Rickardsons Farewell

[shazzybird 10]

Loads of riders have had great farewell meetings according to people over the years according to fans where real effort has been put in

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The Martin Dugard Farewell Meeting was pretty flat.

 

 

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Was that Kevin Smith, shazzybird? I only ask because he told my husband the same thing a couple of years ago.

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No not Kev, Dave Piddock who rode for Canterbury during the 70's. Weird though perhaps if this has happened to 2 other riders maybe it has happened to TRick.

[halo 0]

heheheh flyin ryan you talk rubbish!

[Steve Shovlar 10,450]

Well said Halo. Just a Panthers fan gutted to miss out on a real talent.

 

Nevs, people view meetings differently. I often read on here some fans saying what a good meeting that they realy enjoyed, while others come on and say they thought it was alright but nothing more.

 

Yesterday we sat in the grandstand enjoying every minute of it. Great racing from Klindt, watching KK start out tentitively then get better with every race, TRick saying goodbye, the match race between "TRick" and Rosco, in lovely warm sunshine surrounded by a big crowd.

 

I have never been to a testimonial that gives the same buzz as a league meeting. There is no pressure and tension, because there's nothing to stress over.

 

As for the Exeter farewell, well it was a good night but even you must admit the racing that night was dire and the actual meeting itself pretty flat with the crowd hushed most of the time.

 

As I said I ythought the crowd around the 4-4500 size. A big crowd and more than I expected to turn up after reading the abuse TRick had received on this thread before the meeting took place. Just goes to show how popular he really is and that the venom gushing from certain people on here is not reflected in the bigger speedway community.

[Silver Bee 57]

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.....and Nikolai Klindt also beat Leigh Adams as well!

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No big deal providing Adams was in his usual testamonial mood?

[robpeasley 0]

Hold on, over the years I've developed a formula to cope with Steve S's inflated crowd figures.

 

If he says 4000-4500, then it actually works out as... somewhere in the region of 1500-2000.

 

There you go :D

 

All the best

Rob

 

P.S. Sounds like Rickardsson took the piss out of the British Speedway supporters one last time. I'm not surprised.

P.P.S. Been to some great testimonial / benefit meetings over the years - Rick Miller, Greg Hancock, Per Jonsson, etc, etc. Quite often BETTER than EL meetings. However, Rickardsson provided what was expected - a cheap meeting for him to stage so he could maximise his profits. Did you really expect him to give anything back to his British fans, who he's let down time-after-time. No chance. Good riddance to a rider who's constantly used British Speedway.

[190557 17]

The Poole grandstand holds 1100. Where were the other 3000 hiding?

[Dekker 239]

.....to his British fans, who he's let down time-after-time.  No chance.  Good riddance to a rider who's constantly used British Speedway.

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Given this year i can see why your so bitter Rob, but before that i think your bitterness wont let you see that TR is one of the sports greats overall.

[lucifer sam 3,960]

Dekker,

 

Not at all, you can't take away the fact that Rickardsson was the greatest of his era in individual events.

 

However, his attitude to British Speedway stinks.

 

All the best

Rob

Edited July 24, 2006 by lucifer sam

[moxey63 1,785]

Going on memory alone, I think Rickardsson has always used British speedway, right from day one. How can you say farewell to somebody who was never here in the first place?

[Sir Jasper 192]

Now Rick Millers testimonial was a fantastic days entertainment.

[G the Bee 639]

What a great day. I can still remember the bungee jumping now! There is no denying that Rickardsson is a true great of the sport, whether you like him or not, but even if 4500 people turned up to his farewell meeting that is not a good crowd for a rider of his standing.

Look at Ole Olsen's farewell. The same line up as the world final and the queue for the turnstiles stretched through the car park almost to the road (and there were a lot of turnstiles in operation then). You could barely move in the stadium. I was 7 years old at the time, and remember the crowd clearly so imagine how big it must have been.

I suppose people will say "You can't compare a meeting today with one 20 years ago as crowds were bigger then" but that doesn't stop people comparing Cardiff with Wembley does it! The difference was, apart from the awsome line-up, when Olsen retired, British speedway was loosing a genuine superstar. And people came from all over the country to show their appreciation. That is not the case with Rickardsson as he doesn't ride over here and has flitted in and out of British speedway at his convenience.

That said, I'm convinced that if Rickardsson had put out a GP standard field, held it at the right time, and marketed it thoroughly a much bigger crowd would have gone.

[salty 2,208]

When this meeting was first announced Matt Ford was quoted as saying "we are anticipating the crowd will be huge" and also " an event that will go down in the annals of speedway as the best send-off ever from these shores for a speedway rider".

Now even allowing for SS's inability to guesstimate the size of the crowd accurately, it is clear the event did not live up to that early hype.

So why was this?

Is Ricko not so popular as Ford imagined?

Was the event poorly promoted and over priced?

Was the field lack-lustre?

Or was it a combination of all 3?

Either way I don't think we have to re-write the annals of Speedway.

[Steve Shovlar 10,450]

The meeting was well supported Salty. But of course it could have been better.

 

Some say it would have been better as an individual meeting, and I would agree. But TRick has decided he wants the last three clubs he has ridden for to be up against a ROTW select. Its his choice.

 

Also the major factor is that TRick doesn't have a British club he is currently riding for. If he was a Pirate in 2006, and in the team now, the place would have been packed to the rafters. but he hasn't ridden for the Pirates for over 2 years so that would have had an effect on th size of turnout.

 

Perhaps in hindsight this meeting would have been better to have been placed at the end of the season, away from the SWC final, where many fans spent their money the night before. Would have been a very expensive weekend if fans did both (though many did!)

 

The field was not as good as it could have been. Riders pulling out, breaking down en route, to be replaced by CL reserves will not get the fans who are neutral streaming through the gates. The £17 entrance fee was a bit high when you consider the lineup, though we did get an extra heat. The usual entrance fee should have applied.

 

Still, regardless of all this, the turnout was very good, and possibly better than I was expecting.

[shazzybird 10]

Is there ever an amount released as to what is actually earnt from a farewell meeting?

[GeneralMelchett 545]

ople turned up to his farewell meeting that is not a good crowd for a rider of his standing.

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I attended Scott Nicholls testimonial and the general consensus was that the crowd was more than 4,500, more like 6,000 on that day.

 

In all SN offered a good day, with lots of extras not just the actual meeting.

 

of course somebody withdrew from that event didn't they

Edited July 24, 2006 by General Melchitt