3 Points for a
win 1 point for a draw or was that a score draw erm…….
Well even before
the season starts some don’t want to play by the rules.
Was it Mr Silver
who said his team wouldn’t go into the Elite league even if they won promotion
? He doesn’t want an air fence etc etc
what with the new points system as well it makes it even more difficult for
committed supporters to explain to outsiders what it’s all about.
The new scoring
system may prove to be a good idea but it really does seem to be overly complicated.
This system also means that the reintroduction of the two tactical rides could
well be the difference between not just winning but getting extra points out of
a match even if you lose and you do wonder if that is right ? A meeting
recently ended 48-45 really the away side only scored 42 but of course the 3
point difference in the final score gives them a match point for well, not
being quite that good. And I can’t help but notice that at this early stage of
the Elite league season that there is a yawning gap already opening between the
top and bottom teams 9 points in fact and the difference is the team at the top
has won 2 more matches. In past seasons a difference of only 4 points – wonder
what it will be like come the end of the season? Has it been thought through?
We’ll have to wait and see!
How it was on
opening night at your local track - was it New season, fresh start or did it
seem to carry on from where last season fizzled out ?
Presentation is
everything – I know I go on about it and some may not agree but they are
usually the die –hard supporters that the sport relies on those who turn up
whatever happened the previous week or the fact that old jupiter pluvius looks
like putting a dampner on proceedings before heat 8. Remember the old 6 heat
special well now you’ve got a dead zone between heat 8 & 12 and whether you
get a result can depend a lot on how well or how bad the home team are doing -
ahem – well I digress. Attracting new supporters has to be a priority. A
meeting with a half - hour delay, no music over the P.A. system, no track
lights until about 5 minutes before the advertised start time and there is more
atmosphere on the moon - hardly a situation that would look good for a first
time visitor, particularly on a bitter cold night. And if the promoter has been
promoting like he or she should - there ought to be more than a smattering of
speedway virgins in the crowd so arguably of all meetings this one has to be
the one to get right, first impressions do count no matter what some people may
think.
To me anyway the
music and presentation particularly at tracks like Sheffield and Wolverhampton
add to the whole event so being treated to what can only be described as
test-card music at subsequent meetings – some of you may never have heard of
the test card I know – but its all that was on in the old days during the
daytime – this was well before daytime TV –mind you it may have been better
than some of today’s daytime TV but it was accompanied by non-descript library
music, you know the sort of stuff you hear in a hotel lift !
You have to wonder
why a promotion would choose to play such atmospheric music, well it may be
something to do with copyright, ordinarily if you are going to play music at a
public venue you need to have a license issued by the Performing Rights Society
(PRS), you may have seen the sticker in shop windows where music is played –
without it businesses would be breaking the copyright laws – however you can
play this test-card stuff without a licence, its non-copyright – things are
clearly more desperate than we thought !
Interestingly in
the latest programme the promotion refers to “new stringent laws” for being the
reason there is no music – well er no actually, copyright laws have been in
place for around 70 years.
We can assume one
or two things from this statement – either speedway promoters are out of touch
with reality or they think that we the paying public are. Both have a certain
ring of truth about them !!
However back to
one of the best presented speedways in the country -Wolverhampton and the Billy
Hamill farewell meeting. Not being a particular fan of such meetings we went
purely because it was for Billy. I have to say that it was an entertaining
event with some good racing and it was good to see the old Hamill/Hancock
combination back in action. I think those of us who remember seeing them in
action at Loomer Road in the ’96 season will never forget it particularly as it
was Billy’s World Championship winning season. One of the season highlights for
me was the mid season trip to Sweden organised by the Cradeley supporters club
and the late Sven Heiding. I was one of the 4 or so Stokies on that trip and
what a great few days it was, culminating in Billy’s GP win at Linkopping . I’m
sure he would have won the world championship again if it wasn’t for the
unsavoury incident at Bydgoszcz involving a certain Mr Crump – Billy was never
quite the same on the bike after that one. It was even more surprising in some
ways that Billy was able to continue racing after the nasty injuries he picked
up at Swindon some years later. But it was good to see him race his last two
seasons for the old enemy at Monmore. I think most Wolves fans wanted him to
race there well before then – but they probably wouldn’t admit it ! It’s a pity that the Speedway Star coverage
following the meeting was so sparse. However I have to say the souvenir
programme was one of the best I’ve seen. Clearly a lot went into producing it
with contributions from a great number of people. I would like to say a big
thank you to Billy from both myself and on behalf of my good friend Keith, who
passed away some years ago, for some great memories.
Another curtain
raiser for the season was of course the final ice speedway grand prix in Assen.
Something that if you have never seen - well you should !
This years trip
didn’t start off that well – you know things may not be going your way when the
handle comes off your suitcase before you get on the plane and when you
get to your destination the hotel has moved – well it’s a boat and its moved to
the other end of the dock, a ferry ride away due to re-generation work – you
begin to wonder ! add to that problems on the railway along with a lack of left
luggage facilities and the so called holiday becomes more of an endurance test
!
As good and
spectacular as ice racing is there is an even more limited situation regarding
riders than there is in the shale sport. Its often been said that there are
only a handful of riders capable of winning gp’s. Well on the ice it’s probably
down to about 2 or 3 Russians. As good as the Swede’s have been in the past
their team seems to have fallen foul of the regulations this year and they were
disqualified in the team event. Germany’s ever – popular Gunter Bauer also got
himself excluded at the same event for using the wrong silencer making it even
easier for the Russians.
The most
surprising thing for fans of ordinary speedway will be that Sweden’s two top
riders are in their early 50’s and 60’s – mind you we may be moving towards
this in the shale sport with Andrew Silver’s comeback and PK still riding in
the top flight at Wolves.
The legendary Per
Olaf Serenius (Posa) at 61 is the oldest ice racer and one of the greats in the
sport. While declaring to the powers that be the fact that he is on blood
pressure medication he was the subject of a random drug test at the world team
event in Inzell and was then made aware of another form he should have filled
in. The resulting ban for Sweden means they won’t even qualify for next years
final. And as they have traditionally always been the main challenger to
Russian dominance next years event seems even more of a forgone conclusion.
While the taking of drugs in motorsport cannot be condoned, surely there should
be some allowance made for a misunderstanding involving prescription drugs?
Particularly in view of Posa’s glittering career and exemplary conduct over the
years. Mind you he did have the last laugh by winning his 20th
national title recently so that certainly sets down a marker for any young up
and coming pretenders to the Swedish ice crown.
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