Cemetary circuit 2007: Farce

[steve74]

we are only seeing one side of this story, assuming that all the facts given in the first thread are correct then this is a true shame. to me this is not the fault of any rider, nor any team, or MNZ for that matter.
Someone made the decision, under pressure or influence from those with the big cheque books?.....maybe?
Either way I think MNZ should step in and ensure it dosnt happen in the future. The riders deserve a formal explenation if nothing else!!

as for "done in the interests of safety". - How is sending riders out in the rain pushing hard to qualify when the grids were pretty much pre allocated safe??

my hats off to those boys that did the wet qualifying!!

[sunhuntin]

as for "done in the interests of safety". - How is sending riders out in the rain pushing hard to qualify when the grids were pretty much pre allocated safe??

my hats off to those boys that did the wet qualifying!!

thats a damn good point.
and honestly, who truly thinks racing is safe anyway? theres a good chance of a pile up no matter where on the grid or skill level a rider is placed.
racing is risky no matter what, and that is half the thrill of it.

[Cleve]

thats a damn good point.
and honestly, who truly thinks racing is safe anyway? theres a good chance of a pile up no matter where on the grid or skill level a rider is placed.
racing is risky no matter what, and that is half the thrill of it.

agree and indeed what could be more dangerous than a slower rider getting too ambitious late braking into the first corner and taking out the faster rider in front?

[jellywrestler]

Having followed this thread for the last week I have found it amusing that when the officials decide to change the rules mid meeting,Suddenly it becomes firstly Stroudys fault and then when that doesnt pan out. Further down the track somehow it becomes Brian Bernards fault.I guess if you take into consideration the huge amount of their lives they have dedicated to roadracing both locally and representing their country and all over the world taking risks most of us wouldnt dream of just to make a mark on the world stage.I could go on for hours about the exploits of these guys and a number of other Kiwis who have endured huge amounts of pain and suffering to get where they are now and Im sure if they had been at Wanganui on the day ,They also would be blamed for what happened.It appears to me another case of tall poppy syndrome.The fact is ,The officials made the decision not them and I doubt if anybody who has posted on this thread was offered a front row grid position when they qualified 12th would turn it down,In fact over the following 2 days at the Taupo roadrace spectacular I had a number of people tell me they had grid positions they didnt deserve and I noticed not 1 of them turned it down and nobody complained about it.If there is a problem on the day there is a due process to be followed that in most cases will rectify the problem and it doesnt include this website!!!Furthermore regarding an MNZ inquest,An appeal has to be lodged within 7 days as I understand it.Also on the subject of Bernard racing using overseas riders it should be noted that a few years ago when Brian opted to use young local riders because none of the front runners were available it backfired on him big time as some of his bigger sponsors withdrew support due to lack of results and as this team is run as a proffesional outfit it struggled to survive at an acceptable level and there were ongoing issues with riders commitment and ability too meet their commitments within the team.Add to that the fact that Yamaha NZ (Yamaha AUS) Have input into rider recruitment and you will see why the team operates as it does.While I dont completely agree with everything they do Brian & K C put a huge amount of time and effort into that team every year and I know for fact about 4 weeks ago they had a garage full of racebikes and no riders due to circumstances beyond their control.One thing that is obvious to me is.If enough whingers piss them off and they pull the pin the grids at National level will be a lot poorer and the whole scene would be a lot less proffesional.Moral of the story:If you got a problem on the day,Do something about it right then through the riders rep and if that doesnt work then lodge an official protest/complaint with MNZ,Blaming other riders and team managers on this or anyother website will neither change or achieve ANYTHING.Cheers Billy

a well thought out response from a sportsman. good on ya!
spyda

[Nasty]

so has anyone done anything .... it was not the organisers but the clerk of course and the steward who make these decisions ...

This means a complaint needs to go to MNZ ... the organisers put on a fantastic day wtih "well organised" structure for the clerk of course to run the race. Any supplementary rules or changes should be communicated and in this case do not appear to have been done.

So is anyone actually complained or just moaning on here .. which is rather less effective?

[Kickaha]

Any supplementary rules or changes should be communicated and in this case do not appear to have been done.

So is anyone actually complained or just moaning on here .. which is rather less effective?

Any supplementary rules have to be published with the entries and aren't subject to change on the day, they have to be forwarded with the permit application for the event

I complained to the organising club last year along with a few others about the running of the event and none of us was given the courtesy of a reply

I think you will find WT has sent something off to MNZ and possibly to the club as well

[Nasty]

Any supplementary rules have to be published with the entries and aren't subject to change on the day, they have to be forwarded with the permit application for the event

I complained to the organising club last year along with a few others about the running of the event and none of us was given the courtesy of a reply

I think you will find WT has sent something off to MNZ and possibly to the club as well

Thats good to know about the regs.

I hope that the formal complaint has happened .. as it is a complaint and I did not think an APPEAL - the only way something can be done is if they are actually advised formally. If they don't respond I would personally follow-up or advise them of an expected response date so that they know to take it seriously and that there are answers being sought.

Cheers

[gav]

so has anyone done anything .... it was not the organisers but the clerk of course and the steward who make these decisions ...

Neither the clerk of the course or the steward would've decided on the rule change without the insistence of either a team or a rider. I'd suggest that it was something along the lines of "a wet qualifying session without any wet practice being deemed unsafe". Why all entrants couldn't be notified before qualifying started, that dry practice times would count, is a mystery, but maybe an empty track during "qualifying" wouldn't have been a good look?

[Nasty]

Neither the clerk of the course or the steward would've decided on the rule change without the insistence of either a team or a rider. I'd suggest that it was something along the lines of "a wet qualifying session without any wet practice being deemed unsafe". Why all entrants couldn't be notified before qualifying started, that dry practice times would count, is a mystery, but maybe an empty track during "qualifying" wouldn't have been a good look?

How about I say it was not at the descretion of the organising committee. is that plain enough ... something like that is on the Clerk and the Steward .. what I was asking was if anything was being done other than moaning on here .. that was all.

[k14]

Reading Gareth Jones's report here he says

Finally the weather appeared to be clearing, so the bikes went back onto slicks, we hoped for the last time. But no, as the Classic bikes headed for the dummy grid, the session before ours, the heavens opened and the rain came teaming down, enough so that we were rushing to clear the pit area to make room for the river running through it !! We decided to leave the bikes and sit this session out. We weren’t going to be going any faster in these conditions.

I wonder if all riders were actually in attendance at riders briefing and paying attention?

[RCV]

Hi, You ask a sensible question and the answer was yes they were. During the briefing we were 1st of all told that the gentleman talking declared himself to be 'the biggest arsehole in motorsport' and if they felt anyone was behaving in a manner he did not like or displayed an attitude towards an official that was felt to be inappropriate would be going home immediately - zero tolerance were his words. Fair enough I thought. Following on from that we were then told new riders (me) would have a 4 lap familiarisation - this was NOT PRACTICE - or QUALIFYING. Next we would have a PRACTICE - this was made clear that this was exactly what it was PRACTICE ONLY. So find your way, try some lines and see how deep you can brake etc. and then stick the best of it together and run off some timed laps during QUALIFYING. We were then told that if for any reason we dont do QUALIFYING we would be starting from the back of the grid.They then of course changed that instruction without us the riders knowledge. Incidentally we were running around changing tyres ourselves as well to be set up as best as we could for qualifying, WE just didnt know there would be an option to use our earlier times.

I've only added this information due to the nature of your suggestion to help clarify for you. As a side issue, I found that a guy who qualified slower than me in both sessions we shared was 2 rows further foward on the grid - go figure that. Thank you to my laps.com for the info.

Cheers

Reading Gareth Jones's report here he says



I wonder if all riders were actually in attendance at riders briefing and paying attention?

[DEATH_INC.]

Look at the big picture and the future of the sport.

.

Don't f**k it up and have these riders the last overseas ones we ever see again.

Is this the problem? Why do we hafta change the rules just so we can get some Aussies here? How about some more professional well organised meetings so they'll want to come? Get crowds, get prizemoney and they'll come....
And at the end of it all, what about Jimmy and the others? You must know the boy has talent, and with a good grid placing may be able to learn a bit and compete on level footing. What about helping the new guy from NZ that with a bit of time may well be up there fighting it out with Bernards team and Stroudy etc?
Yes, look at the big picture and the future of our sport
Just as a side note, you don't see 'em fucking with the grid positions at the V8's do ya?

[suzuki21]

I would like to welcome all the overseas riders to New Zealand. Its great to see them here, and the nationals should be interesting.
Bernard racing hasnt replied to any of these posts, they are obviously busy trying to win rather than feel sorry for themselves, slag everyone off etc.

[Drew]

Bernard racing hasnt replied to any of these posts, they are obviously busy trying to win rather than feel sorry for themselves, slag everyone off etc.

Oh the irony

Not sure who you think is feeling sorry for themselves, I know for a fact Whitetrash will only be more determined in light of recent events.

[White trash]

Interesting report that Kirk, thanks.

I like the fact that the esteemed Mr Jones' entire Yamaha team couldn't manage to change the wheels on the R6 during the deluge yet myself, a VERY pregnant Riff raff and Kickaha (with no GSXR skills at all) could.

So ask I the question again, who had prior knowledge of the "rule change"?

I'm not bent outta shape about this folks, I know the outcome can't be changed and there's actually no way of righting the wrongs. I just want everyone to know what actually goes on.