secsy1 213 Posted March 14 Going back in time to surely promoters had more sense, than now. Why on earth are every team trying to start the season too early. Postponements rife already and who wants to watch sub standard racing in poor conditions. Not only do the paying public suffer, the riders costs are escalated with all the cleaning and maintenance of the bikes. By the way, when do all the other smart countries start their seasons. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ch958 2,395 Posted March 14 mid April to mid October for me, especially with the fewer fixtures, mid March is too early. Maybe they can't wait to start losing money! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lefty 1,268 Posted March 14 At least wait until the clocks go forward. It's warmer and brighter (allegedly) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IronScorpion 1,407 Posted March 14 2 hours ago, secsy1 said: Going back in time to surely promoters had more sense, than now. Why on earth are every team trying to start the season too early. Postponements rife already and who wants to watch sub standard racing in poor conditions. Not only do the paying public suffer, the riders costs are escalated with all the cleaning and maintenance of the bikes. By the way, when do all the other smart countries start their seasons. Polish media & practice sessions already taking place hence a few riders dropping out of meetings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,016 Posted March 14 5 hours ago, secsy1 said: Why on earth are every team trying to start the season too early. So they can shut down for the summer! 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,276 Posted March 14 (edited) 6 hours ago, secsy1 said: Going back in time to surely promoters had more sense, than now. Why on earth are every team trying to start the season too early. Postponements rife already and who wants to watch sub standard racing in poor conditions. Not only do the paying public suffer, the riders costs are escalated with all the cleaning and maintenance of the bikes. By the way, when do all the other smart countries start their seasons. There seems to also always be a fair few injuries "early doors" too, which could be put down to damp, inconsistent, surfaces and a lack of practice on such tracks... Edited March 14 by mikebv Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawk127 1,359 Posted March 14 In the good old days when most clubs ran weekly meetings an early season start with challenge matches etc. to get race fit seem to be the norm. Now with a much smaller league and some clubs running once every two/three weeks, I really do not understand why racing starts in March and then you have the lack of meetings in the height of summer. I accept that riders have more European meetings etc and demands on the track time in each country but surely it is time that the idiots in charge of the sport in this country worked out a formula that catered for the UK market/punter. Who wants to stand on a cold wet terrace in March or October. Yes it had to happen years ago because of the number of teams but the sport today is a shadow of its former self and many of today’s promoters would not have coped in the 70’s, 80’s and even the 90’s. Today a meeting gets called off on a forecast, not actually what the weather is like and they wonder why punters, think the sport is a joke with riders who cannot be bothered and promoters who not only fail to promote but can’t even get a meeting on when you have a bit of drizzle. It is not as if many tracks attract the opposing teams supporters, not many travel to away meetings so call offs could be left to the last minute as it is mainly only local support trundling along to see the match and very few turn up hours before the start so ample time to inform all of a call off. Is it any wonder no one outside the diehards credit speedway as being professional. Exhilarating it maybe but that in itself does not make up for the rest of it failings. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
orion 7,615 Posted March 15 4 hours ago, Hawk127 said: . Today a meeting gets called off on a forecast, not actually what the weather is like and they wonder why punters, think the sport is a joke I would think most punters would think is was a joke if you never called a meeting off because of a bad forcast ... its just common sense 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E I Addio 15,845 Posted March 15 6 hours ago, orion said: I would think most punters would think is was a joke if you never called a meeting off because of a bad forcast ... its just common sense Agreed. We have to remember that promoters lose money by calling a meeting off. I forget exactly how the system works but Jon Cooke used to say that once you get to a certain point the losses run into several thousand pounds so that money is saved by earlier call offs. Cooke used to have about 3 or4 weather forecasts from different sources before calling a meeting off. It’s a difficult decision for promoters and they sometimes get it wrong. A pain for the fans when meetings get called off, but when the sport is being run on a shoestring anyway it hits them hard in the pocket if meetings are called off too late. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marko 956 Posted March 15 Rinse and repeat every season, its why I won’t bother with the BSN stuff anymore, not the fault of BSN but promoters constantly take the mick calling meetings off on a whim without making any real effort to get it on. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris116 756 Posted March 15 So we had two planned meetings on Thursday. One went ahead on a damp track and the other was called off. Some supporters have said that the meeting that went ahead should have been called off and at the same time others have criticised the promotion who called their meeting off for not trying to run. Seems to me that whatever the two promotions had done they would be told they had done the wrong thing! I constantly read that promoters don't have a clue but when there are only two possible actions in a situation both courses of action are criticised. Maybe this shows just how difficult it is to run a speedway track and maybe we should accept that while we all think we understand how things should be run, we are not the ones who can lose a fortune running the sport. 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marko 956 Posted March 15 Question, if rain offs cost that much, why bother attempting to run in March anyway? If no meetings were planned then there is zero chance of a rain off and zero chance of losing money! Speedway should be every week from May to August, no exceptions That’s 16 weeks plus right there, fools! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skodaman 192 Posted March 16 10 hours ago, marko said: Question, if rain offs cost that much, why bother attempting to run in March anyway? If no meetings were planned then there is zero chance of a rain off and zero chance of losing money! Speedway should be every week from May to August, no exceptions That’s 16 weeks plus right there, fools! And there will still be rain offs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marko 956 Posted March 16 3 hours ago, Skodaman said: And there will still be rain offs Much less chance in May to August but if they really felt that way then why even bother to try and run at all, it’s all or nothing, you can’t be half pregnant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,276 Posted March 16 10 minutes ago, marko said: Much less chance in May to August but if they really felt that way then why even bother to try and run at all, it’s all or nothing, you can’t be half pregnant. The main issue is that they have to try and "get in early" before Poland kicks off.. That way they are (almost), guaranteed that "the top lads" are available.. By May, the Polish leagues would be well under way, and those teams doing less well in particular, would be doing what they could to improve their situations.. Plenty of practice sessions and doctors notes have been sorted before.... And, as we know, in this country, it can rain at any time of the year.. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
