I was chatting to the super fit Cargo t'other day. Congratulations on your marriage by the way.
The converstation made me realise how inadequate the new qualifying regulations are for next years Manx and TT. As it stands, to be eligible for a ride on the Mountain circuit,you have to ride in 6 short circuit meetings. There is no discretion where you ride, just six meetings.Right? So the guy that rides round Mallory, Croft, Pembury and the like, is equally qualified as the guy who has ridden 6 meetings on Irish Roads, Manx Roads, or Scarborough. What a load of nonsense. Surely there should be a two tier qualifying strategy, so that a real road race counts as TWO short circuit meetings.
I would far rather ride the Manx or TT alongside a fellow competitor who has three meetings under his belt around the Southern, the Skerries, and the Tandragee, than a rider who has ridden six meetings on English short circuits.
Mercifully,the TT will probably not be affected by this ruling,but it looks as though next year's Manx will be under severe threat unless there is some consideration given to this matter. Costs alone will take a few out of the entry list. Time off will take a few more. Damage to bikes, and limbs a few more.There will be many who (like me) simply DO NOT WANT to ride on short circuits. I find them very dangerous. Brave(?)young wannabees trying to make a name for themselves, and generally riders riding too fast for their ability. It really is quite depressing to think of a fantastic event like the Manx being under threat because of (allegedly) ill advised Insurance puppets taking a p.c. line.
Not that I condone this, but fairly recently a lad WON a race at the Manx, and it was his FIRST ever race. No names, but those in the know will know that it is true. I repeat, I don't condone this, but the new qualifying rules ARE a step too far.

Could not agree more. I have e-mailed the ACU twice to try to confirm the qualfying dates for next year, as all that was said was that the dates for next year would be similar to this, but nothing confirmed. when i phoned them all they said was that they were waiting for a meeting. We are trying to plan, which includes raising the money, something alien to the ACU. One small point that may help is that as the numbers were down this year they extended the closing dates. so they must realise that this situation will be worse next year

Nick, it's my belief that the ACU want the Manx to end. This whole licence fiasco was a knee jerk reaction to last year's tragedies - none of which I believe could be blamed on the victims not being 'match ready'.

Earlier this year I was at Pembrey and saw John Goodall having to ride his 7R in a grid full of GP250s & 400s to get his Mountain Course licence.
We all know what a consumately skilfull rider he is on the roads and I can tell you he was in a lot more danger in that race than he ever could be at the MGP!

I suppose we have to go back to the discussions this spring about why no minutes were ever released from the meeting where this licence was agreed and why the ACU ducked the issue by closing their own website forum because licence holders were asking valid (but obviously uncomfortable) questions...

"I suppose we have to go back to the discussions this spring about why no minutes were ever released from the meeting where this licence was agreed".


No minutes have been released, yet, that doesnt mean to say that efforts are not underway to try to obtain these minutes :wink: :wink:

The ACU love employing stalling tactics, and, remember, "Rome wasnt built in a day".

Helen.

I am afraid that this is too clever, too simple and too modern!

It seems a super idea to me.


MV

Thewitch is right, there would be many other ways of assessing rider competence for the mountain course that are more relevant than the current system, but I suspect that isn't the point and Sticky's post has hit the nail on the head.

No minutes will ever be released because there were no minutes. Those concerned had their own reasons for their decisions and how long they took considering them can be reflected in the about-faces that had to be done, first in qualifying dates and next in the National licence 12 months rule. After all, they couldnt be seen to kill it in the first year, even in the name of safety.

As I've said before, the best thing for the Manx would be for the ACU to be completely cut out of the equation. I don't know the logistics of how this could be achieved but there must be a way? Also, I wonder if the Southern 100 club would be able to run it. They seem to be well thought of by the competitors...

There are minutes. I have got minutes for the November and December 2005; Road Race Drag and Sprint Committee meetings.

There is little that can be gleaned from them other than the fact that a meeting took place on Tuesday 8th November with organisers of the TT and MGP; at Rugby (The day before the RR, D and S Committee meeting

What could be contentious is that the minutes state that "agreement was reached" at that meeting, on all the points and licence requirements that were published in January 2006.

I believe that Neil Hanson is on record as saying that discussions took place but no agreement was reached. I could be mistaken.

If anyone would like a copy of the minutes send me a PM.