Ipswich V Edinburgh 25/7/13

[fred 26]

 

 

As for his actions after Heat 1, there is no excuse & he got what he deserved. I was a fan of Cook's but his spiteful & childish comments after being rightly dropped by Middlo & now this incident have changed my opinion.

 

.

 

You say he got what he deserved so what actually happened since youve seen what went on?

[2ndbendbeerhut 1,781]

Well thats the first time in 30 odd years of speedway that i have seen a rider "ejected" from a meeting. Wasn't in the pits so couldn't see full extent that went on after the heat but from "view" from back straight/2nd bend it just kicked off for some reason, could just see a white helmet in the melee. Thing is nothing out of the ordinary happened during Heat 1.

Witches pair gated from 1 and 3, Barker went too wide into 3 and Sneddon got past. Coming off 2nd bend on lap 3 Sneddon lifted and Barker tried to pass but nearly clipped the back of Sneddon's bike, Cook then overtook off 4th bend. Barker then messed up 1st bend of last lap and nearly ran into Cook, shut of and trailed round at back. 3-3 over the line, and time to fill in programme. Next thing when riders were back into pits it kicked off! Wasn't like the Barker / North incident at Foxhall a few weeks back when it was clear why there was "handbags".

 

There was a delay whilst the ref was called down from his box to "have a word" with the riders involved. Couple of minutes later it was announced that due to Cook's actions he was ejected from the meeting. Fews cheers from the Witches fans but most were upset that the match was basically over as a contest. Have to feel sorry for the remaining Monarchs and any of their fans that travelled. A few comments were made afterwards regarding the "incident" most to the tune of "things like that are not needed" and "Cook was in the wrong to do what he did". (alleged starting a fight/throwing punches at an "unhelmeted" Barker whilst protected by his helmet) eg an unfair fight...

[Brujas Espanolas 50]

 

 

No danger of that. I take it the crazy frog is your ring tone..

 

Muppet

 

Ah an intellectual!!!

 

Thanks for your valuable and perceptive comment.

[Al Stewart 398]

Well thats the first time in 30 odd years of speedway that i have seen a rider "ejected" from a meeting. Wasn't in the pits so couldn't see full extent that went on after the heat but from "view" from back straight/2nd bend it just kicked off for some reason, could just see a white helmet in the melee. Thing is nothing out of the ordinary happened during Heat 1.

Witches pair gated from 1 and 3, Barker went too wide into 3 and Sneddon got past. Coming off 2nd bend on lap 3 Sneddon lifted and Barker tried to pass but nearly clipped the back of Sneddon's bike, Cook then overtook off 4th bend. Barker then messed up 1st bend of last lap and nearly ran into Cook, shut of and trailed round at back. 3-3 over the line, and time to fill in programme. Next thing when riders were back into pits it kicked off! Wasn't like the Barker / North incident at Foxhall a few weeks back when it was clear why there was "handbags".

 

There was a delay whilst the ref was called down from his box to "have a word" with the riders involved. Couple of minutes later it was announced that due to Cook's actions he was ejected from the meeting. Fews cheers from the Witches fans but most were upset that the match was basically over as a contest. Have to feel sorry for the remaining Monarchs and any of their fans that travelled. A few comments were made afterwards regarding the "incident" most to the tune of "things like that are not needed" and "Cook was in the wrong to do what he did". (alleged starting a fight/throwing punches at an "unhelmeted" Barker whilst protected by his helmet) eg an unfair fight...

 

Thanks for this fair comment. It's nice to hear a balanced view. I think it is a great pity that the match was spoilt and I'm quite surprised that the referee was so sure that one of the riders involved should be heavily punished and not the other.

 

I hope Craig will learn not to get involved in these things. He is much brighter than his actions tonight might suggest but he'll have to prove that to those who don't know him.

[scaramanga 910]

riders throw punches at each other on a regular basis

was this more serious

was this a personal thing biassed towards 1 team or 1 rider

if it was just a normal argument between 2 riders that went a bit too far does this mean we will see more riders excluded from meetings for having a go at a oponant after a heat ? interesting to see if there is any futher outcome

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,713]

Its a shame that the fact the Witches have qualified for another cup final has been overshadowed by this incident.

 

I know Barker is a rider that gets under the skin of many and is far from being a paragon of virtue but it seems Cook just lost it.

 

Obviously there was a tense atmosphere given recent events and the importance of the match but heat 1 was largely uneventful between the pair especially as it seemed they were each doing their best to finish last!

 

Im on the 2nd bend so the following is a description from those in the pits.At the pit gate a bit of a back log and Cook barges Ben who says wtf? and then bam a flurry of unprovocked punches follow.

 

Serious as it is I am a bit surprised that he was thrown from the meeting.I can only assume the ref felt it would pose a significant danger if Cook continued.

 

It did spoil the contest.

[BluTiger 21,719]

Its a shame that the fact the Witches have qualified for another cup final has been overshadowed by this incident.

 

I know Barker is a rider that gets under the skin of many and is far from being a paragon of virtue but it seems Cook just lost it.

 

Obviously there was a tense atmosphere given recent events and the importance of the match but heat 1 was largely uneventful between the pair especially as it seemed they were each doing their best to finish last!

 

Im on the 2nd bend so the following is a description from those in the pits.At the pit gate a bit of a back log and Cook barges Ben who says wtf? and then bam a flurry of unprovocked punches follow.

 

Serious as it is I am a bit surprised that he was thrown from the meeting.I can only assume the ref felt it would pose a significant danger if Cook continued.

 

It did spoil the contest.

What ruling did the ref use to 'red card' Cook ? I don't recall this happening before..

[spanner47 336]

Biggest crowd of the season. but the meeting ruined by the actions of an idiot. I hope once Cook has calmed down, he'll do the decent thing and apologise to the fans, especially the ones that travelled over 400 miles. Speedway needs exciting aggressive riders, it would be a very boring sport without them, but when a rider is determined to injure another one (off or on the track) then something must be done. But what happened when North put Ben in the fence and bragged about it on twitter? NOTHING!!!! We all want to see competitive racing, but I can only imagine that when the ref realised that Cook wasn't prepared to calm down, he took the only appropriate action. Looking forward to meeting Newcastle in the final, just hope we get the 2nd leg this season, as they had it last season.

[2ndbendbeerhut 1,781]

Thing is there was a real possibility that Barker and Cook would have met another 2 times and maybe the ref thought that after considering his options it was best to exclude the main/only cause of the incident to save any future disagreements that may have happened on track?

[tone deaf 51]

You say he got what he deserved so what actually happened since youve seen what went on?

Ok I only saw it after things had already kicked off but from what I've heard from others with a closer view it was an unprovoked attack. I was very surprised at the outcome, not because I thought the ref was wrong but its the first time I can recall having seen a rider kicked out of a meeting in many years of watching speedway. It did not follow on from a racing incident, which would have been a bit more understandable & unfortunately it did spoil the meeting.

[Mr Blobby 2,695]

Cook has been a silly boy reacting to that rodent!

 

he should no better it's not the first time and won't be the last that mr barker gets involved in this kind of stuff.

 

One of these times Barker is going to get himself into bother and really get hurt but i'm sure he will get a nice reception when he comes to armadale.

[Al Stewart 398]

Ok I only saw it after things had already kicked off but from what I've heard from others with a closer view it was an unprovoked attack.

 

I understand it definitely wasn't unprovoked. That doesn't make it right of course but it wasn't just done out of the blue for no reason.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,713]

 

One of these times Barker is going to get himself into bother and really get hurt but i'm sure he will get a nice reception when he comes to armadale.

Perhaps the Monarchs fans can polish his van with their keys again !

[graz gp 184]

Dont know what happened but they both need to grow up. Speedway's a man's sport. It spoilt what should have been a great meeting.

[tone deaf 51]

I understand it definitely wasn't unprovoked. That doesn't make it right of course but it wasn't just done out of the blue for no reason.

Well there has clearly been something going on between them but nothing happened on track in Heat 1 to set this off. Will wait & see what the official statement has to say!