering Tony Steele has officiated the most times I have few (if any!) memories of a 'homer' decision that favoured the Brits

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Agreed Spook.

 

Personally, I reckon he got both the Pedersen & Nicholls incidents spot on.

 

Pedersen did absolutely nothing wrong at all - didn't change his line, Iversen was trying to squeeze down. 'nuff said.

 

The problem with Zagar was the discernible DELAY between the contact and him falling off. Had he fallen the instant Scott hit him, opinions would have rightly been very different.

 

Remember when Mark Loram clouted Scott in a VERY similar way in Cardiff 2001? Difference was Scotty stayed on......

 

Only 'wrong' one was the Gollob decision - but only because it infringed with the rulebook....

[Grachan]

I think he did 'make the most of it' but he was definatly hit pretty hard - hard enough to make him lose momentum and balance and therefore lose the vital 2nd place.  The alternaive would be to stay on - ala B Pedersen in the race with Crump - and miss out or drop the bike and possibly get a rerun!  I'm not saying this is right but the fact remains that it was Nicholls move which caused Zagar to lose his balance. The same was true of Iversen - Nicki hit him and he came off.

 

What Tony Steele does (and I've seen him do it before in Britain!) is he uses the 'person on the deck caused the stoppage so is excluded' line!  I think this is the easy option personally - it takes a lot more balls to exclude the person who actually caused the fall!   

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It depends how you look at it though. Did Nicholls cause Zagar to fall? I'd say he didn't. He rode into him pretty hard, and, as I said before, you could put a case for unfair riding there - though I can only remember one time when a ref has excluded someone for unfair riding when the other rider has stayed on (Kai Neimi I believe was involved, but I can't remember if he was excluded or the victim!)

 

The ref obviously excluded the rider who caused the race to be stopped, and what caused the race to be stopped was Zagar laying the bike down to try and get try and get a re-run.

 

If he'd excluded Nicholls in that race, then he's have also had to exclude Crump in the other one.

[Subedei]

to be fair we have seen this many many times in recent seasons when it comes to Polish riders and in particular Mr Gollob...........considering Tony Steele has officiated the most times I have few (if any!) memories of a 'homer' decision that favoured the Brits........or do my rose tinted glasses cleanse my memory as well?

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I've seen "home" decisions from steele, albeit not in favour of British riders, for example, he was awfully generous to Tomasz Gollob during the Bydgoszcz GP (surely Gollob in Bydgoszcz counts as "home") a couple of years ago.

[spook]

I've seen "home" decisions from steele, albeit not in favour of British riders, for example, he was awfully generous to Tomasz Gollob during the Bydgoszcz GP (surely Gollob in Bydgoszcz counts as "home") a couple of years ago.

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I kind of meant to suit his home country's rider rather than the country he is in but.......I think anyone would feel pressure over a Gollob decision in Bydgoszcz .......I mean do you want to get out of the stadium in one piece or not?

[arnieg]

I kind of meant to suit his home country's rider rather than the country he is in but.......I think anyone would feel pressure over a Gollob decision in Bydgoszcz .......I mean do you want to get out of the stadium in one piece or not?

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However his exclusion of Jacek Krysaniek(sp) in the deciding heat of the 2001 World Cup Final at Wroclaw which snatched the title from Poland's grasp and gave it to Australia would suggest that he doesn't bow to such pressure. As it was a first bend fall it would have been so easy to go for all four back.

 

I think it is fair to say Tony kept a low profile that evening.

[MikePK]

I for one won't say if Tony Steele got it right or wrong in Italy on Saturday,I have my opinions ,but they're not worth squat,as I'm not a referee that has years of experience in the sport,so who cares what I think....the fact is that Tony has the respect of all involved in the sport,and that must have come from somewhere,for respect as a ref is ...lets face it ...hard to come by and is earned not just given away,as is trust...which is also something that everyone,including the FIM,have in Tony...and as for the man himself.....I know Tony on a personal basis and he is one of the nicest, fairest,most generous men one could wish to meet

[barrow boy]

I for one won't say if Tony Steele got it right or wrong in Italy on Saturday,I have my opinions ,but they're not worth squat,as I'm not a referee that has years of experience in the sport,so who cares what I think....the fact is that Tony has the respect of all involved in the sport,and that must have come from somewhere,for respect as a ref is ...lets face it ...hard to come by and is earned not just given away,as is trust...which is also something that everyone,including the FIM,have in Tony...and as for the man himself.....I know Tony on a personal basis and he is one of the nicest, fairest,most generous men one could wish to meet

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Please add me to your fine appraisal MikePK

[Hazzman]

Please add me to your fine appraisal MikePK

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Same here...leave our Tony alone. One Man in Speedway keeping Leicester afloat.

[Trees]

I can only remember one time when a ref has excluded someone for unfair riding when the other rider has stayed on

I think refs should definitely do this if a rider is so impeded that it puts him out of the race, they shouldn't have to fall off to have a decision made ..............

[barrow boy]

I think refs should definitely do this if a rider is so impeded that it puts him out of the race, they shouldn't have to fall off to have a decision made ..............

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Same with Footy. No fall, no free kick or penalty but the intended foul was still performed.