Gp Qualifier Sat June 7th @ Berwick

[Bandit59]

We had been in Berwick all afternoon arrived at car park just before 5 people were already at the turnstiles no one was getting in waited till approx 5.45 so it was apparent then the meeting was in doubt took the decision to go home in local boozer for 7.30 result

[Fromafar]

Aye, there's the rub. Berwick inherited the meeting (and the Supplementary Regs) from the Austrian place, and FIM didn't notice, and remove, the Sunday date.The riders who were hoping to ride in the SEC qualifier at Monday must all now be at Berwick. Although the ones with meetings in Poland tomorrow will be there, as will Craig Cook and Matej Kus be at Newcastle, and a few others at Glasgow.

Buck passing IMO .the F.I.M. Regs were printed on this forum last week it was there in black and White but no one took any notice.What were the riders told when this meeting was switched,Bad day for Speedway .F.I.M must take the blame for not cancelling at Advertise start time.

[Penny Cross]

Think you will find a fair few of the riders from last night were already committed to riding in the European Challenge meting in Debrecen Hungary today.

[screm]

Berwick’s weather woes continued on Saturday when the FIM organised Grand Prix Qualifier at Shielfield fell foul of the elements.

 

The meeting has now been re-arranged for Monday (June 9) with a 7.30pm start time, when they will be hoping for better conditions.

The Bandits have so far lost ten meetings to rain this summer, and they always knew that the weather was closing in as they prepared for their big night.

But when the lunchtime practice was staged in glorious sunshine, with the track even being dampened down after the riders threw up dust clouds, there were hopes that the forecasters might have got it wrong.

But rain started falling throughout the afternoon. Covers were placed over the bends in an attempt to protect the surface, but by the scheduled 7pm start time it was obvious luck was not on their side.

As the rain continued to fall the riders held a meeting when they agreed they would like to see racing continue, and at 8.20pm the covers were removed.

But with no let-up in the conditions and fans becoming increasingly frustrated at the situation, the decision was taken that the meeting would be postponed and the crowd were informed of the decision at 8.40pm.

This was the second time in three years Berwick had been asked to stage an FIM Grand Prix Qualifier, and unfortunately, it was the second time it was hit by the weather.

“Two years ago, after some tremendous work by the track staff, we finally managed to get the meeting on,” said Berwick promoter John Anderson.

“But on this occasion we weren’t so fortunate. The riders wanted to give it a go because some of them knew it would be difficult and inconvenient for them to come back for any re-staging, but at the end of the day there was simply no alternative.

“The weather just wasn’t on our side and in the end, despite some sterling work by the track staff again, we had to admit defeat.

“I hope the fans appreciate the situation we found ourselves in and hopefully a lot of them will be able to come back for the re-staging on Monday.”

In an unusual situation, Berwick will be racing the same evening, away to Glasgow in a League Cup clash - but without Matej Kus, who is included in the Shielfield line-up.

 

Taken from Berwick Advertiser on-line.

Why knock hans? Still one of the best riders in that field. Why shouldn't he express his thoughts?

 

I applaud Hans Anderson for putting his thoughts on social media.

[StevePark]

 

Not sure it was feasible to pull the meeting forward, it was advertised to start at 7pm for weeks.

 

Agree with you about the comments from the centre green, if Mr Barrie cares to take himself onto social media, something he claims he doesn't do, then he will see the riders were far from happy. One claiming they were being held hostage by FIM. If they were so keen to get out there it might've been an idea to bite the bullet and go for it whatever the track conditions were, IMO the track was no worse or better at 9pm than it was at 7pm, though it was clear for all to see that any speedway was unlikely.

 

I thought the information handed out by FIM was shocking, it seems they were unable to make a decision, I think the vast majority of us knew there was very little chance of racing, and that's what we all wanted, racing, it was next to pointless putting riders out just to poodle round. Though Mr Barrie did himself few favours to tell us the rain had all but stopped when it clearly hadn't.

 

 

 

 

 

I think you'll find Steve Park was saying "pull the meeting" (ie call it off) rather than "pull the meeting forward" (ie start it earlier)

 

Midland Red is correct, I did mean postpone the meeting. I perhaps should have made that clearer.

[screm]

Think you will find a fair few of the riders from last night were already committed to riding in the European Challenge meting in Debrecen Hungary today.

 

This meeting is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

[Fromafar]

Think you will find a fair few of the riders from last night were already committed to riding in the European Challenge meting in Debrecen Hungary today.

Think you will find it is Monday for that meeting(although there seems to be conflicting reports when it is)

[screm]

Certainly last night not being pulled at an earlier point was entirely an FIM decision.

 

As for the re-staging? Well they know the situation with Berwick's planning, so how can anyone put the blame on Berwick?

The FIM should be clear about that, and should have known exactly when they were able to re-stage.

 

I think they got their knickers in a twist last night.

 

As for Dick saying all the riders want to ride, maybe that is what he was told?

I very much doubt anyone focused on the event were anywhere near their twitter account.

 

Hans Anderson is very much a has-been, his lack of professional focus undoubtedly a contributing factor...

 

Cook, Anderson, Harris, Bridger, Bjerre all tweeted about last nights meeting, all lacking professional focus.

 

While there is no doubt that Berwick Speedway were/are at the mercy of the FIM, they, in taken this meeting on they are part of this. I`m sure had the meeting been raced and been a success they would've been looking at their share of the praise, and quite rightly so. So they need to take the share of the responsibilities of the events from last night.

 

Taken another FIM meeting in the future might be taken on more trouble than its worth.

[sommelier]

I would have like Lewis Bridger to have been a starter for this meeting, yes I know he has had his ups and downs over the years but I think the lad has immence talent. I honestly believe he only needs a good meeting of this calibre that could really kickstart his career

[Midland Red]

Cook, Anderson, Harris, Bridger, Bjerre all tweeted about last nights meeting, all lacking professional focus.

 

While there is no doubt that Berwick Speedway were/are at the mercy of the FIM, they, in taken this meeting on they are part of this. I`m sure had the meeting been raced and been a success they would've been looking at their share of the praise, and quite rightly so. So they need to take the share of the responsibilities of the events from last night.

 

Taken another FIM meeting in the future might be taken on more trouble than its worth.

What responsibilities?

 

For the weather?

For the curfew restrictions?

For the timing of the decision by the FIM jury to postpone?

[Al Stewart]

 

Cook, Anderson, Harris, Bridger, Bjerre all tweeted about last nights meeting, all lacking professional focus.

 

 

Craig's was about placing an order in Smith's chippie!

[screm]

Forecast for tomorrow is far more encouraging, dry and warm in the morning, there could be one or two showers around during the afternoon but by start time for the meeting the showers should've gone. The evening will be dry, here's hoping all the riders can make it back and we get a full meeting, putting last night behind us.

[BBSC]

When Berwick knew that they had been granted this meeting,,surely a letter to the council to request an alternative day ie Sunday in case of a rain off would have been a good idea. Meetings like these are good for the town especially bed & breakfasts, hotels, travelodge etc who all do good business through it, What kind of crowd we get tomorrow night will no doubt be determined by the weather, hopefully the slightly later time of starting 7-30pm will allow travelling fans some extra time so they can attend it.

[emilali]

Does anyone have the address of the BSPA to write to and get a refund for last night as I cant make the rearranged date and I dont wish to go to another event?

[screm]

When Berwick knew that they had been granted this meeting,,surely a letter to the council to request an alternative day ie Sunday in case of a rain off would have been a good idea. Meetings like these are good for the town especially bed & breakfasts, hotels, travelodge etc who all do good business through it, What kind of crowd we get tomorrow night will no doubt be determined by the weather, hopefully the slightly later time of starting 7-30pm will allow travelling fans some extra time so they can attend it.

 

Don't think the crowd will be as good as last nights, work night, school night etc.

Does anyone have the address of the BSPA to write to and get a refund for last night as I cant make the rearranged date and I dont wish to go to another event?

 

Postal Address:

British Speedway Promoters' Association

ACU Headquarters

Wood Street

Rugby

Warwickshire

CV21 2YX

United Kingdom

 

Telephone & Fax:

Telephone: 01788 560 648

Fax: 01788 546 785

 

Email Addresses:

General Enquiries:

office@speedwaygb.co

 

Press Office (AP Media):

pressoffice@speedwaygb.co

 

Under-21 Great Britain Coaches (Phil Morris & Neil Vatcher):

younglions@speedwaygb.co

 

Website Management (AP Media):

webmaster@speedwaygb.co

 

Taken from BSPA site, hope it helps.

[arthur cross]

Can you expand on this post? It seems like someone just taking a bit of a hissy fit rather than there being any substance or fact.

The German-based website www.speedway.org provides all the FIM supplementary regulations as part of its superb statistical coverage of the various world/international competitions.

 

For those who don't know all the terms, the "supplementary regulations" are the specific local bits of information for each separate meeting like the practice and meeting schedule, hotel list, contacts for local organizers, etc, which complement the general FIM speedway rulebook.

 

Therefore, for last night's meeting, it published the following link on Thurs-28-May (9 days before the meeting itself although any riders/officials probably received this document a bit earlier than that) ...

 

http://www.fim-live.com/fileadmin/alfresco/501-01_SR_Berwick.pdf

 

On the first page of this document it clearly shows both Sunday-8th and Monday-9th as rain-off dates while on the second page it clearly shows the price in pounds-per-gallon of the riders' fuel available at the track.

 

If these pages were simply a careless re-print of the St Johann supplementary-regs with Sunday and Monday spare dates available there, surely the riders' fuel would still be priced in euro-per-litre !! ... so somewhere along the line there has been a breakdown in communication between Berwick's noise-restrictions and the FIM-paperwork.

 

But where the FIM, not just at Berwick last night (or indeed just in this country), repeatedly frustrate local organizers is how often they seem unwilling to the point of bloody-mindedness to listen to those local officials when it comes to understanding local weather patterns and information, leaving those local officials to pick up the pieces afterwards from disillusioned spectators while the FIM moves on to alienate another local club elsewhere.

 

For example, Berwick's officials knew within a few minutes last night that Newcastle's evening horse racing had been abandoned at 6.20 (the first race should have been at 6.15) with half of their parade paddock underwater, their track clearly unsafe and a widespread-downpour still in progress that was clearly heading in Berwick's general direction 60 miles away and, therefore, likely to hit Shielfield Park about 2-or-3-hours after drenching Newcastle.

 

But try persuading FIM-folk to bear such useful information in mind !!

[Fromafar]

My advice to all UK tracks would be to avoid any involvement with the FIM. They bulldoze in, take over everything, including the riders' lives, but they do not actually organise things properly.

 

It was absolutely clear that the restaging dates had not been properly discussed, that could be the fault of both the FIM and Berwick.

 

But much worse than that, the FIM were not at all interested in the people sitting in the stadium and the car park. That is their fault but it also damages Berwick speedway.

Berwick have a little bit of an obsession about being recognised by the F.I.M. And as the sports Governing body thanks fine,but the bottom line is the F.I.M.dont give a Sh#t about any Clubs.Self Interest is their main priority,while no one can legislate for the weather perhaps Berwick should tread carefully when getting involved in these events in the future.While the u/21 round was a very meaningful fixture in the context of the Competion and was brilliant,with 10 qualifiers going through to the next round I doubt that this meeting will have the same cut and thrust racing.The weather is playing havoc with the sport this season and ALL PROMOTERS have my sympathy they need better guidelines in place when these situations arise.Last night did not show the sport in good light,irrespective who was making the decisions.

[Fromafar]

The German-based website www.speedway.org provides all the FIM supplementary regulations as part of its superb statistical coverage of the various world/international competitions.For those who don't know all the terms, the "supplementary regulations" are the specific local bits of information for each separate meeting like the practice and meeting schedule, hotel list, contacts for local organizers, etc, which complement the general FIM speedway rulebook.Therefore, for last night's meeting, it published the following link on Thurs-28-May (9 days before the meeting itself although any riders/officials probably received this document a bit earlier than that) ...http://www.fim-live.com/fileadmin/alfresco/501-01_SR_Berwick.pdfOn the first page of this document it clearly shows both Sunday-8th and Monday-9th as rain-off dates while on the second page it clearly shows the price in pounds-per-gallon of the riders' fuel available at the track.If these pages were simply a careless re-print of the St Johann supplementary-regs with Sunday and Monday spare dates available there, surely the riders' fuel would still be priced in euro-per-litre !! ... so somewhere along the line there has been a breakdown in communication between Berwick's noise-restrictions and the FIM-paperwork.But where the FIM, not just at Berwick last night (or indeed just in this country), repeatedly frustrate local organizers is how often they seem unwilling to the point of bloody-mindedness to listen to those local officials when it comes to understanding local weather patterns and information, leaving those local officials to pick up the pieces afterwards from disillusioned spectators while the FIM moves on to alienate another local club elsewhere.For example, Berwick's officials knew within a few minutes last night that Newcastle's evening horse racing had been abandoned at 6.20 (the first race should have been at 6.15) with half of their parade paddock underwater, their track clearly unsafe and a widespread-downpour still in progress that was clearly heading in Berwick's general direction 60 miles away and, therefore, likely to hit Shielfield Park about 2-or-3-hours after drenching Newcastle.But try persuading FIM-folk to bear such useful information in mind !!

Exactly, good post

[Fromafar]

When Berwick knew that they had been granted this meeting,,surely a letter to the council to request an alternative day ie Sunday in case of a rain off would have been a good idea. Meetings like these are good for the town especially bed & breakfasts, hotels, travelodge etc who all do good business through it, What kind of crowd we get tomorrow night will no doubt be determined by the weather, hopefully the slightly later time of starting 7-30pm will allow travelling fans some extra time so they can attend it.

while I don't know what went on regarding a rain -off,but I find it strange to arrange to Ride at Glasgow on what could be a potential rain -off date ( which has now happened)

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

Does anyone have the address of the BSPA to write to and get a refund for last night as I cant make the rearranged date and I dont wish to go to another event?

Good luck with that - probably 50/50 as to whether you will even get a reply let alone a satisfactory resolution.