Foxes vs Witches, Thursday 30th April

[Wolfie456]

28 minutes ago, BlueIn2Red said:

Pics can be deceiving, there wasn't enough dirt imo. A big pile on the infield (ready for stock cars on Saturday) though! I'm also a bit surprised they didn't lightly water it during grading breaks. The result was too dry and slick, meaning the outside groove didn't quite work, despite some valiant attempts from various riders. Even with these issues though, the track was still pretty good for a first attempt, very smooth, and I think it has great potential as a speedway track, a good size, shape and camber.

Great have the British Final there next year and get it away from Belle Vue 👍 

[the hobbit]

4 hours ago, FishersGate said:

What's the track looking like ? First impressions decent or concerns? Hopefully it brings some decent racing

Looks excellent. Great size and shape. Decent amount of banking on the bends. Looks a very fast track 

will only get better as it settles in and the track staff have more time to work with it. Plenty of track equipment due to arrive in the very near future so all looking very positive. 
Some good racing tonight, very impressed by both foxes reserves.
Gutted for Thomson in heat 14,  spark plug problem with half a lap to go , cost him an easy win, the foxes a 5-1 snd the crowd, a last heat decider which the meeting merited. 

Edited May 1 by the hobbit
Typo

[the hobbit]

2 hours ago, norbold said:

I've been reading on here for months that there's been no publicity, no-one in Northampton even knows there's a new speedway team, the promoters have been hopeless in…er…promoting. It'll all be doom and gloom. And yet here we are, everyone reporting a good crowd. I blame the promoters.

There were massive queues to get in, slightly delaying the start. 
I’d say 2,500-3000 fans. It was rammed 

[HGould]

8 hours ago, FishersGate said:

What's the track looking like ? First impressions decent or concerns? Hopefully it brings some decent racing

A bit smaller but it reminded me of Dudley Wood in terms of the shape of bends relative to length of straights

[paulnolan]

Well I thoroughly enjoyed my first night at the new track, even if my Foxes couldn't get the win! Let's get that out of the way first: it's not a great team and will absolutely need surgery sooner rather than later, but there were positives in the shape of Thompson and Harrison going great.

But that can be sorted. What can't be sorted is if your opening night goes wrong. And it didn't. Not by a long shot. A massive crowd - probably about 3,000 if I guesstimate right - and some good racing, with times all within a second of each other. I said good, not great, because the track will need time to bed in and neither side had anything resembling an out and out racer to test it. But the shape is good and there's some banking on three and four that can be worked with, so it's all there.

The facilities are good, even if the queue for the men's toilets at the interval was an issue, and there's room for improvement if needed. And it was a brilliant night for it, too! All in all, a success! Whether I'll be back next week is to be decided - it's £25 a go and that's not great value, even if it is the "going rate."

[bigcatdiary]

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.

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, paulnolan said:

Well I thoroughly enjoyed my first night at the new track, even if my Foxes couldn't get the win! Let's get that out of the way first: it's not a great team and will absolutely need surgery sooner rather than later, but there were positives in the shape of Thompson and Harrison going great.

But that can be sorted. What can't be sorted is if your opening night goes wrong. And it didn't. Not by a long shot. A massive crowd - probably about 3,000 if I guesstimate right - and some good racing, with times all within a second of each other. I said good, not great, because the track will need time to bed in and neither side had anything resembling an out and out racer to test it. But the shape is good and there's some banking on three and four that can be worked with, so it's all there.

The facilities are good, even if the queue for the men's toilets at the interval was an issue, and there's room for improvement if needed. And it was a brilliant night for it, too! All in all, a success! Whether I'll be back next week is to be decided - it's £25 a go and that's not great value, even if it is the "going rate."

Great to hear roughly 3k turned up re the team as you mentioned surgery that brings to one of UK speedways big issues who out there is there who would make a material difference who would come outside of the usual suspects like Kerr etc who wouldn't be much better than what they have. In the ideal world they need an Anders Thompson type rider but as we know 99% of that type of rider just won't come.

[marko]

I recall only too well from Lakeside that any afternoon practice would kill the meeting later on,  and no amount of work would be able to get it back from being slick and haggard. 

[Roger Jacobs]

4 minutes ago, marko said:

I recall only too well from Lakeside that any afternoon practice would kill the meeting later on,  and no amount of work would be able to get it back from being slick and haggard. 

And watering a dry, slick track either has no effect* or makes it too slippery.

*As they found at Foxhall in the first meeting, a sprinkle of water on virtually on a very dry surface in warm, breezy weather was completely pointless.  In the "good old days" Chris Louis and trackman Bob used to prepare the track with a good soaking while packing the shale as they went.

[szkocjasid]

Good result for Ipswich with their reserves being outscored, I always thought that was what would give them an advantage over their opposition.

Delighted for Northampton to get such a great crowd. Probably won't make the play-offs, but look to be more competitive than Birmingham & Oxford last year.

[IainB]

Thoughts on last night...

Had to queue to get into the car park, but I think I arrived just at the time when the main car park became full and they had to open the mahoosive overflow car park.

Gaining entry to the stadium was a bit of a shambles, after watching the video earlier in the afternoon where it said the e-ticket gates were situated on the left side of the turnstiles, when I approached all punters were being funnelled in through the same cordoned area, a lot were just ignoring this and just heading to the e-ticket gate and nipping under the rope, which I also did (shame on me) but because everybody was being funneled in the same way there was actually nobody using the credit card turnstile and there were another 2 cash turnstiles open to the left of the e-ticket gate, again with nobody queuing! Teething troubles I know but a bit of forethought could have been used. It took an age to get through with my e-ticket as well, not sure if there was a problem with the system as nobody seemed to be gaining entry for around 5 minutes.

Surprised to see the grandstand actually on the back straight when I entered. I then had the decision of where to stand, it was a choice between backstraight/turn 2 with a very bright sun shining directly in my eyes or turn 1, 3 or home straight. I plumped for the home straight but it was difficult to see with the perimeter catch fencing in place, especially with the sun shining on it, this ceased to be an issue when the sun set and the excellent lights took effect.

Early on gate 4 seemed to be a huge advantage but the track does show promise, as I've said earlier when it's prepared better, it was far too dry and looked a bit choppy in places, there weren't really any (successful) big blasts around the outside but some good tussles with riders easing their opponents off the line on the inside coming out of the bends. It reminded me a lot of King's Lynn with the stand, the grey fencing, the concrete infield and Buster milling about. There did seem to be a lack of sponsorship, the team, as far as I am aware are not sponsored and there were no sponsor signs on any of the fence panels, even the league sponsorship banners were non-existent.

Presentation was a bit subdued, Dave Rowe in the box and Craig Saul on the roving mic, they're both good at what they do in their own style but there was no real hype going on, no come on get behind your team, no real hyping of the riders, just the usual reading out of the heat runners and a few interviews all interspersed with music from the 80's and 90's... all very Speedway 😁

Getting out wasn't as smooth as it should have been either as we seemed to have to exit the same way we got in through the turnstiles, all of which weren't open, there didn't seem to be a big gate to let punters out and by the smell of the bogs just in front of the turnstiles, they were struggling to deal with the crowd as well 💩👃. I thought stadia had to have proper exit routes in case of the need for evacuation 🤷‍♂️

Then getting out of the car park took a while, which was to be expected with a large crowd but they did have some folk marshaling the traffic, so it wasn't quite a free for all. That's the trouble when everybody leaves at the same time though, if more tracks did what Leicester do and interview the riders in turn after every match it gives the chance for those that want to leave straight away to do so, while others not so much in a rush are still engaged, especially important I would have thought with a new team that should be trying to build a bond with their new fanbase.

Didn't see the Premiership CEO in attendance or the Chairman of the BSPL, not to say they weren't there, I just didn't see them.

All in all it was an entertaining evening and once the small teething issues have been addressed it should sit very nicely alongside the other clubs in the PL. I'll certainly be returning whenever the Lions aren't riding as it's a pretty easy 1 hour trip down the motorway for me 👍

[Derrickn]

10 hours ago, oleoleole said:

Well I was really impressed. 

A great crowd, all the facilities you need and the track looks a good shape and size with plenty of room on the banked bends.

The track was a bit slick tonight and gate 4 was an advantage but I’m sure they’ll improve the track preparation as the season progresses.

Great to see the riders going full tilt with no concerns and also good to see the crowd react so well to any Foxes heat wins. Looks like plenty of home support and not just folk there for the event which augurs well.

It's ok saying the track will get better,but with regular stock car meetings,its always going to be a case of starting from scratch with track prep.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

Congratulations to Northampton on a smooth and successful opening night - I'm glad I made the effort to check it out

An easy 2hour(ish) journey from Ipswich,  simple to find and pretty well organised parking 

A good location to take advantage of those supporters sadly missing their own teams

A great turnout (3-4k?) Lots of 'neutrals' but hopefully a good number will become regulars

Track very slick with any outside dirt pretty much unusable particularly on 1&2 where the significant descent negates the camber

A number of decent battles without oodles of passing. The general buzz of a bigger crowd meant these probably came across better than had it been an empty stadium (take note promoters - atmosphere is a big factor in perception)

I can certainly see that there should be an improvement in the racing with some relatively straight forward adjustments to prep

Gate 4 was a huge advantage , with gate 1 a graveyard - a couple of clever/experienced first bends off the less favoured gates made the difference in the Witches favour - Score totals 1) 13+2 2) 21+6 3) 22+2 4) 34+2

Decided to make a dash for it during lap 4 of heat 15 to ensure our exit was possible in decent time

Generally a very positive evening for the sport

[Bojangles]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

Getting out wasn't as smooth as it should have been either as we seemed to have to exit the same way we got in through the turnstiles, all of which weren't open, there didn't seem to be a big gate to let punters out and by the smell of the bogs just in front of the turnstiles, they were struggling to deal with the crowd as well 💩👃. I thought stadia had to have proper exit routes in case of the need for evacuation 🤷‍♂️

 

Agree with all you said, except exiting the stadium. I think it depended where you were standing. We were on bends 3/4 and there were huge gates open (as well as 3 or 4 other gates) directly leading into the overflow car park. So we managed to escape straight after heat 15, were in the car within two minutes and drove out before the congestion started. Worked perfectly us, and something to consider if you go again.

Edited May 1 by Bojangles

[GeneralMelchett]

Good to read, the sole reason I didnt go last night was i suspected a big crowd would go and there could be delays etc - but I am keen to get to see it this year sometime. Lets hope even half that crowd returns regularly!

Edited May 1 by GeneralMelchett

[CoffeeandTV]

I was quite surprised to see a fair few Northampton Saints shirts at the stadium, so there must have been some promotion done somewhere to tempt non-regulars and locals. Let's hope they enjoyed it and will return.

[IainB]

10 minutes ago, Bojangles said:

Agree with all you said, except exiting the stadium. I think it depended where you were standing. We were on bends 3/4 and there were huge gates open (as well as 3 or 4 other gates) directly leading into the overflow car park. So we managed to escape straight after heat 15, were in the car within two minutes and drove out before the congestion started. Worked perfectly us, and something to consider if you go again.

Thanks, that's good to know for next time, I was approaching the exit from turns 1 and 2... and it was a bit like trying to leave a concert.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

15 minutes ago, Bojangles said:

Agree with all you said, except exiting the stadium. I think it depended where you were standing. We were on bends 3/4 and there were huge gates open (as well as 3 or 4 other gates) directly leading into the overflow car park. So we managed to escape straight after heat 15, were in the car within two minutes and drove out before the congestion started. Worked perfectly us, and something to consider if you go again.

 

3 minutes ago, IainB said:

Thanks, that's good to know for next time, I was approaching the exit from turns 1 and 2... and it was a bit like trying to leave a concert.

I watched from the turn 2 exit (with the Danny King fan club) but moved to turn 4 for the last heat

Did the same as Bojangles - there were a number of exits direct to the field car park for a straight forward quick getaway

I was back in Ipswich by 11:15 having beforehand feared that might be the time we left the car park if there had been teething problems/delay with the meeting and then car park carnage

Thankfully there were no such issues

[Fromafar]

Great to see a positive start for Northampton. 

[mikebv]

Sounds like a big success all round...

One promoter once told me that crowds usually settle to around a quarter and a third of opening night, however that was for tracks that had "come back" so already had a following until they closed..

Not many will remember Brafield I would think, so it is more like starting from scratch in this venture so it will be interesting to see how crowd levels move...

Last nights crowd would have seen plenty of "generic" fans so, hopefully, those attending from the local area will spread the word, and the consortium also have a strong promotion package in place to build on last nights positive occasion...

Were any discount vouchers given out last night?..

The next five meetings for, say, twenty pound a throw could help get people used to attending and build some emotional attachment to "their team"..

In such a short time, the consortium have certainly done a fantastic job in getting the place open...

Let's hope healthy crowds are the norm, and the "novelty factor" remains through the season as more and more people from Northampton, and sponsors, gradually latch on to their new sport, and team...

 

 

Edited May 1 by mikebv