On a balmy Monday evening, as the saying goes, all roads led to The National Speedway Stadium, Kirkmanshulme Lane, Manchester, for the season’s showcase event: The 2022 Sports Insure British Final.
Okay, my weather App didn’t conceal the fact that there was a more than fifty percent chance of rain, but nothing could be worse than the behind closed doors 2020 event when the most extreme of weather conditions failed to prevent Rory Schlein from being crowned the victor ─ could it?
But this was Manchester – one of the few places on earth that all four seasons are often experienced in a day. And so it came to pass that the action was – quite rightly due to safety concerns – abandoned after twelve of the most scintillating heats that I have ever witnessed in one go in my entire speedway supporting life.
As I trudged despondently back to the Speedway Hotel (aka The Diamond Lodge) and waited patiently to be served by the lone bartender, who was looking decidedly stressed given the sudden flood of fans, I was keen to establish if speedway could learn any positive lessons from this curtailed championship. If you are a regular speedway fan rain-offs are probably nothing new, but as the shale settled, my jeans dried out, and I began my four hour drive home the next day, I sensed there was more to reflect upon …
But back to the proceedings and a summary of the action that thrilled the sell-out crowd at – in my humble opinion – the best track in the universe. Its elegantly crafted camber, spectacular straights, and triumphant turns, allow the athletes to achieve the best they have to give, and more. Here is my take, distilled from my contemporaneous Facebook posts typed between each gladiatorial battle in my ongoing quest to spread the excitement across my social media connections and beyond. I had also tipped Dan Bewley to lift the trophy.
Heat 1: Bomber Harris is last out of the traps and pulls in front on the last lap. Breath-taking! Now, where are my dentures?
Heat 2: [expletive]! Starke and Howarth virtually wrestling at 80mph! My man Bewley wins!
Heat 3: Wright slices through the opposition from last to second, whilst Kerr is an untroubled and stylish winner! This racing is [expletive] awesome! And it’s started to rain.
Heat 4: Youngster Tom Brennan rips through the more experienced field and leaves me requiring fresh underwear. Reigning champion, Adam Ellis, finishes last.
Heat 5: Wrighty is all over King like a rash for four laps. You could chuck a blanket over the three leading athletes. I need a lie down.
Heat 6: Bewley wins to make it 6 out of 6. Maybe I’m not the kiss of death this time. Nicholls and Kerr slug it out for four laps, with Kerr spending most of the race firmly between the butt cheeks of his opponent.
Heat 7: Drama as reigning champ Ellis packs up on the start line and is excluded under the 2-minute rule. Adam is having an awful evening. Two rides, no points. Harris wins in his usual swashbuckling style. Best action of the heat is when Colts reserve replacement, Jack Smith, passes Premiership rider, Paul Starke.
Heat 8: WOW! Brennan makes an atrocious gate and is left for dead. In a turn of blistering speed and skill he picks off the more senior field and nearly snatches it on the line. Speedway out of the top drawer! Now it’s persistently pouring down and my programme is soaking wet.
Heat 9: Rising star Tom Brennan beats GP star Bewley. It doesn’t get more impressive than that folks! The whole stadium was virtually riding with the youngster. Incredible action!
Heat 10: Howarth rides the boards to register his first win. Current champ Ellis picks up his first point of a woeful evening.
Heat 11: Blimey [editorial change]! These guys are tempting fate by racing in a monsoon! Bomber at his brilliant, brilliant, best to come from behind (as usual) to nearly steal it on the line from Nicholls.
Heat 12: Conditions are now treacherous. I don’t think we will make a final at this rate. King keeps his posture to romp to an impressive win in the deluge.
What followed is perhaps best described as a news blackout. The typical speedway fan is tolerant, mild-mannered, and used to the odd hold-up, but as the rain continued and the not-so-robust outer garments began to offer little or no protection, a sense of despondency began to sweep across the terraces. The Belle Vue promotion did their utmost to keep the Blighty spirit flickering with a blast of Sweet Caroline and the extraordinary efforts of mascot “Chase the Ace,” but I was beginning to tire of the pleasant, but nonetheless fruitless, interventions of the stadium announcer reporting that there was still no news on the status of the meeting. Some fans sought sanctuary in the protected public concourse under the main grandstand, but the rest of us looked the inclement weather straight in the eye and laughed!
Little did I – or I suspect, many others in attendance ─ realise the temperature of the behind the track scenes, where referee Wayne Jarvis called it right by bringing the action to a conclusion. Only when I saw the recorded footage on Eurosport 2 the following day did I fully register the epic drama connecting with the edge of the seat crisis moments, engaging passion, fairness, disappointment, and decisiveness. Completely lost to the paying public on the night ─ and dare I say, both Jason Crump and Kelvin Tatum in the commentary box who looked equally baffled. And I use the term “crisis” deliberately, since to the domestic speedway scene the fallout to losing the premier event and the associated direct entry to the British Grand Prix was nothing short of catastrophic.
Crisis management specialist Jonathan Bernstein whose book, “Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management,” provides a comprehensive mitigation plan, soberly speaks to “those who are crisis managers whether they want to be or not,” and who, within the electrically charged atmosphere of the Belle Vue pits, would have eagerly put their hand up and volunteered to be the crisis lead? No doubt a thankless task; but nonetheless completely necessary since reputational harm is often economically devastating. Just ask Gerald Ratner. So, what communication strategy does Bernstein recommend when the proverbial hits the fan?
Firstly, anticipate the need for crisis communication. As he puts it, “You can begin to think about possible responses, about best-case/worst-case scenarios, etc. Better now than when under the pressure of an actual crisis.” Given the weather forecast an abandonment was always a likely outcome.
Secondly, identify your crisis communications team, chiefly because no news, in his professional opinion, translates to “we’re guilty or hiding something.” More damagingly, the organisation will be perceived as inept.
Thirdly, develop crisis holding statements – particularly useful when live cameras litter the arena. They can be as simple as, “We will be supplying additional information when it is available and posting it on our website,” and are infinitely better than those made on the hoof, or saying very little, or even nothing at all.
Finally, conduct a post-crisis communications analysis – what can we learn from this?
Unsurprisingly, as I grabbed the last seat in a crowded bar, the resident speedway fans were already conducting their own analysis – and not all of it was encouraging. Then there was confirmation ─ announced on social media ─ of the selection of Adam Ellis as the GP wildcard for Cardiff. The blue touch paper was alight again as fans advocated for Dan Bewley, Chris Harris, and my personal star of the truncated show, Tom Brennan.
But rules are rules, aren’t they? And according to the 2022 Speedway Control Board regulations 015.1.3 a result could be called after the completion of twelve heats in the event that the meeting was not restaged. The latter issue was quickly addressed by BSPA chair, Rob Godfrey, who confirmed that the meeting would be rescheduled for later in the season. Applying the literal rule of statutory interpretation, the nomination of Adam seems consistent with this rule; yet a condition of the washed-out event that the highest placed non-GP rider would be handed a potentially career changing opportunity will not now be fulfilled. This isn’t the platform to continue with legal conjecture, and with a purely honourable and fair perspective, Adam deserved his place with the world’s elite. But these grindingly tough decisions may have been better managed in advance.
As the hours passed and the discussions flowed into other areas it was great to chat to three ardent fans who lost their beloved Hull Vikings some years ago but still put in the incredible miles and the many hours away from home to support the sport. To Pauline and Peter Anderson, and Ian Foster – and all the other dedicated fans across the country – I say cheers!
As Agent senior communications consultant, Harriet Holbrook, observed, “Content is King, but communication is the Queen.” Speedway is the King of high-octane content but as Harriet would put it, “The King might get a lot of the credit, but we all know it’s the Queen who’s in charge.”
© Ian Kirke 2022 & all photographs