Mildenhall V Dudley - National Shield 1st Leg - Sunday 7th April

[Fourentee]

I blame the phone, didn't mean it to come up 3 times, sorry.

Assumed it was something like that, but too good an opportunity to miss!

[Heathen1984]

Haha yeah I suppose but always the phones fault when that happens :-)

[Bunce]

Just back from Mildenhall, and here are a couple of my thoughts on the proceedings. It was a close match with nothing much between the teams. 100% effort from all the lads on both sides, and it was nice to see a good crowd of Dudley supporters there. Dudley ran out the winners and deserved their victory. Now for the bad bits!

 

If this was my first ever Speedway meeting, I probably wouldn't bother again. I thought it was supposed to "start" at 4-30pm? Well there didn't seem to be any interest to get the show on the road, and it was almost 5pm before we saw the first race after there was a problem with the green light not working. The next delay was the so called "new" starting gate failing. More sitting around as the sun dropped and the temperature went with it. I looked at my watch and it was 5-50pm. So far I had seen only 5 races, thats less than 5 minutes of racing in an hour and twenty minutes! Various other delays for falls and stoppages, and I must admit I was glad when it was all over. Now you would have thought all these things would have been checked numerous times to make sure they all functioned perfectly before the meeting?

 

Will I be going back for the next match? I somehow doubt it. Maybe this was just a one off, but as I said at the beginning, if this was my first Speedway meeting, it would have been my last. I hate being critical of the sport I love, but until we get slicker presentation, meetings that start dead on time, and promoters that check everything works BEFORE the meeting starts, speedway will continue to be a minority sport with falling crowd levels.

[bruno]

I had other things on today so couldn't attend but after being messed around at so many meetings I won't attend meetings again especially away ones until the weather changes.ive only attended the Freddie lindgren meeting so far.enough said!im just fed up of stuff going wrong and freezing my goolies off while no one seems to do anything about anything.oh we'll roll on the summer so my season can start.ps well done the heathens

[cityrebel]

after attending the ambulance marathon at rye house last monday, the starting gate fiasco at arena on friday followed by sun delays at rye last night, all in freezing conditions. long term i don't know how speedway can survive as a viable professional sport unless the promoters get their act together.

[Damo b]

Just back from Mildenhall, and here are a couple of my thoughts on the proceedings. It was a close match with nothing much between the teams. 100% effort from all the lads on both sides, and it was nice to see a good crowd of Dudley supporters there. Dudley ran out the winners and deserved their victory. Now for the bad bits!

 

If this was my first ever Speedway meeting, I probably wouldn't bother again. I thought it was supposed to "start" at 4-30pm? Well there didn't seem to be any interest to get the show on the road, and it was almost 5pm before we saw the first race after there was a problem with the green light not working. The next delay was the so called "new" starting gate failing. More sitting around as the sun dropped and the temperature went with it. I looked at my watch and it was 5-50pm. So far I had seen only 5 races, thats less than 5 minutes of racing in an hour and twenty minutes! Various other delays for falls and stoppages, and I must admit I was glad when it was all over. Now you would have thought all these things would have been checked numerous times to make sure they all functioned perfectly before the meeting?

 

Will I be going back for the next match? I somehow doubt it. Maybe this was just a one off, but as I said at the beginning, if this was my first Speedway meeting, it would have been my last. I hate being critical of the sport I love, but until we get slicker presentation, meetings that start dead on time, and promoters that check everything works BEFORE the meeting starts, speedway will continue to be a minority sport with falling crowd levels.

This is one of the best posts i have read on here recently ...

[Fourentee]

Just wondering if anyone who was at the match might give an indication on how the two young Dudley reserves went? I'm thinking style/pace etc rather than the actual points scored. Always interesting to get some insight on the younger element.

[Brady]

The meeting wasn't the best and wasn't the the worst meeting I've seen. The meeting could of gone either way with both teams dropping points when in point scoring positions.

[Warriors]

Lucky to loose by 4 how do ya work that one out then , lewis gets excluded through his own doing if you can't pass fairly then go through them is that how you want it.

[SimonB]

Although I totally agree that the presentation of a speedway meeting needs improvement and the greatest effort must be made to ensure that each meeting starts on time, finishes within a reasonable amount of time and is presented by someone who is clearly spoken and adds enjoyment to the event sometimes it can be totally beyond your control.

 

As examples -

1. All lighting is tested before the meeting and then a fuse blows just as you intend to start the first race
   
2. Ambulances called to an emergency just before they are due to arrive at the stadium
   
3. Tapes working perfectly well for three races then decide to fail
   

In the above cases there is an agreed work round for number 1 using flags but clearly you would rather get the lights to work, not a great deal you can do about number 2 unless you always book additional ambulances which isn't financially viable and for number 2 you can use a manual system but again it is better to try and get the tapes repaired or replaced.

 

Of course promoters must do everything they can to ensure the meeting is timely, entertaining and send everyone home happy, unfortunately though that is not always possible.

[21st century heathen]

I followed on Updates and it seems both teams can point to dropped points here and there so let's not get too picky one way or the other.

 

Obviously, I am delighted to have taken the win but above that I am so happy to see 6 different heat winners and Greaves taking a paid win. That's extremely encouraging for the team as a whole and a huge confidence boost ahead of their home debut. If any of them had had a tough night then it could have been a bit of a case of 'bunny trapped in the head lights' on Tue in front of a big home crowd. As it is they can approach it full of confidence and hopefully enjoy the experience and bag a hat full of points.

 

If I were a Mildenhall fan I be naturally disappointed but not overly concerned. It's just the first meeting and some cobwebs will be blown away. I wouldn't expect the home form to be a particular concern throughout the season. I still think they will be there or thereabouts throughout.

[Halifaxtiger]

Although I totally agree that the presentation of a speedway meeting needs improvement and the greatest effort must be made to ensure that each meeting starts on time, finishes within a reasonable amount of time and is presented by someone who is clearly spoken and adds enjoyment to the event sometimes it can be totally beyond your control.

 

As examples -

1. All lighting is tested before the meeting and then a fuse blows just as you intend to start the first race
   
2. Ambulances called to an emergency just before they are due to arrive at the stadium
   
3. Tapes working perfectly well for three races then decide to fail
   

In the above cases there is an agreed work round for number 1 using flags but clearly you would rather get the lights to work, not a great deal you can do about number 2 unless you always book additional ambulances which isn't financially viable and for number 2 you can use a manual system but again it is better to try and get the tapes repaired or replaced.

 

Of course promoters must do everything they can to ensure the meeting is timely, entertaining and send everyone home happy, unfortunately though that is not always possible.

 

I think what you say is absolutely true and that any reasonable supporter would be prepared to accept that things can and do go wrong, no matter how well prepared a track might be.

 

The difficulty comes when you get something one week and something the next (and Stoke are notorious for this)or, much worse, the same thing occurring again.

 

Mildenhall had problems with their starting gate at the end of last season and at that time I said that while it was annoying it was a one off. To see it happening again, however, is much harder both to justify and to excuse.

[MrMungo]

Just wondering if anyone who was at the match might give an indication on how the two young Dudley reserves went? I'm thinking style/pace etc rather than the actual points scored. Always interesting to get some insight on the younger element.

 

The reserves were good. On the pace throughout. Both suffered some misfortune - Greaves suffered a nasty looking spill on the last bend in heat 4, which may have affected his performance for the rest of the evening. Clegg too was unfortunate to suffer mechanical gremlins in heat 9 losing out on a couple of points. Both have tidy styles, and expect they'll chip in with points wherever they go.

 

Think Dudley will always have strong reserves. They were/are my tip for the title. Got a nice balance to the side, whereas some other sides rely very heavily on certain team members.

[Fourentee]

Thanks, MrMungo, much appreciated. I think the Isle of Wight -- Dudley South, as someone artfully named them on this forum -- look particularly strong and Mildenhall's top five appear impressive, notwithstanding this narrow home defeat.

[Robbie79]

Although I totally agree that the presentation of a speedway meeting needs improvement and the greatest effort must be made to ensure that each meeting starts on time, finishes within a reasonable amount of time and is presented by someone who is clearly spoken and adds enjoyment to the event sometimes it can be totally beyond your control.

 

As examples -

1. All lighting is tested before the meeting and then a fuse blows just as you intend to start the first race
   
2. Ambulances called to an emergency just before they are due to arrive at the stadium
   
3. Tapes working perfectly well for three races then decide to fail
   

In the above cases there is an agreed work round for number 1 using flags but clearly you would rather get the lights to work, not a great deal you can do about number 2 unless you always book additional ambulances which isn't financially viable and for number 2 you can use a manual system but again it is better to try and get the tapes repaired or replaced.

Of course promoters must do everything they can to ensure the meeting is timely, entertaining and send everyone home happy, unfortunately though that is not always possible.

 

Not wanting to have a dig at the promotion as I'm a life long mildenhall fan but the delays at yesterday's match should never have happened, crashes etc are totally out of anyone's hands I accept that but the starting gate should work, I don't think the fact that a new guy who didn't seem to know how to close them helped matters, if the riders bikes packed up through poor maintenance I'm sure the promoters would soon be complaining, if there is a delay surely the fans should be informed of this? Yesterday it was 4:45 before an announcement was made?

 

I don't have the answers to fix this great sport but as we all know presentation and customer service would go a long way to help it in these hard times when there is so much choice for people's hard earned money to be spent

[SimonB]

Not wanting to have a dig at the promotion as I'm a life long mildenhall fan but the delays at yesterday's match should never have happened, crashes etc are totally out of anyone's hands I accept that but the starting gate should work, I don't think the fact that a new guy who didn't seem to know how to close them helped matters, if the riders bikes packed up through poor maintenance I'm sure the promoters would soon be complaining, if there is a delay surely the fans should be informed of this? Yesterday it was 4:45 before an announcement was made?

 

I don't have the answers to fix this great sport but as we all know presentation and customer service would go a long way to help it in these hard times when there is so much choice for people's hard earned money to be spent

 

I fully agree with your points and yes things like starting gates in particular should be reliable. I wasn't aware until Halifax pointed it out above that similar problems has happened previously.

 

Still it can be very difficult to achieve reliability when you only have access to your stadium once a fortnight and can only afford to use volunteers. Difficult to justify the lack of communication though.

 

Not sure what the answer is for the sport, I have been following it for nearly 40 years now and I have always seen these delays and difficulties. The hardcore of the support seems to accept the issues and keep attending but attracting and keeping new paying customers (or even attracting back those lost to the sport) that is the tricky part!

[Presenter]

Not wanting to have a dig at the promotion as I'm a life long mildenhall fan but the delays at yesterday's match should never have happened, crashes etc are totally out of anyone's hands I accept that but the starting gate should work, I don't think the fact that a new guy who didn't seem to know how to close them helped matters, if the riders bikes packed up through poor maintenance I'm sure the promoters would soon be complaining, if there is a delay surely the fans should be informed of this? Yesterday it was 4:45 before an announcement was made?

 

I don't have the answers to fix this great sport but as we all know presentation and customer service would go a long way to help it in these hard times when there is so much choice for people's hard earned money to be spent

 

I'll take a chance and try to give an explanation of events which lead to the very unfortunate delay at the start of the meeting. It was quite a chain of events which, when combined, contributed to us not starting on time (something I hasten to add, we are very keen to do each and every week! and do for the most part). I should also like to state that the starting tapes, given that they had new component parts, had been thoroughly tested during the morning, and worked perfectly at this time.

 

1st problem: was that the electrician who has rewired the starting tapes following the installation of the brand new, very expensive magnets (the cause of last years problems) had wired the green light to the start tapes. So as the green light was put on, the starting tapes went up! Once this was established as a problem (and the earlier testing had not detected this, as the pure functionality of the tapes going up was what was being tested then) the electrician was called to fix the problem. At this point I was told that it would be a very quick job and that we would be underway in a matter of moments, hence my "filling for time" with interviews with Michael Lee and Chris Louis. Also at this point I decided not to announce a problem with the starting gate, more through the fact that the promotion had gone quite public by stating that new equipment had been purchased to erradicate the problems of last season (I guess, if you like, I was embarrased for the Club at this point!)

 

So the electrician has fixed the green light/tapes issue and the tapes are then tested, onto problem number two! During this test, the elastic which runs round the starting gate poles, on the outside came off the pulley at the top. So the elastic needed to be replaced. In doing this, the starting gate pole on the outside suffered very slight damage, in as much as it got the tiniest of kinks in it, as one of the track staff was carrying out the repair.

 

So as the carriage which takes up the tapes was sticking as it left the magnet (getting hung up on this kink) and also pulling it back down again it was meeting resistance on the way down. To get round the problem, the magnet was quick relocated further up the pole and by-passing the kink. After this, the starting tapes did not present any more problems.

 

Granted, also what did not help, was new starting gate personnel who were all doing the job for the first were getting to grips with their new roles (a daunting enough task for anyone, and especially when the entire focus is on the start line).

 

I hope that goes someway to explaining the delay and I know that everyone at the Club, was motified that we appeared not to have solved the issues of last year. But given that they were "new" problems, I think everyone was confident that we would start on time with no hassle.

 

I'm also lead to believe that some supporters were finding it difficult to hear the PA system in parts of the stadium. Usually we play the music from the time the turnstiles open. This week, however, because there was a live band playing in the bar we decided to wait until they had finished before starting the pre-meeting music. It is usually at this time (between 3.00pm and 4.00pm) that I walk the entire terraces to check the sound levels and whether all the speakers are working. This check was not undertaken by me, given that by the time we started playing the music was near to start time and therefore my responsibilites have changed to organising the riders/parade etc. This week I will be carrying out those checks and reporting on any issues found, in terms of speakers not working etc.

 

Ever since I have worked at Mildenhall, I have never attempted to make announcements as the bikes are warming up, as given the close proximity of the pits to the terraces, this is a complete waste of time as any announcements get drowned out by the noise of the bikes. The only time this is unavoidable, is when a senior rider participating in the meeting wishes to warm up a second bike during the meeting. We make every effort to prevent undue engine noise from the pits during the meeting, by ensuring that junior riders wait until after the conclusion of heat 15 before warming up their bikes.

 

Just like the riders, for us officials it is still early season, and given that we have not performed our duties since last October, it takes us a week or two to get fully back into the swing of things. So please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused by these delays and/or sound equipment and trust that we will be working tirelessly to ensure that there is no repeat of them this week.

 

Kind regards

[SimonB]

Sods Law seems to sum up presenters post

[Bunce]

Thanks Kevin for explaining in great detail what went wrong on Sunday. I'm sure everybody concerned with the starting gate, electrics and presentation will be trying extra hard to prevent a repeat of the delays for the next meeting. I guess what frustrates me is that these delays seem to be part and parcel of a Speedway match. Most fans just put up with it, because thats the way its always been. I wasn't picking on Mildenhall, as I've seen it at dozens of other tracks as well. Imagine if a football match kicked off at 3-25pm instead of 3pm, it would make the national headlines!

 

I was watching from the middle of the back straight, and the speakers were plenty loud enough there. A tad too loud actually, which did cause a little distortion at times. At least everything could be heard! Certain delays cannot be predicted, such as crashes and rider injuries, but equipment failures really shouldn't happen so frequently.

 

I'm sure lessons have been learned, and lets all strive to make things better for the future. Apart from those delays, I enjoyed the meeting and wish all the Fen Tigers a great season.

[Robbie79]

Thanks Kevin for your explanation and please don't think I was "having a go", its just a shame after last seasons triumphs on the track and with all the publicity that has been generated from it that any new fans could possibly have been put off. I appreciate that it's the 1st meeting, things go wrong as we know but it always seems to happen at speedway, lights not working, tapes failing, PA systems crackling etc, we really all need to try and put a stop to this, like a post above says the die hard fans put up with it and as we've seen attendances have fallen, perhaps to try and move things forward one of the promoters could spend an afternoon as a fan? Then perhaps they could see what needs to change? Sometimes when your involved closely as they are it's hard to see, or perhaps they could have a mystery shopper as we use in our business as it really is a great way to improve your service, they could then push this idea out to the bspa and show them what a great forward thinking club mildenhall are!

 

I hope this is taken in the way it was intended, constructive and not just a moan as mildenhall is a great club and the promoters have done a marvellous job I just want to see them and the rest of the sport pull itself forward!!!