bigcatdiary

Well I have been to two prem matches this season Northamptons first and Ipswich BHM and they both started at least 30 minutes after the official start time, frankly it’s a mess and unfortunately it happens more often than not.

I think they should start at the official start time

Riders should get the points they score on the day, 3, 2, 1, 0, it worked well for years and everyone including the fans could understand it, this constant tinkering, last chance qualifying cobblers should be binned. 20 heats, top 8 to two Semis and then a final, it’s fair and no one could argue against it.

Did you miss the exit in the middle of bends 1 & 2 (at the back fence) which had a security person on it, this led into the pits car park and the main car park at the rear, this was opened at the end of the meeting, we got straight out after leaving at the end of heat 15.

Our first visit and we found it easily, the car park is massive and getting in was fairly easy despite a very large crowd, food outlets seemed ok although we didn’t try them but plenty around us did. The grass banks were somewhat uneven to walk on but there was plenty of room despite a huge crowd and we eventually settled at the back of the first bend. Viewing was good and the speakers was clear and certainly loud enough, probably a bit too loud. The track unfortunately wasn’t, it looked a good shape and prior to the meeting looked ok as they watered it but clearly the damage had been done in the afternoon From the first heat it was clear that despite a long run to the first bend their wasn’t much dirt on the track and most heats were processional after the first corner, their were a few overtakes but they were few and far between and the majority of the heats were decided at the the gate. We were aware that a lot of the track surface was brought in from Peterborough's circuit but being a hot sunny day and with the afternoons practice it clearly hadn’t been watered enough and it very soon showed with dust after just a few races. The meeting was conducted at a fairly brisk pace and several riders tried to overtake using the bend banking but despite going wide it was clear their just wasn’t enough material on the outside to provide the grip to get by which was a shame for such a good opening crowd. We managed to get out quick and got home to Peterborough in about 45 minutes but the racing wasn’t good enough to tempt us back on a regular basis although we might return if it improves.

Correct and preparing crap tracks that provide little chance of anyone making a pass after missing the gate just makes every meeting a gating competition.

I disagree, I think they should properly prep the track every time, that way if it gets on the track is set up for good racing, this match clearly wasn’t a good watch.

Report indicates they delayed watering because of the clouds, which clearly affected the racing.

Shame isn’t the right word, a blue groove after 4 heats is an utter disgrace of track prep. This league never learns does it

Certainly weaker when missing one of the top two but that’s the chance you take when you build teams that way.

My point exactly, it’s clearly a major problem so it needs sorting

Well if their wasn’t their probably is now after the latest statement.

To be fair it’s probably accurate as is him saying speedway in the UK is woefully promoted, I’m not sure many of the UK fan base will argue with that after the winter we have just had. Whether he will make a difference remains to be seen, reminds me a bit of Posselwaite at Reading, this was a bloke who was going to do wonders and rubbish cucumbers and achieved very little after spending an awful lot of money and famously changing the Racers to Bulldogs, more like Bull$hyte.

Tungate is very hit and miss full stop. Well overrated and his reliability is questionable at best

Lynn finish bottom most years

Done

Nailed on

But will he get a ACU licence

100% right, no one wants it.

And then they ruined it by using frozen fillets in the end and it wasn’t the same after that

I managed to get a chat with my local postman yesterday as he delivered a parcel and he readily confirmed what a lot suspected that the sorting offices are holding mail back and then releasing it for big deliveries on certain days, they call it streaming where they save mail up for delivery to save them doing the rounds for just the odd letter in a street, I am not sure how that fits with first class postage rates or promises but he readily accepts it’s happening and causing them long days sometimes when it’s heavy as it is this time of year., interestingly I still haven’t received my star this week which is somewhat unusual but it does happen occasionally.

Nothing official, yet

Nothing has been said or hinted at by anyone involved.

Royal Mail do make it difficult to make a complaint but freepost via customer services gets a pretty quick reply, but it’s clear that the problem is sorting offices who are clearly holding post back and just sending it out on certain days. My local postman is very helpful and says if it comes out for delivery to them it all gets done that day, which just supports the view that some of it just gets held back, we get very little post Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursdays we get loads and then it’s back to very little if anything Fridays and Saturdays. My star generally arrives on Thursdays but occasionally it’s later and I have even had it Mondays, which again from where it’s printed and posted (20 miles away) isn’t terribly brilliant on a first class postage. Like a lot of others I have considered the internet version but I do prefer a hard copy and the difference in price isn’t much help, editorial tell me it’s expensive for the internet version as well.

Or much more importantly can Belle Vue afford to just stage one