One of the surprises
following the Promoters Annual Conference was that the third tier of British
Speedway was to have a major revamp. The Conference League was to be renamed
the National League and according to the BSPA press release of 17th November
2008 it “is aimed at producing young and talented riders that want to pledge
their future to British Speedway”. Dave Pavitt has been given the job of
overseeing and managing the formation of the new league which he said “This is
great news for British Speedway, I have been chasing this dream for the last
few seasons and it has finally been delivered. Fans will see a good value
league that will produce some of the world’s top Speedway Stars.”
Although at present details
of the league are still very scare some possible problems spring to mind.
A) How many of the teams in
the league will be running their meetings on week days. When the third tier
started back in 1994 as Division 3 it was as a weekend league so that riders
didn’t have to give up any work time to take part. Gradually over the years
meetings began to be held on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays and a number of the
proposed new members of the league, Isle of Wight and Bournemouth (Poole), are
likely to increase the number of non weekend meetings. So either riders and
their driver/mechanics have to give up work time or visiting teams turn up with
weaken teams which is hardly good for the fans.
B) Costs. In 2008 there were
stories going the rounds about teams attempting to buy success by paying riders
over the odds and some of the journeys that certain riders make to ride their
home meetings who suggest that they were paid very well, enjoyed motorway
driving or couldn’t stand their local promoter. With higher average riders from
the Premier League being allowed into the league in 2009 will more teams be
tempted to buy success?
C) Crowds. At least one of
the 2009 teams, Bournemouth, will either be running as a double header or when
the main team is not riding. The question will the fans turn up in sufficient
numbers especially if they are not used to watching “lower level” racing.
People talk about wanting to see junior racing and seeing riders progress
through the ranks but based on previous history the sad fact is that when they
are asked to put their hands in their pockets and watch junior racing the vast
majority find something else to do.
Some further things from the
press release filled me with more confidence about the new league. Mr Pavitt
was quote as saying “It will recognised by the association (BSPA) in a
professional light with rules and regulations falling in line with the Premier
and Elite leagues, including the use of rider averages” so hopefully some of
the more bizarre rulings with have seem in past seasons in the CL will be no
more.
Mr Pavitt when on to say “It
will be run in a more professional manner then has ever been seen in the third
tier of British Speedway before” which after events in 2008 can only be a good
thing.
The Four Team Championship
was originally scheduled for Plymouth on 16th August but for reasons which no
one in authority cared to explain to the speedway public it was cancelled a
week before and rescheduled for Stoke on 18th October. The 8 teams involved
were split into two 8 heat semi finals with the top two from each semi
progressing to an 8 heat final to determine the championship. Due to earlier
rain making the track surface difficult, the poor weather forecast and the need
to get 24 heats of speedway completed in 2 hours the SCB referee Chris Durno
suggested that rather than the programmed schedule of racing one semi and then
the other the format used at the PL fours be used i.e. heats from semis be run
alternatively. At first the powers that be turned down this suitable suggestion
as they said it would confuse the fans but in the end common sense prevailed
and the Durno/PL format was used. So at 7.30 racing began but due to track
conditions there were numerous falls, especially on turns 3 and 4, and reruns
and the always ambitious aim of completing 24 heats in 2 hours looked hopeless.
At the end of heat five of the final Weymouth and Redcar were tied on 10 points
and the announcement was made that due to the curfew the final two heats would
be cancelled and heat 6 would decide the championship. In this heat Jay Herne
beat Richard Lawson and so ensured that Weymouth were crowned champions and
Redcar were left to wonder what would have happen if the final two heats had
not be cancelled as they would have had Adam McKinna and James Cockle riding
who in their previous 3 heats had both scored 8 points.
The report of the meeting in
the following weeks Speedway Star contained various statements from people
involved which make interesting if confusing reading.
Dave Tatum the Stoke promoter
said “Stoke was purely the staging track… I had spoken to Peter Morrish and he
had gone with a 7.30 start. For some reason people said that it appeared on
teletext that it was a 7pm start but monthly had gone out officially from this
club to say that. It was in the local media and Speedway Star as a 7.30pm
start. We have a 9.30pm curfew and we can be fined if we exceed that unless
there are certain circumstances such as an ambulance being on the track or a
large number of incidents. But come what may 10pm is the absolute limit and
there was no way we could go beyond that”
Peter Morrish the CL
controller said “To run 24 heats in 2 hours might have been ambitious and maybe
we should have started at 7pm but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I don’t think
too many can complain because we only missed two races. It’s done and dusted
now and at least we didn’t need to come back again”
My comments from the
terraces to the Tatum/Morrish statements are that the problems were not helped
by the start time of 7.30.
Mr Tatum seems to be taking
the Nuremberg defence; of I was only obeying orders. This may be true but did
you point out the fact that when Stoke has previously staged the championship
in 2004 and 2005 the start time had been 6.30 and in 2006 7.00 and bearing in
mind the curfew and the weather associated with the time of year better to be
safe than sorry and go for an earlier start. Dave has claims that nothing
official was issued by the club saying that the meeting started at 7.00. So who
told teletext and when he found out they were saying it was a early start why
didn’t he contact them to correct the mistake because not everyone reads the
Stoke Sentinel or the Star and who told the programme printer to put 7.00 on
the cover? Also if 10pm is the absolute limit why didn’t heat 6 finish until
10.10?
Mr Morrish seems to accept no
blame for the full number of heats not being run but why didn’t he based on
past experience go for an earlier start especially when we are taking about
Stoke where completing 15 heats in less than 2 hours is an event rarer than
finding hens teeth or rocking horse droppings.
So hopefully the National
League shared events are run more professionally next season and that start
times allow for any curfews as per rule 6.8.2 “any time limitation or curfew is
adhered to” Afterall it is proving more difficult to get planning permission
for new tracks and curfews are often imposed so imagine the outcome if a
protestor stood up at a planning meeting and said why impose a curfew even the
governing body of the sport can’t or will not stick to it.
S.Bear