I don't believe it

[uk_martin]

Yes, it's Victor Meldrew time again.

Well can you believe it?  First we have the Stoke debacle against Belle Vue last Saturday (Furbar's match report on page 3 of the appropriate thread explains all) that doesn't even warrant an investigation...

...and yet James Cockle gets an instant 28 day ban for the crime of bringing the sport into disrepute for speaking his mind on social media.

Now, I'm not going to defend Cockle, nor do I even know what he said. Maybe the punishment is fair. But the point is, how come Stoke don't get a 28 day ban for the same crime?

Then, can you then believe the stupidity of the SCB / BSPA when they show their determination to score a hat-trick of absurdities? GB has one sole representive in the SGP series. Training for the Warsaw SGP begins on Friday 11th, so what do the SCB / BSPA do? Instead of working around the fixture by entering Cook into the Leicester Semi-Final on the 15th, they enter him into the British Semi-final at Sheffield on Thursday 10th, ensuring that Cook misses his flights to Poland and will only get to take part in SGP training if he gets an O'Christ Hundred Hours flight from East Midlands or London, that will get him to the stadium with an hour or two to spare, IF all goes well, and all that on zero quality sleep. What a way to treat your prized asset.

Now I'm no fan of Cook but this is just plain stupidity on the part of the SCB / BSPA and shows sheer spite for anyone who dares to better their lives outside of the hallowed realm of British Speedway.

 

The SCB / BSPA are shooting the sport in the foot with a machine gun. And who knows, there's plenty of time yet. Craig Cook may have his dilema resolved with a 28 day ban for blarting out on social media as well.

Edited May 8, 2018 by uk_martin

[racers and royals]

27 minutes ago, uk_martin said:

Yes, it's Victor Meldrew time again.

Well can you believe it?  First we have the Stoke debacle against Belle Vue last Saturday (Furbar's match report on page 3 of the appropriate thread explains all) that doesn't even warrant an investigation...

...and yet James Cockle gets an instant 28 day ban for the crime of bringing the sport into disrepute for speaking his mind on social media.

Now, I'm not going to defend Cockle, nor do I even know what he said. Maybe the punishment is fair. But the point is, how come Stoke don't get a 28 day ban for the same crime?

Then, can you then believe the stupidity of the SCB / BSPA when they show their determination to score a hat-trick of absurdities? GB has one sole representive in the SGP series. Training for the Warsaw SGP begins on Friday 11th, so what do the SCB / BSPA do? Instead of working around the fixture by entering Cook into the Leicester Semi-Final on the 15th, they enter him into the British Semi-final at Sheffield on Thursday 10th, ensuring that Cook misses his flights to Poland and misses his training. 

Now I'm no fan of Cook but this is just plain stupidity on the part of the SCB / BSPA and shows sheer spite for anyone who dares to better their lives outside of the hallowed realm of British Speedway.

 

The SCB / BSPA are shooting the sport in the foot with a machine gun. And who knows, there's plenty of time yet. Craig Cook may have his dilema resolved with a 28 day ban for blarting out on social media as well.

Reference Cook- lets cut the cr*p. There is a Wizz air flight from Doncaster/Sheffield for £110  at 8.05 am which gets to Warsaw at 11.30am- practice is at 3pm. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!

[uk_martin]

1 minute ago, racers and royals said:

Reference Cook- lets cut the cr*p. There is a Wizz air flight from Doncaster/Sheffield for £110  at 8.05 am which gets to Warsaw at 11.30am- practice is at 3pm. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!

The Flight from Doncaster to Wroclaw is at 22.15
https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/flights/donc/wro/180511?adults=1&children=0&adultsv2=1&childrenv2=&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&rtn=0&preferdirects=true&outboundaltsenabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false&qp_prevProvider=ins_browse&qp_prevCurrency=GBP&priceSourceId=b3ms-NL1-2&qp_prevPrice=84#results

[racers and royals]

4 minutes ago, uk_martin said:

The Flight from Doncaster to Wroclaw is at 22.15
https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/flights/donc/wro/180511?adults=1&children=0&adultsv2=1&childrenv2=&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&rtn=0&preferdirects=true&outboundaltsenabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false&qp_prevProvider=ins_browse&qp_prevCurrency=GBP&priceSourceId=b3ms-NL1-2&qp_prevPrice=84#results

Why go to Wroclaw when he needs to be in Warsaw !!!!!

[Grand Central]

3 minutes ago, uk_martin said:

The Flight from Doncaster to Wroclaw is at 22.15
https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/flights/donc/wro/180511?adults=1&children=0&adultsv2=1&childrenv2=&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&rtn=0&preferdirects=true&outboundaltsenabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false&qp_prevProvider=ins_browse&qp_prevCurrency=GBP&priceSourceId=b3ms-NL1-2&qp_prevPrice=84#results

You do know that the GP is in Warsaw, not Wroclaw, don't you?

The 8.05 plane is going to the right place.
Which would help, enormously.

[uk_martin]

5 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

Why go to Wroclaw when he needs to be in Warsaw !!!!!

Very true.

Humble apologies, for my bad.

Comes from having just been talking to someone about meeting them there for the SON. Got the wrong town in my head.

Maybe not such a problem after all. I just hope that Cook gets compensated for his extra out of pocket costs that he's going incur. And it's still a spiteful way for him to be treated.

 

Edited May 8, 2018 by uk_martin

[racers and royals]

12 minutes ago, uk_martin said:

Very true.

Humble apologies, for my bad.

Comes from having just been talking to someone about meeting them there for the SON. Got the wrong town in my head.

Maybe not such a problem after all. I just hope that Cook gets compensated for his extra out of pocket costs that he's going incur. And it's still a spiteful way for him to be treated.

 

So no riders have ever ridden Thursday nights in the UK before the Friday GP practice ?? Maybe we should try and organise a collection to see if we can raise £110 for his flight.

[Grachan]

9 hours ago, racers and royals said:

Reference Cook- lets cut the cr*p. There is a Wizz air flight from Doncaster/Sheffield for £110  at 8.05 am which gets to Warsaw at 11.30am- practice is at 3pm. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!

What if it gets delayed by 7 hours? ☺

Seriously, though, surely riders do consecutive nights in different countries all the time. It's part of the job at that level.

Leigh Adams used to regularly do Thursday at Swindon before jetting off to GP practice.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Grachan

[bigcatdiary]

I can see both sides of this one but surely common sense would say it would have been easier to put Cook in the other semi bearing in mind this is the first GP of the season and it’s obviously a big deal for Craig.

Somewhat ironic that GB are trying to get Woffinden back for the Speedway Nations and now appear to be trying to upset his obvious choice of partner.

The words piss up and brewery spring to mind.

 

[Midland Red]

What did Cockle say?

[Grand Central]

There should be an easy way for CC to make the Friday practice on an early flight  but it would have been so easy for the British authorities to have smoothed his passage on his first appearance as a fully fledged SGP rider. Most other nations would probably have given him that extra assistance.

Rather than all the flim-flam of airy-fairy promises from the new GB set up .... I would have thought to be a much more effective role for them to play in helping the riders.

I imagine getting to the GP a little earlier to settle would be far more useful for a nervy character like Cook than an army of back room staff at a centre of excellence fannying around in matching polo shirts.

But that is not their remit.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Grand Central

[Tigerblade]

Obviously it would have made much more sense to put him in the other semi final, but has he really only just found out yesterday that he is in the Sheffield semi final?  He has been advertised as being in it on Sheffield's website since last Thursday. 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Tigerblade

[IainB]

13 hours ago, uk_martin said:

GB has one sole representive in the SGP series.

Woffy! Woffy! Woffy!

[Aces51]

5 minutes ago, Tigerblade said:

Obviously it would have made much more sense to put him in the other semi final, but has he really only just found out yesterday that he is in the Sheffield semi final?  He has been advertised as being in it on Sheffield's website since last Thursday. 

Perhaps he was hoping that the BSPA would see sense and put him in the Leicester meeting.

It's ok pointing out that it is possible for him to fly out on Friday but we should remember that Craig has been brave enough to talk openly about his anxiety problems.  This is a new experience for Craig and maybe when he gets into the routine of traveling to GP's he will be less concerned but he had understandably decided that it would put less pressure on him, for this first GP,  to travel on Thursday, with no worries about flight delays and then stay in a hotel and be fully rested before the practice on Friday. Those who have to fly to appointments or to catch connecting flights abroad will know that it always adds stress when you have little leeway for delays and can mean that you don't get a good night's sleep the night before. This is a very important career step for Craig and the least the BSPA could do is to help remove any obstacles in his path. Riders have often been switched between semi finals in similar meetings so it's not asking much for the BSPA to help a British rider have the best opportunity to prepare for a vitally important meeting. They will be quick enough to publicise his success if he does well.

[Daniel Smith]

31 minutes ago, Aces51 said:

Perhaps he was hoping that the BSPA would see sense and put him in the Leicester meeting.

It's ok pointing out that it is possible for him to fly out on Friday but we should remember that Craig has been brave enough to talk openly about his anxiety problems.  This is a new experience for Craig and maybe when he gets into the routine of traveling to GP's he will be less concerned but he had understandably decided that it would put less pressure on him, for this first GP,  to travel on Thursday, with no worries about flight delays and then stay in a hotel and be fully rested before the practice on Friday. Those who have to fly to appointments or to catch connecting flights abroad will know that it always adds stress when you have little leeway for delays and can mean that you don't get a good night's sleep the night before. This is a very important career step for Craig and the least the BSPA could do is to help remove any obstacles in his path. Riders have often been switched between semi finals in similar meetings so it's not asking much for the BSPA to help a British rider have the best opportunity to prepare for a vitally important meeting. They will be quick enough to publicise his success if he does well.

We've had discussions about Robert Lambert and last minute flights for them to only get cancelled and miss the Leicester meeting. 

People are now encouraging Cook to make the same mistake it's absurd. 

Yes, people have done it in the past bit they were seasoned GP rider's.

This is the first GP of the series and Craig's first (and probably only) time at being a GP rider.

Being the first meeting Craig will need the extra time (as all the GP guys will) to make sure all their ducks are in a row.

It's irrelevant that last minute flights are available, or my mates got a helicopter, or my dad's got the fastest taxi in the world argument.

The point is this is probably Craig's only crack at the GP's, if you can't see the fault of the SCB/BSPA in seeding him into British Semi on the Thursday then you're clearly as stupid as the SCB/BSPA

[SteveLyric2]

I wonder what would have happened if the BSPA had stuck to their Premiership Mondays/Thursdays fixed race nights - having initially agreed those 2 days with the FIM?!

[PHILIPRISING]

WHY not seed the defending champion o the final?

[bigcatdiary]

15 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

WHY not seed the defending champion o the final?

To be honest that does seem to be the obvious answer.

[Grand Central]

45 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

WHY not seed the defending champion o the final?

I imagine Sheffield would like a few hundred (?) extra  Aces supporters cheering CC on to pay at the gate on Thursday?

It still is what pays the bills.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Grand Central

[Star Lady]

40 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

WHY not seed the defending champion o the final?

It will never happen It makes too much sense,