*** NKI Testimonial. Sunday 16th March 3pm ***

[Bagpuss]

Great to see so many people turn out for Puk on a chilly afternoon.

Plenty of rusty men and machines on display as is the norm for early season meetings but the three GP lads were head and shoulders above the rest and no surprise heat 16 was probably the race of the day. A shame that the drizzle spoilt the top scorers race.

Hope the youth riders who flipped at the startline are all ok. And awesome to see @Trees back at the Adrian Flux Arena.

 

[bigcatdiary]

Good weather, Really good gate, queues all the way out of the stadium when we arrived and we had to park in the overflow car park (a field).

Getting in was ok and we arrived in the stadium with about 30 mins to go, just in time to get one of the last programmes (800) we were told.

30 min delay to enable the crowd outside to get in, first 4 races, then 10-15 min track grade

Next 4 races, then 10-15 min track grade and then junior races

heat 9 then 10 min break for track watering

heat 10 during which all the riders couldn’t race because the track had been over watered then 10 min track grade to repair track because the watering had left it in a very poor condition

heats 11 & 12 then a short track grade

Next 4 races, heat 16 was notable as with Lambert, Doyle and Lindgren all unbeaten this was the first real race of the night with numerous passing by all 3, Klindt was well off the pace

Dreadful meeting with the large crowd amusing themselves with much food and drinks, I can offer no reason for the many many breaks or track grades other than it allowed the very large crowd to spend more money on food and more drinks, luckily the stadium didn’t appear to run short of everything.

Unfortunately we didn’t stay for the top scorers race as we were nearly falling asleep for the tedious processional follow the leader racing (other than heat 16)

Good luck to Niels, well deserved

Good luck to everyone who stayed to the end, they deserve a medal, I seriously doubt Buster will get a bigger crowd again this season, 

 

[SaddlebowRoad]

once the racing began the 21 heats were completed in a touch over two hours which i think is about right

personally i use the breaks between races to socialise with people i havent seen all winter rather than worry about what tractors are or arent doing but each to their own 

[1 valve]

Got to and in the stadium first thing. 
4hours 10 minutes later meeting ended. Which of course is far too long. 
Until promoters  learn what is “for the best” there is little chance of speedway attracting & keeping new customers. 
 

[tellboy]

9 hours ago, 1 valve said:

Got to and in the stadium first thing. 
4hours 10 minutes later meeting ended. Which of course is far too long. 
Until promoters  learn what is “for the best” there is little chance of speedway attracting & keeping new customers. 
 

Why get there so early then?

[Dodger Blue]

52 minutes ago, tellboy said:

Why get there so early then?

To guarantee a parking space and a programme I guess !😮

[bigcatdiary]

1 minute ago, Dodger Blue said:

To guarantee a parking space and a programme I guess !😮

Did you get a programme

[Dodger Blue]

Just now, bigcatdiary said:

Did you get a programme

Obviously!!  We got there early !! 😂😂

[SaddlebowRoad]

1 hour ago, tellboy said:

Why get there so early then?

was gonna say the same

if being there a long time is an issue then why arrive at a meeting with 21 races 90 mins before the advertised start time 

they perhaps could have offered online tickets in advance to ease the queues but there were probably around 3k people there and that ought to be  celebrated rather than moaned about imo 

[Aries]

23 minutes ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

was gonna say the same

if being there a long time is an issue then why arrive at a meeting with 21 races 90 mins before the advertised start time 

they perhaps could have offered online tickets in advance to ease the queues but there were probably around 3k people there and that ought to be  celebrated rather than moaned about imo 

Do Lynn offer online ticketing for normal meetings?

[FromBendThree]

1 hour ago, Aries said:

Do Lynn offer online ticketing for normal meetings?

Don’t think so. Bought my ticket at 1pm before gates opened. Then sat in my car, listened to radio, keeping warm, ate my lunch and then waltzed into stadium with no delays. As has been said, they did 21 heats in a little over 2 hrs once racing started. Races flowed quickly in blocks of four. No complaints from me about delayed start, it’s a testimonial after all. As has been said by another,I welcome a bit of tractors so I could catch up with people I only se e at speedway. Great day for Puk. So pleased for him. Also good to see a 4TT again.

[SaddlebowRoad]

2 hours ago, Aries said:

Do Lynn offer online ticketing for normal meetings?

pretty sure they did in 2021 post covid but then dropped it

presumably not enough folk used it to make it worthwhile 

[Aries]

10 minutes ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

pretty sure they did in 2021 post covid but then dropped it

presumably not enough folk used it to make it worthwhile 

That surprises me in this day and age. The cash turnstiles at Foxhall are getting quieter year by year and the online ticket and card payment gate are getting busier. Of course there are still “cash is King” people out there especially in the older generation, but there’s an increasing number of people around who really can’t be bothered going to a cashpoint, and then having a pocket full of change these days. Really need to have both options IMO. Or maybe I’ve misunderstood and although they don’t do online ticket sales, there’s a card payment option at the gate on the day?

Edited Monday at 10:21 AM by Aries

[SaddlebowRoad]

yep you can pay by card/contactess at lynn 

[Aries]

6 minutes ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

yep you can pay by card/contactess at lynn 

👍🏻

[Bald Bloke]

15 hours ago, 1 valve said:

Got to and in the stadium first thing. 
4hours 10 minutes later meeting ended. Which of course is far too long. 
Until promoters  learn what is “for the best” there is little chance of speedway attracting & keeping new customers. 
 

I went to the doctors last week at 2pm. My appointment was 4pm. Bloody Doctor.. I didn't get out until 4.15.. Terrible service.

Edited Monday at 12:04 PM by Bald Bloke

[1 valve]

29 minutes ago, Bald Bloke said:

I went to the doctors last week at 2pm. My appointment was 4pm. Bloody Doctor.. I didn't get out until 4.15.. Terrible service.

Blimey, that was one hell of a queue you were anticipating.
But at least you were seen close to the appointed start time 😉

[bruno]

41 minutes ago, Bald Bloke said:

I went to the doctors last week at 2pm. My appointment was 4pm. Bloody Doctor.. I didn't get out until 4.15.. Terrible service.

How did you get an appointment I'm impressed lol

[1 valve]

6 hours ago, tellboy said:

Why get there so early then?

Ok, so my journey time was quicker than expected,
Yes, I got a program,
Yes, I got to stand where I wanted too
Yes I appreciate it was a good day for NKI.
No, I did not appreciate the 30 minute delay to the start of the meeting due folk turning up late 
No I did not appreciate the lack of admission facilities which caused the long queues. 

The point promoters should recognise and act on, is that customers (sporting event or supermarket) do not like unreasonable length of queues to get in or pay for the prodct...Example, last week, went to premier league football match circa 50,000 attendance. Arrived at stadium gate 30 minutes prior to kick off, qued for less than five minutes to gain admission using pre purchased ticket, had a beer, a pie, took my seat 5 minutes before kick off...and guess what, the match started on time!. 

Surely, speedway can have some willingness to provide a quality product, start to finish instead of relying on the willingness of supporters to accept a poor offering. Which judging by the fall off in spectators over the past decade is the outcome of poor promotion is fast coming home to roost. 
 

[SaddlebowRoad]

26 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

No I did not appreciate the lack of admission facilities which caused the long queues. 

could you elaborate at all

all four payment hatches were open at the box office

other than offer advance ticket sales i dont see what more could be done

its the same argument as getting away from the stadium afterwards down one road, the sheer number of people means it will take longer

there were probably twice as many people there yesterday as for a stars meeting