Week 1 - Why can't we have nice things?

In the first blog of the new season, I'm going to talk about week 1. I was expecting us by this point to have waltzed through the opening week of the season with no controversy, all of the winter rantings and goings on forgotten now the racing has started and be well on our way to a jam packed Easter of speedway. Apparently not.

The Belle Vue Fiasco

Deary me. Where do you start?


In possibly the most believable unbelievable thing that's ever happened, the best thing to happen to British Speedway in years, the launch of the National Stadium (© Manchester City Council) descended into a farce at the first opportunity with the meeting called off due to an unfit track. A sell out crowd waited for an hour after the start time, some having been in the stadium for many hours prior to this, before they bravely decided to face the fans..... and sent Coventry's Chris Harris out to face a furious packed house and explain the track was unfit.


Those who know me know that I'm a snob and love my big name stars. I'm often mocked for suggesting I'd pay to watch Matej Zagar ride around Brandon by himself. Despite this I decided to not to bother with the best line up (GPs excluded) that we have seen in years. It just felt like something was always going to go wrong, and with having to purchase tickets in advance it's not like a judgement call could be made on the day. This has turned into the most Belle Vue thing to happen to Belle Vue in recent years. The twitter hash tag of #bellevuedit has been around a while now and will no doubt be back out in force over the coming weeks! My decision not to go didn't change the fact I really wanted it to be a success. There are lots of Belle Vue fans who really deserve this to be a success and to suggest I'm envious of the stadium is an understatement, especially with speedway coming to an end at Brandon.


The terrible press from this all around, with sites such as BBC and motorcycle news running negative coverage of the event (both of whom normally have little to no interest in speedway), has the potential to bury Belle Vue so where do they go from here?


There are lots claiming that this is no different to if the first meeting was rained off, however with more and more rumours coming out suggesting Belle Vue knew the track was going to be unfit earlier in the week it becomes very different. Every fan in the stadium would have accepted if rain had called the meeting off, but this was a huge oversight by somebody. We just don’t know who, nor are we ever likely to find out as is the speedway way!


Belle Vue claimed in their original press release concerning the call off that the call off was largely down to the poor winter weather, after one of the kindest winters for many a year. The suggestion in the release was that some winter weather had been unexpected. Perhaps it was that weather conditions this winter were actually too good to complete building work? Who knows! There was no responsibility taken by the Belle Vue management for all those who had spent a lot of money and time on the meeting. Another press release was due to explain to fans what would happen concerning a re staging and ticket information. A poor hastily written press release but surely the next press release was going to be better? Wrong!


The next press release was even worse, with David Gordon having a go at supporters blaming Belle Vue, stating it wasn't anything to do with them. He lays into the contractors and states that none of the failures at the meeting were down to Belle Vue speedway. So who are fans to blame? The winter weather? The contractors? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but people paying their ticket money for the meeting entered into a contract with Belle Vue speedway and not the contracting group. Still no mention of refunds or any sort of apology. If nothing else, the way Saturday was handled, keeping fans in the dark and not telling anyone what was going on during the massive delay surely deserves an apology? Maybe not!


Surely, though, the BSPA would help Belle Vue get through one of the most costly disasters we've had for a while? No. Chapman couldn't wait to stick the knife in. He is 100% correct in that the meeting was a Belle Vue promoted event and not a shared event (although from belle Vue's press releases you'd be forgiven for thinking they had absolutely nothing to do with it either!). The rest of the press release throws them straight under the bus, getting upset about the damage it does to the rest of British Speedway, because obviously no other clubs ever do damage to the sport with their decisions. The most pathetic section of the statement is the section stating how they didn't name it the National Stadium. I'm quite sure had Saturday been a success it would have been described by the BSPA as a landmark fabulous event for British Speedway. Yet it's us fans who are fickle, obviously.


From here Belle Vue have to try and re stage the event to try and keep as much of the original ticket money as they can. It won't have the same calibre of line up and it will no longer be the opening of the new era but financially the less they can pay out on refunds the better. Refunds will have to be offered. This should have been avoided and someone was to blame. If Belle Vue had any idea the track wasn't going to be ready they had to call off the meeting earlier to stop people travelling and prevent this nightmare. Most people would have accepted that.


The videos from the meeting make the track look perfectly raceable but if it was already cutting up and the base was moving it's nigh on impossible to race, much like Wroclaw. If Harris says it's not raceable it almost certainly isn't - he'd ride on near enough anything!


The lucky thing for Belle Vue is that the ticket prices for the first meeting and the need to pre book means it's unlikely that they most many, if any, new fans that afternoon. The Belle Vue fans will mostly still go anyway so in the long run it probably hasn't done too much damage to attendances but the short time financial implications are the bigger issue. I have no doubt Belle Vue will recover from this, and I'm looking forward to my first visit, but how they handle the next step is crucial. It's not looking promising though, since Cradley/Wolves have already seemingly announced they won't be going there over Easter before Belle Vue have done.


In a world where everything changes all the time though, it's nice to know that the new Belle Vue era has started exactly as expected. #BelleVuedIt


Opening Meetings

Is it time we started getting rid of these opening meetings? Riders no doubt command the same money for challenge matches as they do a regular meeting, and with crowds down on regular meetings they almost certainly lose money.


Over last weekend, we had the pointless Elite Shield (it's not a real trophy, it never has been) and 2 of the worst individual line ups I've ever seen at Lakeside and Plymouth. The Lakeside one in particular was bizarre, as it seemed to contain entirely riders from this years Lakeside squad, and even then I'm not sure that it had all of them in.


Some premier league clubs started with the league cup. Surely that's a better way to do it? Not the real business of a league match but a match that actually means something.


Time to scrap them?


What makes a rider likeable?


I've suggested on twitter this week that I don;t understand why our fans are so excited about the prospect of Woryna. He's not especially exciting or especially good. He pops a good wheelie and looks happy to be here. For me there has to be something a bit more special in a rider for them to make my yes column. I appreciate everyone is different but what are other peoples views?


The lad deserves a fair crack at it, and he certainly is far more on the pace than Jamrog, however he hasn't turned up and wiped the floor with anyone or done anything exciting at present. You'd be forgiven for thinking Woryna had turned up and beaten Woffinden, Hancock and Pedersen the way our official club twitter and some fans were talking.


I, amongst others, am often criticised for criticising riders and not giving them a fair chance, but building them up too much can have an equally damaging effect on the riders in question. I want the lad to do well, it's better for the Bees if he does, but let's keep this over hyping down to a minimum for now shall we?!


The one thing that is certain, the scientific formula behind the most likeable rider around would be to take Hans Andersen and change every single aspect about him.






I'll be doing these blogs most weeks. It's a good way to get the ranting off my chest without making those who stand near me at Brandon listen. Hopefully some of you find them interesting. As always, feedback appreciated.