South Eastern Centre Motocross Combine Minutes January 2002

MINUTES OF THE BUSINESS MEETING OF THE SOUTH EASTERN MOTO CROSS COMBINE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 16TH JANUARY 2002 AT BLINDLEY HEATH AFTER THE AGM.

PRESENT : 16 Delegates were present representing the following Clubs :- Brighton , Crawley, GEST, Greenwich, Horsham, Sidcup, Twickenham, and TSM Ed. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE : Messrs. Gregory, Brown and Wood and Mrs. Hayden.

CHAIR : Mr. Eddie Herd took the Chair.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING : It was proposed Mr. Horton and seconded Mr. Lane that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13th December 2001 be accepted as true and accurate after GEST was inserted under the Clubs represented. Carried.

MATTERS ARISING THEREFROM :

Programme Covers : Mr. Wood had asked Clubs to let him know roughly what numbers they will require for their meetings.

NFU Adverts : It was agreed to ask Mr. Brown in his capacity as Centre Treasurer if the Centre would fund the adverts up to £200 as it was intended to appeal for land for any offroad use. Mrs. Clarke said Mr. Burrell had been contacted about some land that was available at Canterbury if anyone was interested they should take it up with him.

Background Plates : Mrs. Clarke said she had re written to the Moto Cross Committee but had as yet had no reply.

Riders Handouts : Mr. Wood had reported to Mrs. Clarke everything was set but would have to be updated and he was hoping to be able to produce it for the first Championship meeting. Foot & Mouth : Mrs. Clarke said she was surprised that the F & M Restrictions had not been totally lifted, she was instructed to write to the ACU and perhaps see if Mr. Brown could table a question at the next NMC meeting.

TTC's : Due to the unfortunate fatal accident at Matchams Park and the counter claim by the insurance company, the ACU had now been dragged into the equation because the track had been in the past, approved by an ACU track Inspector. In future all of our track certificates will have some sort of disclaimer added and Mrs. Clarke said we were just awaiting instructions from the ACU. Clerk of the Course/Steward's seminar 20th February : Mr. Herd, who will be running the seminar, appealed for names so that he could prepare enough paperwork for the evening. Mrs. Clarke said she also thought Clubs should try and persuade their Stewards to attend as well.

London Federation of Sport : No forms had been received as yet to join.

New Club : Mr. Dixon said he had spoken to John Mears and suggested he contact the Centre Secretary to enquire the correct way to go about affiliating Premier MX, he felt they should be encouraged to join the Combine so that we can all get along together, they had intimated they had 300 members.

CENTRE MANAGEMENT REPORT : Mrs. Clarke said minutes of previous meetings had appeared in the TSM but at the last meeting it had been agreed to make a presentation to Chris Etheridge to mark his retirement at the Early Birds and the question of the withdrawal of weekly personal accident payments was discussed.

ACU MOTO CROSS COMMITTEE MINUTES : Mrs. Clarke read extracts from the minutes of the Seventh Meeting as follows :- Insurance : The liability indemnity was to remain unaltered, official death benefit and permanent total disablement benefits are increased to £65,000 and temporary total disablement weekly benefit of £150 per week for up to 104 weeks to remain. PA cover for competitors remains unchanged except that it will no longer include the weekly benefits following Temporary Total Disablement. In view of the above there will be a reduction of 10% in premium rates from 1st January 2002. THQ British Motocross Championship Regulations : Neutral or safety zones must now be incorporated into track design where chestnut paling is used, these can be by use of post and rope wrecking fence as per handbook or small pegs and tape. Sponsors tape can be affixed to pegs or stakes and to facilitate first aid access it is recommended that access through gaps in the chestnut paling at a minimum of 80 metres is maintained and marked but not necessarily left open. Any Other Business : The ACU Motocross Committee has been investigating the use of personal transponders for timing as opposed to the current issuing of transponders on the day, many of the European Federations are moving in this way which opens up the possibilities of the transponder timing and lap scoring at all National events. The Dutch KNMV has a system whereby riders lease the transponder from them, for a five year period and receive pro rata repayments for retirement etc. The Committee will continue to investigate with the possible introduction of personal transponders in 2003. Mrs. Clarke also read extracts from the minutes of the Fifth Meeting of the BYMX Committee as follows :- Dual Licences : The Chairman asked the committee to consider the abolishment of dual licences. This item would receive further discussion in the new year. 2002 BYMX Championships : At the Conference of BYMX Clubs, it was stated by two clubs that they did not want to run the Championship if it included an 125cc "A" adult class, after discussion the general feeling was also that the Championship should be kept to the four schoolboy classes. The Committee discussed this matter again and at great length. Mr. Mackenzie was not happy that representatives at the Conference had the power to influence that format for the British Championship after the Committee had already fully discussed and issued the reasons why this change was to take place. He believed that only the organisers of the series should be involved in alterations to the Championship Conditions. Mr. Ainsworth also agreed with Mr. Mackenzie's comments. Mr. Stephenson stated that he agreed with the clubs and that the Youth Championship should be oriented around Youth riders and not adult riders whether it is a support class or championship class. A vote was conducted and three members voted for the inclusion of 125 cc "A" adults and one member voted against, the Chairman abstained. It was carried that the 125cc"A" adult class would be included. It was also agreed that only 40 riders would be allowed to register in the 125cc"A" adult class. Four of the 40 spaces would be left open for Wild Card riders.

LOTTERY REQUESTS : Mrs. Clarke said none had been received and Mr. Lane appealed to clubs to think about requests for ideas along the lines of new rope and flags etc.

GAZETTE / SPORTING MOTORCYCLIST / RICHARD BARBER : Mr. Barber had asked at a previous meeting for the entry forms to include more classes, Mr. Bramall explained that several ideas had bee piloted and a final broader example would be used that would encompass all disciplines. Mr. Barber wondered if the new layout of entry forms would encourage devious people to take only 1 TSM between several riders. Mr. Bramall explained this was a compromise to save paper , it had been worked out a rider could only enter a certain number of events a month so additional entry forms on the bottom of each set of regulations was only a waste of paper. He stressed permit applications must now be rigidly adhered to as the 10th of the month mainly due to sheer volume, stricter rules meant smoother running , any not arriving by the 10th would not appear. He welcomed reports but again stressed the need for brevity but would like more photos to be included. At the moment, fixtures will appear separately in the Centres. Mr. Batten questioned the interest of drag racing reports when it was an offroad magazine.

CENTRE CHAMPIONSHIP DATES AND DATE CHANGES 2002 : Since the dates meeting Twickenham and Crawley had reversed their dates on May 5th and 12th, delegates were asked to change the chart Mr. Dixon had produced listing the Centre Championship Dates.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS : Mr. Herd strongly urged all Clubs to put up the entry fees to their events substantially so they could plough funds back into the sport, he felt the riders were getting their sport too cheaply. Mrs. Clarke disagreed and said the Sidcup Club would continue to budget sensibly as she felt the riders could only take so much more expense before they would be forced to give up riding altogether.

There being nothing further to discuss the meeting closed at 10 pm.