Belle Vue 2016

[damosuzuki]

Belle vue apparently making announcement in middle of the week re: meetings scheduled. I'd have said it looks very unlikely.

[PHILIPRISING]

AS stated before, I was sitting looking across the 3rd and 4th bends and while there were obviously some issues the riders didn't get into any great difficulty and most if not all seemed to be going at a fair lick. Hopefully what is after all only a very small area of a very large track can be sorted out fairly quickly. It is not as though the whole circuit is a problem, it's not.

[Pirate Baz]

A long way for me to go on the 30th for a cancelled meeting. Is The Poole meeting on Sky going ahead or have they pulled the plug already?

Sky have pulled the plug Steve. This meeting has been removed from their schedule.

[Trees]

AS stated before, I was sitting looking across the 3rd and 4th bends and while there were obviously some issues the riders didn't get into any great difficulty and most if not all seemed to be going at a fair lick. Hopefully what is after all only a very small area of a very large track can be sorted out fairly quickly. It is not as though the whole circuit is a problem, it's not.

But we have seen it all before in GPS, starts off a small problem but would have escalated.

[Gr8scot]

I recall standing at Somerset for the pairs prior to Cardiff when word got out that they were ripping up the Cardiff track and relaying it overnight....... With the right equipment, miracles can happen.

If they thought 2 "toy rollers" would be able to tyre-pack a new track with a problem area, no wonder they had a problem

 

The riders mostly all avoided the soft bit on Saturday but the few who went through (slower than those on the outside) obviously left their mark on the track (I was on the third bend too). Give it a race with 4 bikes racing and it wouldn't take long to deteriorate

[LisaColette]

I see the SCB are definitely doing an investigation and blaming at all on the BV promotion.

[Stoke Potter]

It should have been called off on Wednesday, when the Belle Vue promotion were told to cancel the opening, although they thought otherwise. Must cast a doubt on big events at Belle Vue, until they have proved they can be trusted to get the job done properly.

Who told them to cancel it?

[A ORLOV]

Looking at the reports from people who attended the state of the track was not the only problem. This was another case of the people in charge either not organising everything properly or ignoring others who are telling them things are not right.

No way should this meeting have gone ahead without a proper test event having taken place beforehand. I accept the timescale was screwed but the management should have cancelled the event.

[Happy Hunter]

I would be interested to know if there was anything on the tickets for Saturday's meeting about refunds if the meeting was postponed or abandoned.

[HAMMER180]

Total farce know a few people who travelled from kent

and are not happy with losing out with fuel and hotel bills

British speedway a laughing stock yet again.Please let some one

with a pair stand up and be counted.

[Mike.Butler]

fancy having this as the first event..a low key start would always be my choice letting patrons in for nowt so that they understand it's a test meeting.

[Aces51]

What a cringing statement from the BSPA and Chapman. It went wrong so we wash our hands completely and totally distance ourselves from it as much as we can, even from it being called the Natonal Stadium.

 

Does anybody doubt that if it had gone well they wouldn't be saying it was nothing to do with us, it was a Belle Vue fixture and all of the credit goes to them.

 

As for it damaging the sport nationally, how many fans are going to say I'm not going to my local track because of what happened at Belle Vue? If that were true then where were the similar comments from the BSPA after the fiasco on live TV at the Coventry, Poole and Belle Vue,Poole matches.

 

The SCB are carrying out an investigation. I have no problem with that if it is impartial and fair but can't help but mention that it seems odd that when Belle Vue are involved action is immediate but other instances that cry out for investigation either result in deathly silence or are put off and never dealt with.

[sparkafag]

It is a poor statement that attempts to distance it’s self from a member club while also laying the issue at other clubs door (needlessly)

 

Belle Vue should have been advised how to act first, a Belle Vue statement then followed by a BSPA statement with commentary of the actions taken by their clubs and the steps that will be taken to stabilise the intro of the new stadium.

 

An “investigation” is little more than lip service, at best it is going to result in punishment for a club who already face an uphill task to solve the reputational damage of the postponement.

[geoff 100]

i wonder if the phrase "rider safety" is used when the superstars take there engines to the tuners and tell them to give me more speed.the modern riders dont want to know if the track isnt the way they like it ,and i suspect its a certain dane and an aussie "brit" world champ who are the worst culprits,ironic they can ride through a pain barrier when in a grand prix but not on a surface that has a bump on it,many riders from yesteryear must be laughing at these super stars of today.how soon after it was called off were they knocking on the office door for there guarentee money ??

[Aces51]

It is a poor statement that attempts to distance its self from a member club while also laying the issue at other clubs door (needlessly)

 

Belle Vue should have been advised how to act first, a Belle Vue statement then followed by a BSPA statement with commentary of the actions taken by their clubs and the steps that will be taken to stabilise the intro of the new stadium.

 

An investigation is little more than lip service, at best it is going to result in punishment for a club who already face an uphill task to solve the reputational damage of the postponement.

Any organisation like the BSPA should be supportive of it's members. What was needed was an apology for what happened and comments that they were going to offer Belle Vue whatever support they could to ensure that the problem is solved.

 

You can just imagine what happened. Someone on the management committee said, hey lads this could have a knock on effect you know, it might affect us, we'd better distance ourselves from it and quickly.

 

An interesting consideration for the SCB is that the Belle Vue track curator is one of their two track inspectors.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Aces51

[Star Lady]

I wonder if the tone of the BSPA statement is coloured by the reported warnings from various riders/officials etc that all was not good. It's even been said that BV were warned to cancel earlier in the week but chose not to. IF, and it's conjecture, they were warned and so advised, you can understand the frustration of their fellow promoters.

 

I doubt the fans will ever know the truth.

[semion]

Should Buster really be allowed to make public statements on behalf the BSPA ? He certainly has done himself nor the Controlling Body no favours with comments like this.

[Star Lady]

Should Buster really be allowed to make public statements on behalf the BSPA ? He certainly has done himself nor the Controlling Body no favours with comments like this.

As chairman , it's his job and I cannot believe that the rest weren't aware of what he was going to say. If they didn't I'd suggest his tenure as chairman will be a short one.

 

For years folk have moaned that the BSPA fudged things, glossed over them etc. this statement doesn't do that. People can't have it both ways.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Star Lady

[R87]

I have read the various comments and had time to consider the unfortunate events yesterday. Let me say straightaway that the stadium and facilities are magnificent, way beyond my expectations. The track is going to be brilliant, the practice laps gave us a taste of the how fast it is going to be and how many racing lines it will produce. The design of the stands gives excellent views and close up proximity to the racing. Anyone claiming we should have stayed at the dog track is talking from ignorance, as is anyone trying to make a point by referring to the Good Friday debacle or claiming the track there was never well prepared. The promotion tried a number of track curators and eventually appointed Colin Meredith who consistently prepared a good racing surface during the last couple of years or so.

 

People are claiming that the promotion must have known that there were problems with the track and should have cancelled yesterdays meeting on Friday. I have no inside knowledge but do know there were concerns about the 3rd and 4th bends. Remedial work was being done on those bends on Saturday morning and my belief is that the promotion and Colin Meredith must have believed the problem had been solved. I think that for a number of reasons. If they didn't think that surely the work on the track would have continued right up until the last minute. The riders did their usual track walks and I didn't notice anyone paying particular attention to those bends,as usual most of their attention seemed to be at the starting gate. If the track problem was so obvious and serious I doubt they would have wasted their time checking out the starts. Likewise, if the promotion knew the meeting was in serious doubt I cannot believe they would not only have held the parade of riders walking round the complete circuit but then gone on to make speeches of the nature they did, it would have been very low key, saying as little as possible, not how much the new stadium meant to the club and the sport. The crowd applauded them for what they had achieved and David Gordon walked immediately in front of where I was sitting acknowledging the applause. He looked pleased and emotional and would have to be a very good actor to portray those emotions if he knew or believed that serious track problems were very soon going to be revealed. You had only to see them and hear what he and Chris Morton said when announcing the meeting was to be abandoned to realise they were genuinely shocked and upset.

 

Having said all of that plainly a disastrous mistake was made. I feel sorry for all those who attended, the promotion and the riders. I do not know whether fault lies with delays by the contractors, the weather, the track curator or the promotion. I suspect a combination of those factors. To suggest the promotion are incompetent is way off the mark, their work over 9 years to achieve what many thought impossible is evidence enough to dispel completely that allegation. However, like the rest of us, they are human and like the rest of us, get things wrong. at the end of the day they have to take the responsibility for yesterday.

 

What happened cannot be changed but talk of the final mail in the coffin of Belle Vue, the EL,or speedway in the UK is silly. We have a fantastic stadium, a track problem that can be solved and a track , which as many riders commented yesterday, is going to be brilliant. We shall recover and go on to reap the benefits of what David and Chris have provided.

It's not ignorance to suggest that a facility that's had 7 million spent on it should be ready in time for its first meeting. It's not as if it's been knocked up the last few days. They've spent over a year building the thing.

[SUPERACE]

It's not ignorance to suggest that a facility that's had 7 million spent on it should be ready in time for its first meeting. It's not as if it's been knocked up the last few days. They've spent over a year building the thing.

Yes it is ignorent to suggest that. Facts are the stadium completion was behind, happens a lot in construction. The issue and only issue for Belle Vue was that they didnt postpone the meeting earlier knowing delays to the build had effected bends 3 and 4 from settling properly

Edited March 21, 2016 by SUPERACE