South Eastern Centre Motocross Combine Minutes April 2000

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SOUTH EASTERN MOTO CROSS COMBINE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 12TH APRIL 2000 AT BLINDLEY HEATH

PRESENT : 16 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 John Bramall and Frank Dixon.

CHAIR : Mr. Eddie Herd took the Chair.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING : It was proposed Mr. Brown and seconded Mr. McDavitt that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 1st December 1999 be accepted as true and accurate. Carried.

MATTERS ARISING THEREFROM :

Inter Centre Team Moto Cross : Mrs. Clarke said that she had been told last year's meeting was the subject of enquiry and until that was resolved the matter could not be discussed. A memo from the ACU was read which asked for views on the future of the event, Mrs. Clarke said she had acknowledged the memo pending the outcome at this meeting and also invited Mr. Pringle to come tonight to discuss it. Do Centre's still wish to support the event : It was agreed that we did. Is there a Club/Centre willing to run the event in 2001 : No one was forthcoming although both Mr. Brown and Mrs. Clarke had heard a proposal from the South Midland Centre that all participating Centre's contribute between £250 and £500 to a kitty to promote the event and not give out subsidies to the riders. Do Centre's agree with the current race format or do they prefer the old 6 rider schedule : It was generally agreed that the old format was preferred. Is the date in September preferred to the old date in early October, this is however dependant on other National events. : Mr. Batten proposed that all Inter Centre Team events from all disciplines be held on Remembrance Sunday which would mean a free date - no other events to be allowed to be run, with perhaps a donation going to the British Legion seconded Mrs. Clarke. Carried.

National Membership : Mr. Brown said that the affiliation fee had been set at £5 which would be collected with the £22 licence fee for speed competitors, and as a registration fee for Trials and enduro riders. This would enable the ACU to have a record of all competitors who would receive any special benefits that had been negotiated and the magazine quarterly. He now understood that senior club officials would also have to affiliate and that the Club would also have an affiliation fee to pay. Mr. Brown said that at the last NMC meeting he had told the meeting he thought officials would be lost if they were forced to pay as well as work for a Club. Mrs. Clarke said she was worried as to who would fall into this category of senior officials, would for example it be lap scorers or start and finish officials. Mr. Brown understood that just observers and marshals would be exempt. It was also felt this would be another bullet that T & MX News would delight in firing across the bows of the ACU to smear their image yet again. After much discussion it was agreed that the Secretary should write to the Chief Executive of the ACU pointing out our fears and suggesting that perhaps all non competing officials could be declared on the Clubs affiliation forms rather than them being forced to affiliate separately. Mrs. Clarke to liaise with Mr. Brown before sending the letter off and also make contact with the other Combines asking for their support. Mr. Brown also said he feared that this could all lead to the demise of Club life in the future, if riders no longer had to belong to a Club because they belonged to the ACU centrally there would be no need to join a Club and Clubs would then struggle even more than they do now to get members to help run events and when the present generation retired there would be no one to replace them.

Paramedics : Mrs. Clarke said everyone had been circularised with the document she had sent to the ACU putting our fears on the proposed introduction of paramedics at all moto cross meetings for the year 2000. Mr. Brown said that he had gone to the NMC meeting armed with all the information to question the change in rules only to be told it had been withdrawn for the time being. Mrs. Clarke said that she had an acknowledgement from the ACU to say the Medical Panel would be looking into the whole matter over the next 12 months and she had informed all member clubs of the new rule which was introduced instead and is now printed in the handbook.

Grading Queries at the Recorder's Conference : Mr. Batten said that he went to the last meeting in December which proved a very long day and he thought George Edwards was to be commended for sticking it out for 30 years! It was confirmed that 125 Juniors could gain Expert points in 125 only races as long as they finished within the top 10, as per the Fourstroke rules. Experts could be downgraded after 2 clear calendar years and Juniors had to gain their points over the previous 12 calendar months, all this together with some rephrasing of the sidecar rules were now printed in the handbook.

EKSSC : Mrs. Clarke said there had been a major upheaval within the EKSSC with the Committee resigning en bloc over the switching from BSMA to BYMX and should thought it prudent not to invite them to this meeting.

Dates : The Championship dates had been printed in the March Gazette and therefore were now fixed. Mr. Horton asked if the regulations had to appear 21 days before the meeting, after reading the rules it was agreed that it only stated that the regulations must appear in the SE Centre Gazette, an error was discovered in the rules which were printed in the Gazette, the Secretary to inform Mr. Dixon.

Programme Covers : Mrs. Clarke produced a copy of the new covers and apologised to Mr. Rob Batten for misnaming him in the sidecar photo. She said that all except one of last year's advertisers had come on board, she had tried a couple of names supplied by Mr. Dixon but they did not want to advertise, there was however just enough funds to cover the printing costs. She found that she had not really be able to spend as much time as she would have wished because it clashed with the British Championship meeting of which she was the Secretary and in future would like to offload it to the Series Co-ordinator, Mr. Brown wondered why Mr. Batten had produced the Championship positions when he would have thought it was the co-ordinator's remit, agreed to discuss the matter of redefining jobs nearer to next year's AGM.

Moto Cross Forum : Mrs. Clarke said that no one had forwarded her any points for discussion so she had not attended the meeting, she was unaware of what was discussed as she did not have the minutes although she understood only 8 clubs had attended. Mr. Herd said he recalled the Inter Centre and Insurance being discussed and that the meeting had been overwhelming in its support of having another one.

CENTRE MANAGEMENT MEETING REPORTS : Mrs. Clarke said that following our decision in December to appoint Mr. Herd as our representative, he had been voted onto the Committee in his own right. He had obtained the agreement of the delegates that Mrs. Clarke would stand in until we could elect a delegate. Mrs. Clarke had attended two meetings and Mr. Batten one. Mrs. Clarke felt that as the minutes appear in the Gazette she would not boor everyone with the point for point details. The first meetings had been taken up with sorting out the parameters of where it would operate such as discipline and voting rights. Mr. Batten said at the last meeting he had asked just what the 3rd party premium was for and had failed to get an answer. There followed some discussion on the various different ways insurance was dealt with in the other organisations and Mr. Brown asked if the meeting thought that Personal Accident insurance should be compulsory. A straw pole was held with the majority in favour and 1 against. It was agreed the Secretary should write to the Insurance working party with our views. There was a general discussion with regards to just who did get monies paid out to them when injured and the recent spate of scurrilous articles in T & MX News.

ELECTION OF A COMBINE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE : No one person was willing to volunteer for the job so Mrs. Clarke and Mr. Batten agreed to share the duties and if either of them could not attend Mr. Horton would step in. Proposed Mr. Brown seconded Mr. Argent.

FINANCES : Mrs. Clarke reported that the Centre had given the Combine £250 to help with their running costs and she now expected that we would have to pay the rent for the room. Mr. Brown said that the NMC was actively trying to encourage new people to try our sport and with this in mind, as Treasurer of the Centre he was making [ subject to Centre Board approval ] £500 available to each discipline to promote an event or to obtain a grant to help with the sport in general. Mr. Batten spoke on how the Twickenham Club had been successful in obtaining £2650 for new chestnut paling and mallets from the Millennium Lottery Fund and urged other Clubs to do the same, Greenwich had applied but had been rejected at the first attempt and were about to resubmit their application duly amended.

ACU MOTO CROSS COMMITTEE MINUTES : Mrs. Clarke read the following extracts from the minutes that she thought were relevant to the meeting : From the 9th meeting 1999 Track Inspections : The Chairman referred to the seminar on litigation issues in Motor Sport which was taking place at the same time as this committee meeting and regretted that due to a clash more members of the committee were not able to attend the seminar. However, he wished to use this as an opportunity to emphasise the importance of constant vigilance being applied to the many safety issues associated with motocross sport, in particular he suggested that they begin to take a systematic look at these various issues and asked that this process should begin with paying particular attention to Track inspections.Correspondence : a] The Committee received 5 letters of concern from ACU Centre's and Team managers regarding the Inter centre Team Moto Cross Event. b] SE Motocross Combine letter re grading queries. C] Letter from SE Moto X Combine expressing concern at new rule regarding paramedics. Any Other Business : d] Mr. Smith advised the Committee that a new Environmental Report Form has been drafted and is awaiting final approval. It is envisaged that the form will be sent to clubs with the permit paperwork. From the 10th meeting 1999 Report from NMC : The Chairman advised the Committee that the proposal for a Doctor or Paramedic to be present at every Motocross event from 1.1.2000 had been withdrawn by the National Management Council. The Medical Panel would review the ruling over the next 12 months and advise sporting committees of their findings. Nothing from the 1st meeting 2000 From the 2nd meeting 2000 Inter Centre Team Motocross : The only comments received on the future of the Inter centre Team Motocross were from the Pickering & DMC and more comments were required. It was noted that there had been no offers to run the event in 2001. Invitations to run International Stewards Licences : There had been correspondence from the FIM stating that there was a seminar imminent and it was agreed that the Committee should ask if they can stage an FIM International Seminar for Clerks of the Course and Stewards in January 2001. Environmental logbooks/appointment of environmental officers: The points highlighted by the Environmental Panel were noted. It was agreed that the memorandum should be circulated to all Championship organisers and that the Environmental Panel should be informed that the logbooks were required by the Clubs in order that they could meet the requirements. Mr. Herd thought that the wording in the minutes was not correct regarding the seminar but it was agreed that the Secretary write to the Office asking to be kept informed because several of our members would like to have the chance to upgrade their licences. Mrs. Clarke said she had been sent an environmental logbook in 1999 and it had been checked at her recent Championship meeting and warned both Crawley and Twickenham that they might have to have one for their Championship meetings.

AWARD PRESENTATIONS : Mrs. Clarke said that the Centre Champions had all been presented with their trophies at their home Club's Dinner & Dances except the Junior one which GEST was about to do as they had missed their Dinner and this new idea seemed to have gone down well. The new programme covers carried a photo of all of last year's Champions who were : David Williams : Expert Champion Colin Poole : Junior Champion Stacy Harman : Fourstroke Champion Rob Topp & Rob Batten : Sidecar Champions.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS : Mr. Wood reminded Clubs that when they fill in regulation applications to put in what they need and to score out that they don't and to try and keep up todate with the latest forms. Mr. Bramall, the Editor felt it was the Combines responsibility to feed him with reports from the various events . He also asked the meeting what they thought about running a seminar for marshals. Mr. Gregory thought it was a very good idea but felt there would be problems as the majority of marshals were coerced into the job which they generally did not enjoy and therefore he felt would not want to go to a seminar however helpful it might be. Mr. Horton said that his marshals club had attended a seminar at Lydden and Mrs. Hayden had also attended a BEMSEE one. Mr. Brown said that perhaps this could be what some of the £500 could be used for. After more discussion it was agreed that the Secretary make some enquiries and report back to the next meeting. Mr. Gregory felt that we must try and change the attitude of marshals from compulsion into feeling needed and part of the team by making them feel appreciated. Mr. Wood asked if the Combine could give some thought in avoiding a clash of dates again with the Grass Track Combine. It was agreed to try and fix our dates for the 2nd Wednesday in July, October [dates], January [AGM] and April. Mr. Wood also wondered if anyone had given any thought to trying to liven up the format of meetings by not running the same old routine at each meeting. Mr. Brown felt the riders could not cope with change. Mr. Horton said that he did not have any scrutineers who held a current licence having all expired in December 99. Mr. Herd said that at the last Management Meeting they had been made aware of this and it had been agreed to extend licences by another 2 years. Mrs. Clarke appealed for names of anyone who wished to go to a Clerks of the Course seminar. Mr. Batten said that he had been appalled at the recent increase in the illegal practise of riding in the paddock. It had happened at the Sidcup Practice day, the Horsham meeting and the worse case of all was at last Sunday's British Fourstroke Championship Meeting at Halstead. There, a solo rider had ridden through someone's awning where there was a little baby asleep in a buggy. It needed a strong hand to administer but it was possible to make everyone cut there engines and push as soon as they came off the track. Mr. Horton asked where an organiser stood regarding the £10 fee and the additional class place if entries were likely to be full. Mrs. Clarke said this had now been catered for in the Centre Rules where a rider must give his 1st ride preference and then will only be allocated a 2nd class ride if there were vacancies on the closing date in the 2nd class.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING : Wednesday 12th July at Blindley Heath. There being nothing further to discuss the meeting closed at 11.10pm.