Sheffield v Peterborough Monday 3rd July

[GeneralMelchett 482]

so trying to be positive - Josh Pickering seems to have settled back in well Lewis Kerr seems to be a concern now two meetings at no 2 where he hasn;'t scored what I would expect of him given his form since arriving from KL last season.

There was local rain throughout the day at various times yesterday and it did rain fairly heavily in the evening and I did think to myself oh this couold stop the meeting. For the record wasn't there!

[bigcatdiary 3,165]

45 minutes ago, GeneralMelchett said:

so trying to be positive - Josh Pickering seems to have settled back in well Lewis Kerr seems to be a concern now two meetings at no 2 where he hasn;'t scored what I would expect of him given his form since arriving from KL last season.

There was local rain throughout the day at various times yesterday and it did rain fairly heavily in the evening and I did think to myself oh this couold stop the meeting. For the record wasn't there!

The weather forecast for some the day at Sheffield was rain, so anybody going or planning to go was pre warned, if promotions don’t provide race day updates (and Sheffield are part of that) then you risk this type of problem.

Its clear that it started to rain prior to heat 8 and then we had three heats where race times were 5 seconds slower than the previous seven, so clearly they raced it through to heat 10 and then talked about it, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the home side wanted to get to heat 10 and I dare say pit talk was over that scenario.

If the track was not raceable then they are basically saying heats 9 and 10 were completed to get a result and stuff the riders, you cannot have it both ways and yet that’s exactly what’s happened.

This is something Phil Morris should be having an input on, I dare say he wasn’t in attendance, that coupled with the fact that Horley was the referee says everything we need to know.

We decided not to travel bearing in mind the forecast and it proved to be the right one.

[Steve55 340]

What really miffed the fans last night was the fact that they rushed through heats 8 & 9 whilst it was pouring down with rain, what can be worse for the riders safety when those at the back get filled in and can't see where they're going. Jenkins actually pulled up in 8 and tootled round as he couldn't see and Ellis was totally coated at the back in 9 and lost yards as the race went on. Then the rain stopped, the riders came out on track and had a look. It was decided to grade the track and Graham Trollope brought the tractor to the gate, but then it was decided they wouldn't grade it. All the time the clouds were passing and blue sky was visible. Heat 10 then took place, Holder off gate 3 didn't get away too well but passed everyone out of bend 2 down the back straight. There was a tussle for second between Howarth and Cook and Basso rode around at the back apparently totally uninterested. That gave the fans the impression that the track WAS raceable.

Then both teams had meetings and it was obvious that it was going to be abandoned. No attempt was made to try and improve the surface, the sun was shining, there was no hint that there was more rain on the way (both visibly and on the apps) and a result they had a very unhappy crowd. If just a little effort had been put in to try and improve the track surface it would've been appreciated (after all it was only just 8.35) we all know rider safety is important, but so is making an effort so the fans get their moneys worth.  This was another bad day for this sport, no wonder it's dying on it's arse!

[marko 956]

Most tracks are so slick now that if it rains a lot you would have to wait hours for it to dry out a bit.

If tracks actually had shale on them, they could soak up the rain and then you could scrape the excess shale off and put it back on the next day to dry out.

Its what they always used to do, why has these old skills been lost and forgotten about?

[chun 175]

what happens with paying out points money?  less money gets paid out and the promoter holds onto the difference?

[iainb 5,017]

56 minutes ago, marko said:

Most tracks are so slick now that if it rains a lot you would have to wait hours for it to dry out a bit.

If tracks actually had shale on them, they could soak up the rain and then you could scrape the excess shale off and put it back on the next day to dry out.

Its what they always used to do, why has these old skills been lost and forgotten about?

You've not seen the guy at Oxford with his leaf blower then? 

I remember when the budget used to extend to bags of sawdust being thrown around to soak up the water. Sadly zero effort went into getting this meeting to continue which is what we've come to expect these days

Edited July 4, 2023 by iainb

[RS50 359]

As I left, last night, I looked at the track, and thought back to the Kings Lynn match in November last year. I remember as I arrived that day, and first saw the track, it looked awful, and I could not foresee how the match could run. However, they continued to work on the track, and we got 15 races.

The decision last night, really re-affirmed something that I have believed for some time, that the amount of effort put in to getting a match on, can vary tremendously.

[bellevueace 913]

1 hour ago, iainb said:

You've not seen the guy at Oxford with his leaf blower then? 

I remember when the budget used to extend to bags of sawdust being thrown around to soak up the water. Sadly zero effort went into getting this meeting to continue which is what we've come to expect these days

Saw many a meeting with sawdust down and riders racing through the conditions with billowing boilersuits lol, i remember going down to Wimbledon in conditions that would create an early call off today, down went the sawdust and we got through the meeting rain and all, and it was a decent meeting.

[DazS 430]

you need to look for a video of a challenge match between Newcastle and a Swedish team getingarner, something like that, back in the early eighties, started snowing halfway thru the meeting by the end of the night it was like a blizzard, they still rode and i had travelled up for a second half ride, from Manchester, and they still let us go out., i would of been fuming if they didn't. no air fence, we live in a snow flake society

Edited July 5, 2023 by DazS

[stevehone 3,429]

If rider safety is an issue for heats 11 - 15 then it should be an issue prior to that too

[szkocjasid 3,027]

Personally I think fans should get a refund if any match doesn't go to heat 15. Say £1 a heat, so anyone at Monday's match gets £5 off another Sheffield meeting this season? The promotion must be saving money not having to pay points for 5 races, so why not pass that saving onto the fans who paid for a full meeting?

[arnieg 3,643]

7 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

Personally I think fans should get a refund if any match doesn't go to heat 15. Say £1 a heat, so anyone at Monday's match gets £5 off another Sheffield meeting this season? The promotion must be saving money not having to pay points for 5 races, so why not pass that saving onto the fans who paid for a full meeting?

Because the promoter won't get a rebate on his rent, insurance, SCB dues etc and all these fixed costs have to be met.Most other sports refunds are not pro-rata ( e.g. for 75 minutes Test cricket you only get a 50% refund even though you've lost 75%+ of play.)

I think it should be based on 10 heats (then you have seen a match with a result), but should be based on 10% of the admission fee for every heat forgone (and that is indeed how some tracks operate the system at the moment).

[szkocjasid 3,027]

9 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

Personally I think fans should get a refund if any match doesn't go to heat 15. Say £1 a heat, so anyone at Monday's match gets £5 off another Sheffield meeting this season? The promotion must be saving money not having to pay points for 5 races, so why not pass that saving onto the fans who paid for a full meeting?

 

1 hour ago, arnieg said:

Because the promoter won't get a rebate on his rent, insurance, SCB dues etc and all these fixed costs have to be met.Most other sports refunds are not pro-rata ( e.g. for 75 minutes Test cricket you only get a 50% refund even though you've lost 75%+ of play.)

I think it should be based on 10 heats (then you have seen a match with a result), but should be based on 10% of the admission fee for every heat forgone (and that is indeed how some tracks operate the system at the moment).

I'm not gonna compare it to other sports because I feel Speedway is in a greater need to keep it's customers happy. 

As it currently stands the promoter's keep the full admission, but don't pay out the full points money - so technically they are better off financially by calling a match off after 10 heats, while the fans get less value for money. Surely it should be the other way round?

While you point out that clubs still have to pay rent etc, if the money refunded is £1 a heat, that's the equivalent of fans paying £15 a match to cover riders payments - the other £7 is still there to pay bills etc.

I'm sure Glasgow vs Berwick was the worst example, did it go 6 heats, so fans got £4 off? I certainly wouldn't be happy  paying like £14 for 6 heats!

[rusky 113]

13 hours ago, DazS said:

you need to look for a video of a challenge match between Newcastle and a Swedish team getingarner, something like that, back in the early eighties, started snowing halfway thru the meeting by the end of the night it was like a blizzard, they still rode and i had travelled up for a second half ride, from Manchester, and they still let us go out., i would of been fuming if they didn't.

That will be Getingarna, from Stockholm. That tour marked the first appearance of Jimmy Nilsen & Per Jonson in the UK if I recall. I was in the pits for that meeting as mechanic for rickard Hellsen and it is one of the meetings taht sticks in my memory. I remember them using rakes to clear snow right by the edge of the fence so that the riders could see where the fence was as the rest of the track was white with snow. My other memory was Tommy Nilsson with his twin cam Jawa screaming away. The journey back to Norfolk was quite interesting too with heavy snow on the way back

[DazS 430]

try tell them that today they wouldn't believe it., we used to have to get up at 4 in the morning and lick road clean with tongue.