Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting

[IronScorpion 1,407]

19 hours ago, Yearbyred said:

Well we had a really heavy shower at the Riverside yesterday afternoon and that’s not too far from the track.

Lots of rain over the last week so it’s just one of those things unfortunately.

 

18 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Sunshine all the way across the a66 strange decision !

 

18 hours ago, Yearbyred said:

Well no complaints from Stuart Robson.

 

18 hours ago, iainb said:

I hope nobody travelled too far for it!

 

16 hours ago, iainb said:

You have to wonder why it wasn't canceled way before the fans were queuing up at the turnstiles, if there was no rain since yesterday afternoon!

 

15 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

They could call it off sooner!

 

34 minutes ago, Gordon Pairman said:

The negativity on this - from those that weren’t there - is truly disappointing. I flew into Manchester yesterday morning, collected a hire car and drove to the track. Like many, I was pleased that the weather was set fair but, as Martin Coleman has said,  yesterday’s weather wasn’t the problem. 
As soon as I set foot on the track, and sank into it ankle deep, it was clear that, despite all the work done, it wasn’t fit for racing.

No one calls off a meeting without good reason and the decision made, difficult though it was, was the correct one. 
Here’s hoping that BSPL allow this to be run during the season, especially as there seem to be loads of gaps in the fixture list which would allow that. 

 

28 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

Not so much negativity Gordon just disappointment from travelling fans who arrived in dry weather to find it off, all round bad news especially for Robbo .

Yes many did not know the full story until a few hours later about the state of the track , hopefully Robbo can get another date arranged to get this meeting on .

Stuart Robson’s last official meeting was at Workington in October 2018. 

We are talking about a meeting taking place in MARCH & not June/July/August. The weather had not been kind Friday & Saturday & Redcar have only had practice meetings during the winter.

Sods law it is difficult to prepare meetings in March & also October!!

[szkocjasid 3,027]

15 hours ago, ScunnyDan said:

Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting  · 

So where do I begin!! First of all a massive thanks to everyone at Redcar Speedway for their massive team effort over the last 7 days. The track had taken a fair bit of water over the recent period, but the weather forecast had turned in our favour, and after days of work by the incredible track staff led by Jonny Swales, yesterday afternoon the track was able to be tyre packed. Then last evening there was a sharp storm and this ultimately is the period of wet weather that has beaten us today.

Upon arrival this morning, Jonny and team had already been working on the circuit to try and get some air into it, and after a couple of hours things were promising. The forecasted weather was with us, and there was a very good view on being able to get the track into a position for us to go ahead. Then the blade was used to get rid of the top wet stuff, and again things looked promising. At that stage again we were planning ahead.

However once the 2nd blading had happened, it became apparent that the top stuff was hiding a problem underneath…..when blading a circuit you either find it is firm and then fine, or you find a soft spongy track, and that unfortunately becomes dangerous and the decision was made.

Before the decision was made we had made a conscious decision to not take money from the public at the turnstile, and to delay opening them for half an hour whilst a final remedy was sought. We did allow sponsor packages in as they had already paid their packages. This we felt was the right decision so that no one else parted with their cash.

Once the decision to cancel had been made, we opened the turnstiles to let everyone in, so they could have a drink, food, if they wanted to even buy a programme, but none of this was forced on anyone.

I have already read some comments online about should have called it off earlier to stop people travelling etc, and those comments are absolutely fine……however we had the Sun, wind and everything we could have hoped for, and indeed time on our side…..but unfortunately the track never quite came back to the scene of yesterday.

To prove how much it hurts, today has cost Stuart and the Farewell sponsor pot somewhere in the region of £3,500-£4,000 when you add up the cost of programmes, travel money for riders, St John’s ambulance, fuel, staffing costs etc, and with it being a Farewell meeting and the chance for a rider to make a little bit towards their future, all of the decisions made today were not taken lightly at all. We wanted the meeting on……but it just wasn’t possible.

What next? Well after being defeated 4 times, most people would say jack it in…..but Robbo was never someone who gave up on track, and we owe it to ourselves and the fabulous sponsors who have stuck with us throughout to give it one more crack. We also owe it to Redcar and all of their staff who have been so welcoming and supportive too.

Rules state that you can only run these meetings at certain times of the year, but we will be asking the powers that be if we can secure another date in the summer to be able to try and get this done.

I will release some more info over the next couple of days about sponsorships/live streams etc, we are now already approx £5,000 down when you include the programmes printed for last Aprils event, and either need a very rich Arab sheikh to suddenly like speedway, or will have to continue to see if we can get more sponsorships for bits and pieces.

Finally to those of you who have shown your displeasure at the decision to cancel so late, I do apologise if this has put you out of pocket today, it was never intentional, but hope the details above will answer some of your questions.

The hard work starts again tomorrow…….

Martin Coleman

Obviously I was very dissapointed yesterday, having travelled so far & arriving in lovely weather - who wouldn't be!

I can read about all the effort gone into running it & understand why they chose not to call it off earlier.

The downside of their efforts falling short of creating a safe track, apart from fans wasted journeys, is how many fans will stay at home in the future of the weather is iffy (or there's been a few wet days)?

[bruno 1,790]

2 hours ago, Gordon Pairman said:

The negativity on this - from those that weren’t there - is truly disappointing. I flew into Manchester yesterday morning, collected a hire car and drove to the track. Like many, I was pleased that the weather was set fair but, as Martin Coleman has said,  yesterday’s weather wasn’t the problem. 
As soon as I set foot on the track, and sank into it ankle deep, it was clear that, despite all the work done, it wasn’t fit for racing.

No one calls off a meeting without good reason and the decision made, difficult though it was, was the correct one. 
Here’s hoping that BSPL allow this to be run during the season, especially as there seem to be loads of gaps in the fixture list which would allow that. 

Hi Gordon if it was clear to you the track was unfit for racing surely it was unfit for racing say 5 hours earlier so should have been called off earlier. Seems a bit strange but maybe the track staff thought it would dry out and be ok but seemed unlikely yesterday 

[Gordon Pairman 457]

4 hours ago, bruno said:

Hi Gordon if it was clear to you the track was unfit for racing surely it was unfit for racing say 5 hours earlier so should have been called off earlier. Seems a bit strange but maybe the track staff thought it would dry out and be ok but seemed unlikely yesterday 

I think you need to read what Martin Coleman wrote on Facebook and watch Robbo’s interview. The decision to cancel the meeting was made around 1pm after the track staff had been working all morning. They thought it could be saved otherwise they wouldn’t have been working so hard.
Calling off a meeting is never easy. Calling one off when the sun is shining and there’s no threat of rain is ten times worse. 

[bruno 1,790]

1 hour ago, Gordon Pairman said:

I think you need to read what Martin Coleman wrote on Facebook and watch Robbo’s interview. The decision to cancel the meeting was made around 1pm after the track staff had been working all morning. They thought it could be saved otherwise they wouldn’t have been working so hard.
Calling off a meeting is never easy. Calling one off when the sun is shining and there’s no threat of rain is ten times worse. 

Ok thanks for replying il have a search, never an easy decision. Always easier if your not the one making the decision 

[iainb 5,017]

14 hours ago, Gordon Pairman said:

Calling off a meeting is never easy. Calling one off when the sun is shining and there’s no threat of rain is ten times worse. 

and calling it off with fans queuing at the turnstiles is 100 times worse than that.

I understand that Robbo wanted to get this meeting on after all of the failures of the past, but it's still an event that fans are expected to pay for at the end of the day.

[Dave Jones 2,127]

Definitely is , but it seems the people who run the sport will continue to offer their many reasons/excuses why an earlier call off wasn't made.

 

[Janice Jackson 71]

BSPA APPROVAL GIVEN!!

We received some great news late last night that due to the crazy that we have found ourselves in, the BSPA have given their approval to the Redcar promotion to run a 5th attempt during the season, rather than wait for the allocated October window.

We are extremely grateful for this decision, and discussions are now taking place with Redcar to come up with an alternative date for ROBBO TAKE 5!!!!

Once we have a confirmed date, we will of course communicate it out. We will do all we can to try and ensure the line-up is just as competitive as it was for the attempt last week but during the season rider availability will be a lot different

 

copied from Stuart Robson Facebook 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Janice Jackson

[Janice Jackson 71]

ROBBO TAKE 5………

We can confirm that the date for Robbo Take 5 will be SUNDAY 4TH JUNE with the meeting again to be held at the Ecco Arena, home of the Redcar Bears with a 3pm start.

Huge thanks to the BSPA for giving us another opportunity, and also to Jamie Swales for his support.

Works starts again now to get the line-up together, and we appreciate that during the season this will mean there will be a fair few amendments to the line-up, but once again we will attempt to put together the best possible line-up as a send-off for Robbo.

One big change will be that unfortunately due to the date change, this clashes with the a round of the Young Lions Speedway championship meaning we won’t be able to host any of their demonstration races this time around.

I (Martin) will contact those sponsors who had kindly agreed to sponsor parts of the Young Lions part of the meeting and work out a plan.

If there is any one out there who would be willing to contribute anything else to us as a form of sponsorship please drop us an email to robbosfarewel@hotmail.com we are trying to claw back some of the £4-5k that was spent on the last failed staging. Any support is gratefully received.

We go again!!!!!

[lisa-colette 6,031]

On 3/27/2023 at 4:38 PM, Janice Jackson said:

ROBBO TAKE 5………

We can confirm that the date for Robbo Take 5 will be SUNDAY 4TH JUNE with the meeting again to be held at the Ecco Arena, home of the Redcar Bears with a 3pm start.

Huge thanks to the BSPA for giving us another opportunity, and also to Jamie Swales for his support.

Works starts again now to get the line-up together, and we appreciate that during the season this will mean there will be a fair few amendments to the line-up, but once again we will attempt to put together the best possible line-up as a send-off for Robbo.

One big change will be that unfortunately due to the date change, this clashes with the a round of the Young Lions Speedway championship meaning we won’t be able to host any of their demonstration races this time around.

I (Martin) will contact those sponsors who had kindly agreed to sponsor parts of the Young Lions part of the meeting and work out a plan.

If there is any one out there who would be willing to contribute anything else to us as a form of sponsorship please drop us an email to robbosfarewel@hotmail.com we are trying to claw back some of the £4-5k that was spent on the last failed staging. Any support is gratefully received.

We go again!!!!!

Do you know if there any plans for it to be streamed again? 

[Janice Jackson 71]

19 hours ago, lisa-colette said:

Do you know if there any plans for it to be streamed again? 

Not sure yet , but will post as soon as I know anything 

[Bear_Bottom 516]

Take 5...

 

Simon Lambert Racing is confirmed as the first rider to once again agree to ride in the 5th attempt to run the Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting

Simon has been scheduled to ride in all previous 4 attempts and when the meeting was postponed in March, he stated on the day that if he was free on the new date then he would happily rejoin us.

Simon will remain in the Number 1 racejacket.

 

SEDGY IS BACK WITH US

2023 Birmingham Brummie and Leicester Lion Justin Sedgmen is back in the line up for Robbos Farewell on Sunday 4th June.

We would like to thank Justin for again agreeing to join us and he will again be in the number 16 racejacket.

Working hard to get the line-up into the best shape it can be for the 5th time

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Bear_Bottom

[Bear_Bottom 516]

STARKE MAKES IT 3

3rd rider from the original line-up to agree to turn out again for ours and his) 5th attempt is testimonial man Paul Starke Racing

Paul who managed to hold his successful testimonial down at Plymouth a couple of weeks ago has always been in the line-up and let’s hope this time he gets to do some laps to support Stuart

We would like to that Starkey for his consistent support of the meeting.

 

[Bear_Bottom 516]

MR TWO SPONSORED RACEJACKETS BACK AT RESERVE!!

Delighted to confirm Kyran Lyden as one of the meeting reserves again for our 5th attempt to run at Redcar on Sunday 4th June 3pm start.

Kyran has been one of the meeting reserves all the way through, but also has the honour of being the only rider that had his meeting racejacket sponsored for the full £150 AND had a 2nd racejacket also sponsored for the full amount! That takes some doing.

Kyran starts his season this Friday with Edinburgh, and we wish him the best of luck.

At this point we aren’t sure what will happen with the other meeting reserve yet. Archie has suffered a nasty injury already this season, and we will see what happens with his recovery.

[Bear_Bottom 516]

Stuart Robson Farewell Meeting

FB

 

DECISION TAKEN TO POSTPONE MEETING TO 2024

It is with great sadness, but also with good reasoning that we have taken the decision to postpone the meeting until the start of 2024.

When the 4th attempt fell foul to the weather in March, we had great support from the Redcar promotion, the BSPA, all of our sponsors and you the public in getting a date agreed for 4th June. The biggest challenge was that the original 16 line up for March, 12 of those 16 riders were unavailable for the new date due to other commitments, so we set about contacting replacements to make the event still a very competitive line-up. Unfortunately the availability of the replacement riders is such that we have had to take this decision.

“We have been discussing this for a few weeks, and although I want the meeting to go ahead I think the decision is the right one.” Said Robbo

“I can’t thank Jamie and the Redcar Promotion enough for their support, and also Martin and Chrisse for all of their work in helping with everything in the background. I want the event and the line-up to be the best it can be, and although we could try again at the end of the season, riders who are in league playoffs etc understandably don’t want an extra meeting at that time.”

“I know when we eventually get to run it will be a great meeting, and I thank everyone for their patience and kind words of support”.

We will contact all of the sponsors over the next few weeks with some more details, and also those racejacket sponsors