Riders Gardening At The Tapes

[dump that clutch 630]

what is this sport coming too... not allowed to dismount to do a bit of gardening.... pathetic, bloody pathetic.

The sport is dying a slow painful death IMO and the powers to be come up with this... :rofl:

 

 

 

 

bloody muppetts.

[britmet 233]

it is reasonable to give the riders some chance to prepare their gates, otherwise some will be coming onto a badly rutted gate position and have no real chance of a decent start.

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Not so, - Its the duty of the Starting marshall and his team, - which used to be one per gate, and as the track was racked so was the gate evened out and levelled.

Riders are not responsible for track preparation/condition !

[SCB 15]

What is the current 2 minute rule? Riders have to be on track in 2 minutes rather than ready to race.

I'm sure riders just have to be "on their way to tapes" - that to some could be on track, to others leaving their pit box, while others see at is in their starting bay almost ready to go (see Cov vs Swindon meeting last season!)

 

That is Nicolai Klindt buggered then because he is constantly off his bike " gardening " but he is usually always first to the tapes to allow him time to do it.

 

What annoys me is riders who are making changes/have a problem & are close to missing the 2 minutes so they goto the tapes on a spare bike then deliberately false start so they can gain an extra 2/3 mins for their mechanic to work on the bike . By the time the re-run is due to start they have their no1 bike ready. That is just damn cheating which I've seen many times when i have been in the pits

Agreed with a lot of that. Once the green light has come on, the race has started. Bikes should NOT be allowed off the track. You cannot swap bikes either, once you have started the race thats it. If there any sort of delay all the bikes should be parked up by the start line. The referee can with the agreement of the machine examiner (or whoever the tech person in the pits is) allow a rider to enter the pits or swap bikes where an accident was not deemed his fault.

[brewer 159]

I would imagine a short rider may find it more difficult to do it on bike, the problem with the grading can put loose material onto the groove a rider would want to know what he is starting on a filled in groove may be too deep for example.

 

As for the British final, imo the person/s at fault were the referee and meeting coordinator as they allowed the time for it to happen, they could and should of put the 2mw on that would of stopped the farce it became.

 

As for false starts I believe too many races are called back unnecessarily, how many times have we all said why was that called back and I dont mean on tv I mean with the naked eye at a meeting. Most people around a track can aee a clear roller from a rider, the ref has the best view of all, if it's not a clear roller and the tapes dont get touched let it go, I hate this wording " anticipating the start" surely thats part of the sport as in any type of race a racer has to anticipate the start to gain maximum advantage over his/her rivals.

[pugwash 3,208]

Also another new rule is riders are no longer permitted to return to the pits following a false start.

 

 

But can go to pit gate where mechs can adjust chain, timing or whatever i.e cause a delay??

[Bruiser McHuge 589]

Seems logical to me that riders should not be allowed to partake in the preparation of (any part of) the racetrack - they are required to ride to the start line to race and then ride back to the pits

As a matter of interest, just how long has the "gardening" at the start been going on for? Somehow I can't recall very much of it in the "good old days"

Certainly a 2 minute clock at every meeting would be a good idea, so that everyone knows the exact situation

 

My brother in law rode in Britain in the mid 80's to early 90's and he was off his bike at the tapes virtually every race at the tapes !....so it's been going on a while...not really a big issue for me although Tai getting a spade out was a bit too far !

 

When I started watching speedway in the 70's I can't really remember riders off their bikes gardening but I used to love the big races where the riders were at the tapea and another one pulled away or rode off and came back....I used to think it added to the tension but there were bigger crowds and more atmosphere anyway...used to love all that back then

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,727]

I can see a few instances of sharp practices on the horizon with certain posirions getting attention from track staff depending on where the home team are due to start the next heat .

[barrow boy 119]

I can see a few instances of sharp practices on the horizon with certain posirions getting attention from track staff depending on where the home team are due to start the next heat .

I don't think I've ever seen anyone rake over the starting gate area at Leicester in between races.

[Dave Jones 2,132]

I can see a few instances of sharp practices on the horizon with certain posirions getting attention from track staff depending on where the home team are due to start the next heat .

Shame Eastbourne decided to drop down isn't it? They could have been champions this year.

[BWitcher 12,453]

I for one think its a good step, a positive one to help the meetings flow.

 

After Woffy put on the gardening show at the British Final, it was obvious something had to be done......

 

Why was it?

 

Of course it would have been far better for the crowd to just watch an empty track.....

Seems logical to me that riders should not be allowed to partake in the preparation of (any part of) the racetrack - they are required to ride to the start line to race and then ride back to the pits

 

As a matter of interest, just how long has the "gardening" at the start been going on for? Somehow I can't recall very much of it in the "good old days"

 

Certainly a 2 minute clock at every meeting would be a good idea, so that everyone knows the exact situation

 

In the 'good old days' races used to take longer to start.

[1 valve 594]

How about going back in time and allowing riders to nudge the tapes - even push them to breaking point....only for another rider to apply the final straw and be excluded for being "the cause"...it was great to watch though caused loads of arguments between riders and supporters, and Olsen & Mauger were the very best at it.....It wont happen...just saying it might be better/entertaining than the current methodology/rules of today and almost certainly would remove the vast majority of the so called false starts.

[R87 476]

Tai didn't break any rules in the British Final. OK it may not have been in the spirit of competition or whatever you want to call it, but there was nothing in the rule book to say he was doing something illegal.

 

There was nothing to stop the other 3 riders going out and doing the same, but they chose not to.

 

That said, I don't think you'll find anyone complaining if meetings become slicker, rather than standing around waiting.

[T.N.T. 355]

Personally I think the only thing that was possibly wrong when Tai Woffinden did his shovelling during the British Final was that the referee's allowed it to happen in a meeting where there were more officials than normal including one on the center green.

 

After a crash, one rider was back in the pits to do work on his bike so Tai used that time to run from the pits and prepare his gate. If the officials on duty didn't deem it wrong then he did not break any rules and as it wasn't during a race time but a break for mechanical repairs then that shouldn't be an issue really.

 

 

I can see there being a few arguments at certain times on this, maybe only a few but excluding a rider who dismounts his bike when the two minute time allowance isn't even on or the other riders at the tapes will cause managers to phone the ref to complain, then time spent getting a replacement ready and then a fresh two minutes. Hardly stopping the time wasting is it ?

 

 

There is one thing that I do feel could be done at all tracks is the track preparation at the starting gates. Apart from when the tractor goies over it, the gates are hardly touched but along the kickboard on the home straight there will be a massive amount of loose shale piled up to it.

 

With at least three people on the starting gates, sometimes more, why can't this be raked back into the ruts after every heat or every other heat ? At the end of the meeting the starting grids are terribly rutted and it only means in the later heats riders have to dig to try and get a decent position by either filling in a rut or trying to find a decent patch to start from.

 

Raking on the start grid every now and then would help stop this and riders can come to the gate each time to an evenly prepared starting position.

[Grachan 7,375]

How about going back in time and allowing riders to nudge the tapes - even push them to breaking point....only for another rider to apply the final straw and be excluded for being "the cause"...it was great to watch though caused loads of arguments between riders and supporters, and Olsen & Mauger were the very best at it.....It wont happen...just saying it might be better/entertaining than the current methodology/rules of today and almost certainly would remove the vast majority of the so called false starts.

I remember a race at a Swindon v Cradley match. I had it on video. Jimmy Nilsen and John Davis, riding for Swindon, both went forward at the same time and nudged the tapes. Alan Grahame promplty released the clutch and rode straight through them. Grahame excluded.

 

Crowd went wild. Nisen and Davis both moved back and smugly put their back wheels up in the air. Great stuff.

[TesarRacing 1,828]

Blimey, some of you guys are hard to please aren't you? I think it's a step in the right direction so why don't we wait till the season starts and see how it pans out.

 

On the rider anticipating starts - I don't see a problem with that. Sometimes a rider will get it right, sometimes not. In any case I don't see how referees can possibly distinguish between someone anticipating the start and another getting it right!