Stoke V Mildenhall Sun 7 June 3.00 Pm

[TMW]

We seem to be all systems go;

 

From the Stoke Website;

 

http://www.stokepotters.co/news.php?extend.771

 

STOKE Easy Rider Potters entertain the Mildenhall Fen Tigers in the City Gearboxes National League at Loomer Road on Sunday afternoon, 3pm.The Potters are looking for their first league win of the season in what is a busy couple of days for the Loomer Road septet with an away trip to Kent on Monday evening also.The Potters will need to be at their best against the quick starting Tigers who have a decent record around the Chesterton circuit in the past few seasons. The Tigers are led by skipper Daniel Halsey who continues to be a consistent scorer in the National League and he is well supported by Connor Mountain and Jack Kingston. Luke Riddick and Connor Coles complete the top five and they provide a solid back up to the top three in the side. At reserve the Tigers have Stefan Farnaby and Tom Bacon to complete the side with both riders capable of scoring points on the day.Potters team manager Malcolm Vasey said Mildenhall are a good side who are currently third in the table, but I feel we have been unfortunate in our opening fixtures having away meetings at the likes of leaders Birmingham, Eastbourne two tracks where nobody has won and Kings Lynn where we were without Lee Payne also leaving us in what I believe is a false position. They have a couple of riders who dont know our track and we will need to take advantage of this in the early heats on Sunday. Our lads have been through the mill early on but they are still in good spirits and they are all eager to show what they can do and get out and perform and hopefully gain our first victory on Sunday.STOKE: Jon Armstrong (Captain), Chris Widman, Ryan Terry-Daley, Danny Phillips, Lee Payne, Ryan MacDonald, Paul BurnettMILDENHALL: Daniel Halsey (Captain), Jack Kingston, Connor Mountain, Luke Ruddick, Connor Coles, Stefan Farnaby, Tom BaconSTOKE Hartshill Cycles Spitfires are also in action immediately after the main meeting when they take on last seasons league Champions Milton Keynes in the Midland Development League.The Spitfires are led into action by Ryan MacDonald with Sam Ward returning to the line-up after he missed a couple of meetings recently. Layne Cupitt and Cameron Hoskins complete the Spitfires line up.STOKE: Ryan MacDonald, Sam Ward, Layne Cupitt, Cameron HoskinsMILTON KEYNES: Rob Watts, Lee Springthorpe, Connor King, Rob Parker

 

The 2nd half looks a cracker to.

Edited June 6, 2015 by TMW

[uk_martin]

Abandoned due to track conditions according to the BSPA Web site. What was that all about?

[TMW]

Abandoned due to track conditions according to the BSPA Web site. What was that all about?

The wind was blowing and the sun was shinning and as quick as the track was being watered it was drying. Dust was quite heavy

[bruno]

so speedway can not run in the sun because of vision for the riders. it cant run when its dry because it gets dusty. it cant run In the rain because its dangerous.

[Gemini]

That just about sums it up.

[Halifaxtiger]

so speedway can not run in the sun because of vision for the riders. it cant run when its dry because it gets dusty. it cant run In the rain because its dangerous.

 

It can't run when the dust is such that the riders can't see each other and the referee can't see the riders. That's what happened yesterday.

[teddy2706]

This sort of thing has been going on for years and certainly not just at Stoke. Tracks that always run on sunday afternoons seem to be considerably better at controlling dust than those which have occasional meetings on sundays and Bank Holidays.

Vog and I saw a meeting on a Bank Holiday once at Lakeside, four riders entered a dust cloud from the previous lap, three emerged and no-one had a clue what had happened.

It isn't good for riders, spectators, neighbours, promotions and the environment and it is high time a sensible solution was in place.

It has certainly been a problem for the thirty five years I have watched speedway.

[griffo]

This sort of thing has been going on for years and certainly not just at Stoke. Tracks that always run on sunday afternoons seem to be considerably better at controlling dust than those which have occasional meetings on sundays and Bank Holidays.

Vog and I saw a meeting on a Bank Holiday once at Lakeside, four riders entered a dust cloud from the previous lap, three emerged and no-one had a clue what had happened.

It isn't good for riders, spectators, neighbours, promotions and the environment and it is high time a sensible solution was in place.

It has certainly been a problem for the thirty five years I have watched speedway.

You are right there Sparky as you say at Lakeside you had the dust and a Sunday afternoon with the Sun beating down as it was yesterday it was hard to keep it down but the Track was heavily watered on Saturday night and many times during Sunday morning but still to no Avail. The Ref wanted to call it off at Heat 10 , all the Riders were called into the Dressing room and asked what they thought and what they wanted to do, all agreed that they wanted to carry on which we did, till a fall in heat 14 then it was time to call it a day

[Halifaxtiger]

This sort of thing has been going on for years and certainly not just at Stoke. Tracks that always run on sunday afternoons seem to be considerably better at controlling dust than those which have occasional meetings on sundays and Bank Holidays.

Vog and I saw a meeting on a Bank Holiday once at Lakeside, four riders entered a dust cloud from the previous lap, three emerged and no-one had a clue what had happened.

It isn't good for riders, spectators, neighbours, promotions and the environment and it is high time a sensible solution was in place.

It has certainly been a problem for the thirty five years I have watched speedway.

 

I think you're pretty much spot on here in that dust is a real issue - more so in afternoon meetings than evening ones because then the cooler air allows the track to hold its moisture better. But there's dust and there's what I saw yesterday (if you have access to facebook there are pictures on the Mildenhall page).

 

You're also right that tracks that regularly run afternoon meetings are better at controlling it - I have never seen it that bad in my infrequent visits to the likes of Mildenhall or Glasgow. I have to say, though, I haven't seen it so bad at Scunthorpe either.

 

This begs the question that if Mildenhall can keep it down, why can't others ?

 

To be fair, it was both windy and sunny and that is every trackman's nightmare.

 

I would, however, raise two points. When I arrived at 2.15 the track was dry and the dust started at heat 1. That means the amount of watering was nowhere near adequate.

 

Secondly, and most importantly, we are talking about Stoke here. I asked a good friend of mine if he was going and he responded:

 

'There are just so many things that can go wrong at Stoke as we have seen in the past'. Yes, we have.

 

Had this been Mildenhall, most would have treated it as a one off. At Stoke, its anything but. If allegations of incompetence were made, Mildenhall would have got the benefit of the doubt.

 

I suspect few would do so with Stoke.

[Stoke Potter]

As far as is known the operation of the Hadron Collider hasn't (yet) changed the laws of Physics and, surprisingly enough, those laws of Physics also apply to speedway tracks.

Thereby the fact remains that, if you put the correct amount of water down, over the correct timescale, then you will manage to keep the dust down during the 60 laps/ 15 minutes of racing during a speedway meeting.

[teddy2706]

It depends how long before the 15 minutes of speedway the water was put down, also, over how long a period the 15 minutes of speedway takes place.

Stoke isn't renowned for a fast turnover of heats, the pertinent part of Stoke Potter's post is - "over the correct timescale".

 

I was reluctant to mention other track names, because I like to spectate at Buxton and whilst dust is reasonably controlled there, the prevailing wind does dry the surface out quickly and dust is sometimes an issue at the bar/pits end.

I have spectated at Mildenhall on some very hot afternoons, but don't remember riding home filthy.

But I do recall watching sunday afternoon events at Reading and Sheffield (Test Matches as I recall)in the eighties and getting absolutely covered in dust.

But it wasn't important at the time because I was watching the best riders I am ever likely to see in my lifetime....