Tractor Guys

[Andrew 125]

Until about a decade ago,the Sheffield track was graded after every heat.The 10/15 minute interval was taken after heat ten and the entire time the tractors went round.Then they came out before heats 13 and 15 and the meeting would be over by 9.10 after starting bang on 7.45.

Then for some reason,we got the 'every four heats' grading that we all know and love,meetings started to get dragged out and the track started to become what it is today.

 

[jenga 2,998]

11 hours ago, Andrew said:

Until about a decade ago,the Sheffield track was graded after every heat.The 10/15 minute interval was taken after heat ten and the entire time the tractors went round.Then they came out before heats 13 and 15 and the meeting would be over by 9.10 after starting bang on 7.45.

Then for some reason,we got the 'every four heats' grading that we all know and love,meetings started to get dragged out and the track started to become what it is today.

 

and the rakers vanished . 

[Andrew 125]

No,there's still a few left! 

[leander 495]

On 9/2/2019 at 12:57 AM, 4thbender said:

Sheffield seems to have had more than its fair share of track maintenance problems this season, but can any team claim to have a more annoying tractor guy than Sheffield? I've just been to watch the Championship Riders Final (or whatever they call it now) and clearly the tractor guy has formed the opinion that we all paid our money at the turnstile in order to watch him do his stuff. The regulation grading after every four heats seems to have been cut down to every two, and the process has become a work of art in itself. He does four laps in an anti-clockwise direction followed by four clockwise and then a little encore with the water bowser.

He even managed to hold up the start of heat 14 by abandoning his great big grading-scraping-thingy in the middle of the back straight, which had to be dragged away by four burly track staff. Had the referee not spotted it and halted proceedings it would have been like one of those stop-sticks the police use to deflate the tyres of toe-rag car thieves!  

Without a doubt the tractor guy added an hour to my grand-daughter's bedtime (she wasn't pleased either because the event finished so late that Norwood Chippy was closed and she had to forego her chip supper). 

Of the 3 hour duration of the event, 23 minutes was actual racing and 2 hours 37 minutes was tractor demonstrations. We are not amused.

 

The main problem on sunday was that the track was cr*p at the very start. The tractor driver was "doing his stuff" at the request of the referee and the riders ( who weren't happy with conditions from heat 1). At one stage, some of them didn't want to continue, Cookie never got started and Rasmus Jensen was gesturing to the referee that it was too deep on the corners after his first three races, despite winning his third. The guy on the centre green announced after heat 8 that there would be an extensive track grade (and there was) so they would do the interval then. Fair enough. They then had another long interval after heat 12. On top of which the racing was at best poor! The other problem with these meetings is the gap between heat 20 and the semi's, then another gap between semi's and the final. Why can't there be six back wheels with new tyres on ready to be put straight into the necessary bikes after heat 20 and a random draw for gate positions instead of all this inspecting gate positions, putting tyres on bikes, etc. That must of added at least 20 minutes on to meeting (as usual).

[Fromafar 10,361]

2 hours ago, leander said:

The main problem on sunday was that the track was cr*p at the very start. The tractor driver was "doing his stuff" at the request of the referee and the riders ( who weren't happy with conditions from heat 1). At one stage, some of them didn't want to continue, Cookie never got started and Rasmus Jensen was gesturing to the referee that it was too deep on the corners after his first three races, despite winning his third. The guy on the centre green announced after heat 8 that there would be an extensive track grade (and there was) so they would do the interval then. Fair enough. They then had another long interval after heat 12. On top of which the racing was at best poor! The other problem with these meetings is the gap between heat 20 and the semi's, then another gap between semi's and the final. Why can't there be six back wheels with new tyres on ready to be put straight into the necessary bikes after heat 20 and a random draw for gate positions instead of all this inspecting gate positions, putting tyres on bikes, etc. That must of added at least 20 minutes on to meeting (as usual).

Fans are getting totally pi##ed off with riders attitude towards tracks, they seen to be unable to alter their set up to suit.Do Promotions do enough track work prior to race day or are they just “winging it” and hope things will be alright on the night.A grippy track is a grippy track they are meant to professional sportsmen yet just whinge and moan if the track is not like a motorway.Gate and go is all you get in GB speedway nowadays.

[iainb 5,015]

15 hours ago, leander said:

The main problem on sunday was that the track was cr*p at the very start. The tractor driver was "doing his stuff" at the request of the referee and the riders ( who weren't happy with conditions from heat 1). At one stage, some of them didn't want to continue, Cookie never got started and Rasmus Jensen was gesturing to the referee that it was too deep on the corners after his first three races, despite winning his third. The guy on the centre green announced after heat 8 that there would be an extensive track grade (and there was) so they would do the interval then. Fair enough. They then had another long interval after heat 12. On top of which the racing was at best poor! The other problem with these meetings is the gap between heat 20 and the semi's, then another gap between semi's and the final. Why can't there be six back wheels with new tyres on ready to be put straight into the necessary bikes after heat 20 and a random draw for gate positions instead of all this inspecting gate positions, putting tyres on bikes, etc. That must of added at least 20 minutes on to meeting (as usual).

The delay between heat 20 and the semi and the final are the reasons I don't go to this anymore... any tension built up through the meeting is lost when it takes half an hour to run the final 120 seconds of racing

[Charlieboy 412]

13 hours ago, Fromafar said:

Fans are getting totally pi##ed off with riders attitude towards tracks, they seen to be unable to alter their set up to suit.Do Promotions do enough track work prior to race day or are they just “winging it” and hope things will be alright on the night.A grippy track is a grippy track they are meant to professional sportsmen yet just whinge and moan if the track is not like a motorway.Gate and go is all you get in GB speedway nowadays.

Exactly. It's speedway not TT racing.Deal with it.Some riders attitude is a joke.It was the same with Schlein the other week.If you can't handle the track do a different sport.They don't realise they are killing the sport and soon they will have to get a proper job.Track prep,rider attitude,drawn out meetings,the b s p a need to smell the coffee.Look at attendances ,dropping all around the country.All they do is tinker with the rules and drop points limit.After 58 years of watching Sheffield speedway my patience is wearing thin.