Birmingham V Swindon Mon 2nd June

[The Voice Of Reason]

Regarding the Ben Barker exclusion.

 

As much as I have seen Dave Robinson miscall some absolute pearlers over the years, I truly think he got Ben's exclusion absolutely correct.

 

Why?

 

There was NO contact between the riders. Ben Barker rode TOO wide guys - he wasn't pushed off his racing line. He then appeared to under-lock, and possibly going into the bend too quickly, lost control and was actually sliding off due to his own making.

 

At the same time, the major distraction was obviously Nick Morris also losing control of his bike. As Morris was losing control of the front wheel due to it locking then lifting, the drive from the back wheel threw him off his racing line; and he similarly went wide.

 

However, Ben Barker was already losing control by going too fast/wide BEFORE Nick Morris was even level with him. Moreover, Ben didn't look around, and although he would have known Nick was in his inside, with the very limited peripheral vision due to wearing goggles and a crash helmet, he would not even have been aware that a Nick was so out of shape.

 

Added to which despite what Rosco had written in his programme, I find it somewhat strange that neither Ben nor the Birmingham Team Manager appeared to get onto the ref via the phone. Particularly knowing Ben's temperament, I'm sure he would have wanted to make his views known irrespective of them changing any decisions.

 

As for the track.

 

What I cannot understand, for the life of me, is how Ronnie Russell has managed to wangle himself into the Sky Sports Speedway Team as, of all positions, the bloody track consultant! Given 'his previous' at Lakeside, Rye House and Swindon whereby he has proved himself to be utterly clueless (even being sidelined as track curator at Blunsdon, and tasked with simply looking after the drainage on the dog track) it absolutely epitomises the back-slapping brigade within our sport.

 

So, what material is on the track, is clearly now on the outside. Okay, to stop it turning to porridge, how about we pull it back onto the inside lines to provide an even distribution of material. How about we use a blade on the tractor to pull it in, and for the track staff to rake the bladed material over before sweeping excess water from the surface; then tractor number 2 finally smoothing it over with the grid. Just to add doesn't Birmingham normally have track staff with rakes?

 

Or let's try Ronnie's solution. Send out the wheel to perform the miracle of distributing shale - when there errrrrrr, actually isn't any pulled in from the boards to cut up. A camera view from bend 4 towards the tapes showed perfectly the end result of Mr. Russell's 20 minutes of track work. Long, deep shiny scratches on the hard-core of the shaleless racing surface along the inside lines. Ronnie Russell - you are absolutely clueless regarding speedway track preparation.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the final track was salvageable. However, the efforts undertaken were absolutely pathetic. Ronnie Russell - a wage packet for nothing if ever I saw it.

[Mini Jack]

Absolutely hacked off at the minute, its a joke in my opinion that the didn't push this through and instead faffed around. The weather at 6 was great but I looked on the met office radar at about 18.30 and you could see there was a band of rain to the west not far from Wolverhampton. Look for yourselves, at 18.30/7

 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/

 

If Mr Robinson had seen that, then he would have been on to sky and the teams to try and push it through. No doubt about it

You can thank SKY for the "faffing about". The meeting didn't start until 7:45. 15 valuable minute delay at the start.

[Steve0]

 

And secondly, robbed of justice with that awful refereeing decision. Do I blame the referee for that - without a doubt.

.

Robbed of justice! In what way? I think that decision was paid back when Morra fell next time out.

[Crazy robin]

Over the years there has been many times where riders have fell because they've had to take evasive action to another rider & there has been no contact & been excluded.

 

What was the difference to them than the incident tonight as there was no contact between Nick & Ben so unless a new rule has been brought in this season the referee had no option to exclude Ben?.

 

The right decision should've been to exclude Nick but as I said I don't think the rules give the ref that option although it should be.

Regarding the Ben Barker exclusion.

As much as I have seen Dave Robinson miscall some absolute pearlers over the years, I truly think he got Ben's exclusion absolutely correct.

Why?

There was NO contact between the riders. Ben Barker rode TOO wide guys - he wasn't pushed off his racing line. He then appeared to under-lock, and possibly going into the bend too quickly, lost control and was actually sliding off due to his own making.

At the same time, the major distraction was obviously Nick Morris also losing control of his bike. As Morris was losing control of the front wheel due to it locking then lifting, the drive from the back wheel threw him off his racing line; and he similarly went wide.

However, Ben Barker was already losing control by going too fast/wide BEFORE Nick Morris was even level with him. Moreover, Ben didn't look around, and although he would have known Nick was in his inside, with the very limited peripheral vision due to wearing goggles and a crash helmet, he would not even have been aware that a Nick was so out of shape.

Added to which despite what Rosco had written in his programme, I find it somewhat strange that neither Ben nor the Birmingham Team Manager appeared to get onto the ref via the phone. Particularly knowing Ben's temperament, I'm sure he would have wanted to make his views known irrespective of them changing any decisions.

As for the track.

What I cannot understand, for the life of me, is how Ronnie Russell has managed to wangle himself into the Sky Sports Speedway Team as, of all positions, the bloody track consultant! Given 'his previous' at Lakeside, Rye House and Swindon whereby he has proved himself to be utterly clueless (even being sidelined as track curator at Blunsdon, and tasked with simply looking after the drainage on the dog track) it absolutely epitomises the back-slapping brigade within our sport.

So, what material is on the track, is clearly now on the outside. Okay, to stop it turning to porridge, how about we pull it back onto the inside lines to provide an even distribution of material. How about we use a blade on the tractor to pull it in, and for the track staff to rake the bladed material over before sweeping excess water from the surface; then tractor number 2 finally smoothing it over with the grid. Just to add doesn't Birmingham normally have track staff with rakes?

Or let's try Ronnie's solution. Send out the wheel to perform the miracle of distributing shale - when there errrrrrr, actually isn't any pulled in from the boards to cut up. A camera view from bend 4 towards the tapes showed perfectly the end result of Mr. Russell's 20 minutes of track work. Long, deep shiny scratches on the hard-core of the shaleless racing surface along the inside lines. Ronnie Russell - you are absolutely clueless regarding speedway track preparation.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the final track was salvageable. However, the efforts undertaken were absolutely pathetic. Ronnie Russell - a wage packet for nothing if ever I saw it.

 

Well said & as the late Malcolm Simmons once said in a Backtrack article he found it amazing Ronnie got the gig on Sky because he was clueless in doing a track.

 

A job for who you know & not what you know is how Ronnie's speedway life will be remembered.

[Shale Searcher]

It's almost like they saw no threat from the rainband moving in, usually in these situations they get a move on from the start.... But in their defence, if the rainband had done what was originally forecast it would of blown over/through as only a 15/20 minute shower....

[Brummie Kev]

Judging by Mr Robinsons decision to exclude Barker, if he'd seen that radar he'd probably put his shorts on and leave the washing out.

 

He should be suspended for that decision, refs should be accountable for all the decisions they make, he made 2 big mistakes, The Barker incident and the fact he failed to push the meeting through quicker. It doesnt matter whether Sky are there or not, PRIOR to 7.30 the black clouds were all around, why didnt he act?

 

The riders were on the track a good 10/15mins before Heat 1!!

 

That Barker decision was a disgrace, never seen anything like it. Imagine if that had been Heat 15 with it 42 all!! Refs will make mistakes but that was incompetence more than an error, would Tony Steele have made that decision. Very quick to make a decision, so didnt bother with the replay it seemed,

Edited June 2, 2014 by Brummie Kev

[Hodgy]

Regarding the Ben Barker exclusion.

As much as I have seen Dave Robinson miscall some absolute pearlers over the years, I truly think he got Ben's exclusion absolutely correct.

Why?

 

Sorry don't agree, Barker was going for the full on outside run and would have made it. Morris being out of control hindered that run. Wrong call in my opinion.

[Shale Searcher]

In the old days, I'm talking late 70's early 80's what we were instructed to do as rakers when it started raining was to pull as much loose dirt as we could onto the slick, this loose material could then absorb the rain falling, and protect the worn surface, the re wetted dirt over the slick woud be quickly sent back to the fence, along with the moisture.....!

[woofers]

Have to agree with VoR, I think the ref got the decision right. There was no contact with Morris, Barker was going for the big blast round the outside and had almost pulled it off when he appeared to be sucked into the fence. You have to consider that a more talented rider of Elite standard would have got through there and everyone would have been praising it as a sensational move. Unfortunately, Ben, although a rider with International credentials, and "always giving it 110%", hasn't the requisite skill level to accomplish that manoeuvre safely.

 

His comment regarding Nick Morris being out of control on every corner was priceless !!

[The Voice Of Reason]

In the old days, I'm talking late 70's early 80's what we were instructed to do as rakers when it started raining was to pull as much loose dirt as we could onto the slick, this loose material could then absorb the rain falling, and protect the worn surface, the re wetted dirt over the slick woud be quickly sent back to the fence, along with the moisture.....!

 

Absolutely spot on.

 

However, I don't think I've ever seen rakers at Brum (and I know they certainly don't do it at Cov any more).

 

In my days as an infield track-staff man, I would have found it extremely boring just standing there with a red flag to wave for 90 minutes!

 

And I can't for the life of me imagine why all tracks don't still adopt this practice - because rakers can pull a hell of a lot more material in (particularly from the bends) than any tractor or attachment - particularly at Sky Meetings whereby grading is more or less timed to the second.

[BluPanther]

Why don't some get off the blokes back. Yes he gets a bit excited, that shows the guys passion for the sport, always supports the Brits. Does more to promote and market Speedway than most promotors. Others have tried but Smashy and Nicey still the best double act.

 

The sport could do with a lot more like Pearson right now.

Anyone suggesting a 6pt Premier Lge rider should get a World Cup slot is clearly bonkers...

[Shale Searcher]

Absolutely spot on.

 

However, I don't think I've ever seen rakers at Brum (and I know they certainly don't do it at Cov any more).

 

In my days as an infield track-staff man, I would have found it extremely boring just standing there with a red flag to wave for 90 minutes!

 

And I can't for the life of me imagine why all tracks don't still adopt this practice - because rakers can pull a hell of a lot more material in (particularly from the bends) than any tractor or attachment - particularly at Sky Meetings whereby grading is more or less timed to the second.

We are told that today, and I still work infield is riders don't want dirt dragged back onto the slick as its like riding on marbles, I think this is down to the lack of depth of the shale layer, before you hit the compressed, concretified base, the dragged back shale will not stick/bind to the exposed base now during the meeting.. The bases are so rock hard now, I can see their point.... When they tried to wonderwheel the inside slick tonight at Birmingham, the spikes were just skating, no breaking of the surface took place, so a pointless exercise, if they had of dragged a bit of dirt over it first at least surface water would have been absorbed and then sprayed straight back to the fence in the next race, as it happened, the next lot of rain killed it. If they had dragged dirt onto the slick before the second downpour, if it had stopped, the saturated dirt could have been bladed off and possibly they could have reached a conclusion.. (possibly)

They don't have much of a contingency plan these days for "during the meeting" rain..

[Cornishfisherman]

Regarding the Ben Barker exclusion.

 

As much as I have seen Dave Robinson miscall some absolute pearlers over the years, I truly think he got Ben's exclusion absolutely correct.

 

Why?

 

There was NO contact between the riders. Ben Barker rode TOO wide guys - he wasn't pushed off his racing line. He then appeared to under-lock, and possibly going into the bend too quickly, lost control and was actually sliding off due to his own making.

 

At the same time, the major distraction was obviously Nick Morris also losing control of his bike. As Morris was losing control of the front wheel due to it locking then lifting, the drive from the back wheel threw him off his racing line; and he similarly went wide.

 

However, Ben Barker was already losing control by going too fast/wide BEFORE Nick Morris was even level with him. Moreover, Ben didn't look around, and although he would have known Nick was in his inside, with the very limited peripheral vision due to wearing goggles and a crash helmet, he would not even have been aware that a Nick was so out of shape.

 

Added to which despite what Rosco had written in his programme, I find it somewhat strange that neither Ben nor the Birmingham Team Manager appeared to get onto the ref via the phone. Particularly knowing Ben's temperament, I'm sure he would have wanted to make his views known irrespective of them changing any decisions.

 

As for the track.

 

What I cannot understand, for the life of me, is how Ronnie Russell has managed to wangle himself into the Sky Sports Speedway Team as, of all positions, the bloody track consultant! Given 'his previous' at Lakeside, Rye House and Swindon whereby he has proved himself to be utterly clueless (even being sidelined as track curator at Blunsdon, and tasked with simply looking after the drainage on the dog track) it absolutely epitomises the back-slapping brigade within our sport.

 

So, what material is on the track, is clearly now on the outside. Okay, to stop it turning to porridge, how about we pull it back onto the inside lines to provide an even distribution of material. How about we use a blade on the tractor to pull it in, and for the track staff to rake the bladed material over before sweeping excess water from the surface; then tractor number 2 finally smoothing it over with the grid. Just to add doesn't Birmingham normally have track staff with rakes?

 

Or let's try Ronnie's solution. Send out the wheel to perform the miracle of distributing shale - when there errrrrrr, actually isn't any pulled in from the boards to cut up. A camera view from bend 4 towards the tapes showed perfectly the end result of Mr. Russell's 20 minutes of track work. Long, deep shiny scratches on the hard-core of the shaleless racing surface along the inside lines. Ronnie Russell - you are absolutely clueless regarding speedway track preparation.

 

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the final track was salvageable. However, the efforts undertaken were absolutely pathetic. Ronnie Russell - a wage packet for nothing if ever I saw it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well Mr. Voice of reason you must have seen something that I didn't see - in fact so far as the incident involving Morris and Barker was concerned you didn't see any more than Mr. Robinson saw, because there was nothing to see! but it sure looked as if Morris helped Barker into the fence.

 

Edited June 2, 2014 by Cornishfisherman

[Hodgy]

Anyone suggesting a 6pt Premier Lge rider should get a World Cup slot is clearly bonkers...

He didn't say should, just a consideration based on how well he is riding KL track. More tounge in cheek me thinks.

 

The guy is always trying to advertise weekly Speedway at a track near you. It's what we need and should be applauded.

[Speedy swindon pete]

Hilarious to read about fans bleating on about not rushing the meeting through to get to heat 10 to avoid being robbed. You paid for 15 heats of racing! Not just a processional exhibition of riders going round one by one.

 

Just goes to prove that those people are no better than the managers and riders that are trying to influence decisions to suit their situation.

 

What's more alarming is that it seems even amongst the paying punters, about 90% of them (I have made that figure up) are more concerned about the result going in their favour than the way they achieve that and the damage to the sport's reputation it does in the process.

 

What did it used to be? Happiness is 40-38. Then 46-44....now it seems to be that we get the party poppers out if we limp past heat 10....the entertainment was tear jerkingly awful, but it doesn't matter because we won!

 

Rosco comes in for criticism and probably isn't one of the most eloquent blokes in the world, but at least he isn't afraid to say it as it is. He comes across as an attention seeking tosser because the camera is being shoved in his face every 5 seconds by sky, because they know he'll give a reasonably genuine answer, rather than all the other riders and managers rambling some mincey bollocks about it being tricky (of which the closed caption for the hard of hearing should be "we don't really fancy it either").

 

He openly admitted tonight that he has to keep his team's best interests at heart, yet people go on about him like he's some Alistair Campbell-esque master of spin and evil, but their manager and riders are essentially the embodiment of Mother Theresa and Princess Dianna and want to see the meeting through to a result for the good of the fans that they cherish so dearly.

 

If they seriously think that their manager and riders are massively different from rosco...come and see me about some magic beans I can sell to you!

[CUFC_Brummie]

Disappointing evening, only managed to make 3 meetings this season, Lakeside away (hammered), Kings Lynn home (hammered), and now this one tonight, not a great season to date for me.

 

Barker's exclusion was ridiculous, was right behind it on the first bend, Barker had the outside line going into turn 1 with Morris on the inside of the middle line, and at that point Barker is clearly making a move around the outside, Morris then loses the bike halfway through the corner which takes him right into the middle of Barker's line, Barker is then either going to ride into him or have to adjust his line to send him in the fence. In the interest of safety he was forced to put the bike down, absurd decision.

 

Why they were waiting so long before heat 1 I have no idea (well, I do, Sky), and if they'd got on with it during that first rain break when it wasn't too bad then we'd have got a result. Yes we pay for 15 heats of speedway but once you start a meeting the goal has to be to get a result, and had we not plodded along like we did then it would've got to heat 10 easily. Don't blame Rossiter at all, he's doing exactly what he should be to protect the interests of his team (and by that I mean not losing the meeting rather than safety), but it's up to when of the supposedly neutral figures running the meeting to stand up to him.

 

Of what racing did happen it was generally pretty poor, very unlike Perry Barr, but it was nice to see us put in an all round decent performance, much more encouraging, shame it's Kings Lynn on Thursday....

[Daniel Smith]

Let's all be honest, what Rosco said tonight was absolutely bang on, meetings shouldn't be pushed through just to establish a result. It does rip off the paying public.

 

The reason he comes across as a bit of a monkey is because when it suits he views the opposite opinion. Consistency is all the fans want.

 

We can't just blame Rosco though, it's just he's added to the argument from tonight's meeting. ALL promoters pull the same stunts.

[ProudtobeaBrummie]

Sick and tired of people slagging off british speedway and people like Pearson who are doing there best to get the sport popular again...meeting called of ht 9 annoying yes but we couldn't race on get over it next meeting .... Why don't you all have a few hours off before you find your next topic to moan about.....

 

By the way vor you clearly haven't seen ben barker ride perry barr much my friend...but in regards to rest of your piece spot on pal

[stevebrum]

Sorry don't agree, Barker was going for the full on outside run and would have made it. Morris being out of control hindered that run. Wrong call in my opinion.

 

 

Fully agree, correct call.

 

The only saving grace for watching the SKY meeting was to see how Bartosz got on.

Dull meeting before the rain ruined it.

[The Voice Of Reason]

Fair play guys on your points of view. I'm more than happy to be told I'm wrong but I was just saying it as I saw it (and stick by it 100%).

 

Just on my other point though - if such a miscarriage of justice was served, don't you find it just a tad strange that neither Jack Lee or Ben got on the pit phone to the ref (assuming they didn't as Sky generally love showing these altercations - possibly as much as we enjoy the added spice)?

 

Not sure why they didn't give a view of the incident front-on; coming into the bend as well though?

 

Just to balance things up, I've always enjoyed watching Ben Barker ride - even way back in his days at Brandon. Nick, on the other hand, is one of those guys who I'm amazed continues to hold down an Elite League position - I truly think he's out of his depth.