Second Meeting (2006 Session) of the Motocross Committee
Motocross Committee 30.03.2011
SECOND MEETING (2011 SESSION) OF THE
MOTOCROSS COMMITTEE
HELD AT ACU HOUSE ON WEDNESDAY 30th MARCH 2011
Meeting commenced at 10.00am
Present: Mr D Williams
Mr R Humphrey
Mr E Herd
Mr A Summers
Mr C Warren
In Attendance: Mrs S Goggin (Secretary)
Miss N Morley
Mr Edwards
Mr Reeves
MX 11 - 016 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Mr Higgins as he was called away on urgent ACU business. Mr Hail and Mr J Percival also sent their apologies.
MX 11 - 017 CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE 1st MEETING
The minutes of the first meeting (2011 session) of the Motocross Committee held on 19th January were accepted by the Committee as a true and accurate record.
MX 11 - 018 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
a) MX of Nations
Mr Herd enquired whether the Secretary had received the short list of riders from the Team Manager, Mr Dixon. Mrs Goggin replied that nothing had been received to date but the matter would be followed up.
b) Red Dragons MCC
Mr Summers informed the Committee he had been in contact with the club, Mrs Goggin also informed the Committee that Mr Higgins had visited the club secretary and reported back that the club were struggling with low entries. Mr Higgins had agreed to support the club by covering the cost of three books of day licences to issue to the local AMCA riders to encourage them to join the ACU, for one event only. It had been agreed that the ACU would provide some track tape and also to offer some low key support to encourage auto and 65cc riders to enter their event.
Mr Summers expressed his concerns with the clubs in the Cheshire area and felt the ACU could help them to work together to benefit the local riders as well as themselves. All members in attendance agreed to discuss the matter further with the Youth Sub-Committee members at the next meeting.
Mr Herd had received feedback at a recent seminar from club officials who felt there was a lack of communication between the clubs and the Centre. The Committee suggested the Clubs should deal directly with the ACU Office if they felt it to be more beneficial.
c) South Western Centre
Mr Herd enquired whether the Chairman had raised this issue with the ACU Board of Directors; Mrs Goggin had not received a response from Mr Higgins but would follow the matter up.
Secretary’s after note: Mr Higgins confirmed that the South Western Centre were not charging centre levy’s to clubs running events under basic permits and any charges made in 2010 would be refunded.
d) Northampton Schoolboy MCC
Mr Humphrey reported that the club are unlikely to run events in 2011 but would stay in touch with Mr Bob Jones the club president. .
MX 11 - 019 GRASS ROOTS MX
a) Motocross in the North East
In Mr Higgins absence, Mrs Goggin reported on the progress with supporting the North East Motocross Club. The club will be holding the first round of the British Sidecar Cross Championship in conjunction with members of the ACU assisting where possible. The club had received a lot of support and assistance which would be ongoing.
b) Dredgers Club
Mr Warren enquired whether the Dredgers ORPA club would be holding a round of the British Sidecar Clubmans Championship; Mr Humphrey replied that they would not although they would be running sidecars at some of their events.
c) South Midlands Centre
Mr Humphrey confirmed that the Centre clubs still wished to meet with the South Eastern Centre clubs to look into working together. The Centre had also expressed their interest in investing in a timekeeping system in the future
Mr Humphrey had attended the first CJSC meeting of the 2011 season at Mildenhall where the club used their own Mylaps system and transponders and felt Mr Hearn and the club members had done very well.
Mr Higgins, Mr Humphrey and Mr Thompson had recently met with HS Sport and discussed offering packages to organising clubs and centres to purchase their own electronic timekeeping. Mr Humphrey confirmed the matter will be moved forward.
d) YDP Racing
Mrs Goggin informed the Committee that the club had now affiliated to the MCF and will be running events under the MC Federation.
e) Quad Racing
Mr Humphrey wished to note that the first two Regional quad events had been run successfully.
Mrs Goggin informed the Committee that the T9 Quad event scheduled for May had been cancelled, although the Organiser’s wished to introduce the event in 2012. A Quad Cross Country event will replace the T9 on the same date.
f) Low Entries
Mr Warren informed the Committee that the entries for solo events in the Centre had been fairly low for the start of 2011. Mr Williams confirmed that Rhayader MCC and Cheshire North West club had also noted the lack of entries.
g) Quad Cross Country Series
Mr Humphrey informed the Committee that the first round of the series had been run successfully with very good level of entries. The Nora Off Road club had assisted the Cross Country event with equipment and support.
MX 11 - 020 TRAINING / SEMINARS
a) Regional Motocross Official’s Seminar
Mr Herd gave a brief update to the Committee on the Seminar; there had been a good number of officials in attendance all of which passed the Seminar.
Mr Herd had since held a seminar in the Southern and Cheshire & North Wales Centres. Mr Higgins had also held a seminar in Jersey and the South West Centre while Mr McCauley had held one in the North East of England and East Yorkshire area.
Interest had been received from Rhayader MC to attend a Seminar although the club officials had not been able to attend any of the recent ones held. Mrs Goggin agreed to look into arranging one for them.
Action: Mrs Goggin
Mr Edwards raised the subject of the Rule Infractions Form which is not explained in detail at seminars. Mr Herd asked Miss Morley to include this and the Risk Assessment form into the presentation used in both the National and Regional seminars.
Action: Miss Morley
The Committee then discussed the use of the Rule Infractions Form and all felt that for any issues regarding noise penalties there would be no need to complete the form as the riders are aware of the penalty immediately but for any other issues the form must be completed. This would be discussed at any Seminars to ensure officials are aware of the procedure.
Secretary’s after note: The Chairman emphasises that the written penalty must be transmitted to the penalised rider – even if it is only a copy of the results sheet.
b) Marshals Training
Mr Reeves noted the need for training for marshals and enquired if there was a budget allocated for this. The Committee agreed the best format for training would be to hold regional seminars for Chief Marshals who would then be expected to teach their marshals. The Secretary will liaise with all active motocross clubs later in the year with a view to hold the seminar between October and November.
Action: Mrs Goggin
The licenses for marshals that had received training approximately 3 years ago were due to expire and Mr Reeves requested they be extended; Mrs Goggin would investigate the possibility further.
Action: Mrs Goggin
c) Technical Seminar
Mr Summers had recently held a seminar in the South Midlands Centre and confirmed he would be holding a regional seminar in the Wessex Centre on 23rd July at Foxhill Moto Park. Mrs Goggin would email all Centre and Club Secretaries to inform them.
Action: Mrs Goggin
MX 11 - 021 UEM SIDECAR CROSS OF NATIONS
Mr Guildford had responded to Mrs Goggin on the subject of Team Management as he felt he could carry the responsibilities of Team Manager alone. The Committee agreed they would like Mr Guildford to officiate as Team Manager although the Management Team would also consist of Mr Warren and Mr Helm to deal with PR with the assistance of Mr Williams. Mr Warren would be ACU Delegate for the event which includes the Quad team event.
MX 11 - 022 MX1/2 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – GREAT BRITAIN
Mr Warren updated the Committee on the progress at the venue. The Promoters had established a good relationship with the local council who were working on the access / exit of the venue.
Mrs Goggin also reported on the officials for the event. Mr Reeves enquired about the response from marshals and the Secretary would confirm numbers to Mr Reeves following the meeting.
This discussion lead onto the start gate for the event and following discussions the Committee wished to suggest that the ACU MX Committee purchase a start gate to be hired to clubs.
MX 11 – 023 EUROPEAN MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mr Herd raised this subject as the interest from ACU riders in 2011 had been quite high for the EMX2 Championship, however the maximum number of entries taken is 50.
Nine entries had been submitted although two had been withdrawn due to injury, which left seven possible entrants:
Scott Elderfield
James Cottrell
Alan Keet
Lewis Rose
Anthony Reville
Marcus Lee Soper
Lewis Tombs
The Committee felt they should create an order of grading to suggest to Youthstream if requested. The Committee agreed Mr Elderfield should be first in the list and Mrs Goggin was asked to review the current British Championship standings to decide on the other riders.
Action: Mrs Goggin
MX 11 – 024 STEWARDS REPORTS
The Committee reviewed the following Steward’s reports:
a) Supercross Championship, O2 Arena 5th February
Mr Edwards explained the event had run well, with a good number of spectators. He noted the confusion with Mr Williams being ‘Race Direction’ at the event which was outside of the NSC or the MX Standing Regulations.
b) Supercross Championship, Echo Arena 19th February
Mr Warren had submitted this report and felt some concern with rider conduct at the event. Mr Warren wished to thank Mr O’Reilly for his assistance at the event.
The Committee felt the misconduct displayed by Mr Greedy and Mr Davies at the event should receive correspondence from the ACU office, with a copy of their penalty form informing them this behaviour will not be tolerated.
The general consensus of the Committee was that there was lack of advertisement for the ACU at the Supercross events. All members would like to see some ACU banners at future events.
c) Hawkstone International, Hawkstone Park 20th March
The event had been ran with success although there had been an accident involving Luke Hawkins. The Committee expressed their best wishes for the rider.
d) BYMX Championship, Brampton 12/13th March
Mrs Goggin expressed the ACU’s thanks to East Cumbria MC for picking up the event at such short notice and working so hard to ensure it ran well, despite the poor weather.
Mr Higgins had submitted a report for this event and also had a meeting with the new series Race Director Mr Percival to explain some procedures which need to be implemented.
The Committee wished to write to the club to express their thanks for all their efforts but also note the issue with the Assistant Clerk of the Course withdrawing his services on the Friday of the event and the Committee’s concern with the work area.
Action: Mrs Goggin
e) Maxxis Championship, Little Silver 6th March
The Committee were pleased with the report received from Mr Coles; the event had been a great success for the Championship and Organiser’s.
f) Maxxis Championship, Canada Heights 29th March
The Steward of the meeting had noted in the report that he felt there should be extra blue flag marshals for this venue and he also had some concerns with the entry to the work area. The Club were congratulated on a well organised National event.
MX 11 - 025 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
a) Signing On Form – Date of Birth
Mr Humphrey enquired about the inclusion of Date of Birth’s on the 2011 signing on forms. Mrs Goggin was asked to find out more information about this.
Action: Mrs Goggin
b) Online Entries
The Committee discussed the possibility and process of online entries. Mr Humphrey informed the Committee of a Company already offering this service to Organiser’s of all types of sporting events. The Committee asked the Secretary to make a proposal on their behalf to the ACU Board of Directors to look into other companies that offer these services and possibly liaise with the SACU and their clubs as they already use a system.
Action: Mrs Goggin
Mr Humphrey was concerned that any system used is established and works, problems associated with other online ACU services should be taken into account.
c) European Quad Cross Championship
Due to the clash of dates between the EMX Quad Cross Championship in France and the opening round of the British Quad Championship, the Quad Sub-Committee had recently agreed to make a rule change in the British Quad Championship Regulations whereby riders were permitted to drop 2 of their race results. This was envisaged to enable the riders taking part in the Europeans to compete in both Championships without causing detriment to their results for either.