Kennett Suspended!

[Marmite]

Eddie has excepted the findings, his bike was illegal. His 'mistake' has probably cost us a play off place and as captain he should be more responsible.

 

 

Exactly my point, at this stage all we know is that it was a 'mistake', strip of his captaincy if it makes you feel better, but for Coventry fans to be demanding he be sacked for a 'mistake' when he was one of few riders that stood by you lot in your winter of disconnect shows how fickle and disloyal Coventry fans are.

 

If it is proved to be a clear case of deliberate cheating fine, he can take his punishment but until that is proved all we know is that it is a mistake.

[michaelcroucher]

Well Kennett has been an idiot, I’m not sticking up for him what he has does done but the ref and the scrutineer should have picked this up before the match. It’s their job to do that. I wonder if lakeside won if there would of been this problem. I was at the match and it is a real shame. It was great racing. I don’t think Nick should be done as it wasn’t his bike. Kennett has brought speedway a bad name now. I think he should be sacked for cheating and never rider for England or a speedway ever again.

[Southend Sid]

Bring back the birch thats what I say

[PHILIPRISING]

Bring back the birch thats what I say

 

WHEN was the last time the Daily Mail carried a headlined speedway story, especially on a busy Monday with soccer, rugby, cricket and golf vying for space? No prizes as to what was the subject matter.

[TonyE]

Well Kennett has been an idiot, I’m not sticking up for him what he has does done but the ref and the scrutineer should have picked this up before the match. It’s their job to do that. I wonder if lakeside won if there would of been this problem. I was at the match and it is a real shame. It was great racing. I don’t think Nick should be done as it wasn’t his bike. Kennett has brought speedway a bad name now. I think he should be sacked for cheating and never rider for England or a speedway ever again.

 

 

Exactly how would they do that?

 

At the time the issue was raised Lakeside were winning by 6 points.

[beesfan81]

People still seem to be condemning Eddie before any kind of admission or proof of guilt with the emphasis being on guilt.

 

Eddie may be guilty of cheating, but he may also only be guilty of not knowing what was happening, he may also only be guilty of an illegal silencer but not one that was tampered with to gain an advantage.

 

Let’s assume for a moment that Eddie had tampered with the silencer to gain an advantage, a few things don’t add up:

 

• Why score a maximum? It only draws attention to it.

• Why continue to use it after the machine examiner had reported it?

• Why lend it to Nick Morris?

 

Until there is an admission of guilt or proof of specific allegations I will continue to support Eddie.

 

He stood by Coventry during the unsure winter when others didn’t. The least we as Coventry fans owe Eddie is the chance to explain what has happened.

[Woz01]

People still seem to be condemning Eddie before any kind of admission or proof of guilt with the emphasis being on guilt.

 

Eddie may be guilty of cheating, but he may also only be guilty of not knowing what was happening, he may also only be guilty of an illegal silencer but not one that was tampered with to gain an advantage.

 

Let’s assume for a moment that Eddie had tampered with the silencer to gain an advantage, a few things don’t add up:

 

• Why score a maximum? It only draws attention to it.

• Why continue to use it after the machine examiner had reported it?

• Why lend it to Nick Morris?

 

Until there is an admission of guilt or proof of specific allegations I will continue to support Eddie.

 

He stood by Coventry during the unsure winter when others didn’t. The least we as Coventry fans owe Eddie is the chance to explain what has happened.

 

Yes we should wait to see what he's got to say, im not saying sack him now. If he admits it he will not have a leg to stand on and should be rightly sacked. Going by what other rider's are saying on twitter it seems to be widespread, what dont they pass on the names of riders they suspect and then the relevant people can do random checks!

[tigerblues]

If Edward's tampered with the silencer to gain an advantage then he's been an absolute idiot and the punishment has to fit the crime, which is cheating, nothing else to call it. A lengthy ban and fine not only punishes him but might make a few other riders think twice. Of course there are still questions over this story, as mentioned if he knew it had been reported it seems odd he would continue to score big points and also let Morris borrow his bike.

 

As mentioned, I wonder if there are 1 or 2 nervous riders this morning wondering how quick they can get a new silencer sorted. This really does make you question other riders results this season, there are a few riders who have really upped their average and of course they could all be totally innocent but the spotlight will be on riders more than ever to see how they perform in the weeks ahead. Are random checks on the silencers practical? The riders must understand how serious this situation is and will surely be happy to hand their machinery over if they have nothing to hide. Of course this will be time consuming but IF this is being done to gain any kind of advantage by any other rider they surely need to be dealt with in the same way.

 

The facts so far don't sound good but there could well be more to this story so we'll see how things unfold. Very disappointed that Ed is the one involved here though. He is having a cracking season up to now, and although we're as of yet unsure what advantage, if any he has gained from this his entire season is now in doubt as far as I'm concerned, given the improvement he seems to have made this year. He's never seemed like the type to cheat IMO but the statement from Coventry seems to imply they either think he has deliberately tampered with the silencer, or he has admitted to it. If he is proven guilty then he should be released with immediate effect, but I think pending the disciplinary hearing Coventry have done the right thing so far and it is good to see they don't condone his actions.

[TonyE]

Is there any such thing as tampering with a silencer to achieve anything other than an advantage over others?

 

People question why Eddie continued to use the silencer after doubts had been raised about it. Changing it at that time could have been construed as an admission that there was, indeed, something illegal about it and continued use during the meeting gives the impression the rider shows he has nothing to fear etc. You can read reasons into both sides of this argument.

 

For my mind, the Bees official statement is quite conclusive - EK is guilty with the only doubt being the level of sanction imposed after the disciplinary hearing.

[P T Preece]

If Eddie is guilty, its a great shame for the lad, always liked the way he rode.

If found guilty, his points gained from this silencer, which he recently changed to, should be looked at and the points taken away from him, all winnings returned to the club and be banned for life.

[hyderd]

• Why score a maximum? It only draws attention to it.

• Why continue to use it after the machine examiner had reported it?

• Why lend it to Nick Morris?

 

1, No point in trying to gain an advantage if you don't use it to its potential

2 Maybe his other bike has the same silencer

3 I hope this is the part that points to Eddie not knowing the illegal silencer was indeed illegal.

[Tsunami]

All bikes in the pits during a meeting MUST conform to regulations. It's in the SCB book.

 

Correct, but iceman mentioned bikes that were 'in his possession'.

[Sprog1]

If Edward's tampered with the silencer to gain an advantage then he's been an absolute idiot and the punishment has to fit the crime, which is cheating, nothing else to call it. A lengthy ban and fine not only punishes him but might make a few other riders think twice. Of course there are still questions over this story, as mentioned if he knew it had been reported it seems odd he would continue to score big points and also let Morris borrow his bike.

 

As mentioned, I wonder if there are 1 or 2 nervous riders this morning wondering how quick they can get a new silencer sorted. This really does make you question other riders results this season, there are a few riders who have really upped their average and of course they could all be totally innocent but the spotlight will be on riders more than ever to see how they perform in the weeks ahead. Are random checks on the silencers practical? The riders must understand how serious this situation is and will surely be happy to hand their machinery over if they have nothing to hide. Of course this will be time consuming but IF this is being done to gain any kind of advantage by any other rider they surely need to be dealt with in the same way.

 

The facts so far don't sound good but there could well be more to this story so we'll see how things unfold. Very disappointed that Ed is the one involved here though. He is having a cracking season up to now, and although we're as of yet unsure what advantage, if any he has gained from this his entire season is now in doubt as far as I'm concerned, given the improvement he seems to have made this year. He's never seemed like the type to cheat IMO but the statement from Coventry seems to imply they either think he has deliberately tampered with the silencer, or he has admitted to it. If he is proven guilty then he should be released with immediate effect, but I think pending the disciplinary hearing Coventry have done the right thing so far and it is good to see they don't condone his actions.

 

Ok, lets take Eddie out of the equation so as not to personalise it.

 

Why would any rider be tempted to tamper with a silencer ? Because there is money to be made (extra points scored) and the chances of getting caught are very, very slim.

 

Why are the chances of getting caught very slim ?

Because it is difficult to detect and the protest fee the opposing team have to put up is very substantial. There is therefore a fair chance that IF a protest is made the silencer will be shown to be ok any the protest fee is lost. It is simply not practical to go round checking silencers on a random basis and incur the expense of factory tests on all them. Therefore an opposing promoter needs to be pretty confident before he incurs the protest fee. If there is no protest there is no check and the rider gets away with it.

 

Why is it not acceptable for a rider to claim he didn't know his mechanic had done something without his knowledge ?

Because if it was an acceptable defence they could all use it. The bottom line is that the rider is the mechanic's employer and like all employers he is vicariously responsible for the acts of those in his employment. It is not an onerous task for a rider to make clear to his mechanics that on no account must they illegally tamper with equipment.

 

Unfortunately the SCB like to pretend that nothing untoward is going on and like to sweep these things under the carpet if they can. Hence their inquiry into the cheating allegations at Poole a couple of years ago was very superficial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Druid]

Well poor Kennett has had his silencer ripped apart the least you Coventry fans could do is have a whip round for him to buy another illegal silencer.

[SCB]

Is there any such thing as tampering with a silencer to achieve anything other than an advantage over others?

Yes. The bracket snaps off, you weld it back on...

You get a crack somewhere after a crash, you weld it up.

 

That just two examples I can think of.

 

Just because it's no longer standard, doesn't mean there is any gain. Hopefully for Eddie's sake, at a later date we'll learn that is the case. We'll still lose the points but at least Eddie won't be a cheat, just a very silly boy.

 

If your brake light stops working on your car what are you gaining? Nothing, but it's still technically illegal.

[Roland]

SIMPLY isn't feasible to noise test every silencer at every meeting ... costly, time-consuming and a major problem of all these tests anyway is that the same silencer will give a different reading at different venues, depending on a number of factors including wind, surrounding buildings, ambient background noise, etc.

 

That is why silencers have to be homologated to ensure that they are manufactured to a certain standard in a particular way.

 

Phil, point taken you're correct. However lets use some sort of measurement, as they say....if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. A plug guage up the exhaust would elimnate all avenues of cheating. Use a final outlet size accross a wide range/degree of engine tune and elinate the following. Atmospheric pressure, humidity, degree of ignition advance and human error. Are the people looking at this engineers?

[woofers]

I WOULD imagine that if a silencer is tampered with it loses its homologated (legal) status no matter what decibel level it might produce.

 

But surely the whole point of introducing the new silencers was to reduce noise levels ? The issue raised by Impartial One is still vaild and worthy of discussion or reasoning. Logically there should be nothing wrong with achieving superior performance and still being withing the decibel limit. However, as we know, logic and speedway do not always appear to go hand in hand !

 

I will say though, when I went to the opening meeting at Eastbourne earlier in the year I was struck by how different the bikes sounded, it was like a drone, similiar to those noises made by fleets of bombers in those B&W WW2 films. But now either I have become accustomed to this new sound and treat it as the norm, or, and I favour this, the bikes are no longer "quite as quiet" as then..... something has changed, maybe one or two tweaks ?

 

With regard to the case in point, I think we should await the official outcome and statement from Edward Kennett which hopefully will provide all the facts.

[Vincent Blachshadow]

 

At the time the issue was raised Lakeside were winning by 6 points.

 

Now this is the bit I don't get. When JBJ was accused of cheating his bike was pulled before a heat he was due out in, ripped apart and he had to go out for that heat with a messed-about-with machine. On another occasion - at Glasgow if I remember correctly, a rider was pulled off of the start line immediately before his next heat and had his machine examined then had to go back out on a tampered with bike. Yet Kennett went out several more times on that machine after the 'issue was raised' but before anything was done (and the outcome of the match reversed, it has to be said).

Why was he allowed further rides before his machine was examined?

[Sprog1]

Yes. The bracket snaps off, you weld it back on...

You get a crack somewhere after a crash, you weld it up.

 

That just two examples I can think of.

 

Just because it's no longer standard, doesn't mean there is any gain. Hopefully for Eddie's sake, at a later date we'll learn that is the case. We'll still lose the points but at least Eddie won't be a cheat, just a very silly boy.

 

If your brake light stops working on your car what are you gaining? Nothing, but it's still technically illegal.

 

But Coventry' own statement call it an "unacceptable demeanour". That sounds like something more serious than simply welding up broken bracket.

 

 

 

[lnoone]

I think there's got to be more to the story. I'd wait and hear from Kennett and Coventry first. However, even if he's found to have deliberately done this I wouldn't call for a ban, rather a probationary period where his machines are subject to constant checking. It would serve no-one, least of all British speedway.

How many other meetings has he cheated at and got away with it?