Slovenian GP Krsko Saturday September 8th

[Leg Trailer 5]

Like most sane people I found the atrocious refereeing decision to exclude Woffinden made a mockery of the meeting. How one person can be allowed to spoil a race in the way this Polish referee did, in 2018, with all the available means of video replay and the extra transparency that would normally achieve, is beyond me. I know poor referee decision making is outside the remit of Phil Morris and Graham Brodie on race nights, but the fact such respected men are being forced to witness such appallingly bad refereeing without being in a position to influence such behaviour is a sad indictment of where the sport is currently at, therefore some form of enhanced accountability for these referees needs to exist and exist fast!

The whole issue of whether Tai Woffinden was ready to race boils down to semantics and personal interpretation. Put simply, the rulebook needs amending to remove the possibility for a referee to piddle their own interpretation all over the rulebook without cause for reproach or a second set of eyes. Graham Brodie shares the same box as the referee on race nights and would be an ideal candidate to stand as a form of Match Umpire, a man to whom the race night referee can confer or more importantly the man who could perhaps prompt a rethink? Just a thought. I don't like to poke fault with a system without offering a pinch of a suggestion as to how things could be improved and to be honest it's only the odd rogue ref who needs this form of babysitting thankfully. Obviously a flaw in the vetting process is responsible for the fact he was allowed to influence the evenings entertainment in the way he did. And don't get me started on that Start Marshall. Unbelievable pedanticism.

Sadly, the starts are killing this years GP. Simple as that. This ridiculous new rule of no moving at the start has stifled natural gating talent and more importantly the momentum of the evening. A once much loved element has been zapped from the sport but more sickeningly has now turned most GP's into a bore. The time wasted everytime a race is pulled back because a rider dained to fart at the tapes makes each GP a marathon affair for everyone watching. They will drive potential new supporters of the game away in droves by persisting with this diabolical new rule. Ironically, matches were smoother affairs in the days of tape touching which was understandably eradicated due to the delays it caused. But now they have taken a retrograde step in allowing no movement whatsoever! I mean, who on earth approved this utter nonesense?! Bring back tape touching and the meetings will be more entertaining and smoother than is currently the case. Yes, that's how absurd it has become!

Lastly, back to last nights referee Mr.Artur Kusmierz. A Polish referee excluding the British leader of the World Championship in a race where two rivals to the Championship also race and they happen to be Polish too? Hmmm. He would arguably be on a sticky wicket should Maciej and Tai have tussled in a racing incident where one rider fell but to exclude Tai in the circumstances he did is downright criminal in my book and a sad reminder of how farcical speedway can be when in the hands of an immature referee. When moments like this occur I find myself head in hands, saddened to admit that speedway still stands just one small step up from acts like wrestling in terms of acceptability as a serious sport.

Sort it out now, FIM! You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in a tragic biblical manner.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Leg Trailer

[waytogo28 2,054]

2 minutes ago, Leg Trailer said:

Sort it out now, FIM! You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in a tragic biblical manner.

Of course, they won't "sort it out" they never do ( unless they make things worse ). The organisers steam blindly on with the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome as their yardstick. Everything is well in the world of speedway, is the cry!

[racers and royals 8,712]

5 minutes ago, Leg Trailer said:

Like most sane people I found the atrocious refereeing decision to exclude Woffinden made a mockery of the meeting. How one person can be allowed to spoil a race in the way this Polish referee did, in 2018, with all the available means of video replay and the extra transparency that would normally achieve, is beyond me. I know poor referee decision making is outside the remit of Phil Morris and Graham Brodie on race nights, but the fact such respected men are being forced to witness such appallingly bad refereeing without being in a position to influence such behaviour is a sad indictment of where the sport is currently at, therefore some form of enhanced accountability for these referees needs to exist and exist fast!

The whole issue of whether Tai Woffinden was ready to race boils down to semantics and personal interpretation. Put simply, the rulebook needs amending to remove the possibility for a referee to piddle their own interpretation all over the rulebook without cause for reproach or a second set of eyes. Graham Brodie shares the same box as the referee on race nights and would be an ideal candidate to stand as a form of Match Umpire, a man to whom the race night referee can confer or more importantly the man who could perhaps prompt a rethink? Just a thought. I don't like to poke fault with a system without offering a pinch of a suggestion as to how things could be improved and to be honest it's only the odd rogue ref who needs this form of babysitting thankfully. Obviously a flaw in the vetting process is responsible for the fact he was allowed to influence the evenings entertainment in the way he did. And don't get me started on that Start Marshall. Unbelievable pedanticism.

Sadly, the starts are killing this years GP. Simple as that. This ridiculous new rule of no moving at the start has stifled natural gating talent and more importantly the momentum of the evening. A once much loved element has been zapped from the sport but more sickeningly has now turned most GP's into a bore. The time wasted everytime a race is pulled back because a rider dained to fart at the tapes makes each GP a marathon affair for everyone watching. They will drive potential new supporters of the game away in droves by persisting with this diabolical new rule. Ironically, matches were smoother affairs in the days of tape touching which was understandably eradicated due to the delays it caused. But now they have taken a retrograde step in allowing no movement whatsoever! I mean, who on earth approved this utter nonesense?! Bring back tape touching and the meetings will be more entertaining and smoother than is currently the case. Yes, that's how absurd it has become!

Lastly, back to last nights referee Mr.Artur Kusmierz. A Polish referee excluding the British leader of the World Championship in a race where two rivals to the Championship also race and they happen to be Polish too? Hmmm. He would arguably be on a sticky wicket should Maciej and Tai have tussled in a racing incident where one rider fell but to exclude Tai in the circumstances he did is downright criminal in my book and a sad reminder of how farcical speedway can be when in the hands of an immature referee. When moments like this occur I find myself head in hands, saddened to admit that speedway still stands just one small step up from acts like wrestling in terms of acceptability as a serious sport.

Sort it out now, FIM! You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in a tragic biblical manner.

 

 

 

 

The start marshall was only following the instructions from the referee- the ref was telling him which riders to bring up to tapes- surely you could see that.

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,735]

10 minutes ago, waytogo28 said:

Of course, they won't "sort it out" they never do ( unless they make things worse ). The organisers steam blindly on with the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome as their yardstick. Everything is well in the world of speedway, is the cry!

What if the FIM agreed with the decision ?

[hyderd 1,216]

6 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

There are those people who say all tracks should be big and have plenty of dirt on them to get great racing, well last night had both 

The GP's have the best riders in the world battling it out for the title of the worlds best rider, tracks pay an important role in making the GP's fair,safe and entertaining.

Last night was pretty dull and any would be new fan/s will probs not bother watching/going again

[speedsteer 0]

Worse GP I have ever seen. The track was terrible and not a good advertisement for speedway. Don't get me started on the

terrible antics of the Starting marshall  and the disgrace full Polish referee. Tia was certainly not at his best and has not

been for the last 2 GPs. In the interview after the heat 16 fiasco he said that it is what it is and also mention Karma,

which is exactly what happened as the Polish rider who had the most to gain from his exclusion did not make the final.

[James Carter 62]

Ahh I'm only kidding. Sure he's a nice guy

He's just the rider who makes you hate speedway. Big blast from the start and then hog the inside. If the tracks rubbish then it's 3 in n the bag for Patryk if not then you never know.   Think of riders like Zmarzlik, FF, Tai, Gollob, Loram, Screen etc and they get you off your feet as they come from the back. 

All that said I did hate his tashe. I think we can all agree on that. 

 

[Vince 9,454]

5 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

What if the FIM agreed with the decision ?

I don't think the FIM know what Speedway is!

[waiheke1 4,295]

6 hours ago, waytogo28 said:

Of course, they won't "sort it out" they never do ( unless they make things worse ). The organisers steam blindly on with the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome as their yardstick. Everything is well in the world of speedway, is the cry!

Tbf, there is not a lot wrong with the GPs is there? World class line up, Generally excellent racing, some great tracks and some excellent stadiums. 

A couple of poor tracks and a couple of poor stadiums, but for the most part the series is everything you could want it to be.

I will admit there have been a couplecof terrible refs this year (cardiff also springs to mind). The starts are cleaner and more even than ever, all thats needed is a way to ensure the race isnt called back when rider's make a perfect start - no issue for me with the warning system per se. 

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

It was a really poor meeting but it was great to see Doyle back on it and even greater to see a better Chris Holder he battled really hard.The track was so frustrating it looked nice but riders would get close but then  could not land a blow i just hope that disgraceful refereeing decision does not cost Tai the title.Also why did Phil Morris not CONDEMN the decision in his interview very disappointed in him surely he has an opinion.

[MARK246 243]

1 hour ago, Sidney the robin said:

Also why did Phil Morris not CONDEMN the decision in his interview very disappointed in him surely he has an opinion.

 

The referee made a decision, which in his interpretation of the rules, at the time of the incident, was correct. What is there to condemn ?

[r8gdp 461]

31 minutes ago, MARK246 said:

The referee made a decision, which in his interpretation of the rules, at the time of the incident, was correct. What is there to condemn ?

Because it was wrong other riders in that race were not ready so why just exclude woffenden seems very very fishy to me . The referee is a total embarrassment and made this years gp a farce if zmarzlik carry s on and wins this episode will overshadow him becoming the champion.   Lots of riders on the night were spending a lot of time gardening at the start wonder how many of them went over the two minutes no for me the referee was bent and should not be allowed anywhere near a speedway meeting again 

[OveFundinFan 4,137]

2 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

Also why did Phil Morris not CONDEMN the decision in his interview very disappointed in him surely he has an opinion.

Maybe if you met Phil Morris in your local pub he may express his thoughts to you, but in his official capacity I wouldn’t expect him to say much in front of 10’s of thousands.  Tai didn’t even criticise the ref, “it is what it is” he said. I missed the top three being interviewed but did they criticise the ref.?

for sure, WE are almost unanimous the ref got that wrong, just as WE think the ref at Cardiff got things wrong, but I reckon we not going to hear much from the higher ups in speedway/FIM, if anything. In time we might notice if Saturdays ref, and indeed Cardiff’s ref, officiate at a GP again. Only then will we know what the official verdict is..

hopefully some sort of official response will be made re starts in general, clarify and adhere to

1 the amount of time between races

2 the amount of time once all four at at the tapes before green lights, this is to cut down on gardening

3 that when the start marshal indicates a rider moves forward the rider does actually move forward 

4 transponders

5 random computerised timing for tapes release

6 in case of false start, riders back to tapes without mechanics out on track

[norbold 7,098]

I agree with everything being said about the ref and THAT decision. The ridiculous thing is though that the way Tai was racing he probably would have come last in that race anyway. So the ref's really done him a favour as he has an excuse now if he finally loses by one or two points. Although personally, I don't think he will. I think he is too determined and too professional to let his lead slip altogether now.

[OveFundinFan 4,137]

It’s not a cert he would have come last,Norbold.  You had two Poles in serious medal positions, and Hancock fighting for top eight position. Anything could have happened on the first bend, and if tai had not gated he was on a good gate position, 3, for him to do his known cut back on bend 1-2 to snick the lead or second, who knows.

i would like to know honest thoughts from riders re the refs antic in heat 16. It’s interesting some poster last night said many Polish fans say the refs decision was wrong.

sad thing is,even if the ref is reprimanded nothing can be done about the race result. And if Zmarzlik goes on to win the championship because of that poor decision I would feel sorry for him because it will be said it’s all because of a Polish ref.