South Eastern Centre Motocross Combine Minutes July 2001

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SOUTH EASTERN MOTO CROSS COMBINE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11TH JULY 2001 AT BLINDLEY HEATH.

PRESENT : 12 delegates were present representing the following Clubs :- Brighton : Crawley: Greenwich : Horsham :Sidcup : SE Marshals : and Twickenham.

CHAIR : Mr. Eddie Herd took the Chair.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE : Apologies were received from Roy Humphrey and Ashley Gregory

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING : It was proposed Mr. Burton and seconded Mr. Lane that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11th April be accepted as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. Carried.

MATTERS ARISING THEREFROM :

National membership : Following queries raised at the last meeting Mrs. Clarke had written to Brian Bonny, the ACU Treasurer to ask for clarification. He had replied that nothing had been decided upon and that his ideas expressed were just thoughts for the future. He could see no objection to affiliations being renewed on birthdays in 2003 to help get over the blip at the beginning of the year but speed licence holders posed more of a problem to do with medicals. It was hoped however that some [ I think he means self certified licences ] could be incorporated into the stretched idea. Ted Bartlett, the Chairman of the ACU, was also keen to introduce a 2 or possibly 3 year licence at a discounted rate . Internet applications were also being looked into as a way of saving office work. Apparently the complexity of the licence form results in approx. 20% being returned or queried! Mrs. Clarke said that she had recently been sent a list from the ACU of all licence holders and affiliated members of the Sidcup Club. Some 112 names of paid up members were not on it and about 10 were who were not members, on querying these she had been told they were inputting errors. Mrs. Slight was worried about senior officials who had not bothered to affiliate and would they be insured at events. Mrs. Clarke said all officials were insured as long as they signed on but that all senior administrative officials had to be members of the ACU and they would be braking the rules if they were not, she added that most clubs had decided to pay those officials fees for them.

Paramedics : Mr. Brown and Mrs. Clarke had now had sight of the minutes of the meeting of the Medical Panel that Mrs. Clarke was invited to attend and could confirm they had made recommendations that Medical Technicians may be used at Off Road events as well as Doctors or Paramedics. It was clear that this was not a unanimous decision as it had been asked to be minute thus, these minutes still had to be approved by NMC. Mr. Herd asked Mr. Brown when the recommendations were likely to be implemented and Mr. Brown thought it would appear in next year's handbook. Marshals Forum : Mrs. Clarke confirmed that the full costs of the seminar had been met by the ACU's Training Panel.

Programme Covers : Mrs. Clarke had already circulated to delegates thoughts Andy Wood had for producing a black and white cover for the remaining Championship rounds this year. It was agreed to ask the Centre if they would fund this under the Grass Roots Scheme and Mr. Dixon would ask the advertisers if they would agree to this with their money being used for an all out effort next year.

NFU Adverts : It was agreed that Mrs. Clarke go ahead and book the advertising now that things in the SE were more or less back to normal after the foot and mouth.

Background Plates : It would appear that this has been missed off the agenda for discussion by the Moto Cross Committee, the Secretary was instructed to write again.

Grass Roots Forum : This had been cancelled due to lack of support, our items for the agenda, background coloured plates and noise generated by 250 four strokes would be placed on the agenda of the next Moto Cross Committee

Meeting Riders' Handouts : Mr. Wood said that the Foot & Mouth crisis had rather put paid to this idea and it was agreed to put it on hold for this year, however Mr. Wood said he would produce some more pilot copies so that everyone could have one for discussion at the next meeting in October.

Helmet Fins : Mr. Herd had received a general memo from the ACU confirming what we had already found out regarding helmet fins or attachments , he would get the Secretary to circulate copies to all clubs so that they could make their scrutineers aware of the latest facts.

REPORT FROM THE LAST CENTRE MANAGEMENT MEETING : Unfortunately Mr. Horton, who was the Combine's representative at the last meeting was not present to give a report.

CENTRE CHAMPIONSHIPS RE FOOT AND MOUTH CANCELLATIONS : Again delegates had been circulated prior to the meeting with a proposal that extra Centre Championship Rounds should be fitted into the remaining calendar although this contravened the rules. After some discussion this was agreed with the voting 4 for and 2 against but it was stressed that it was a one off for this year because of the unusual circumstances. Crawley had been offered a new piece of land and they wished to run an event on September 30th, this was agreed and they would run as many rounds of the Championship as they could, Sidcup said they also had 2 meetings left and would consider it. Mr. Batten queried the regulations that had appeared in the Gazette for the Greenwich Millennium meeting saying it read " regs as per championship conditions " but as far as he was aware they were not down to run a round. Mr. Batten proposed and Mr. Lane seconded that it be included as a sidecar round, there was a split vote with the Chairman casting the deciding vote against saying it had not been advertised in the Gazette.

FOOT AND MOUTH RESTRICTIONS : Most Clubs had been able to organise meetings under the restrictions except for Brighton whose farmer did not want anyone on his land just at the moment. Mrs. Clarke said she knew there were some further relaxation of the rules in the pipeline some of which she read out and said no doubt we would all be hearing from the Centre Secretary soon.

ACU MOTO CROSS COMMITTEE MINUTES : Mrs. Clarke read the following extracts from the minutes of the 2nd meeting on 6th April :- Free Style Events : The Committee have decided that Free Style events will not be permitted by the ACU, and riders will not be covered by the ACU insurance if they participate in such events, each organiser when issued with a Supercross permit will be advised of the situation involving Free Style events. For Free Style demonstrations or events being entertainment or stunts, the organiser will have to insure this part of the show themselves. British Qualifying Championships 2001 : As three rounds out of the possible four have been affected by the cancellation of events, it was decided that it would be impossible to reschedule all rounds, so the final round would be cancelled and there would be no qualifying Championship in 2001. Any Other Business : The Chief Executive also asked the Committee to stress to their Clerks of the Course that they must check Temporary Track Certificates prior to each meeting for safety and comp liability to the ACU rules. Temporary Course Certificates are licences for events run under ACU permits only. This is a result of an insurance claim that is going on at the moment resulting from a non ACU event being run on an ACU approved track and the ORPA insurance company is trying to make a cross claim on the ACU's insurance. In future we will have to have a statement to this effect on all TTC's issued.

INSURANCE RELATED MATTERS : Mrs. Clarke said that David Willet, a Sidcup member was riding under a Luxembourg licence but had taken out a separate affiliation to the ACU.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS : Mr. Brown suggested, following on from incidents at the previous Sunday's Twickenham Meeting, that if riders continue to ignore yellow flags the race should be stopped with a red flag. Mr. Herd felt this was not a correct reason for using the red flag, Mr. Batten felt that a yellow card system could be worked but that it would have to be passed on from the Clerk of the Course from one meeting to the next. If a rider got 3 yellow cards he would be disciplined further. Mr. Batten felt riders could not cope with a yellow flag that had two meanings, being shown motionless to mean take care and being waved to mean great danger, prepare to stop, no overtaking. After some discussion and referral to the Grass Track regulations it was agreed the Secretary to write to the Moto Cross Committee and ask for the Moto Cross regulations to be changed as follows :- Yellow Flag : Accident, slow down, driver must be prepared to Stop. OVERTAKING STRICTLY PROHIBITED Any driver judged to have taken unfair advantage by racing or attempting to overtake within the area controlled by the yellow flags will be considered guilty of unfair and/or dangerous driving and will be excluded. Mr. Brown also asked if the Moto Cross Committee had the remit to drop the British Four Stroke Championships next year. Mr. Herd confirmed this. Mr Brown also asked if he should ask any questions at NMC about the lack of Greenlight monies due to British Championship organisers. There followed a discussion where Mr. Dixon informed the meeting that because part of the TV deal had fallen through the sponsorship monies had not been forthcoming. Mrs. Clarke felt from the Sidcup Club's point of view, the ACU had given too much reign to Mr. Armes and not controlled enough themselves. It was agreed it would not be appropriate for Mr. Brown to question this at NMC. Mrs. Clarke said that following on from the Marshals Forum Sidcup had designed a form to give out to all marshals to make them more a part of the meeting. Mr. Batten said it had been agreed, because of the special circumstances this year, that expert points earnt from June to Nov 2000 would be carried forward to Nov 2001. Mr. Lane asked representatives of all clubs present to be at their Millennium Meeting to meet with representatives from the London Sports Council, Sport England and the London federation of Sport.

There being nothing further to discuss the meeting closed at 10.45 pm.