Fromafar Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Yesterday's match at Ashfield highlights to me why the jury is still out on the use of track covers.It is commendable to try and get a match on by the use of covers but is the effort laying and removing them really worth if the forecast at the time the meeting is due to start is not 100% dry and staying dry..The riders simply won't ride nowadays if it rains during a meeting as was highlighted yesterday. The track yesterday had a fair amount of shale on it and the track grade after what I would call as all small amount of rain was nessessary but the meeting should have been completed.The 2 races after Ht 11 were OK in my opinion the riders coped well yet the ref called it off when in fact the rain had ceased.It was obvious the Edinburgh were trying to get it called off for reasons of damaged limitation and it was a poor show from them IMO .Track Covers are not the answer IMO .Detuned bikes and shale on the track is what is needed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damosuzuki Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Edinburgh wanted it called off after heat 10 but had it been sunny Theyd have blamed the dust. We've ran I'm worse conditions. If they calculated a final score on the number of heats run they wouldn't have been as keen maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
To The Point Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Surely by now, wet weather tyres are the answer, as in the rest of motor cycle sport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldyman Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Surely they would throw more wet shale up at the person behinds goggles? And not being able to see it the normally the reason riders want it called off more than track conditions. Vision is the problem not tyres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Lucan Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Yesterday's match at Ashfield highlights to me why the jury is still out on the use of track covers.It is commendable to try and get a match on by the use of covers but is the effort laying and removing them really worth if the forecast at the time the meeting is due to start is not 100% dry and staying dry..The riders simply won't ride nowadays if it rains during a meeting as was highlighted yesterday. The track yesterday had a fair amount of shale on it and the track grade after what I would call as all small amount of rain was nessessary but the meeting should have been completed.The 2 races after Ht 11 were OK in my opinion the riders coped well yet the ref called it off when in fact the rain had ceased.It was obvious the Edinburgh were trying to get it called off for reasons of damaged limitation and it was a poor show from them IMO .Track Covers are not the answer IMO .Detuned bikes and shale on the track is what is needed. Youv'e pretty much answered your own question? As the Air Fences pretty near bankrupted most clubs I would find it highly likely that the costs for covers would be the final straw for many of them? Unless they were like the ones at Wimbledon, run em on run em off they would be ineffective at speedway, as you have already suggested, it was dry yesterday then rained during the meeting after which riders threw the towel in and didn't want to race anyway!! Also, what happens if you pull the covers on when it starts raining part way thru but then doesn't stop, your meeting still doesn't get finished, curfew will come into it on many tracks as well so, there will always be something to trip you up!! Think this is just one of those things we'll have to live with, they did meet the criteria of completing the statutory 10hts, bad performance or not the current rules have been met and, to be fair, Glasgow really should put this to bed with 24pts advantage, the trouble will really kick off if they "dont" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldyman Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Maybe a more fully enclosed rear mudguard would help with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted August 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Surely they would throw more wet shale up at the person behinds goggles? And not being able to see it the normally the reason riders want it called off more than track conditions. Vision is the problem not tyres.Any excuse nowadays will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
To The Point Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Surely they would throw more wet shale up at the person behinds goggles? And not being able to see it the normally the reason riders want it called off more than track conditions. Vision is the problem not tyres. That's what 'Tear Offs' are for A fully enclosed rear mod guard is part of the answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted August 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Youv'e pretty much answered your own question? As the Air Fences pretty near bankrupted most clubs I would find it highly likely that the costs for covers would be the final straw for many of them? Unless they were like the ones at Wimbledon, run em on run em off they would be ineffective at speedway, as you have already suggested, it was dry yesterday then rained during the meeting after which riders threw the towel in and didn't want to race anyway!! Also, what happens if you pull the covers on when it starts raining part way thru but then doesn't stop, your meeting still doesn't get finished, curfew will come into it on many tracks as well so, there will always be something to trip you up!! Think this is just one of those things we'll have to live with, they did meet the criteria of completing the statutory 10hts, bad performance or not the current rules have been met and, to be fair, Glasgow really should put this to bed with 24pts advantage, the trouble will really kick off if they "dont" ? I think a lot of fans just give it a miss nowadays if it's a dodgy weather forecast because you just don't know you are going to see .10-15 heats,standing about while riders make up their mind usually deciding NO.its just not worth the money and hassle. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Lucan Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 I think a lot of fans just give it a miss nowadays if it's a dodgy weather forecast because you just don't know you are going to see .10-15 heats,standing about while riders make up their mind usually deciding NO.its just not worth the money and hassle. Quite, been thru that scenario a few times, it really is easy to just give it up!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldyman Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 That's what 'Tear Offs' are for A fully enclosed rear mod guard is part of the answer. Trust me, the rain and dirt still gets behind the tear off or roll system. And it's a bit of a blur to say the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penchev Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Yesterday's match at Ashfield highlights to me why the jury is still out on the use of track covers.It is commendable to try and get a match on by the use of covers but is the effort laying and removing them really worth if the forecast at the time the meeting is due to start is not 100% dry and staying dry..The riders simply won't ride nowadays if it rains during a meeting as was highlighted yesterday. The track yesterday had a fair amount of shale on it and the track grade after what I would call as all small amount of rain was nessessary but the meeting should have been completed.The 2 races after Ht 11 were OK in my opinion the riders coped well yet the ref called it off when in fact the rain had ceased.It was obvious the Edinburgh were trying to get it called off for reasons of damaged limitation and it was a poor show from them IMO .Track Covers are not the answer IMO .Detuned bikes and shale on the track is what is needed. Regards your comment about Track covers are not the answer, i disagree, Berwick twice this season have saved meetings due to having track covers, but i also firmly believe that some clubs are too lazy to deploy them and would rather call a meeting off a day before the meeting! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookieIpswich Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Not sure what any track covers look like but any that are issued in speedway need to attach themselves to the top of the fence and be angled downwards with any water to fall to run off onto the centre green - I just have this images of loads of covers laid flat on the track. Again if the "Sport" was marketed correctly and run properly in the first place then clubs could easily afford these or be supplied by the series organiser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screm Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 As Berwick have shown track covers during the day of a meeting save meetings, but the rain must stop before the meeting starts. Obviously if it starts to rain during a meeting then its difficult to see what can be done on those occasions, what frustrates me at times is when there is only two or three races to go in meetings the debate whether to keep going seems to take a longer time than to run the races. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damosuzuki Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 A torun style roof would be the perfect answer, and maybe in future there will be a cheap way to provide this using graphene or whatever. But at the moment track covers seem to be the only option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadders Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Track covers are great, but you need a small army of volunteers to take em up and put em back down. Berwick seem to have a few willing to put their time and effort into it, but I'm not sure how many other tracks would have enough people willing to do it. Then there's the problem of tracks like Lakeside, Scunthorpe, Ipswich and Mildenhall who share their tracks with stock cars. Who's responsible for removing and putting down the covers before and after their meetings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit59 Posted August 1, 2016 Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Regards your comment about Track covers are not the answer, i disagree, Berwick twice this season have saved meetings due to having track covers, but i also firmly believe that some clubs are too lazy to deploy them and would rather call a meeting off a day before the meeting! Agreed saved the meetings that would have been cancelled last season but was not the best meetings 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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