South Eastern Centre Motocross Combine Minutes November 2002

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2002 AT ABBOTTS LANGLEY BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES FROM MOTO CROSS CLUBS IN THE EASTERN, SOUTHERN, SOUTH EASTERN AND SOUTH MIDLAND CENTRES OF THE ACU.

PRESENT : Representing the Eastern Centre : Alan Penny, Southern Centre : Pete White from Basingstoke , South Eastern : Brighton : Roger Brown, Crawley : Yan Dixon, Horsham : Eddie Herd and Frank Dixon, Sidcup : Alan Clarke, Jamie Clarke and Peter Burton, Ken Piles : SE Permits Sec, Marge Clarke : Secretary, SE MX Combine, South Midland Centre : Terry Golds : Secretary and Val Webb, Chairman and Luton. And Andy Wood from the Sporting Motorcyclist.

APOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN : It was agreed that Mrs. Webb be appointed the Chairman.

WELCOME : Mrs. Webb welcomed everyone and thanked them for travelling the distance.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE : Apologies had been received from Andrew Redford : Y Bike, Southern Centre, Colin Armes : Eastern centre, Les Batten : Twickenham, SE Centre, Julian Sayer : Dunmow, Eastern Centre, John Coles : Oxford Ixion, S. Midland, Myra Hayden : Horsham, SE Centre, Oscar Horton : GEST, SE Centre and Fred Sparkes

2003 DATES : Mrs. Clarke had produced a fixture list with all of the dates known so far from the Centres all of which had been agreed except for the SE Centre Dates. The latest ACU dates had been added and the list was worked through with some changes made. New list appendixed. After the list had been compiled Mr. Wood said he would like it published in the February TSM. Mrs. Clarke will make sure the Eastern Centre also has a copy.

FIRST AID REQUIREMENTS IN 2003 : Mr. Dixon said there was to be an ambulance present at all times with a Medical technician and a First Aider , if for any reason the ambulance leaves the site all racing or practising must stop. It was confirmed it was in order to use the services of the County Ambulance although that did not mean an ambulance was not needed on site, a 4 x 4 vehicle was not considered to be an ambulance [ unless kitted out as such ] and it the First Aid HQ was an ambulance , another was also required.

COLOURED BACKGROUND PLATES : Mrs. Clarke presented a case to the meeting to change all of the coloured background plates to one colour : florescent yellow, she felt this made for easier lap scoring and felt the need to colour differentiate had long gone. The Moto Cross Committee had originally agreed to this but later rescinded the change after writing to Centres and Clubs for their views, Mrs. Webb did not recall receiving any correspondence on the matter. The SE Centre had decided to get tough on riders and clamp down on the correct colours in future i.e. 250 four strokes should be green and not black backgrounds and after some discussion it was agreed Clubs should provide a united front and reject any numbers that would make lap scoring more difficult. Numbers were not the only area where scrutineers seemed to be lenient, dog tag checking seemed to disappeared as well.

ACU MOTO CROSS COMMITTEE REPORT :

Mr. Dixon said the old Putoline Challenge Race would in 2003 be the qualifying rounds for the Maxxis British Championship the following year, it will have 40 riders, some of whom will be registered, and be a mixed class event with points being awarded per class finishers. The Office at Rugby will collate the points. Mrs. Webb complained that when her Club were asked if they wanted to run a round they were not sent the conditions thus making it difficult for her Committee to reach a rational decision. Mrs. Clarke asked why her Club had not been asked if they wanted to run a round, Mr. Dixon said letters had gone out to the previous year's organisers, Mrs. Clarke felt this was short sighted and did not encourage new organisers into British Championship events.

One Day Licences : Mrs. Webb said she understood one day licences would be £10 next year but as a club had heard nothing about this and what would happen to her stock of £6 licences. Mr. Brown confirmed she should hear shortly and that she would be entitled to a full refund. Mrs. Clarke queried the need for the price rise but was told £10 was the minimum charge the ACU would be making for anything. There was some discussion on how Clubs coped with the administration, it was know Twickenham levied an additional £4 at the moment with Mrs. Webb saying she refused to put a stamp on her envelopes to the ACU as she was not making any money out of the transactions.

Dual Licences : It was also reported that in future an extra charge would be made for anyone wishing to participate in more than one discipline, although this might apply for a speed event and a trials affiliation.

Practice Meetings : Mrs. Clarke raised the question of whether a competition licence was required at a practice meeting when no competition was taking place, she was instructed to write to Mr. Bellars for clarification. Mr. Piles said the new permit application forms no longer had practice days on them but Test Day. Mr. Herd reminded the meeting if a genuine training day was held there were funds available from the Training Panel.

PAYMENT OF THE HALL : Mr. Clarke proposed , and Mr. Herd seconded the SE Centre pay £16 with the other Centres paying £15. Mr Brown proposed , with Mr, Burton seconding an amendment that the SE Centre pay the full costs and ask the other Centres for donations. towards the costs. Mr. Clarke withdrew the original proposal and the amendment was carried.

SEMINARS : There was a general discussion on the types of seminars held within each Centre and it was agreed that each Centre would recognise the authority of another as moves were afoot at Rugby to standardize the questions and formats of seminars. Most Centres did not insist of Club Stewards attending seminars although Mr. Dixon said in future all National Stewards would have to submit a CV first and most likely have a practical test as well. Mr. White felt a lot of time was wasted re testing people and that there should be some form of re fresher system. Mr. Brown reported that it was probable in future track inspectors will become professional people and the costs would be quite high. Mrs. Clarke reported on an incident at their British Championship meeting where a spectator was injured by the chestnut fencing and said the loss adjusters were not impressed with chestnut paling as a safety barrier. Mrs. Webb asked if insurance would be going up next year and if so when would the clubs be told as advance warning was required when preparing budgets, Mr. Brown said there would be a leeway.

EVENT PERMIT TYPE : Mrs. Clarke said she felt the moto cross world had embraced the new RR experiment well but she had noticed when compiling the fixture list some clubs were still quoting events as Open to Centre. Mr. Penny said in the Eastern Centre they tended to do this for Eastern Centre Championship events, Mrs. Clarke asked whether a person, although a member of an Eastern Centre Club, still received points if they did not reside in the Centre. He said they did not , so Mrs. Clarke thought by opening the meeting up it would not make any difference to their Championship. In the S. Midland Centre to gain points in their Championship a rider had to belong to a S. Midland Club but Mrs. Clarke said in the SE Centre it had been agreed by supporting the Centre event a rider was entitled to gain points in the Centre Championship. Mrs. Clarke said she had a bigger picture in mind for affiliations where a rider would only ever have to belong to one ACU Club. Events would then be either Open or Restricted. A Restricted event would, as the title suggests have some sort of restriction placed on it , for example a Combine event, a British Championship, or a Four Stroke only, she felt this would need some sort of adjustment when it came to paying insurance premiums for larger events - say going back to declaring the size of the crowd. Delegates were asked to go back to their Centres and encourage the RR scheme as the events did not incur any extra costs and gained more entries.

THE SPORTING MOTORCYCLIST : Mr. Wood reminded delegates that regulations could be submitted well in advance to stop last minutes panics which seem to prevail at the moment, regarding the latter a harder is now going to be taken with regard to the last date for submission of regulations. He urged people to take advantage of the free advertising that is available for events and would gladly supply extra copies if someone needed them for an event. The 2 year discounted subscription idea is going well. There is some debate going on at the moment about the correct parental agreement form to be used and Mr. Brown said there were also changes afoot regarding the responsible adult on the day of an event now only being a parent or guardian. A standardised permit application form was being prepared across the 3 Centres. Mr. Burton questioned why there did not appear to be a date on the entry form when it had been signed, Mr. Wood said he was worried about confusion between the date of the event. It was thought to be a good idea to ask the Eastern Centre Gazette if they would publish an individual member subscription form.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS :

Mr. Wood thanked all who had supported the SE Centre Championship covers and Mr. Dixon agreed to write and thank all advertisers.

Mr. Brown said he understood Alexander Forbes IT man was to visit Rugby to talk to Kevin Tubby about issuing permits , he thought it might have been prudent to talk to the Centre as well.

Mr. Brown announced plans in the SE Centre for a Centenary Supper on 8th February and invited anyone who cared to join him. Mr. Penny said the Eastern Centre were having a similar do in the Autumn in Colchester but that it would be very formal.

Mr. Jamie Clarke said the SE Centre Moto Cross Combine's Website was available at www.geocities.com/mxsoutheast/

FUTURE MEETINGS : It was agreed to hold a further meeting in a year's time.

There being nothing further to discuss the meeting closed at 5.10 pm.