New Year Classic 2012

[Heathen1984 139]

Gp not many fans from other tracks. Well me and many other heathens fans were there and we are in nat league with no riders in the 12. And I could see lots of fans from other teams, u ain't seriously tryin to say the majority was Newport, haha.

 

Feel sorry for lemon, best rider on the day and deserved to win it. Format ain't the best is it but least it's a Meetin to go too

[MattK 3,447]

I thought is was a decent meeting. All the riders gave 100% in what was clearly very difficult conditions. Kudos to the Newport staff for their hard work which allowed the meeting to go ahead.

 

Mark Lemon was definitely the best rider on show. Kevin Doolan also looked fast, as did Ashworth and David Howe came good in the end.

 

Another plus was that it definitely wasn't as cold as last year!

[novelis 0]

Agree mattk, lemo was the best rider on show very unlucky not to win this one, he deserved too , bar for that a great job by the track staff for getting this on, also hats off to all riders ,good crowd considering the weather, they were a great bunch of hardy supporters,it was nice to see so many fans from all over the country, well done all ,lets hope that we all have great speedway to watch this year.

[Main Man 222]

Our first visit to Newport and thought as a pure Speedway stadium (until this year?) it was a tidy set up. Given the time of year and the weather I would defy anyone to have put on a better racing surface and it caught out everyone at some stage, Chris Schramm a few times and even Lemmo in the final, who despite what I read on here about past activities did look the class act off the start which is where it mattered today. The fans were all as you would expect at a Speedway meeting friendly and of good banter, disappointed there were not more supporting some of the travelling riders, must have been a long hall for the likes of Tulley! But enough stayed to show appreciation to the winners which was nice. Catering has lots of opportunity to improve, early afternoon mtg with chance of a fair crowd, don't think I would be cooking to order but filling those grill plates with burgers ready for the hungry hoards, and with two ends why not one for drinks only, in/out quick, count the cash!

As it was the only winter event I though a bit more could have been made of the build up, rider parade, intros etc, few flags etc. But track looked a good shape for racing when conditions improve in the spring and most of the riders were in it for points and did try to race when staying on was difficult at time, my awards,

1) Track staff, promoter, SCB officials for getting the meeting on

2) Riders 1-12 and reserve for giving it a go and giving the supporters some racing

3) David Howe for showing it's not over until the fat lady sings

4) Suporters for turning out for what most knew would be a Gaters meeting in the main given the weather conditions

 

Many thanks for this . The michrophone in the box packed up just as we were ready to start so I had to rush the roving mich back to the box so was unable to do interviews etc and the parade was , at the last moment , changed to a quick one with riders going from pits rather than traditional centre green one with a few black clouds still around.

But what a great final --and full marks to David Howe on bouncing back from two ducks and almost out of the meeting after his first ride fall to take it after a brilliant pass on Ricky Ashworth .

Thanks for the constructive points made and we will take these on board.

 

I know that the formula for the event is not to everyone's liking and I have spent hours trying to see if a different one could be achieved and will continue to work on this.

 

As expressed by many the riders know what the meeting entails , how the weather will always affect things ...but all just get on with it for the enjoyment of the fans starved of their methanol fix since October.

My thanks to all the riders for their efforts and for not giving me last minute panics trying to find replacements as has happened in past years. Hopefully I am still on their christmas card lists and when I call them next year if we do the classic again will get the same response to riding in the meeting.

 

Laurence Rogers

Edited January 3, 2012 by Main Man

[NIGE9359 8]

I came up with an alternative formula with 13 riders, 13 heats, top 2 direct to final and 3-6 to a semifinal, so still 15 races on the cards

 

The order of the heats still needs tweaking as it's a bit unbalanced, the other problem is every heat there's a rider with two rides in succession so a lot of waiting around

 

anyway, here's the format

 

1,10,4,2

2,11,5,3

3,12,6,4

4,13,7,5

5,1,8,6

6,2,9,7

7,3,10,8

8,4,11,9

9,5,12,10

10,6,13,11

11,7,1,12

12,8,2,13

13,9,3,1

 

everyone meets everyone else once and everyone has one ride from each gate

[semion 2,192]

Did you need a calculator to work that one out Nige ? I bet it wouldnt come out the same if Mainman Rogers did it on his

[NIGE9359 8]

No calculator - never use one, as I've always been brilliant at mental arithmetic lol

[gkp413 9]

Not sure why everyone gets wound up by the format? to run a meeting in January in the UK is always going to be to some extent a "display". The track is very unlikely to be in 1st class racing condition, what we got yesterday I would think is a good "average" track for the time of year, some years it might be a bit better, some a bit worse but similar if the meeting can run at all. Getting 12-15 good standard riders to sign up is difficult with the number of foreigners who ride in the UK there are bound to be many names back home wherever that is and except for the likes of Shrammy who was obviously using it as a demonstration of being back, still sharp and keen and looking for a team place the others will never give it 110% with the season only 10 weeks away, many still using older "practice" bikes or trying new things in preparation for the season like Lemmo. I think there are many fans who see it as a day out, chance to catch up with others in the off season and see some good guys giving a pretty committed go to putting on a race meeting, it is never going to rival Cardiff!

Perhaps a thought for next year, invite all the Tracks in the Leagues to attend with a display of their new season merchandise and a sale bin of all the stuff from the prior season they want to sell off, might just add to the atmosphere and encourage some supporters who are in a couple of hours driving range to attend as most clubs have a website and if they advertised some special deals only available at the Classic it could help them get shot of old stock prior to the new season and boost numbers a bit?

Spoke to Mark afterwards, he was pretty sanguine, "hit a hole and got pushed into the sludge which killed momentum, bit of a downer given the first 5 rides but that's Speedway, still gave me chance to sort out some teething problems with the engine so not that bad a day" - think that about sums it up! Lets be grateful someone is committed enough to put on any meeting of any format at this time of year!

[A ORLOV 8,628]

Very good idea about holding a speedway fair with the option to show new merchandise and get rid of last years, each club could also offer any DVDs of meetings at their track.

[Main Man 222]

I came up with an alternative formula with 13 riders, 13 heats, top 2 direct to final and 3-6 to a semifinal, so still 15 races on the cards

 

The order of the heats still needs tweaking as it's a bit unbalanced, the other problem is every heat there's a rider with two rides in succession so a lot of waiting around

 

anyway, here's the format

 

1,10,4,2

2,11,5,3

3,12,6,4

4,13,7,5

5,1,8,6

6,2,9,7

7,3,10,8

8,4,11,9

9,5,12,10

10,6,13,11

11,7,1,12

12,8,2,13

13,9,3,1

 

everyone meets everyone else once and everyone has one ride from each gate

 

Thanks for that Nige ..will see if I can tweak it a bit to get less two on trots .....and Semion you are a wit (or something like that!!)

[longlivefrankie 458]

Group A - 1 2 3 4 5 6

Group B - 7 8 9 10 11 12

Group Heats

Heat 1 - 1 2 3 4

Heat 2 - 7 8 9 10

Heat 3 - 5 6 1 2

Heat 4 - 11 12 7 8

Heat 5 - 3 4 5 6

Heat 6 - 9 10 11 12

Mixed Heats

Heat 7 – 1 2 7 8

Heat 8 - 3 4 9 10

Heat 9 – 5 6 11 12

Heat 10 – 1 7 5 11

Heat 11 – 2 8 6 12

Heat 12 – 3 9 4 10

 

Heat 13 - Semi Final - Top 4 from group A

Heat 14 - Semi Final - Top 4 From group B

Heat 15 Final

Top 2 from semi finals

 

havent done gate positions!

[The Little Un 47]

havent done gate positions!

 

It is hardly a better option to the one now used.

 

It is impossible to put together a meeting formula with less than sixteen riders without riders having two in a row ever race or riders meeting up to three times.

 

It would be better to have sixteen riders and the winner is the rider that scores the most points. Maybe half of the field could be allocated to riders without teams who are willing to ride for costs only so as to put themselves in the shop window for vacant team berths either at the start or during the season to come, or NL riders looking for double up places in the PL.

[A ORLOV 8,628]

Good idea The Little Un