Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting

[Boothers]

Friday night/Saturday morning.

 

If the riders don't want to ride,  there's not much you can do.

[Yearbyred]

Well we had a really heavy shower at the Riverside yesterday afternoon and that’s not too far from the track.

Lots of rain over the last week so it’s just one of those things unfortunately.

[geoff100]

Sunshine all the way across the a66 strange decision !

[Yearbyred]

Well no complaints from Stuart Robson.

[IainB]

I hope nobody travelled too far for it!

[arnieg]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

I hope nobody travelled too far for it!

Berkshire to Redcar (via Manchester) for me.

660 miles, 11 hours drive round trip!

[IainB]

18 minutes ago, arnieg said:

Berkshire to Redcar (via Manchester) for me.

660 miles, 11 hours drive round trip!

You have to wonder why it wasn't canceled way before the fans were queuing up at the turnstiles, if there was no rain since yesterday afternoon!

[szkocjasid]

4 hours ago, Boothers said:

Friday night/Saturday morning.

 

If the riders don't want to ride,  there's not much you can do.

They could call it off sooner!

[szkocjasid]

2 hours ago, iainb said:

I hope nobody travelled too far for it!

From the Scottish Borders, 130 mile trip there!

I wasn't happy, as the weather was lovely today

[soupy]

Read Stuart Robson farewell meeting on Facebook and posted 50 minutes ago and is interesting.Not tech savvy to cut and paste etc.

[Yearbyred]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid029dQjg6Eu3EHjyNiyG5YD76wJwK4seckgRtMsphBSHEaG6FeAXUCSkMMbgHZXR9j9l&id=100057675480278

[ScunnyDan]

Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting  · 

So where do I begin!! First of all a massive thanks to everyone at Redcar Speedway for their massive team effort over the last 7 days. The track had taken a fair bit of water over the recent period, but the weather forecast had turned in our favour, and after days of work by the incredible track staff led by Jonny Swales, yesterday afternoon the track was able to be tyre packed. Then last evening there was a sharp storm and this ultimately is the period of wet weather that has beaten us today.

Upon arrival this morning, Jonny and team had already been working on the circuit to try and get some air into it, and after a couple of hours things were promising. The forecasted weather was with us, and there was a very good view on being able to get the track into a position for us to go ahead. Then the blade was used to get rid of the top wet stuff, and again things looked promising. At that stage again we were planning ahead.

However once the 2nd blading had happened, it became apparent that the top stuff was hiding a problem underneath…..when blading a circuit you either find it is firm and then fine, or you find a soft spongy track, and that unfortunately becomes dangerous and the decision was made.

Before the decision was made we had made a conscious decision to not take money from the public at the turnstile, and to delay opening them for half an hour whilst a final remedy was sought. We did allow sponsor packages in as they had already paid their packages. This we felt was the right decision so that no one else parted with their cash.

Once the decision to cancel had been made, we opened the turnstiles to let everyone in, so they could have a drink, food, if they wanted to even buy a programme, but none of this was forced on anyone.

I have already read some comments online about should have called it off earlier to stop people travelling etc, and those comments are absolutely fine……however we had the Sun, wind and everything we could have hoped for, and indeed time on our side…..but unfortunately the track never quite came back to the scene of yesterday.

To prove how much it hurts, today has cost Stuart and the Farewell sponsor pot somewhere in the region of £3,500-£4,000 when you add up the cost of programmes, travel money for riders, St John’s ambulance, fuel, staffing costs etc, and with it being a Farewell meeting and the chance for a rider to make a little bit towards their future, all of the decisions made today were not taken lightly at all. We wanted the meeting on……but it just wasn’t possible.

What next? Well after being defeated 4 times, most people would say jack it in…..but Robbo was never someone who gave up on track, and we owe it to ourselves and the fabulous sponsors who have stuck with us throughout to give it one more crack. We also owe it to Redcar and all of their staff who have been so welcoming and supportive too.

Rules state that you can only run these meetings at certain times of the year, but we will be asking the powers that be if we can secure another date in the summer to be able to try and get this done.

I will release some more info over the next couple of days about sponsorships/live streams etc, we are now already approx £5,000 down when you include the programmes printed for last Aprils event, and either need a very rich Arab sheikh to suddenly like speedway, or will have to continue to see if we can get more sponsorships for bits and pieces.

Finally to those of you who have shown your displeasure at the decision to cancel so late, I do apologise if this has put you out of pocket today, it was never intentional, but hope the details above will answer some of your questions.

The hard work starts again tomorrow…….

Martin Coleman

[soupy]

30 minutes ago, Yearbyred said:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid029dQjg6Eu3EHjyNiyG5YD76wJwK4seckgRtMsphBSHEaG6FeAXUCSkMMbgHZXR9j9l&id=100057675480278

Thank You for posting the link.

[Gordon Pairman]

The negativity on this - from those that weren’t there - is truly disappointing. I flew into Manchester yesterday morning, collected a hire car and drove to the track. Like many, I was pleased that the weather was set fair but, as Martin Coleman has said,  yesterday’s weather wasn’t the problem. 
As soon as I set foot on the track, and sank into it ankle deep, it was clear that, despite all the work done, it wasn’t fit for racing.

No one calls off a meeting without good reason and the decision made, difficult though it was, was the correct one. 
Here’s hoping that BSPL allow this to be run during the season, especially as there seem to be loads of gaps in the fixture list which would allow that. 

[topaz325]

1 minute ago, Gordon Pairman said:

The negativity on this - from those that weren’t there - is truly disappointing. I flew into Manchester yesterday morning, collected a hire car and drove to the track. Like many, I was pleased that the weather was set fair but, as Martin Coleman has said,  yesterday’s weather wasn’t the problem. 
As soon as I set foot on the track, and sank into it ankle deep, it was clear that, despite all the work done, it wasn’t fit for racing.

No one calls off a meeting without good reason and the decision made, difficult though it was, was the correct one. 
Here’s hoping that BSPL allow this to be run during the season, especially as there seem to be loads of gaps in the fixture list which would allow that. 

Not so much negativity Gordon just disappointment from travelling fans who arrived in dry weather to find it off, all round bad news especially for Robbo .

Yes many did not know the full story until a few hours later about the state of the track , hopefully Robbo can get another date arranged to get this meeting on .

Stuart Robson’s last official meeting was at Workington in October 2018. 

[IronScorpion]

19 hours ago, Yearbyred said:

Well we had a really heavy shower at the Riverside yesterday afternoon and that’s not too far from the track.

Lots of rain over the last week so it’s just one of those things unfortunately.

 

18 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Sunshine all the way across the a66 strange decision !

 

18 hours ago, Yearbyred said:

Well no complaints from Stuart Robson.

 

18 hours ago, iainb said:

I hope nobody travelled too far for it!

 

16 hours ago, iainb said:

You have to wonder why it wasn't canceled way before the fans were queuing up at the turnstiles, if there was no rain since yesterday afternoon!

 

15 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

They could call it off sooner!

 

34 minutes ago, Gordon Pairman said:

The negativity on this - from those that weren’t there - is truly disappointing. I flew into Manchester yesterday morning, collected a hire car and drove to the track. Like many, I was pleased that the weather was set fair but, as Martin Coleman has said,  yesterday’s weather wasn’t the problem. 
As soon as I set foot on the track, and sank into it ankle deep, it was clear that, despite all the work done, it wasn’t fit for racing.

No one calls off a meeting without good reason and the decision made, difficult though it was, was the correct one. 
Here’s hoping that BSPL allow this to be run during the season, especially as there seem to be loads of gaps in the fixture list which would allow that. 

 

28 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

Not so much negativity Gordon just disappointment from travelling fans who arrived in dry weather to find it off, all round bad news especially for Robbo .

Yes many did not know the full story until a few hours later about the state of the track , hopefully Robbo can get another date arranged to get this meeting on .

Stuart Robson’s last official meeting was at Workington in October 2018. 

We are talking about a meeting taking place in MARCH & not June/July/August. The weather had not been kind Friday & Saturday & Redcar have only had practice meetings during the winter.

Sods law it is difficult to prepare meetings in March & also October!!

[szkocjasid]

15 hours ago, ScunnyDan said:

Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting  · 

So where do I begin!! First of all a massive thanks to everyone at Redcar Speedway for their massive team effort over the last 7 days. The track had taken a fair bit of water over the recent period, but the weather forecast had turned in our favour, and after days of work by the incredible track staff led by Jonny Swales, yesterday afternoon the track was able to be tyre packed. Then last evening there was a sharp storm and this ultimately is the period of wet weather that has beaten us today.

Upon arrival this morning, Jonny and team had already been working on the circuit to try and get some air into it, and after a couple of hours things were promising. The forecasted weather was with us, and there was a very good view on being able to get the track into a position for us to go ahead. Then the blade was used to get rid of the top wet stuff, and again things looked promising. At that stage again we were planning ahead.

However once the 2nd blading had happened, it became apparent that the top stuff was hiding a problem underneath…..when blading a circuit you either find it is firm and then fine, or you find a soft spongy track, and that unfortunately becomes dangerous and the decision was made.

Before the decision was made we had made a conscious decision to not take money from the public at the turnstile, and to delay opening them for half an hour whilst a final remedy was sought. We did allow sponsor packages in as they had already paid their packages. This we felt was the right decision so that no one else parted with their cash.

Once the decision to cancel had been made, we opened the turnstiles to let everyone in, so they could have a drink, food, if they wanted to even buy a programme, but none of this was forced on anyone.

I have already read some comments online about should have called it off earlier to stop people travelling etc, and those comments are absolutely fine……however we had the Sun, wind and everything we could have hoped for, and indeed time on our side…..but unfortunately the track never quite came back to the scene of yesterday.

To prove how much it hurts, today has cost Stuart and the Farewell sponsor pot somewhere in the region of £3,500-£4,000 when you add up the cost of programmes, travel money for riders, St John’s ambulance, fuel, staffing costs etc, and with it being a Farewell meeting and the chance for a rider to make a little bit towards their future, all of the decisions made today were not taken lightly at all. We wanted the meeting on……but it just wasn’t possible.

What next? Well after being defeated 4 times, most people would say jack it in…..but Robbo was never someone who gave up on track, and we owe it to ourselves and the fabulous sponsors who have stuck with us throughout to give it one more crack. We also owe it to Redcar and all of their staff who have been so welcoming and supportive too.

Rules state that you can only run these meetings at certain times of the year, but we will be asking the powers that be if we can secure another date in the summer to be able to try and get this done.

I will release some more info over the next couple of days about sponsorships/live streams etc, we are now already approx £5,000 down when you include the programmes printed for last Aprils event, and either need a very rich Arab sheikh to suddenly like speedway, or will have to continue to see if we can get more sponsorships for bits and pieces.

Finally to those of you who have shown your displeasure at the decision to cancel so late, I do apologise if this has put you out of pocket today, it was never intentional, but hope the details above will answer some of your questions.

The hard work starts again tomorrow…….

Martin Coleman

Obviously I was very dissapointed yesterday, having travelled so far & arriving in lovely weather - who wouldn't be!

I can read about all the effort gone into running it & understand why they chose not to call it off earlier.

The downside of their efforts falling short of creating a safe track, apart from fans wasted journeys, is how many fans will stay at home in the future of the weather is iffy (or there's been a few wet days)?

[bruno]

2 hours ago, Gordon Pairman said:

The negativity on this - from those that weren’t there - is truly disappointing. I flew into Manchester yesterday morning, collected a hire car and drove to the track. Like many, I was pleased that the weather was set fair but, as Martin Coleman has said,  yesterday’s weather wasn’t the problem. 
As soon as I set foot on the track, and sank into it ankle deep, it was clear that, despite all the work done, it wasn’t fit for racing.

No one calls off a meeting without good reason and the decision made, difficult though it was, was the correct one. 
Here’s hoping that BSPL allow this to be run during the season, especially as there seem to be loads of gaps in the fixture list which would allow that. 

Hi Gordon if it was clear to you the track was unfit for racing surely it was unfit for racing say 5 hours earlier so should have been called off earlier. Seems a bit strange but maybe the track staff thought it would dry out and be ok but seemed unlikely yesterday 

[Gordon Pairman]

4 hours ago, bruno said:

Hi Gordon if it was clear to you the track was unfit for racing surely it was unfit for racing say 5 hours earlier so should have been called off earlier. Seems a bit strange but maybe the track staff thought it would dry out and be ok but seemed unlikely yesterday 

I think you need to read what Martin Coleman wrote on Facebook and watch Robbo’s interview. The decision to cancel the meeting was made around 1pm after the track staff had been working all morning. They thought it could be saved otherwise they wouldn’t have been working so hard.
Calling off a meeting is never easy. Calling one off when the sun is shining and there’s no threat of rain is ten times worse. 

[bruno]

1 hour ago, Gordon Pairman said:

I think you need to read what Martin Coleman wrote on Facebook and watch Robbo’s interview. The decision to cancel the meeting was made around 1pm after the track staff had been working all morning. They thought it could be saved otherwise they wouldn’t have been working so hard.
Calling off a meeting is never easy. Calling one off when the sun is shining and there’s no threat of rain is ten times worse. 

Ok thanks for replying il have a search, never an easy decision. Always easier if your not the one making the decision