Belle Vue V Kings Lynn 1/7

[racers and royals]

R/R for Cook

[Daniel Smith]

Did we offer any value to this meeting or were we as bad as the 11 heats suggest?

[CB252]

Did we offer any value to this meeting or were we as bad as the 11 heats suggest?

Not sure you'll get an answer to that. I watched an illegal heat on periscope and it didn't look like there were any spectators there!

[Phil The Ace]

Meeting delayed due to a member of crowd having to be rushed to hospital. Hope she is ok. Best wishes to her

 

Starting tapes failed do using elastic

 

Poorest crowd of the EL year.

 

Good 1st laps

 

Bad 2nd/3rd/4th laps

 

Had interval with rain incoming

 

Meeting abandoned

 

That's has good as it got.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Phil The Ace

[Aces51]

Did we offer any value to this meeting or were we as bad as the 11 heats suggest?

 

Jakobsen and Lambert certainly gave 100% and looked impressive. The track was very wet following all the rain including a downpour after 7pm. The drainage again showed how good it is and in the circumstances the racing was OK. Some passing on the 3rd and 4th bends of the first lap as well as the usual on the 1st two bends. The wet heavy shale made it difficult to pass on later laps but there was some close racing. Considering the terrible weather and the absence of NKI, Robert Lambert and Cook I didn't think the crowd was too bad. I suspect many thought it would be called off.

[mikec]

Did we offer any value to this meeting or were we as bad as the 11 heats suggest?

 

Thought Kings Lynn reserves were competitive tonight, best I've seen Lambert race. Seen Batch get plenty of stick on here too about racing in the wet, thought he got stuck in.

[g13webb]

Special thanks to Kenneth Hansen and Jacob Thorssell, for help out our depleted team. They performed as one would have expected. I see Kai Huckenbeck also, equalled his recent scores. But seriously this match should never have been authorised. How do you expect to promote this sport when the fixtures are a calamity. It wouldn't been as bad if there were only one match on, but to run 3 Elite leagues matches, all with riders missing , is sheer MADNESS.

 

Just pleased we weren't the ones who paid to watch this shambles...

[hyderd]

weather in Manchester these last few days have been unpredictable with Wednesday particully wet and today very heavy showers predicted from 1700 onwards, I was going to chance going after I had dropped my Grand Daughter off at her Prom night, but a big black cloud was gathering in the direction of the Stadium so I went straight home, I'm guessing I was not alone, however the forecast for next week is an improving one so hopefully a dry track with better racing = a better crowd turnout.

Happy with the result though.

 

The guest situation is something we have to live with at these rearranged fixtures, but spare a thought for the L/side fans, Poole tracked 4 guests in a 6 man line up, and won the meeting.

Edited July 2, 2016 by hyderd

[KIRKYLANE]

The weather forecast was poor to say the least and that itself will have decreased the attendance .

 

I went because it is my home track and will attend as long as there is a chance of the meeting being on.

 

However any other tracks that I go to then I am definitely weather conscious.... yesterday's forecast would have made me not attend at any track other than Belle Vue.

 

I was going to Workington today but on checking the forecast this morning I decided that the forecast was too dodgy to go all that way.... only to find that Workington called it off at approx 0830 this morning.

 

The weather is certainly the promoter's biggest nightmare !!!!!

[B.V 72]

Agree with most of Fred flanges post.The delayed start the weather the starting gate problem the missing riders not really Belle vues fault these things happen in speedway. I got my head around the above problems and was impressed how well the track handled all the rain.The racing for a wet track was not that bad the odd pass and not one fall etc.

But the interval really p****d me off it was the last thing the fans needed after sitting around for the 30 min delayed start in what i thought was quite a cold evening.Plus you could see a massive black cloud was nearly on top of the stadium and you just knew it was going to p it down very shortly.Of which it did and the meeting was called off and because of the interval i came away from the stadium feeling i had been robbed of a good few races,and rightly of wrongly i felt that the management had put bar and food sales before their paying customers.Of which i feel could cost them in the long run because even more fans could now stay away if it is or has rained.

I will be forever greatful to our promoters for giving us a magnificent stadium but i do feel that with a little more thought of their paying customers they could run it a lot better.

Edited July 2, 2016 by B.V 72

[ABS]

I arrived a bit earlier than usual last night, we were in our seats just after 7pm, and despite some heavy showers during the day the track looked fine. I was surprised to see the start lines had not been marked and the tapes not set up, I assumed that sort of thing was done much earlier. At least the covers were already off the track.

 

There was an announcement for an electrician, a little alarm bell rang in my mind about the perceived lack of preparation, then another announcement that there had been an accident and the paramedics would be with the injured person until an ambulance arrived, which would delay then start of the meeting.

 

Then it started raining very hard for about 10 minutes, then it eased off for another 10 mins and then stopped. The track was flooded with standing water everywhere. Some riders peered over the pit gate and walked away and it didn't look good.

 

There was another announcement that the ambulance had arrived, the lines were marked on the start despite the puddles and Colin Meredith stretched some strong knicker elastic across the track??

 

It was about 740pm when the problem with the gate was revealed. I later found out that a fuse had tripped and instead of finding the cause it was reset and the main stadium fuse tripped which caused the problem with the start gate, Doh! By this time all the puddles had gone leaving a wet track with no standing water, the flooded track had drained in less than 10 minutes!!

 

Five minutes later the riders were on parade and off we went.

 

The knicker elastic worked really well with only two starts pulled back. It was quite funny watching some of the riders look left when the green light came on and being left at the start. Only one rider was excluded when Lambert looked left (he'd already been out in heat 2?) and just looked at the knot in the knicker elastic, got confused and just dropped the clutch.

 

The track rode as well as can be expected, much like the British final, and after the first race when the wet top surface was turned over the riders didn't seem to have much of a problem with visibility.

 

Apart from Zagar, who won his races by the length of the straight, none of the races were strung out and nobody struggled with conditions although the weakened visitors never looked like actually winning a race despite being in the mix in each heat.

 

Then someone decided to have a 10+ minute interval (double doh!!) and it started to rain as the riders were on the 3rd lap of heat 11. As the riders left the track the rain was nearly as heavy as the earlier downpour and with the score as it was the meeting was abandoned. Whoever decided to have an interval effectively robbed the customers of at least 3 heats of speedway when the risk of further rain was bleedin obvious, don't let that happen again.

 

It looked like the weather and missing riders had affected the attendance. It's impossible to judge how many are in the grand stand when you are in it yourself but using the south stand as a barometer I'd guess the crowd was between 1000-1500, probably the lowest of the season but still good compared to what we used to get at the dog track.

Having started 30 mins late and with clouds gathering again, who made the decision to have and Interval an why? It might have made sense had they attempted to grade the track during the Interval, but no. All we got was some inane garbage fro the "Presenter". As you quite rightly point out, we were cheated of some three races, but hey ho, I guess that not having to pay the riders and increasing bar takings were perhaps motivating factors

[Notenoughnerve]

"It looked like the weather and missing riders had affected the attendance. It's impossible to judge how many are in the grand stand when you are in it yourself but using the south stand as a barometer I'd guess the crowd was between 1000-1500"

 

I think there were no more than 250 in the seats and I'd be surprised if there were a thousand there in total. I'd guess at about 800. Its a worry.

The decision to take an interval was ridiculous. I love the new stadium, and I appreciate the work that went into getting us there, but I despair at little niggly things like that from the promotion.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Notenoughnerve

[Blackadder]

The Clerk of the Course, not the Promotion, is responsible for the length of any interval.

[Notenoughnerve]

The Clerk of the Course, not the Promotion, is responsible for the length of any interval.

 

Really? Well you learn something new.

I wonder what his thinking was.

[A ORLOV]

The Clerk of the Course, not the Promotion, is responsible for the length of any interval.

But no doubt follows the "suggestions" of the home promoter.

[Notenoughnerve]

Wow!

 

250 isn't enough to fill just one block of the grandstand, and block D looked full from where I was sat so the rest of the stand must have been completely empty?

 

 

She explained it on the Aces fans Facebook page.

Just having a look a couple of pics I took from the back straight terrace and 250 might be a tad optimistic.

The posh seats has about 100 in it and the only other block with many in it was C. A smattering of people besides that.

Maybe 30/40 on the west terrace and however many were on the back straight. I doubt there was a 1000.

[Rob B]

Really? Well you learn something new.

I wonder what his thinking was.

She wrote :

"I'll take the blame for this. (Though it wasn't a solo decision)

The pre match meeting planned for an interval after heat 11. Provisional plans are made at 5.45pm.

I realised that Matej would have two races back to back which would mean 5 minutes between races after heat 10, so talked to the team managers and referee, it made sense to have the interval then. No one argued and obviously in hindsight I should have cancelled the interval altogether. I looked at the weather chart all day and it changed every time I looked at it. Next big shower was due at 10pm

Mid interval we saw the black cloud and rushed into heat 11. Too little too late. No agenda, no greed, just trying to run a safe entertaining meeting."

Just having a look a couple of pics I took from the back straight terrace and 250 might be a tad optimistic.

The posh seats has about 100 in it and the only other block with many in it was C. A smattering of people besides that.

Maybe 30/40 on the west terrace and however many were on the back straight. I doubt there was a 1000.

My estimation was 800 last night too. By far the lowest of the season due to the weather and poor opposition lineup but not far off the regular attendances from next door.

[Red Flag]

The Clerk of the Course, not the Promotion, is responsible for the length of any interval.

wrong the clerk of the course is lead by the promoter

[keepturningleft]

...and, the Wales match is on this Wedenesday!

[Rob B]

Thanks for that.

 

I am surprised at how few were there though because according to the Belle Vue website there are nearly 400 seats already taken in the grandstand for the wolves meeting on Wednesday.

 

When you think that the wolves meeting is on TV on an 'off' night and midweek when far fewer kids will attend and it is a rearranged meeting at relatively short notice, even if there isn't a single walk up on Wednesday there will be more there than there was on Friday?

 

I suppose the only explanation is quite a few season ticket holders didn't bother going on Friday given the weather and poor opposition which seems a bit odd to me?

 

306 seats in grandstand pre booked for Wedsnesday, most will be season ticket holders. There was more then 250 in there on Friday, between 400-500 I'd say.