South Eastern Centre Motocross Combine Minutes February 1999

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SOUTH EASTERN MOTO CROSS COMBINE HELD ON TUESDAY 16TH FEBRUARY 1999 AT BLINDLEY HEATH.

PRESENT : 13 Delegates were present representing the following Clubs :- Crawley, GEST, Greenwich, Horsham, Sidcup, South Eastern Marshals & Twickenham.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE : Apologies for absence were received from Messrs. Brown [ Brighton ] & Bennett and Mrs. Slight [both Crawley ].

CHAIR : Mr. Eddie Herd took the Chair.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING : Mrs. Clarke said that since our meeting and before the publication in the Gazette of the 1999 Calendar there had been some date changes. It was proposed Mr. Lane and seconded Mrs. Simpson that the minutes of the meeting held on 9th December 1998 and circulated were a true and accurate record. Carried.

ADDITIONAL ITEM FOR THE AGENDA : Mr. Herd asked that an extra item under 8a. S.E. Centre Handbook be added to the agenda. There were no objections.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES :

Clerk of the Course Seminar : Mrs. Clarke said that this had been most successful with a very high attendance but that todate the papers had not been marked.

Marshals : Mr. Moore said that Graham Blanche who was just starting up a marshals club with GEST had attended the Clerk of the Course Seminar and found it very informative.He still thinks it is early days yet but he does hope to expand and perhaps include their duties into paddock staff and start area etc. They would need expences.

Subscriptions : Mrs. Clarke said in her capacity as Treasurer she would expect to receive all Clubs subscriptions for 1999 in the new future.

RAISING THE PROFILE OF THE CENTRE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mr. Wood had managed to sell 2 full pages and 2 half pages, he was congratulated on his diligence. He produced a black and white copy to show the meeting who subsequently approved the copy. Mr. Dixon thought we should still take £75 to £100 off the Clubs as they now did not have to fund the cover and put the monies into a kitty for the Championship Winners. It was agreed to take this back to the Clubs and report at the next meeting.

REPORT ON THE FOUR CENTRES EXPERIMENT : As Mr. Brown, the Centre's NMC representative was not present to give a report it was discussed that the idea had been expanded to include 5 Centres but still pointed out that nothing had appeared in the Press publicising the scheme.Mr. Mills wondered about the possibility of a 5 Centre's gazette or having regs printed free in other gazettes. Mr. Wood said he had been toying with an idea of the regulations appearing without their own entry forms and having a set of forms at the back which could be filled in thus saving pages , weight and postage costs. Mrs. Clarke wondered if Club's should do a gazette distribution service.There was much discussion with nothing concrete being resolved.

ACU MOTO CROSS MINUTES : Mrs. Clarke read relevant points from the minutes of the ACU Moto Cross Committee meetings. Blue Flag :Mr Dixon told the meeting that the Blue Flag rule would be in the new handbook but that for smaller meetings it need not be used, Mrs. Clarke thought this wrong, if a rule was introduced the Committee should have enough confidence that it was for the benefit of everyone and so should be used at all meetings, although she disagreed with the rule and thought it dangerous.17 year olds and 125's : There was some discussion on this and it was felt that perhaps it was time for the capacity limit to be reviewed for Expert riders under 17.Inter Centre Team Moto Cross : Mention of the event being at Frome, Mrs. Clarke said that we should appoint a manager now so that he knows well in advance and can research his team. Mr. Wood wondered if we should have an official assistant as well so that if anything happened to the manager so one else would know how the system works and could carry on. It was proposed Mr. Dixon and seconded Mr. Moores that Jack Pringle be appointed the team manager.

ACU MOTO CROSS COMMITTEE VACANCY : Mrs. Clarke said that Dennis Slaughter had resigned mid term and nominations were now needed to fill his vacancy for the rest of his term. Sidcup proposed Ron Green and GEST seconded. Crawley proposed Dave Williams and Horsham seconded. Ron Green was voted as our nominee, Mrs. Clarke to inform the Centre and to pass it on to the ACU.

MOTO CROSS FORUM AT THE ACU : Mrs. Clarke said that Sidcup & Greenwich went but the meeting as a whole was not that well attended.It was not very well organised with no fixed agenda but several topics were discussed ranging from marshals to too many Championship fixtures but nothing much was resolved showing the gap between grass roots level thinking and that of the ACU Moto Cross Committee.

SE CENTRE HANDBOOK REVISION : Mr. Herd said that the Combine must submit all moto cross rules for inclusion in the new handbook. It was agreed that the Moto Cross Championship rules were all OK having just been published in the gazette. Our own Combine rules needed collating from past minutes, the Secretary was instructed to do this. The meeting then went through the Centre Moto Cross Rules, Mr. Moores thought it was time to do away with the 40 mile clashing rule. This was left as it was. It was proposed Mr. Moore and seconded Mrs. Simpson that rule 4 regarding advertising of closed to club events be deleted. Carried. It was proposed Mr. Lane and seconded Mr. Mills that we delete rule 5 relating to closed to club entries not exceeding 75. Carried. Change rule 6 to read National instead of centre. Delete Rule 7 regarding riding in the paddock. It was proposed Mr. Argent and seconded Mr. Simpson that rule 8 be deleted regarding properly controlled practise facilities and add There shall be a minimum of 2 laps practice. Rule 9 & 10 to be amended. It was proposed Mrs Hayden and seconded Mr. Batten that the SE Centre Championship Rules be printed annually in the SE Centre Gazette.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS : Mr. Wood said that he thought more up todate aggregates should appear in the programmes for Centre Championship events, this was thought to be a good idea but it was pointed out that there was not always space and in this case the commentator should always have an up todate copy for announcements. Mr. Batten said that Mr. Edwards had produced an up todate grading list of Centre Experts.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING : It was agreed that this would be on Wednesday 9th June at Blindley Heath. There being nothing further to discuss the meeting closed at 10.30pm.