Jayne

Just to correct a few things Tim approached Buxton for a team spot when he was released by Stoke. Rightly or wrongly we gave him a spot as we knew we were looking for at least one heat leader due to Adam Allott not racing this year. Tim also wanted to be captain again something which we agreed to give him a chance with. As for practising at Buxton the track is available for practice by arrangement with Richard Moss at any time and the only practise he along with the rest of the team couldn't attend was press/practice day as the track was still partly under snow. With regards to water in the toilets this only applied to the men's and I believe there was hand sanitiser available instead. Unfortunately the showers suffered a burst pipe which put them out of action. Would be surprised anyone wanted to use them anyway as it was far too cold to be undressed.

Meeting Cancelled. Sorry folks but the weather has beaten us today.

You are not wrong on both counts Sandie

Well the snow has finally gone and hopefully the USA Future team will fetch some sunshine with them for today's opening meeting of the 2012 season at Buxton. USA Future feature Dylan Black, Mikey Buman, Aaron Fox, Russell Green, Gino Manzares, Brad Pappalardo and Bryce Starks. Buxton line up as Richard Andrews, Ryan Blacklock, Robert Branford, Dean Felton, Michael Neale, Luke Priest, Tim Webster. Start time is 3pm as usual.

Admission prices have been increased by 50p across the board.

Well the snow didn't arrive but the rain came instead. It finally stopped around 3.30pm so it proved to be the right decision in the end.

Richard Andrews is the final member of the 2012 Hitmen, full details at www.buxtonhitmen.co

Ben Taylor is the latest rider to be announced for the 2012 Hitmen - full story at www.buxtonhitmen.co

Not top secret at all but maybe there are circumstances which dictate when we can announce the remaining riders.

All fixtures are due to be released tomorrow.

15 years old Michael Neale joins the Hitmen at reserve full story at www.buxtonhitmen.co

The answer in the past has been the Conference/National Trophy competition for those who want extra meetings with some silverware up for grabs. It didn't take place last year due to lack of interest perhaps it will be revived for 2012, time will tell.

It is a bit late or should that be a bit early

Ryan Blacklock returns to the Hitmen for a second successive season in 2012. Full story at www.buxtonhitmen.co

I think that some common sense has to prevail regarding patriality in the legal sense and in respect of eligibility for riding in the NL with regards to those riders under 17. After all it is the league that makes the rules regarding elibility not the government otherwise all EU riders would be permitted to race if you applied the letter of the law. As I said I am not privy to all in the ins and outs of the situation but I believe that the delay was due to the Heeps family having to firstly apply for the correct documents and then produce them to the BSPA. I believe Cameron was eligible for a British passport but did not actually have one and the delay in him being cleared to ride occurred whilst he was applying for it. I have only tried to answer the question but if you want the finer details then you need to contact either the BSPA office or the Mildenhall promotion. As for Nick Morris I am not aware of him being refused permission to race in the NL in 2011, as you say his father is English and Nick holds a current British passport which was produced when he rode for Buxton in 2010. There were plenty of questions from other clubs, myself included but it was dealt with and authorised by the BSPA after a lot of work and correspondence between the relevant parties.

My understanding is that Cameron qualifies to ride in the NL due to his Mother either being British or holding a British passport (can't remember which.) I think the confusion arises as the Borders Agency don't recognise patriality rights until you are 17. I dont know all the ins and outs but I'm pretty certain that the delay in allowing him to ride was due to the 'red tape' in the production of the necessary paperwork.

They are actual averages.

Lowering the points limit is not the answer, and would only be a short term solution. It will dilute the product and the riders competing will have inflated averages at the end of the year which makes it harder for them the following year. Whatever the points limit is set at, a team will still need to score 46 points to win a meeting.

I just dont think the track was that bad and if it was why did the Mildenhall riders/promotion not ask the referee to inspect it. What I get fed up of is the fact that the track is prepared the same every week but people can't or won't accept that. I don't have anything to do with preparing the track and wouldn't know where to start so I cant accept any credit for it at all. One thing I can guarantee though is that the track was not prepared any differently after the Mildenhall meeting.

The track is 'prepped' the same every week but the weather plays a huge part at Buxton. This years crowds aren't particularly down on last year but the sad fact is costs keep increasing but the crowd base doesn't increase in line with the costs. We have never had average crowds of 300 (even in 2010 when we won everything!!!), if we did we wouldn't have any worries

Luke belongs to Sheffield.

Not insulting at all but I wish it was in the region of 300 dont think there would be a problem then!!! As for saying the riders need more than £10 per point then that is fine but what happens if you havent got the funds to do that? I know several riders who were promised more than that and are outstanding wages from their respective clubs and it seems to happen every year. Buxton could agree to pay riders £30 per point but it wouldn't last long and the club would soon be bankrupt as there is not sufficient income to sustain high wages. Saying that though the problem has always existed in the third tier and I guess it will do long after we are not here. The costs are too high for everyone riders included especially as next year sees the new silencers as compulsary in the NL.

Jayne has actually and we will wait and see what the AGM brings and the costs involved before making any decisions. It gets harder and harder to compete with the 'rich' clubs every year and something really needs to be done about the costs involved to everyone, promoters and riders alike. The sad fact is that there is not enough riders around of the required standard and you cannot expect supporters to pay £10+ for an inferior product. It will be an interesting winter again that is for sure.

I just think supporters are very quick to judge tracks that call meetings off. We were also looking forward to the meting today which would have been our final meeting of the season. A lot of work has gone in to advertising the meeting in the Buxton area with Zoe our press officer generating a lot of interest with the local radio station. Also a lot of work has gone into producing the programmes from a number of people and it all turned out to be for nothing. We made an early decision based on the weather we had over the last few days and the forecast for today to save people travelling unneccessarily.

Unfortunately not much we can do about the weather greyhoundp. It has been raining here since Wednesday and although this morning was dry it started again about 1pm and is still raining now, not sure what you would have us do about that.