The Darcy Ward Invitational 2017 - Poole

[topsoil 2,498]

I ask as a naive fan "who was responsible for meeting the costs of the meeting last night"? Is it a case of the Poole promotion meeting costs, any profits go to the fund? Or doe the fund meet the costs and take all the proceeds? As this was a different type of meeting to your standard league match I was interested in how these things work. Any ideas?

[robert72 845]

You are coming across as someone getting joy out of the fact the track had issues due to all the rain we had. Perhaps you should worry about your own track first.

It has been reported the first bend was spongy, due to the water in the shale. Nothing anyone could do about it. Unfortunate. If it was an official Poole fixture I am sure Matt would have been offering part refunds but as it was a charity meeting with the money going to a Darcy, it is not Matt Fords money to refund.

Someone said last night Darcy was "minted". How does that work? He has 50-60 years of life in front of him where he can't work. A few hundred thousand (I doubt he has that much) stashed away now won't go very far in a lifetime. And some are demanding he refunds them because of the rain we have had which caused a spongy track.

Just how tight and distasteful can some people actually be? I have utter contempt for them.

How much does ricky Ashworth have stashed away or any other badly injured British rider, I doubt any of them could afford a home on the Gold Coast.

 

I feel they knew the track was very poor and the meeting could struggle but HAD to get the paying fans in for Darcy.

 

The fans were entitled to a refund and for the benefit of speedways future should of had a refund.

 

Did nobody get an admission ticket ?

[Theboss 727]

Just giving a more balanced opinion. Easy to rant and moan when you don't want to realise what caused the problem. Easy to moan like many, when you were not there.

 

End of the day the weather this week caused the damage to the track and that's speedway for you. Main thing is a nice chunk of money for Darcy even though we only saw 8 heats.

 

Plenty of speedway to make up for it. Eurosport at 5pm, Wolves on Monday, Poole Wednesday and Somerset Friday. Forecast is decent next week so all should be hunky dory.

 

You should be a politician.... they believe everything is hunky dory and treat the public like mugs!

 

This is being made worse by your responses, I would suggest you get on the blower to your buddy Cecil and tell him he still has time to save bit of credibility by phoning Darcy and asking him if he agrees with offering a 50% refund to those who want it.

[ray c 2,299]

It had to be an official Poole fixture as Matt ford is the licence holder and who paid stadia UK for hire of the stadium last night.riders had to be paid if only expenses i wonder how much darcy will actually get from the evening at the end of the day. As usual to much secrecy in speedway

[Countershaftcounter 360]

Too much cash floating around

[Pirate Baz 218]

I think this is hard to defend Steve. I know you have strong opinions but don't get like Starman and at least listen to what others are saying and accept some of their points.

This is yet another massive PR disaster for speedway. OK you and I have paid £20 for virtually no entertainment and like you I won't be asking for my money back as it's for Darcy, but think of the people who travelled great distances, Glasgow was mentioned and there were some Polish fans there as well, who have paid for Hotels and transport to get there. I recall I was pretty pi$$ed off at the Belle Vue 'watermain' incident a few years back so I know how they must feel.

What about the individuals who paid £250 to sponsor riders. They didn't get value for their money, and also companies who paid for sponsorship packages. How disillusioned were they and will they come back next time they are approached?

OK the wet track was the problem and if you read the comments on the Poole website about how 'spongy' the track was on Wednesday and then ask yourself what had been done to improve on that by Friday. Was it just left and hope for some sun? Also by the same token if the riders said it was spongy still after heat eight then why did they not comment on this before the meeting and after the warm up laps? From a Poole point of view we could have avoided a nasty accident to Kyle which may put him on the sidelines for a while. I haven't heard anything on that, just speculating.

You and I will go along until they bury us under the track, but speedway needs better PR than this incident to attract the ever declining crowd numbers.

[BobC 664]

Shovvy, can I ask what medication you are on? I ask because you seem to be on another planet.

 

There was a lot of discontent where I was last night, me included.

 

As has been stated on here,and the Poole Website, the track was unfit for the official practice on Wednesday as there were soft patches. It was decided not to practice, because of the potential damage to the track for Friday. Well, had they set a wheel on it at practice all of this unseemly mess could have been avoided. The meeting could have been postponed and thousands of pounds saved by riders, fans and promotion. In the meantime, what track work was carried out between Weds and Fri? Knowing Matt Ford, sweet fa. There was no rain between the 2 days, so the top could have been scraped off to allow the surface to breath.

 

On other social media, others have stated that the refund policy for this meeting was 6 races. No wonder they did all they could to get past that target! Who decided that 6 races instead of the accepted norm of 10? Who has the authority to change things and as far as I am aware, not notify the public? Where were the notices saying this? My admission ticket clearly states ''Re-admit holder in event of abandoned meeting...subject to published conditions'' Where were the notices to tell me about the revised 6 races? I didn't buy a programme, so were the conditions published in there?

 

So we had 8 races out of 23. Almost a third of the meeting. Can you imagine going the traditional football curtain raiser the Charity Shield at Wembley, only to be told that after 15-20 minutes the match was off because we havent prepared the pitch properly? Thanks for you cash now go away?

 

I totally accept the riders point of view regarding track conditions, as Ive never ridden a bike in anger. However the race times were very comparable to last years play off semis v Wolves. You could see things weren't ideal, but riders could turn easily, as Doyle, Emil and KK all showed. Schlein was like a novice in his first race, but adapted to conditions to win his next race.

 

My love affair with this sport is already at an all time low. After the contempt the fans were shown last night, it has all but died.

Edited March 25, 2017 by BobC

[mdmc82 2,878]

Great post from BobC. Sums it up well 👍🏻

[topsoil 2,498]

Just giving a more balanced opinion. Easy to rant and moan when you don't want to realise what caused the problem. Easy to moan like many, when you were not there.

 

End of the day the weather this week caused the damage to the track and that's speedway for you. Main thing is a nice chunk of money for Darcy even though we only saw 8 heats.

 

Plenty of speedway to make up for it. Eurosport at 5pm, Wolves on Monday, Poole Wednesday and Somerset Friday. Forecast is decent next week so all should be hunky dory.

This is the type of thinking that is turning off so many fans. It could be Darcy Ward, it could be any promoter. But if you promise to put on a show and don't deliver, you have to take a hit. You can't expect people to pay money to watch something, even if it is for a good cause, and then still charge them when you can't put on a show.

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

I take onboard what you say but the track was spongy because of the rain we have had.

 

A shame it was called off. The fastest race was 59.12 which was faster than most of the racing last season. Doyle, KK, Saifudinov and the Pavlocki brothers all looked very fast and smooth. Schlein, Batchelor, Holder and the lesser riders, not so.

 

Did the promotion know there was a problem before the meeting started? The riders seemed OK on their track walk.

 

With dry weather forecast between now and next Wednesday, lets see how the track rides against Wolves. My bet is that it will be fine.

 

There is footage of the racing on periscope for those that wish to view it.

Great post from BobC. Sums it up well

You were not there. So how can you make judgement?

[GWC 495]

Are Poland doing any sort of benefit meeting for Darcy?

[Pinny 2,536]

A speedway meeting is a speedway meeting. Fans pay to attend to watch however many heats are scheduled.

 

Just because its a benefit meeting, all funds should be refunded and then meeting restaged at another stage

 

I do agree with some that just because this is darcy ward, fans should still be treated the same as they should if a league meeting is postponed.

 

If the track was that dodgy it should never have started, a fast one has been pulled similar to the belle vue opening night last year.

[sommelier 1,118]

I think this is hard to defend Steve. I know you have strong opinions but don't get like Starman and at least listen to what others are saying and accept some of their points.

This is yet another massive PR disaster for speedway. OK you and I have paid £20 for virtually no entertainment and like you I won't be asking for my money back as it's for Darcy, but think of the people who travelled great distances, Glasgow was mentioned and there were some Polish fans there as well, who have paid for Hotels and transport to get there. I recall I was pretty pi$$ed off at the Belle Vue 'watermain' incident a few years back so I know how they must feel.

What about the individuals who paid £250 to sponsor riders. They didn't get value for their money, and also companies who paid for sponsorship packages. How disillusioned were they and will they come back next time they are approached?

OK the wet track was the problem and if you read the comments on the Poole website about how 'spongy' the track was on Wednesday and then ask yourself what had been done to improve on that by Friday. Was it just left and hope for some sun? Also by the same token if the riders said it was spongy still after heat eight then why did they not comment on this before the meeting and after the warm up laps? From a Poole point of view we could have avoided a nasty accident to Kyle which may put him on the sidelines for a while. I haven't heard anything on that, just speculating.

You and I will go along until they bury us under the track, but speedway needs better PR than this incident to attract the ever declining crowd numbers.

I applaud your comments, very fair points you have raised, top post

[Najjer 2,889]

Just going to leave this comment here.... Track covers!!

[Countershaftcounter 360]

The talk of this being an annual event has now been blown out of the water. No one will go next year after this shambles. The supposed biggest meeting of the year and they couldn't even check the weather forecast and chuck down some plastic sheeting. Once again we were taken for mugs.

 

Let's run a meeting for British riders who are in the same pistas Darcy but without the corporate backing of monster energy and let the poor boy live his life in the sunshine in peace.