Should The "heat 10" Rule Be Scrapped?

[Grachan 7,314]

On the face of it it maybe seemed a good idea. Once a match gets to heat 10, the result can be called if the meeting is cancelled.

 

Unfortunately it seems this has caused no end of problems. Last night's match at Lakeside was a classic case. There was also controversy over Belle Vue v Poole last year, and Swindon have also had some matches where the significance of heat 10 has played it's part. And I'm sure there are plenty of other cases too.

 

The problem is, people are playing for it. If last night's track was too dangerous after heat 10, then it must have been too dangerous before that too. Which would mean that either riders lives were put at risk prior to heat 10 or the track was suitable to continue to the end.

 

A rain-off should be a rain-off at the exact point the track becomes unfit. Heat 10 should have nothing to do with it.

 

The only was to do this is for a result to only be called if it has already been mathematically won. And only a referee should be able to call a match off once it has started. Surely?

Edited September 2, 2014 by grachan

[Trees 2,814]

From a fan's point of view I'd rather it was heat 12 because we only get 2/3 of the meeting at 10 which feels a little bit of a rip off but of course from the promoter's pofv if they can get a result from a started meeting it suits their cash flow. So maybe it is a necessary evil.

[iainb 4,962]

yes

[pointsmeanplayoffs 417]

I think Trees has it nailed. It's heat 10 for a reason and that is it gives the cash strapped promoters the best chance of getting some cash in.

 

Ht 10 is OK with me, but over a 2 leg match, something like cricket's Duckworth-Lewis scoring method needs to be bought it to make it fair on the home team.

[Woz01 3,589]

In Sweden it heat 8 isn't it! I don't think the problem is which heat constitutes a result because the situation could happen which ever heat it is but the process of abandoning the meeting. Surely it should be the referee and his decision alone after hearing what both sides have to say. What annoyed me more than anything was the track was in far better shape after heat 10 than heat 7 so there was no reason for it not to continue, we actually seen some decent stuff in a couple of those heats!

[oldace 1,678]

I think Trees has it nailed. It's heat 10 for a reason and that is it gives the cash strapped promoters the best chance of getting some cash in.

 

Ht 10 is OK with me, but over a 2 leg match, something like cricket's Duckworth-Lewis scoring method needs to be bought it to make it fair on the home team.

 

Dont you get it?

 

Why are the promoters cash strapped? It could be because not enough people are attending the matches, the faithful are getting fed up and deserting the sport.

 

Now on on earth does continually trying to short change your custom help with a longer term cash flow problem. The answer is it doesn't, it merely compounds it

[Adder 94]

As I have posted before, no result should stand if there is still a chance of the result changing had the meeting continued..

[Fromafar 10,333]

Yes,

[Star Lady 5,400]

From a fan's point of view I'd rather it was heat 12 because we only get 2/3 of the meeting at 10 which feels a little bit of a rip off but of course from the promoter's pofv if they can get a result from a started meeting it suits their cash flow. So maybe it is a necessary evil.

 

 

I fail to see where it's a necessary evil. Speedway went for decades with no result until Heat 12. Teams had a reasonable chance to pull back a deficit and fans saw a reasonable percentage of a meeting. Where does fairness to fans come in? Oops silly me

 

 

Dont you get it?

 

Why are the promoters cash strapped? It could be because not enough people are attending the matches, the faithful are getting fed up and deserting the sport.

 

Now on on earth does continually trying to short change your custom help with a longer term cash flow problem. The answer is it doesn't, it merely compounds it

 

Precisely. It alienates the fans on the terraces, cos they feel short changed. Anyone watching on TV will think twice before getting out of their armchair and paying to watch 2/3 of a meeting, especially if any rain is forecast within 50 miles. Speedway is not cheap any more and value for money is very important to people nowadays.

[Paulco 7,072]

What happens in the KO Cup , ok i know it's just us in the PL that still has that . But what if a team loses the first leg away by 10 points , and is 8 points up by heat 10 in the 2nd leg when the track becomes dangerous . Is that just bad luck ?

[pointsmeanplayoffs 417]

 

Dont you get it?

 

Why are the promoters cash strapped? It could be because not enough people are attending the matches, the faithful are getting fed up and deserting the sport.

 

Now on on earth does continually trying to short change your custom help with a longer term cash flow problem. The answer is it doesn't, it merely compounds it

Yes I do get it.

 

If you think that rain offs and the heat 10 rule are the main reason why the sport is dying then YOU don't get it. It's merely symptomatic of a sport in trouble and NOT the cause.

 

How many meetings are honestly affected like the ones last night? We had BV last season, a couple involving Swindon this, and last night. Not bad for a weather dependent sport in country with an inconsistent at best climate.

 

Bigger problems IMO are blatant rule breaking regarding team building, poorly prepared tracks even in good conditions, poor promoting, poor 'theatre' on race nights, SOME mercenary riders, the increasing importance of engine tuners and a perception of over pricing. That's what destroying the sport we love. Get those sorted and punters won't mind the odd weather affected meeting.

[arthur cross 492]

By all means have any agreed cut-off mark for when a meeting becomes "official" whether that's heat-8, heat-10 or heat-12 ... speedway's such a weather-dependent sport that some sort of cut-off is a necessary evil and the vast majority of fans understand that.

 

Where any concept of "necessary evil" to help clubs' cash flow falls apart is that when a British meeting is abandoned after heat-10, there seems to be no attempt by any club to give just a little bit back to its fans' cash flow to reflect the fact they've paid full price for what turned out to be only two-thirds of the action.

 

Instead, the overwhelming attitude from the clubs (and the authorities around them) is that because this truncated meeting is now officially in the record books, there's no need at all to offer anything back to the fans because those fans saw everything that involved getting that meeting into the record books.

 

After the last few years of credit-crunch economics turning so many more of the public into value-hunters in any of their spending, such an attitude from the clubs might as well belong to the dinosaur world.

 

In any business (not just a sports team) where mostly the same loyal customers are coming along to pay for the same type of product around 20 times a year, surely any business with any sort of customer-friendly perspective would make at least a modest effort to make those customers feel they were at least slightly included in any cash flow implications of a truncated product.

 

So, for example, it shouldn't be until heat-12 that the fans get no rebate for their limited amount of entertainment with their rain-off tickets entitling them to £1 off in the future if the result's been called after heat-11 or £2 off in the future if the result's been called after heat-10.

 

While the fans in such an example still haven't had as much value-for-money as they would have had during fair weather, at least they go home feeling their wallets have been included during the abandonment process rather than going home feeling ripped off.

 

Trouble is, far too many of speedway's decision-makers appear to have long forgotten what it's like being a fan deciding whether to spend hard-earned money in a dodgy-weather situation, either in the hours leading up to a meeting or while reflecting immediately after attending a truncated one.

[SCB 0]

Last night there were 4 riders at the tapes happy to go out for heat 11. So whoever decided to call this off was NOT one the rider out there "risking their lives for our entertainment".

[stevebrum 6,820]

In Poland they call it off earlier and award the rest of the heats as 3 alls.

The indifferent weather we get these days and the ridiculous state we get into year after year trying to fit meeting after meeting in a few weeks means that getting a result has to be the aim.

If we didn't allow a meeting to be called off to get a result there would be little chance of fulfilling its fixture list which to me is worse and farcical.

 

It seems that in Sweden and Poland they accept that call offs are part and parcel of the sport, here we expect only good weather and perfect 15 heats.

Time to wake up.

It would be perfect if all meetings got to heat 15 regardless.

Whatever the decision the fans would just have something to moan about!

[bigcatdiary 3,164]

I must be honest I am in the track is either fit for racing or it isn't bracket.

 

I don't give a monkeys where they decide to accept a result, after 10,12 or whatever but the bottom line if the tracks too dangerous to race on, its unfit, if that's after heat 9 then it gets called off after 9 heats.

 

Supporters are the ones getting shafted here and it's happening more and more, as for the a TV spectacle it made the sport look amateurish and a complete shambles and as others have said it will be driving fans away rather than encouraging them to attend.