[Team mad rat!]

Hi fellow Ribbletonians.

Just a few thoughts on the new racing format that was trialed on Friday evening.

Been speaking to a few of the regulars and they seem disappointed in the new format. Yes we all agree that more needs to be done to help get the track away but surely there is a better way to do it than cut down racing time and 'punish' racers.

Like a previous post has stated, people travel from far and wide to visit Ribble which has built up an excellent reputation. People, (in my opinion) will soon get fed up of travelling all that way to spend more time building and dismantling tracks than actual racing time.

Yes people need to help with the track but people also will expect a minimum of 3 heats and a final. Whether these be shorter heats or not I think 3 heats and a final is a good starting point. People were having problems with the over crowded heats and therefore not having chance to get full heats in. 10 or 11 in heats is far to many.

Why was it decided that numbers weren't limited at the AGM? Is it a case of get as much money in as possible rather than concentrate on the quality of racing? It certainly feels that way. Yes, it's not nice to turn people away but when you have people attending all year round who stand by the club feeling like its not really a members club its more like a money making business something seems wrong to me.

Allowing as many racers to enter as we want will surely back fire. The regulars that attend week in week out will eventually get fed up of over crowded heats, shorter track times and more breakages and will look elsewhere to race, then when all the 'not so regulars' go back to racing outdoors the club will have no one to race there.

Out of interest, how much does the club make on average per week, after rent of hall etc? Ive been attending now for 3 or so years and the only new things I've seen are marshalling buckets and a meter square of astroturf. Could we not spend some money on improving the track, different surfaces, jumps, new equipment to lay the track out with, maybe reducing breakages etc?

I can hear you all saying you should have brought this up at the AGM but due to work commitments I couldn't attend.

All of the points above seem to be a common feeling with a few members of the club. Ribble is a great club, but it has alot of potential to be an excellent club if it concentrates on the right things rather than raising as much money as possible.

Feel free to reply with any comments if I'm wrong or any thoughts or ideas as to how we can maximise numbers of racers with maximum track time as a happy medium.

Lots of love

Cheers, Nice one

XxX