The Dog 413 Posted October 15, 2023 It's October, why is anyone surprised at this scenario? Just maybe, if nobody turned up because they don't want to risk wasting time and money, you might get a season that ends at the end of August or mid September when you have half a chance of seeing riders race on a half decent track and without being sat at home, race rusty, for the last few weeks before going into a 'final'. It's not rocket science. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FishersGate 522 Posted October 15, 2023 Just now, The Dog said: It's October, why is anyone surprised at this scenario? Just maybe, if nobody turned up because they don't want to risk wasting time and money, you might get a season that ends at the end of August or mid September when you have half a chance of seeing riders race on a half decent track and without being sat at home, race rusty, for the last few weeks before going into a 'final'. It's not rocket science. From people I spoke to last night il be amazed if there's more than 200 hundred that turn up for remaining fixtures. Even I'm considering not bothering just because there's a high chance of it being cancelled when the riders see the track. I'm just amazed they had a parade still and got everyone hopes up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,020 Posted October 15, 2023 (edited) 59 minutes ago, The Dog said: It's October, why is anyone surprised at this scenario? Just maybe, if nobody turned up because they don't want to risk wasting time and money, you might get a season that ends at the end of August or mid September when you have half a chance of seeing riders race on a half decent track and without being sat at home, race rusty, for the last few weeks before going into a 'final'. It's not rocket science. October ain't all bad... i was at Peterborough last Saturday night after it had been 23 degrees and fine all day. I will be going to Scunny this afternoon to watch the Cup Final as a neutral, I'll be going to see the Olimpique tomorrow. I have seen many decent matches in October and also some rain effected ones... as I have in every other month of the Speedway season. Speaking as a fan of a team whose season was over at the end of August I do not want the whole season to be over by then. Leicester f***ed up yesterday and they need calling out for it but to say the season should run from April to August is not the answer. We had a lot of heavy rain on Friday, the answer is track covers to enable matches to take place Edited October 15, 2023 by iainb 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Sidney 292 Posted October 15, 2023 4 minutes ago, iainb said: October ain't all bad... i was at Peterborough last Saturday night after it had been 23 degrees and fine all day. I will be going to Scunny this afternoon to watch the Cup Final as a neutral, I'll be going to see the Olimpique tomorrow. I have seen many decent matches in October and also some rain effected ones... as I have in every other month of the Speedway season. Speaking as a fan of a team whose season was over at the end of August I do not want the whole season to be over by then. Leicester f***ed up yesterday and they need calling out for it but to say the season should run from April to August is not the answer. I completely agree. If the season was to end in August, and it still included play offs, then some teams would be finished by end July Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Bratley 474 Posted October 15, 2023 Track covers should be mandatory for every club. Of course this won’t stop postponements if rain sets in 15 minutes before a meeting starts, or stop abandonments if it starts raining during a meeting, but it will reduce the number of postponements and nights like yesterday, considerably. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
notsojollyroger 2 Posted October 15, 2023 33 minutes ago, Mick Bratley said: Track covers should be mandatory for every club. Of course this won’t stop postponements if rain sets in 15 minutes before a meeting starts, or stop abandonments if it starts raining during a meeting, but it will reduce the number of postponements and nights like yesterday, considerably. Who pays for them? Where will they be stored? Can they be fixed to an air fence? etc. Easy to say but not easy to do or fund. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,020 Posted October 15, 2023 54 minutes ago, notsojollyroger said: Who pays for them? Where will they be stored? Can they be fixed to an air fence? etc. Easy to say but not easy to do or fund. You know we put a man on the moon (allegedly) over 50 years ago. Don't come on here with problems, come with solutions Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,644 Posted October 15, 2023 18 minutes ago, iainb said: You know we put a man on the moon (allegedly) over 50 years ago. Don't come on here with problems, come with solutions And remember how after last year Leicester assured us they had sorted out their drainage problems. Do you think that might have been wishful thinking? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Teromaafan 586 Posted October 15, 2023 1 hour ago, notsojollyroger said: Who pays for them? Where will they be stored? Can they be fixed to an air fence? etc. Easy to say but not easy to do or fund. Who paid for air fences when they were introduced? The club will have to foot the cost. In any other sport it would be seen as an investment to mitigate future financial losses. Unfortunately the people in speedway cannot see beyond next week. How about Premiership clubs spending some money on covers instead of paying money they can barely afford to so called GP level big hitters who show next to no commitment to British Speedway. Nah, of course not. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mick Bratley 474 Posted October 15, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, notsojollyroger said: Who pays for them? Where will they be stored? Can they be fixed to an air fence? etc. Easy to say but not easy to do or fund. Clubs pay for them - nowhere near the expense of an air fence, which became mandatory At the track Don't need to be fixed to the air fence, weigh them down with used tyres Costs likely to be recouped by not postponing a single meeting Edited October 15, 2023 by Mick Bratley 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,020 Posted October 15, 2023 1 hour ago, arnieg said: And remember how after last year Leicester assured us they had sorted out their drainage problems. Do you think that might have been wishful thinking? I really don't know about the drainage but I do know that drying conditions in October ain't what they are earlier in the year with hours of daylight and the strength of the sun etc. There was a lot of rain in Friday and if that's stuck in the shale without those summertime drying conditions it's always going to take longer to dry out 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skodaman 192 Posted October 15, 2023 4 hours ago, iainb said: I really don't know about the drainage but I do know that drying conditions in October ain't what they are earlier in the year with hours of daylight and the strength of the sun etc. There was a lot of rain in Friday and if that's stuck in the shale without those summertime drying conditions it's always going to take longer to dry out There was a heavy downpoor mid afternoon on the saturday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,020 Posted October 15, 2023 30 minutes ago, Skodaman said: There was a heavy downpoor mid afternoon on the saturday. That may well have been the case, I live 1 and a half miles from the track and although it came over dark there was no rain. That's not to say there wasn't any at the track... but if the track had been covered on the Friday during the whole day of rain we had, there really shouldn't have been any problem at all starting this match Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Happy Hunter 370 Posted October 15, 2023 21 hours ago, FishersGate said: The track wasn't great but I don't know where to start on who to blame. Club could have been more transparent on track conditions earlier to warn fans. They could have got one of twins to race on it earlier to see how bad it was. I can't fault Stewart or Graham the track man. Graham worked all day on it and told me it was fine from he could see. A man whose been doing it for many years by the way. I spoke to ref before and after the meeting, he said the track looked solid and fine (an hour before tapes up) and even during the track walk the riders had zero complaints. The ref said after he was surprised at the riders not wanting to ride it. I was standing right by the pits and can honestly say Lee Complin made zero effort to even hold on to the bike. He was the only rider to fall off TWICE by the way (twice the age of Dan Thompson) Even Ben Trigger done a wheelie before! What is it with Leicesters track in October? Those poor Mildenhall fans who made the long journey to leicester must be just as annoyed as I am. I totally agree with your comment about Lee Complin. My understanding is that riders testing track conditions do so at racing speed. Lee got nowhere near that. And what a convenient place to slide off gracefully - just by the pit gate. Joe Thompson did get up to racing speed and didn't seem to have a problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FishersGate 522 Posted October 15, 2023 1 hour ago, Happy Hunter said: I totally agree with your comment about Lee Complin. My understanding is that riders testing track conditions do so at racing speed. Lee got nowhere near that. And what a convenient place to slide off gracefully - just by the pit gate. Joe Thompson did get up to racing speed and didn't seem to have a problem. Thank god some one else agrees . I've heard so many so called speedway experts slander all the fans online about this. Even Lee Complins wife went online to defend him. I was standing right in front of where Lee fell off and everyone all said (even the steward ) that he didn't make any effort . Surprise surprise he fell off at Workington today also. You should have seen Stewart Dicksons face when Lee fell...he wasn't best pleased put it that way.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
