South Eastern Centre Motocross Combine Minutes December 1999

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SOUTH EASTERN MOTO CROSS COMBINE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 1ST DECEMBER 1999 AT BLINDLEY HEATH [held after the AGM]

PRESENT : 15 Delegates were present representing the following Clubs :- Brighton, Crawley, GEST, Greenwich, Horsham, Sidcup, South Eastern Marshals and Twickenham.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE : Apologies were received from Mrs. Slight [ Crawley] and Bryn Nicholas [EKSSC].

CHAIR : Mr. Eddie Herd took the Chair.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING : It was proposed Mr. Mills and seconded Mr. Horton that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13th October 1999 be accepted as true and accurate. Carried.

MATTERS ARISING THEREFROM :

Inter Centre Team Moto Cross : Mrs. Clarke said that she had written as instructed to the ACU Moto Cross Committee with the points made by Jack Pringle, our Team Manager, at the last meeting but todate she had received no reply. Mr. Dixon said the matter was subject to a writ being issued so it could not be discussed. Mr. Herd said that we were not the only Centre to complain.

National membership and 4 Centres Meeting : Mr. Brown said that Mr. Burrell, the Centre Secretary was liaising with the other Centres to have a meeting any moment. With regards to National membership, Geoff Wilson, the ACU Chief Executive had recently addressed an Eastern Centre Board meeting which he had found extremely useful and had intimated that he would like to do the same with our Centre. He stressed that although there were a lot of rumours going around with regards to high membership prices nothing at all had been agreed. Mrs. Clarke asked when we might expect to see the changes as she was worried that because Clubs pay affiliation fees in arrears they might suddenly be landed with a large unexpected bill. Mr. Brown assured her this would not be the case as the Club Member would be liable for his affiliation fees when the changes came in. He had managed to get the Union to consider the refund to the Centre to be based on Club Membership and not postcodes of the member.

ACU Moto Cross Committee Elections : Mrs. Clarke said that she was very pleased to say both our nominations had been elected, Dave Williams and Frank Dixon.

Paramedic cover for the year 2000: Mr. Dixon said all references to paramedic cover were going to be taken out of the 2000 handbook whilst the Medical Committee reviewed the matter. Mr. Brown asked if the risk assessment requested by Nick Fisk had taken place. Mr. Dixon said not and that Mr. Bellars, from the Insurance Company, was involved instead. Mrs. Clarke questioned the logic of this saying he would not have the correct information available to him and felt that during the year off it would be an ideal time to ask all organisers to get details from their first aid people regarding the sort of treatment they had applied at meetings. There was much discussion and concern shown about the difficulties of obtaining the services of a paramedic on a regular basis and the cost. Mr. brown proposed the Secretary write to the Union and suggest that Organisers should be invited to contribute to the review.

Riders Bibs :Mrs. Clarke said that she had posted a notice on the Notice Board in the Gazette regarding the experiment of wearing bibs. It was agreed to alter the wording from must to should as it was not a rule but a recommendation.

Centre Board : Mrs. Clarke said that our motion regarding polling cards had been successful at the last centre Board meeting with a slight change to the wording accepted.

Grading Queries : Mrs. Clarke read a reply to our queries regarding grading from Val Webb the National Recorder. She interpreted the rules regarding Juniors in 125 races as eligible for points. Mr. Batten still disagreed and would be bringing the matter up at the forthcoming Recorder's Conference. She also confirmed the change to Experts being downgraded was as from last year and to do with Coaching Licences. A letter was also sent to the ACU Moto Cross Committee regarding the wording in the handbook and about riders being upgraded without reference to Centres but no reply had been received.

East Kent Schoolboy Scramble Club : Mr. Brown said that Mr. Nicholas had thanked the Combine for inviting him to their meeting but was unfortunately struck down with the flu. He had told Mr brown that their were having dialog with the BYMX, were still mainly interested in running schoolboy motocross and would like to thank GEST for all their co operation in the past and that they did not envisage poaching adult riders. Mr. Moores said he wondered how they would run their adult class under a BYMX permit, it was thought they could join the Centre and get permits direct. Agreed that we should continue to send them the minutes of our meetings and keep the option open for them to come anytime they want to.

CENTRE CHAMPIONSHIPS DATES AND PROGRAMME COVERS.

Dates :Clubs had sent their requests to Mr. Dixon and he had drawn up the attached chart. There was still some dates to come from Crawley and Greenwich, and Twickenham had changed their September 3rd date to September 10th so that it did not clash with the Sidecar GP.

Programme Covers : Very good reports had been received from everyone including the advertisers and it was agreed to try to do the same again for next season. The Secretary was instructed to buy Christmas cards and send them with the Combine's appreciation and ask if they would like to repeat the exercise. Mr. Batten thought it would be a nice idea to have pictures of the Centre Champions included, Mrs. Clarke to write to them asking for examples which could be used. Mr. Wood said that things must be finalised by mid January.

ACU MOTO CROSS COMMITTEE MINUTES : Mrs. Clarke said there was only one set of minutes to discuss that being the September Meeting. Correspondence was received from Twickenham & DMCC. The Club have expressed concern that other Clubs are allowing riding of machines in the pits and the ACU Handbook clearly states this is forbidden unless specific lanes are provided. The Committee will remind all National Organisers. Mrs Clarke said Sidcup were National organisers and they had not been contacted. Dual Licences : The Motocross Committee accepted a proposal from BYMX Sub Committee to restrict the use of dual licences. That after reaching the age of 15 years a youth motocross licence holder may apply for an adult Moto Cross licence whilst retaining a youth motocross licence, which may be used for a MAXIMUM period of one year. Option 1. The licence holder may make the choice of making special application to the BYMX Committee for issue of a dual adult/youth licence immediately on reaching 15 years of age which will be valid until the end of that year. Option 2 . At the end of the year in which the age of 15 years is reached they may apply for a dual adult/youth licence which will be valid for one complete year. In either case after expiration of the dual adult/youth licence it MUST BE renewed only by an adult licence. Mrs. Clarke asked the GEST Club if this all could not be got around by one day licences and they agreed.

MOTO CROSS FORUM MEETING AT THE ACU : Mrs. Clarke said that there would be another open forum meeting for the grass roots of the sport on January 29th.There was some discussion as to the merits of attending, Mr. Batten suggested that Clubs could forward any items for the agenda to the Secretary for onward transmission and perhaps some one could have their travelling expences re-imbursed by the Combine to attend. No one expressed any wish to go. Mr. Brown said that there was a growing feeling that the NMC was not really working properly and that grass root thoughts were being stifled - so much so that Roy Humphreys had produced a paper on some sort of reforms.

CHANGES TO THE YEAR 2000 HANDBOOK REGARDING MOTO CROSS MATTERS : Apparently - although the centre Secretary had not been informed, the new regulations regarding paramedics would not now be implemented and as previously discussed any mention was to be deleted for the current year. Riders' fire extinguishers would now have to be serviced every year. There was concern expressed by Mr. Batten regarding the fact hardly anyone had extinguishers let alone having them serviced. Mrs. Clarke said that she had made enquiries from Chubb's and Halfords . The former would not service anyone else's make and would insist on a minimum call out fee whilst the latter would only sell extinguishers they had no facilities to service them. The general feeling was that this was an ill thought out rule that would be unworkable but was obviously going to be in the next handbook. 2 new rules regarding track layouts: start straights and 2 way traffic had previously been discussed by the Combine. The meeting was pleased to see the rule regarding prohibiting spectators in the paddock was to be deleted.

PRESENTATION EVENING : Mr. Wood said that the Grass Track Combine held a very successful social evening where the Championship awards were presented and wondered if the Moto Cross Combine would do the same. Mr. Brown thought the Moto Cross crowd were not so sociable and it would not be very well supported. It was agreed after some discussion to ask the parent Club of each winner if they would like to present the trophy at their own Dinner and Dance.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS :

Litigation Seminar : Mrs. Clarke said that she attended a recent litigation Seminar held by the ACU with Mr. Herd. She gave a brief resume of a talk given by the ACU's barrister who usually defended any hostile actions brought against Clubs. The main thrust of a claim is to prove a duty of care has been broken which then leads to an injury or damage. An organiser owes a duty of care to :- Spectators, competitors, officials, employees and any other visitor where the occupier is the owner. Officials owe a duty of care to :- competitors and spectators. Competitors owe a modified duty of care to:- other competitors, spectators and officials. The Barrister put his side of defending and asked Clubs to make sure the following were available :- Official records including any pre race instructions, other documents, recording other matters, identifying witnesses, photographs and video film of the accident or the surrounding area, measurements, identification of the cause of the accident, minutes of any official inquiry into the accident, marshals posts to be marked on the plan, and examples of the rope and stakes etc at scene of accident. His main problems happen when people try to remember what happened some 5 years after the accident and concrete evidence helps enormously. Mrs. Clarke managed to ascertain that as long as a Club complied with the rules the insurance company would always back them and pick the tab up - not the Club or an individual.

South Eastern Centre AGM nominations : There was some discussion as to the new set up and who we should have to vote for, Mrs. Clarke was instructed to write to Mr. Burrell for clarification on whom we should be selecting to represent the Moto Cross Combine at Management meetings. Mr. Brown suggested that in the meantime we let the Chairman to attend on our behalf. Mrs. Clarke proposed that Les Batten be nominated for Vice-President. Agreed.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING : It was agreed to hold the next meeting on 12th April 2000. There being nothing further to discuss the meeting closed at 11.00pm.