bigcatdiary

That’s four live meetings I have watched this year and a problem where one gate was so much better or one was dreadful has surfaced in every one of them. The closeness of the match kept this meeting alive as it certainly wasn’t the quality of the racing which was generally gate and go with the odd pass now and then, the middle section of the track was hopeless and really slick, with very little grip as riders found out. Quite why tracks are not prepared to ensure gates are as even as possible and at least some grip everywhere to offer riders the chance to pass opponents is beyond me. Their didn’t appear to be a vast amount of spectators watching, having some knowledge of Birmingham I am assuming most of the supporters were watching from inside due mainly to the weather as well as the view from trackside which is limited at best, but the home supporters went home happy following the expected decision after Pawlicki went down as the Kurtz exclusion settled the match in Birminghams favour.

Thanks Tim

I take it the draw follows practice tomorrow afternoon

I think it’s fairly common knowledge that Buster won’t splash the Wonga for any rider.

Is the correct answer

Pretty easy really, let the meeting referee call it, and take it out of the hands of staging promotions. Its been done before.

Most people just ignore the idiot in the first place

So what’s new, it’s been like that at Lynn for ages

A friend at Lynn said nothing was said about John Louis at all which is a real shame because of his standing within the sport.

Fair point and more eloquently put than the other idiot. No doubt most Workington fans are connected to the Workington social feeds, unfortunately I am not, other sources suggested Cook had dislocated his thumb.

Nothing stupid about it at all, Cook fell in his second ride and withdrew, I think it’s reasonable to expect an update as to the latest position on his injury and whether he rides or a replacement. Workington has an official website, it would be a good idea to use it.

Nothing on their official website, not even a match report from last night, that’s poor especially as the gate opens at 1pm for the second leg

Sounds like two ambulances would have saved the show tonight being held up. I bet it’s freezing, normally is on nights like this

Lynn missing at least one according to the pictures

All 49, and how did that work out

The Superheat seriously favours teams with two big hitters and as it’s said when you have an aggregate bonus point up for grabs it isn’t necessary.

Heat 2 - Admittedly he might have been watching the race winner when Kemp locked up and was collected by Thompson but if he didn’t actually see it surely their are others in the box with him (timekeeper, announcer, incident recorder, he can ask surely. Heat 3 - No Excuses here, I am reliably informed by an ex referee of many years standing that when using start posts they automatically check after the tapes go up that the start Marshall has removed it from the track, otherwise the red lights go on, of course that’s also assuming he wasn’t aware that the rule had changed and that start posts were not being used this year. Heat 14 - It seemed fairly clear from my TV view that Kemp touched the tapes, BSN made a point that the wind might have played a part in blowing the tapes but it still meant Kemp had moved. Thats the only 3 decisions he really had to make in the match and he made a mess of all 3.

SCB press statement on the SCB website today stating the referees decisions and incidents are being investigated.

I think everyone in the stadium and watching thought that unfortunately the one person that didn’t was Watters, heaven alone knows what he was thinking. For a referee of his standing to come to a decision like he did suggests he is past his sell by date and needs his ticket pulled, the other two decisions he made just support that.

Utter drivel

What apart from the uneven gates all night and very little racing or passing. Yes brilliant, that and a totally incompetent referee, yeah superb entertainment, fans will be flocking back.

They were all shocking decisions by someone who has been a referee for years, basic errors that shouldn’t happen. And yet as someone mentioned we had two grading breaks when no grading was done, gate 4 was a shocking advantage whilst gate 2 was dreadful, this matter needed sorting out early doors, they did nothing which unfortunately made racing in the first half generally from the gate and very predictable.

Is the correct answer

I watched it courtesy of BSN who I am pleased to say again made a very decent show of it. The track was dreadful, the starting area was just ridiculous, gate four was so good nearly everyone won from it, you could count the number of genuine passes on one hand and gate 2 was as bad as gate 4 was good. Clearly both teams were suffering from match practice and it was close so it kept the meeting watchable. The Referee “Dave Watters” had three decisions to make all night and cocked them all up big time, the first when Kemp totally locked up and was collected by Thompson in heat 2 was frankly embarrassing, how on earth that wasn’t Kemp excluded, Thompson awarded second and Wojdylo third is anyone’s guess. Then we had the starting gate pole left out on track in heat 3 when it clearly obstructed Palm Toft, my understanding is these are not allowed any more, so that was missed by the start Marshall and the referee who both should have known that. Interestingly it wasn’t used again after that. And the third cock up was Kemp hitting the tapes in heat 14 which should have resulted in his exclusion but again the referee did nothing. BSN announced a FIM referee was also watching near the booth and was approached for his comments but declined to comment, I bet he did. Clearly the previous days weather didn’t help track preparation but why isn’t this track ever a decent racing strip which allows some kind of passing and close racing, despite many years and quite a few changes. I was also surprised that their didn’t appear to be too many watching for the first match of the season.

It’s Dave Watters, this is usual standard for him