ond Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Totally with you on this... Speedway now has high revving bikes, that spin out of control with the slightest bit of 'DAMP...not even wet...plus they also don't like deeper tracks. Tracks seem to be using material that doesn't like any water at all. Combine this with your normal British weather....it all doesn't add up. The basics of this sport are now a farce. We run bikes that can't be raced on anything it seems, other than slick and bone dry. We use track material that doesn't combine well or drain well with a shower of rain. We have a Sport that is notorious for rain off's because of the elements, yet have never in all the years tried to find a way of protecting the track. Put all those ingredients together...and you have got a complete no go. Why the people that run this sport can't see it, I don't know. Also as a rider...why put up with it? All the travel and costs for all these rain offs....complete joke of a sport now tbh. Have you ever been to Kings Lynn??....... Track Is usually prepared deep grippy and damp. All the riders turn up knowing this with suitable engines to ride the track. If there had been a light shower last night then the track would have been even better... BUT At 7PM a few spots of rain and the pits marshal asked for the bikes to be warmed up. All bikes running and then the heavens opened flooding the pit bays with in a matter of minutes. If there had been track covers at the track, they would of been off anyway with no time to put them back on so same out come. Buster tried his usual magic but the shale was just too wet. The riders agreed to try to get the meeting on and hats off to all the riders. But with race times a good 4 seconds down on what is usual for kings lynn, something was clearly wrong. 1st heat and Kings Lynn were down to 6 riders with the injury to Kai. 2nd heat another faller , clearly riders were struggling. No one wants to pay top dollar to watch top riders race just to stay on the bike let alone avoid each other. At this point all the riders got together and was looking like it would be off while more track grading went on.. 2 more races went out with riders coming in disappointed at not being able to properly race and give the paying public what they deserve. Now 9.30 with only 4 heats ridden, it took the captains to put their foot down and refuse to ride (ahem "race") any more and ask for the ref to come and talk.. Meeting cancelled. What wasn't apparent was the crowd being informed. If sky were there, riders would of been interview and reason would of been apparent as to why they were struggling.. Last night was an unavoidable cancellation due to rain on a perfectly prepared track with plenty of shale on it, this should of been called earlier. Again, the rain came at 7pm. If this was a national league meeting then there wouldn't of been so much shale on the track so possibly the rain would of run off instead of soak into the track Riders were complaining the track was too deep going into turn 3. Surely it was like it when they done there track walk. The track walk was done before the rain down poor.... I hope someone posts a video of how much water fell in such a short time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted July 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Riders were complaining the track was too deep going into turn 3. Surely it was like it when they done there track walk. Yes it was like it on the track walk with glorious blazing sunshine and 28°C heat. The rain followed, track unracable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semion Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Buster should have cut his losses and called the thing off as soon as the rain came. It was obvious at 7.45 that the track was not fit to ride, let alone race on it. yet there queues at the turnstile's and still they were coming in. At least If they had called it off at 7.15 it would have stopped a lot of people going through the gate to then wait around for over 2 hours, for nothing. I never know these days who is in charge of a rain off. Ref , No he just does as he is told, and appears to have no control what so ever on such matters. Home Promoter, Of course he wants the meeting on, he stand to drop a few £K if its called off at a late stage Riders... Now that's where the real power now lies. If they don't want to ride then There is No show to put on. Riders today, and The top boys in particular are the ones now calling the shots in all areas of the Sport. No meeting for them at Lynn On Thursday, so they collect their expenses and off they go to the next Gig wherever that maybe in Europe. Years back riders would be keen to get out there and give it a go to earn their weekly wage. There wasn't a Poland, Sweden or Denmark to travel to for the next night. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gresham Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Have you ever been to Kings Lynn??....... Track Is usually prepared deep grippy and damp. All the riders turn up knowing this with suitable engines to ride the track. If there had been a light shower last night then the track would have been even better... BUT At 7PM a few spots of rain and the pits marshal asked for the bikes to be warmed up. All bikes running and then the heavens opened flooding the pit bays with in a matter of minutes. If there had been track covers at the track, they would of been off anyway with no time to put them back on so same out come. Buster tried his usual magic but the shale was just too wet. The riders agreed to try to get the meeting on and hats off to all the riders. But with race times a good 4 seconds down on what is usual for kings lynn, something was clearly wrong. 1st heat and Kings Lynn were down to 6 riders with the injury to Kai. 2nd heat another faller , clearly riders were struggling. No one wants to pay top dollar to watch top riders race just to stay on the bike let alone avoid each other. At this point all the riders got together and was looking like it would be off while more track grading went on.. 2 more races went out with riders coming in disappointed at not being able to properly race and give the paying public what they deserve. Now 9.30 with only 4 heats ridden, it took the captains to put their foot down and refuse to ride (ahem "race") any more and ask for the ref to come and talk.. Meeting cancelled. What wasn't apparent was the crowd being informed. If sky were there, riders would of been interview and reason would of been apparent as to why they were struggling.. Last night was an unavoidable cancellation due to rain on a perfectly prepared track with plenty of shale on it, this should of been called earlier. Again, the rain came at 7pm. If this was a national league meeting then there wouldn't of been so much shale on the track so possibly the rain would of run off instead of soak into the track The track walk was done before the rain down poor.... I hope someone posts a video of how much water fell in such a short time. Thanks for the update and detailed response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tellboy Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Buster should have cut his losses and called the thing off as soon as the rain came. It was obvious at 7.45 that the track was not fit to ride, let alone race on it. It amazes me the amount of people that knew it should have been called off after the event but not before..Hindsight is a wonderful thing but none of us have that. I can just imagine if Buster sat there and not attempted to do anything with the track and just called it off.The same fans would moan oh Buster didn't try anything to get this meeting on and whinge and moan about that. Unfortunately last night we got caught out by mother nature,and none of us can do anything about her. The promotion have done an honourable thing and are letting the supporters into another meeting with their tickets.Which if you look into the terms of your tickets you would have only been entitled to £6 back last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted July 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 It amazes me the amount of people that knew it should have been called off after the event but not before..Hindsight is a wonderful thing but none of us have that. I can just imagine if Buster sat there and not attempted to do anything with the track and just called it off.The same fans would moan oh Buster didn't try anything to get this meeting on and whinge and moan about that. Unfortunately last night we got caught out by mother nature,and none of us can do anything about her. The promotion have done an honourable thing and are letting the supporters into another meeting with their tickets.Which if you look into the terms of your tickets you would have only been entitled to £6 back last night. No idea where you stand / sit but there were a lot of fans shouting call it off after heat 1. It was terrible yet we had to suffer 2 hours of nothing and Buster is accountable for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) Buster should have cut his losses and called the thing off as soon as the rain came. It was obvious at 7.45 that the track was not fit to ride, let alone race on it. yet there queues at the turnstile's and still they were coming in. At least If they had called it off at 7.15 it would have stopped a lot of people going through the gate to then wait around for over 2 hours, for nothing.I never know these days who is in charge of a rain off.Ref , No he just does as he is told, and appears to have no control what so ever on such matters.Home Promoter, Of course he wants the meeting on, he stand to drop a few £K if its called off at a late stageRiders... Now that's where the real power now lies. If they don't want to ride then There is No show to put on. Riders today, and The top boys in particular are the ones now calling the shots in all areas of the Sport.No meeting for them at Lynn On Thursday, so they collect their expenses and off they go to the next Gig wherever that maybe in Europe.Years back riders would be keen to get out there and give it a go to earn their weekly wage. There wasn't a Poland, Sweden or Denmark to travel to for the next night. Spot on.... A major issue for the sport in this country is exactly as you describe.... And to be fair to the riders.. Why risk my neck for between £1k - £3k when any injury will lose me £5k - £15k from Poland and Sweden over the next seven days.. The EL needs to decide what it wants... Full teams of riders every match, 100% committed to the sport in this country riding on nights when it suits the club best so they can generate their best crowd and income? Or 'top riders' deciding to 'honour us with their presence' on their terms only with race nights to suit their schedule? As fans, I would suggest the former.... Maybe after last night, Buster may think so too... Edited July 21, 2016 by mikebv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tellboy Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Spot on.... A major issue for the sport in this country is exactly as you describe.... And to be fair to the riders.. Why risk my neck for between £1k - £3k when any injury will lose me £5k - £15k from Poland and Sweden over the next seven days.. The EL needs to decide what it wants... Full teams of riders every match, 100% committed to the sport in this country riding on nights when it suits the club best so they can generate their best crowd and income? Or 'top riders' deciding to 'honour us with their presence' on their terms only with race nights to suit their schedule? As fans, I would suggest the former.... Maybe after last night, Buster may think so too... PL then,i would be happy with that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semion Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) It amazes me the amount of people that knew it should have been called off after the event but not before..Hindsight is a wonderful thing but none of us have that. I can just imagine if Buster sat there and not attempted to do anything with the track and just called it off.The same fans would moan oh Buster didn't try anything to get this meeting on and whinge and moan about that. Unfortunately last night we got caught out by mother nature,and none of us can do anything about her. The promotion have done an honourable thing and are letting the supporters into another meeting with their tickets.Which if you look into the terms of your tickets you would have only been entitled to £6 back last night. No one can control the rain and for it to come at such a late stage gave little to no time to put things right. I, and I am sure many others would have excepted if the thing had been called off at 7.30. %hit happens. With x number of fans already paid through the turnstile Buster decided to go with it. What p155ed people off the most was all the hanging about. After I had paid and was walking toward the turnstile Nathan Holland came out to tell people there would be a delayed start and no parade. The delay just went on and on. It also seemed like Buster was the only person in the stadium who could drive any of the machinery. The first time the riders didn't like the look of the starting gate, so Buster goes out into the back straight car park and brings in a loads of fresh material to throw all over that. We get started, then the 3rd bend is the problem so he scrapes a lot of muck of that area with Rosco standing watch. So we start again, then its still no good and the whole track has to be bladed. Off we go again only for the riders and the ref to decide its no good and call it a day. All that took over 2 hours. Anyone know why Lambert had a hissy fit and destroyed the tapes ? So doesn't he know the rules or been made aware of them. Silly Boy. I wonder how much damage Buster has done to both Kings Lynn and the sport in general by those actions of last night. Edited July 21, 2016 by semion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Fever Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Amazed at some ppl's comments against Buster on here Its the referee who decides whether the match goes ahead, but despite the protests of all riders he still decided it should go ahead.... Buster has therefore got to comply and do his best to get it safe and raceable. Unfortunately all the hard work was wasted as the riders were still not happy, and quite rightly too as its their welfare they're thinking about - something the ref apparently couldn't care less about. So the delays were therefore unavoidable but Buster still apologised profusely to all the supporters and has offered use of readmission tickets for ANY meeting till end of season or total refunds if thats no good. Both offers are way above what the rules stipulate....so how anyone can have a bash at him is just ridiculous Yes the meeting should've been called off before heat 1 but blame the idiot ref for god's sake!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tellboy Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 No one can control the rain and for it to come at such a late stage gave little to no time to put things right. I, and I am sure many others would have excepted if the thing had been called off at 7.30. %hit happens. With x number of fans already paid through the turnstile Buster decided to go with it. What p155ed people off the most was all the hanging about. After I had paid and was walking toward the turnstile Nathan Holland came out to tell people there would be a delayed start and no parade. The delay just went on and on. It also seemed like Buster was the only person in the stadium who could drive any of the machinery. The first time the riders didn't like the look of the starting gate, so Buster goes out into the back straight car park and brings in a loads of fresh material to throw all over that. We get started, then the 3rd bend is the problem so he scrapes a lot of muck of that area with Rosco standing watch. So we start again, then its still no good and the whole track has to be bladed. Off we go again only for the riders and the ref to decide its no good and call it a day. All that took over 2 hours. Anyone know why Lambert had a hissy fit and destroyed the tapes ? So doesn't he know the rules or been made aware of them. Silly Boy. I wonder how much damage Buster has done to both Kings Lynn and the sport in general by those actions of last night. So basically you are saying Buster was only doing what the riders asked/instructed for him to do.How would that be Busters fault?Obviously the riders thought Buster could get it sorted if they kept telling him what they wanted. Amazed at some ppl's comments against Buster on here Its the referee who decides whether the match goes ahead, but despite the protests of all riders he still decided it should go ahead.... Buster has therefore got to comply and do his best to get it safe and raceable. Unfortunately all the hard work was wasted as the riders were still not happy, and quite rightly too as its their welfare they're thinking about - something the ref apparently couldn't care less about. So the delays were therefore unavoidable but Buster still apologised profusely to all the supporters and has offered use of readmission tickets for ANY meeting till end of season or total refunds if thats no good. Both offers are way above what the rules stipulate....so how anyone can have a bash at him is just ridiculous Yes the meeting should've been called off before heat 1 but blame the idiot ref for god's sake!! Wasn't the referee Mick Bates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Lady Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) Well said Star Fever. Something else occurs to me. I wasn't there last night, I learnt my lesson a while ago, but I've seen meetings go ahead in Poland in far worse conditions and the riders simply got on with it. I've also read that Polish teams fine riders quite heavily for misdemeanours such as missing practice so presume the same would happen if riders threw hissy fits. I wonder if that's a coincidence or are the two things related in any way Edited July 21, 2016 by Star Lady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 No idea where you stand / sit but there were a lot of fans shouting call it off after heat 1. It was terrible yet we had to suffer 2 hours of nothing and Buster is accountable for that. No, the referee is, he was in control ...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouch Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 I'm glad that refs are back in control. There was a blip earlier in the year when the staging promotion was totally to blame and the SCB washed their hands of any involvement. I wish they wouldn't muck about with the rules as to who does what as it makes it look like victimisation against particular individuals. Anyway back to normal now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Fever Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) Wasnt the referee Mick Bates Yes - that explains it as he didnt give a damn about rider safety in his riding days Edited July 21, 2016 by Star Fever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Smith Posted July 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) No, the referee is, he was in control ...... Not sure that's quite true though Here's the referee's duties This basically confirms that all parties have to be in agreement for a postponement. A lot of the responsibility of the nonsense last night was our own promotions doing Edited July 21, 2016 by Danny Smith 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gresham78 Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Regardless of whose job it is to call off a meeting what we got last night was a shambles and yet again the reputation of the sport suffers. As a Swindon fan i was expecting to hear the announcement at 7.30 that due to the heavy rain shower the meeting was postponed and i would have accepted that as the amount of water that came down was quite considerable. The worst thing for me was the lack of communication with the crowd - we were just left standing there wondering whether we were going to get a meeting or not. Whatever line of business you're in you should be putting the interests of your paying customers first and I don't think that happened last night. Whether it was Buster's fault the refs fault or whoever's fault it's the sports governing administration that needs to get its house in order to make sure this type of thing isn't repeated. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytsejam Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Regardless of whose job it is to call off a meeting what we got last night was a shambles and yet again the reputation of the sport suffers. As a Swindon fan i was expecting to hear the announcement at 7.30 that due to the heavy rain shower the meeting was postponed and i would have accepted that as the amount of water that came down was quite considerable. The worst thing for me was the lack of communication with the crowd - we were just left standing there wondering whether we were going to get a meeting or not. Whatever line of business you're in you should be putting the interests of your paying customers first and I don't think that happened last night. Whether it was Buster's fault the refs fault or whoever's fault it's the sports governing administration that needs to get its house in order to make sure this type of thing isn't repeated. Agree totally. There is NO excuse whatsoever for not keeping the paying public informed about what is happening. Its disrespectful, unprofessional and ignorant and ultimately this responsibility comes down to the promoter of the event, not the referee. Now, Chapman certainly cannot be blamed for the weather or for the meeting ultimately being cancelled BUT he can be blamed 100% for the lack of information and thats a disgrace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semion Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) It's Busters gig. He takes the rough with smooth. He was the one in the press, Radio website etc apologising to the fans not Mick Bates or any of the riders. He is the one putting on the show not the ref. if it hisses it down all day who is it that calls the meeting off. The home Promoter. It's his business. Next you guys will be saying it's the ref who calls off a Grand Prix when the weather is 541te Edited July 21, 2016 by semion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trees Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Not sure that's quite true though Here's the referee's duties This basically confirms that all parties have to be in agreement for a postponement. A lot of the responsibility of the nonsense last night was our own promotions doing I'm not so sure, don't suppose we will ever know exactly what went on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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