Peter Craven/grand Opening

[Trees]

Just got back home. What a fantastic weekend of speedway. Drove from Eastbourne to Manchester, checked in to our hotel in Stockport, drove to the stadium. Parking organisation was a complete joke, yellow jacketed officials that were of no use whatsoever. Trouble with some of the turnstiles, ticket would not register. I was at Warsaw last year, so I have seen a few balls ups. The riders walked the track, and seemed to be having great fun bouncing up and down on a few very soft patches on the 3rd bend, and doing their usual technical thing of stubbing their shoes into the shale. The pre meeting entertainment was some gymnast who appeared to be doing their own thing in a bid to keep warm and a scout band in which some of the musicians had obviously been in the scouts for decades and decades. The usual 'likes the sound of his own voice' MC was wittering on about how fantastic it was all going to be. The riders were introduced to the fans, who were by now packed in the South Stand like sardines, it would have been impossible to fill in a programme as we were crammed in so tight. A very half hearted National Anthem was uttered, the fans should have sung their hearts out !!

We were then told that the riders would be coming out to have a quick practice on the track, a few laps each in groups of four. Jokingly, believe or not, I don't care, I spoke out quite loudly, "I suppose this is where the riders refuse to race". OH MY GOD. Following lots and lots of excruciating loud music and NO notice of what and where was happening. Soon the MC was telling us that the riders were not happy with bends 3 and 4 and were having a meeting with Chris Morton and Dave Gordon. Then the two emerged at the tapes to give us all the good news, both choking back and both blaming the weather !! Fair play to Bomber for coming out to explain that the track was rideable but not raceable. It wouldn't have hurt ALL the riders to have walked round the track offering their apologies to the people who pay their wages. But it is greedy Elite league speedway riders we are talking about here. Getting out of the car park was a free for all, no stewards to direct the traffic at all. WHY DID'NT CHRIS MORTON (he was a quality speedway rider and must have known the track was in poor condition) AND DAVE GORDON HAVE THE BALLS TO ADMIT LAST THURSDAY THAT THE TRACK WAS NOT READY AND THE MEETING COULD NOT GO AHEAD. We would'nt have been happy, but at least we would have heard the truth upfront.

A very poor nights sleep followed, and then the drive to Coventry for Chris's big bang. A great day for a great bloke, his girlfriend and committee must have worked so hard to get it all together. So many people that they run out of programmes ! Then we heard that Bech and Iversen were unfit and would not be there. OH, Iversen was ok to attend Belle Vue but obviously suffered serious injury in his fluffy hotel bed, or maybe there was not enough in it for him to attend Chris's big day.

The racing was typical of an early season testimonial, no dirt on the track at all and it was obvious that some of the riders were not trying to hard,

but there again, we do not want too much over zealous racing and injuries on such a day. And KK won a race, that hasn't happened for a while.

So, tickets £80, hotel £79, food/drink £45 and £70 worth of diesel, nearly £300 quid, but I did get Bomber to sign his programme.

Speedway------------why do we bother !!

Iversen injured his leg in a crash on Friday, if you read his Twitter feed you would see that he said he was kidding himself he could race at BV but wanted to try. Hence pulling out of Bomber's meeting .....

[Trevor]

There are some of the near hysterical comments on this thread, can we have some perspective?

 

Yes, it is true the management should have postponed the meeting earlier.

Yes, it is true the wet weather set the project back

Yes, it is true the management should have communicated far earlier what was going on.

Yes, it is true the riders could have raced on the straights and bends 1/2, and just ridden round the spongy bits to give the crowd something for their attendance

 

Despite all that, when the track is sorted and bedded in, we will have the best Speedway facility that the country has, and deserves to be considered the National Speedway Stadium.

[GASBLOKE]

Thanx for the info buddy. Twatter feed or not, if he was able to do 3 laps full throttle of Belle Vue for himself and then go on to ride in the meeting if it had gone ahead I would have thought he could still have supported Bomber. If Fridays crash was so bad, why didn't he pull out of the Peter Craven meeting, or did he know something !!!! I suppose all the riders will get their expenses for the debacle.

[Trevor]

Back to my theme of perspective, all of these had disastrous starts but went on to do quite well;

 

Disney World

BBC 2

Sir John Gurden (Nobel Prize winner)

Heathrow Terminal 5

Alex Ferguson at Man Utd

Millennium Dome now O2

 

I am sure there are many many more.

[damosuzuki]

Manchester is FAR from the wettest city in Britain.And with the track covers,Belle Vue should have less rain offs than just about anyone.

[The Doctor...]

Just got back home. What a fantastic weekend of speedway. Drove from Eastbourne to Manchester, checked in to our hotel in Stockport, drove to the stadium. Parking organisation was a complete joke, yellow jacketed officials that were of no use whatsoever. Trouble with some of the turnstiles, ticket would not register. I was at Warsaw last year, so I have seen a few balls ups. The riders walked the track, and seemed to be having great fun bouncing up and down on a few very soft patches on the 3rd bend, and doing their usual technical thing of stubbing their shoes into the shale. The pre meeting entertainment was some gymnast who appeared to be doing their own thing in a bid to keep warm and a scout band in which some of the musicians had obviously been in the scouts for decades and decades. The usual 'likes the sound of his own voice' MC was wittering on about how fantastic it was all going to be. The riders were introduced to the fans, who were by now packed in the South Stand like sardines, it would have been impossible to fill in a programme as we were crammed in so tight. A very half hearted National Anthem was uttered, the fans should have sung their hearts out !!

We were then told that the riders would be coming out to have a quick practice on the track, a few laps each in groups of four. Jokingly, believe or not, I don't care, I spoke out quite loudly, "I suppose this is where the riders refuse to race". OH MY GOD. Following lots and lots of excruciating loud music and NO notice of what and where was happening. Soon the MC was telling us that the riders were not happy with bends 3 and 4 and were having a meeting with Chris Morton and Dave Gordon. Then the two emerged at the tapes to give us all the good news, both choking back and both blaming the weather !! Fair play to Bomber for coming out to explain that the track was rideable but not raceable. It wouldn't have hurt ALL the riders to have walked round the track offering their apologies to the people who pay their wages. But it is greedy Elite league speedway riders we are talking about here. Getting out of the car park was a free for all, no stewards to direct the traffic at all. WHY DID'NT CHRIS MORTON (he was a quality speedway rider and must have known the track was in poor condition) AND DAVE GORDON HAVE THE BALLS TO ADMIT LAST THURSDAY THAT THE TRACK WAS NOT READY AND THE MEETING COULD NOT GO AHEAD. We would'nt have been happy, but at least we would have heard the truth upfront.

A very poor nights sleep followed, and then the drive to Coventry for Chris's big bang. A great day for a great bloke, his girlfriend and committee must have worked so hard to get it all together. So many people that they run out of programmes ! Then we heard that Bech and Iversen were unfit and would not be there. OH, Iversen was ok to attend Belle Vue but obviously suffered serious injury in his fluffy hotel bed, or maybe there was not enough in it for him to attend Chris's big day.

The racing was typical of an early season testimonial, no dirt on the track at all and it was obvious that some of the riders were not trying to hard,

but there again, we do not want too much over zealous racing and injuries on such a day. And KK won a race, that hasn't happened for a while.

So, tickets £80, hotel £79, food/drink £45 and £70 worth of diesel, nearly £300 quid, but I did get Bomber to sign his programme.

Speedway------------why do we bother !!

 

With respect, seriously, why did you bother ?

 

You've apparently second guessed your whole weekend in advance, yet you went ahead with it anyway..

 

Usual this, usual that - it was a crappy situation, we all get that, but it sounds like you knew it was going to be crap anyway so why bother ?

 

You even said you went to Warsaw so i've got zip sympathy for you sorry.

[The Doctor...]

Cheeky sod. How about they refund my petrol money then. And people's hotel bills! And £6 on wasted programmes.

 

Ahh... the "chronically" tired.

 

If you knew the meaning then i'm sure you were going up there against doctors orders anyway.

 

Or you're just talking b.o.llocks

Oh grow up..............I take it you have not seen the video that Hans Andersen posted raising concerns..............or comments from other riders and indeed ex BV riders about how unsafe it was...............and yes at one point the management did blame the riders..............some friends who were there clearly heard a member of the management team say that after they did the official announcement..............

 

Pity you are blinkered and taking one riders view rather than looking at the bigger picture..............no one is going to want to see a meeting on a track that is rideable but not raceable.............what is the point in holding it if they cannot race............

 

RP

 

You werent there, so your views, are "blinkered" aswell no ?

 

Are you going to the Lakeside away meeting btw ?.................. Starman and pirates pirates munchausen pirates that applies to you aswell.................

 

£50 to the speedway riders ben fund says i wont see starry or any of you there.

Edited March 21, 2016 by The Doctor...

[bellevueace]

Firstly the stadium is a fantastic achievement and was way better than I was expecting, the track also when issues are sorted is going to produce great action and like Hyde Road I can see it becoming one of the best in world speedway. Now onto the night, if the track had such issues this would have been known days before so why not an early cancellation? Im sure fans from places like Edinburgh, Somerset, and Plymouth would have appreciated that. It was obvious with the delay after the practice laps we would be getting no racing what was unforgivable was the lack of info. I really felt for David Gordon and Chris Morton having to come out in front of a packed house to announce the meeting was off, that must have been difficult for them. Its such a shame a great opportunity to attract many new fans has been lost, there were many angry comments around me when I was leaving the stadium. On my way out im sure I heard David state you can come to any future meeting of your choice which was met by some boos. Now onto the riders, surely they knew the track would be difficult, its never been raced on for gods sake, rather than destroy an event that not only put Belle Vue in the spotlight but the whole of British speedway couldn't something have been sorted to at least give the paying public something? Im sure riders of the calibre that were there would have been able to stage manage something, put on a show that like WWF for example was contrived but in some way entertaining without the risk of serious action, just a thought. As for ticket refunds well with a programme it cost me £26,00 if I can use my ticket for a league match that's still £9.00 out of pocket, a very small price considering what the promotion have lost, if they offer a refund in full I will E-mail the club telling them to keep it, that hopefully in some small way shows support. I cant see Friday being on now as theres no way the track is going to be ready, bet the Colts would give it a go though, the only way the track is going to settle is to race on it, whenever that is the first races are going to be somewhat dicey. A great shame and its going to take some great PR and great understanding from fans but this track is going to provide some great racing when its fully bedded in. Obviously im a Belle Vue fan so will support my club, but I can also understand and agree with many of the posters who have given pelters to the whole thing which sadly turned into a debacle for the whole sport. The ones I feel for are those that travelled from afar and find themselves well out of pocket from petrol, food, and accommodation, it really shouldn't have happened and that's the bottom line.

Edited March 21, 2016 by bellevueace

[Red Panda]

 

Ahh... the "chronically" tired.

 

If you knew the meaning then i'm sure you were going up there against doctors orders anyway.

 

Or you're just talking b.o.llocks

 

You werent there, so your views, are "blinkered" aswell no ?

 

Are you going to the Lakeside away meeting btw ?.................. Starman and pirates pirates munchausen pirates that applies to you aswell.................

 

£50 to the speedway riders ben fund says i wont see starry or any of you there.

Well you will be out of pocket then because I will be there not that it is any of your business..............you coming to Poole for the meeting on the Wednesday...............

 

RP

Edited March 21, 2016 by Red Panda

[foamfence]

Back to my theme of perspective, all of these had disastrous starts but went on to do quite well;

 

Disney World

BBC 2

Sir John Gurden (Nobel Prize winner)

Heathrow Terminal 5

Alex Ferguson at Man Utd

Millennium Dome now O2

 

I am sure there are many many more.

Yes but nobody here invested a good deal of money in going to them, travel and accommodation.

[ouch]

Have just seen the Chris Morton video, so it was only a small disaster then. IF Belle Vue keep the British Final and the World Cup meetings who is going to bother to turn up, just the Aces fans I reckon. Move them back to Kings Lynn quick, before the whole world finds out about Belle Vues "little disaster". It sounded to me that Chris Morton wants us all to thank him for building an outside sports facility in the wettest city in western Europe. Lets hope Coventry can build a stadium in the middle of the country that we can call the National Stadium. If my previous post was wrong in any way, please put me right.

Can't wait to see the National League get started again, bring on the kids, the BRITISH KIDS !!!!!!

Yes 'cause Kings Lynn would never have a track issue during a high profile meeting with GP stars in it would they? #purubbishthroughforskysake

[GASBLOKE]

 

With respect, seriously, why did you bother ?

 

You've apparently second guessed your whole weekend in advance, yet you went ahead with it anyway..

 

Usual this, usual that - it was a crappy situation, we all get that, but it sounds like you knew it was going to be crap anyway so why bother ?

 

You even said you went to Warsaw so i've got zip sympathy for you sorry.

 

 

With respect, seriously, why did you bother ?

 

You've apparently second guessed your whole weekend in advance, yet you went ahead with it anyway..

 

Usual this, usual that - it was a crappy situation, we all get that, but it sounds like you knew it was going to be crap anyway so why bother ?

 

You even said you went to Warsaw so i've got zip sympathy for you sorry.

What a ridiculous accusation. I've simply re inacted my weekend into words, the only expectation I had was how great it was to have a National Speedway stadium and that I wanted to be there to witness it. And what the hell has Warsaw got to do with it. I'm off to Warsaw, Prague,Lonigo,Gdansk and Torun this year too. A doctor with NO sympathy, remind me not to see you with my rash !!! Enjoy your speedway, surely it can only get better.

[jenga]

Absolutely disgusted that this hasn't been done in time. I am fuming. 92 on 2 hotel rooms. 60 quid on tickets 65 quid in fuel 15 quid on food/drink here for what?

 

 

and this is from a fan who is that tight and only breaths in !

 

ii bet thats put your savings on the back foot for a while , or is it bill shot ..lol.

[Ghostwalker]

I agree,these are the same guys who go out" playing "Moto- crossing in the winter months with no though of it being dangerous and no medical stall at hand,yet cannot control the

throttle of a speedway bike. The sport is just farcical nowadays.The majority of the riders last night would have been just going thought the motions last night as a warm up anyway.

 

Oh really? Definitely not a valid comparison. A Moto-X bike and a speedway bike are very very different and they are used in very different ways.

 

A MotoX bike is designed to be ridden in rough conditions, it has gears, brakes and a large ground clearance. Thus it can handle very poor conditions.

A speedway bike is not built for rough conditions but rather for (relatively) smooth+hard oval tracks, it lakes breaks, gears and any kind of significant ground clearance.

 

A MotoX bike (or an enduro bike) will have no problem with soft and muddy conditions (to some extent) while a speedway bike just can't handle if the track is too soft.

Riding MotoX bike alone or with a few friends at a large Moto X track or trail in an uncompetitive way is vastly different then racing down the straight of a (in relation) tight

speedway track isn 60-70mph with three other riders all fighting for the same line through the bend. A bend that (in this case what it seems) wasn't capable of handling that.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Ghostwalker

[A ORLOV]

 

 

and this is from a fan who is that tight and only breaths in !

 

ii bet thats put your savings on the back foot for a while , or is it bill shot ..lol.

It is all Bull excretia jenga, the same as most of its posts and treads.

[pugwash]

Absolutely disgusted that this hasn't been done in time. I am fuming. 92 on 2 hotel rooms. 60 quid on tickets 65 quid in fuel 15 quid on food/drink here for what?

 

Munchausen syndrome fits within the subclass of factitious disorder with predominantly physical signs and symptoms, but patients also have a history of recurrent hospitalization, travelling, and dramatic, extremely improbable tales of their past experiences

Edited March 21, 2016 by pugwash

[Fromafar]

Oh really? Definitely not a valid comparison. A Moto-X bike and a speedway bike are very very different and they are used in very different ways.

 

A MotoX bike is designed to be ridden in rough conditions, it has gears, brakes and a large ground clearance. Thus it can handle very poor conditions.

A speedway bike is not built for rough conditions but rather for (relatively) smooth+hard oval tracks, it lakes breaks, gears and any kind of significant ground clearance.

 

A MotoX bike (or an enduro bike) will have no problem with soft and muddy conditions (to some extent) while a speedway bike just can't handle if the track is too soft.

Riding MotoX bike alone or with a few friends at a large Moto X track or trail in an uncompetitive way is vastly different then racing down the straight of a (in relation) tight

speedway track isn 60-70mph with three other riders all fighting for the same line through the bend. A bend that (in this case what it seems) wasn't capable of handling that.

If you say so! The riders don't give a toss about the paying public nowadays just where their next pay packet is coming from.A Speedway bike can also be set up to cope with different conditions and the throttle works both ways.

There are some of the near hysterical comments on this thread, can we have some perspective?

 

Yes, it is true the management should have postponed the meeting earlier.

Yes, it is true the wet weather set the project back

Yes, it is true the management should have communicated far earlier what was going on.

Yes, it is true the riders could have raced on the straights and bends 1/2, and just ridden round the spongy bits to give the crowd something for their attendance

 

Despite all that, when the track is sorted and bedded in, we will have the best Speedway facility that the country has, and deserves to be considered the National Speedway Stadium.

Yes it is true,you might have the best facility in the Country but there will be nobody there to watch it if that is how it is run!

[SPEEDY69]

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2016-03-19/belle-vue-aces-call-off-7national-speedway-stadium-opening-night-after-riders-say-track-is-unfit/

 

The full statement video is at the bottom. Bit worrying at the moment if all they are trying to do is repair it rather than relay it, but I'm no expert.

The one thing I do know is that inconsistency in tracks is the most dangerous thing. It's not like moto x or trials. Sudden grip is extremely treacherous.

It's always been that way though. Nearly all tracks have patches where it's more grippy than others - this has never been a real issue in the past, in fact some world finals were ridden on tracks where riders were bucking and lurching all over the place. Peterborough around the inside on bend 2 used to have a real grippy patch but riders simply avoided or used it. I guess it's the current way, they all seem to want billiard table surfaces so they can full throttle all the way around from the start, those better riders who can manage conditions well then no longer have any advantage - best set-up wins.

 

Clearly it was late in the day to get the track approval and in my view there should always be plenty of testing on a new track before racing starts (I was in Riga for that debacle a couple of years ago!). I feel really sorry for the promotion given the high expectations and for all the fans who turned up. Let's hope it's all up from here.

Edited March 21, 2016 by SPEEDY69

[uk_martin]

Interesting statement on the BSPA site - drawing as much attention to the BSPA / SCB being whiter than white, and "don't blame them", as it does to the shambles that happened on Saturday.

 

One quick question though...isn't the SCB, through its referee, in charge of the meeting from 2 hours before tapes up? Therefore if the SCB referee did a track inspection didn't he/she have the last chance of calling the meeting off before people were let into the turnstiles, and parting with their money on catering, programmes etc? OK so the doors were open early, but some people could have been helped out. Could those people who had journeys to make not have been prevented from wasting their time, or at least have returned home a few hours earlier without standing or sitting out in the cold for nothing?

 

The SCB, whiter than white? - I think not.

Edited March 21, 2016 by uk martin

[speedibee]

Interesting statement on the BSPA site - drawing as much attention to the BSPA / SCB being whiter than white, and "don't blame them", as it does to the shambles that happened on Saturday.

 

One quick question though...isn't the SCB, through its referee, in charge of the meeting from 2 hours before tapes up? Therefore if the SCB referee did a track inspection didn't he/she have the last chance of calling the meeting off before people were let into the turnstiles, and parting with their money on catering, programmes etc? OK so the doors were open early, but some people could have been helped out. Could those people who had journeys to make not have been prevented from wasting their time, or at least have returned home a few hours earlier without standing or sitting out in the cold for nothing?

 

The SCB, whiter than white? - I think not.

Not enough people are actually questioning the actual track conditions for my liking , from photos and videos I have seen it looked to be pretty smooth , and the complaint from some of the riders was that bends 3/4 had damp patches and consequently were inconsistent , easy solution would have been to call the fire brigade and have them soak the whole track . then get the ringleader down there rub his nose in it and tell them to get on with it as they would a wet racetrack In a Gp . I wasnt there but all the riders had a 4 lap try out , did they look unsafe ? did anyone get out of control or fall during these practises ?