Warsaw Gp Saturday 18th April

[Grand Central]

Goodness.

Who's 'All pumped up' now?

 

Calm down dear!

[Humphrey Appleby]

I CAN say with absolute certainty that the SGP riders are very happy with the manner in which the series is run and organised by BSI staff.

Which is why they refused to ride in Warsaw. Who do they think is responsible for the fiasco?

 

I have been attending speedway meetings for over 50 years, including just about every World Final since 1961, and it is chalk and cheese these days.

How many World Finals were abandoned halfway through?

 

And, of course, sub-standard tracks are not just in the SGP domain (Rye House yesterday, Poole this season according to their own Chris Holder)

Are you really trying to equate the sport's premier event with grassroots speedway?

 

Would you expect a World Cup Final pitch to be prepared in the same way as for Sunday league park football?

 

Everything BSI handle and control themselves is almost invariably beyond reproach. The problems arise with the work that they ‘contract out’ which, of course, happens to be the most important component of the event.

They should find more reliable contractors then. They are ultimately responsible for putting on the show - no-one else.

 

I'm also sure not why 'contract out' should be in quotes. Presumably they do actually have contracts with the local organisers and other facilitators of each GP?

 

The lack of supervision and ongoing quality control issues point firmly to the problem being with BSI. If planes keep falling out of the sky, would you find it acceptable if the airline blamed the outsourced maintenance? Of course you wouldn't, and the airline would lose its operating licence as indeed happens when issues are identified with airline procedures.

 

Also, many on here do not seem to appreciate that responsibility for much of what goes on at a SGP remains in the province of the FIM though their appointed Jury President, referee and FMNR representative and is not within the authority of BSI or any other of the various organisers throughout staging the season.

So the blame management has already begun then? All a predictable pattern once again.

 

The FIM is in no way responsible for the starting gate not working, the state of the track, or the poor communications inside the stadium. They are responsible for ensuring the staging promoter has met the required (safety) standards outlined in the regulations, officiating the meeting, and any judicial processes - nothing much more.

 

You might reasonably blame them for allowing the meeting to start or continue on a sub-standard track, for not ensuring the starting gate was reliable, or with inadequate communication methods in place. You might also point the finger at not recalling a rider erroneously excluded from race, but all of these issues are down to organisational inadequacies of the promotion in the first place.

 

BTW - I officiated at a kart meeting in rural Australia at the weekend. Even they managed to not only have telemetry from race control to screens in the pits, but to the Internet as well. Yet BSI will have us believe we have to rely on smoke signals in the 21st century (although it seems even that would have been better than what they had in Warsaw).

Edited May 5, 2015 by Humphrey Appleby

[baldinhio]

I CAN say with absolute certainty that the SGP riders are very happy with the manner in which the series is run and organised by BSI staff.

There is a huge volume of work that takes place behind the scenes, much of which makes the life of the riders far easier than it otherwise would be. They fully appreciate the level of professionalism that goes into staging these events.

I have been attending speedway meetings for over 50 years, including just about every World Final since 1961, and it is chalk and cheese these days.

And I don’t know of any rider who doesn’t relish riding in the big venues.

The issue they have is when tracks, temporary or otherwise, are not up to scratch and they are quite justified in asking for the proper stage on which to strut their stuff.

And, of course, sub-standard tracks are not just in the SGP domain (Rye House yesterday, Poole this season according to their own Chris Holder)

And this is the key issue. Everything BSI handle and control themselves is almost invariably beyond reproach. The problems arise with the work that they ‘contract out’ which, of course, happens to be the most important component of the event.

Imagine hiring a builder to construct a drive at your house and he sub-contracts the work out which proves to be inferior. The sub-contractors are at fault but, of course, the contractor is responsible.

Also, many on here do not seem to appreciate that responsibility for much of what goes on at a SGP remains in the province of the FIM though their appointed Jury President, referee and FMNR representative and is not within the authority of BSI or any other of the various organisers throughout staging the season.

 

 

 

 

Whilst the riders may be happy with the BSI's role in raising the profile of GP speedway I believe they are less than happy with the financial reward. BSI's last published accounts showed a net profit in excess of £2m after allowing for the deduction of staff and directors salaries. For someone with the time to act collectively for the riders there is perhaps a fairer share of the spoils to be distributed. Do you agree?

 

BSI are the main "Contractor" and as such they in my opinion liable. From your statement you appear to somewhat reluctantly accept this point. Can you please clarify?

 

 

You state, "Everything BSI handle and control themselves is almost invariably beyond reproach". I beg to differ. As one of the unfortunate people who paid to travel to Poland, my hand written letter received a non personal standard email response referencing PZM as liable. In your opinion is that good enough?

 

If the BSI have issues with the quality of the officials or control of the FIM they could consider breaking away and installing their own panel(s). Would you support such a move if it improved the quality of the panel(s)?

 

[SCB]

No one, least of all Olsen, BSI or the FIM will deny that the track wasn't perfect but, as Jason Crump points out in SS this week, indoor temporary tracks seldom are. It is and always will be a compromise and one, like Crump and Tony Rickardsson always said, is a price worth paying. Do you not think Holder, Doyle, Batchelor are excited about an Australian GP at the Etihad rather than Mildura?

Is this the issue? Crump, Rickardsson and riders of that era remember riding GPs at Coventry and Bydgoszczczczcz and being sponsors by "Mr Wongs Chinese" and "Uncle Toms Used Cars" so when they moved into Cardiff and the bigged stadiums they accepted things were not perfect but the sport was now sponsored by KFC and Fiat. They went from riding in front of 10,000 people at Brandon to 45,000 at in the Millennium Stadium - they remember the bad old days. The current lot (Greg aside, and Nicki for a year or two maybe) have only ever known the GPs in the big stadiums so forget what we could go back to.

 

Crump and Rickardsson helped with the change over, riding on a rubbish Cardiff track in year 1 as they say the bigger picture, it would allow the next generation to ride in these big, impressive stadia with big, impressive crowds. Now that next generation have taken over and are complaining at every bloody opportunity. How many riders these days have a reputation as moaners compared to days gone by? Especially those born in Australia! They've gone from Crump who would get upset but he wasn't a moaner, he'd ride on what he was given. Now we have Holder and Batch an d beneath them Watt and Schlein who moan when anything is not perfect.

[5 FURROW]

I CAN say with absolute certainty that the SGP riders are very happy with the manner in which the series is run and organised by BSI staff.

There is a huge volume of work that takes place behind the scenes, much of which makes the life of the riders far easier than it otherwise would be. They fully appreciate the level of professionalism that goes into staging these events.

I have been attending speedway meetings for over 50 years, including just about every World Final since 1961, and it is chalk and cheese these days.

And I don’t know of any rider who doesn’t relish riding in the big venues.

The issue they have is when tracks, temporary or otherwise, are not up to scratch and they are quite justified in asking for the proper stage on which to strut their stuff.

And, of course, sub-standard tracks are not just in the SGP domain (Rye House yesterday, Poole this season according to their own Chris Holder)

And this is the key issue. Everything BSI handle and control themselves is almost invariably beyond reproach. The problems arise with the work that they ‘contract out’ which, of course, happens to be the most important component of the event.

Imagine hiring a builder to construct a drive at your house and he sub-contracts the work out which proves to be inferior. The sub-contractors are at fault but, of course, the contractor is responsible.

Also, many on here do not seem to appreciate that responsibility for much of what goes on at a SGP remains in the province of the FIM though their appointed Jury President, referee and FMNR representative and is not within the authority of BSI or any other of the various organisers throughout staging the season.

It's the sub contractor that's at fault and as you quote you wouldn't be happy if they done some dodgy work at your house but it seems that the more times the sub contractor (OLSEN) messes up the tracks BSI say come on back you can only balls the next one but we will still employ you and it's the likes of us parting with hard cash to see the farce if I balls up at work like he does I'd been sacked long ago

[Humphrey Appleby]

Crump and Rickardsson helped with the change over, riding on a rubbish Cardiff track in year 1 as they say the bigger picture, it would allow the next generation to ride in these big, impressive stadia with big, impressive crowds. Now that next generation have taken over and are complaining at every bloody opportunity. How many riders these days have a reputation as moaners compared to days gone by? Especially those born in Australia! They've gone from Crump who would get upset but he wasn't a moaner, he'd ride on what he was given. Now we have Holder and Batch an d beneath them Watt and Schlein who moan when anything is not perfect.

 

I'm sure BSI and their shills would very much like to distract attention from the fiasco by blaming the riders, but I'm sure many if not all of them would have fully appreciated the consequences of not putting on a show at Warsaw. I very much doubt it was just about the track alone, but a number of issues that have been building up.

 

It's hardly that this is one-off, and simply smacks of poor supervision, lack of investment in basic equipment, and/or poor choices of contractor on BSI's part. In fact, if you look at BSI's parent company IMG(UK) who essentially provide the staff, they've also been involved in a few fiascos of their own in recent years.

[Humphrey Appleby]

Crump, Rickardsson and riders of that era remember riding GPs at Coventry and Bydgoszczczczcz and being sponsors by "Mr Wongs Chinese" and "Uncle Toms Used Cars" so when they moved into Cardiff and the bigged stadiums they accepted things were not perfect but the sport was now sponsored by KFC and Fiat.

 

I'm not sure the sport has hugely moved on sponsorship wise. Take away the tourist boards and equipment suppliers, and you have Monster as probably the only company anyone has heard of, and they noticeably haven't announced how much they're sponsoring which is normally something that gets trumpeted.

 

Funny you should mention KFC, because I don't think they paid up and BSI had to take legal action.

[racers and royals]

 

I'm not sure the sport has hugely moved on sponsorship wise. Take away the tourist boards and equipment suppliers, and you have Monster as probably the only company anyone has heard of, and they noticeably haven't announced how much they're sponsoring which is normally something that gets trumpeted.

 

Funny you should mention KFC, because I don't think they paid up and BSI had to take legal action.

Did KFC chicken out of paying ?

[PHILIPRISING]

 

I'm not sure the sport has hugely moved on sponsorship wise. Take away the tourist boards and equipment suppliers, and you have Monster as probably the only company anyone has heard of, and they noticeably haven't announced how much they're sponsoring which is normally something that gets trumpeted.

 

Funny you should mention KFC, because I don't think they paid up and BSI had to take legal action.

DO Monster announce what they are paying other events?

 

KFC was a Polish franchise

[Trees]

Top echelons of the sport still trying to run before they can walk, proven on so many occasions.

 

Speedway can be a fantastic sport on the right tracks, get that right and sell that IMO.

 

The FIM got it wrong when they sold the Championship.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Trees

[Barrycuda]

Post removed

Edited June 6, 2015 by Barrycuda

[Barrycuda]

Post removed

Edited June 6, 2015 by Barrycuda

[weatherwatcher]

If a sub-contractor has failed to deliver the proper goods then it the responsibility of the main contractor. They know who they are using and if they do the job right in the first place, but they still seem to be using these cowboys, who more than not are some small time motorway maintainance team, or a bunch of dicky trarmacers.

This is the top level of the sport and as such it should be treared as such. After all this is the world championships, not a meeting at MDL level, with riders with skills far below the GP riders.

So it is time for all who put on the GP series to treat it in a manner that will show the sport as a top world class championship, not the trash they do at times give the speedway paying public at large. If it carries on in this manner for much longer, not only will they be losing a lot of paying fans, but also the companies that show the sport on TV. Because they will soon come to their senses that what they are showing is just a second rate act at staging what should be a major sports meeting.

[Ghostwalker]

Richard Child (Greg's Team manager): "the most stupid part is that it is easy to build a track".

[The White Knight]

Richard Child (Greg's Team manager): "the most stupid part is that it is easy to build a track".

If that is the case - how do they cock up these Temporary Tracks so often.

 

Perhaps the troubles in the Warsaw GPs was a result of a combination of things - like dangerous Temporary Tracks in general - not just the dangerous one in Warsaw. You can only complain so often - if nobody is taking any notice of you then you have to resort to action in order to get something done.

 

Speculation on my part, I agree, but I offer it as another possible scenario.

[Barrycuda]

Post removed

Edited June 6, 2015 by Barrycuda

[The White Knight]

Any smoke signals coming from the Grand Prix Speedway reservation yet.

Puff Puff Smoke Smoke. :D

No, No!! :D

[Barrycuda]

Post removed

Edited June 6, 2015 by Barrycuda

[The White Knight]

Well there's no smoke without fire is there.

Errr.

 

Very true. :unsure:

[Ghostwalker]

If that is the case - how do they cock up these Temporary Tracks so often.

 

Perhaps the troubles in the Warsaw GPs was a result of a combination of things - like dangerous Temporary Tracks in general - not just the dangerous one in Warsaw. You can only complain so often - if nobody is taking any notice of you then you have to resort to action in order to get something done.

 

Speculation on my part, I agree, but I offer it as another possible scenario.

 

Because they are doing it wrong. They use the same material for the entire track instead of using layers of 2-3 different type of material.

 

Perhaps they are taking a short cut by not using at least a second layer below the only material that they use now.

 

Edited May 6, 2015 by Ghostwalker