BELLE Vue completed a season of highs and lows by avoiding the relegation play-offs in their final match.

Here managing director DAVID GORDON talks frankly to speedway correspondent RICHARD FROST about what went right – and wrong.
 
RF: You took over in 2007 with a three-year plan. Where are you up to?

DG: This was our second season but, looking back at all the problems we had when we came in, we regard 2007 as year zero. This was the first year we had full control of choosing what we hoped we would be a competitive team. So, in terms of a three-year plan, next season will be the second rather than the third year. But we have to get it right then. It is crucial we win something.

RF: You picked your own team this year but results weren’t as good as you hoped. What went wrong?

DG: Injuries were a massive problem and you have to accept you will get them. Where we went wrong was by not reacting quickly enough when they happened and we have learned a tough lesson. We didn’t assess the seriousness of some of the injuries.

We have a full medical and physio team but, quite honestly, we didn’t utilise their professional opinions in the way we should. We stayed with injured riders for too long before replacing them. When we did, the availability of riders in the market place was extremely restricted, especially extremely for those with low averages.

Steve Boxall was the prime example. He was injured in March and never rode for us again but we waited in the hope he would get fit because he had started so well.
Billy Forsberg was also out for a spell with a serious hand injury and losing those two affected us very badly.

Also, we stood by Polish rider Michal Rajkowski for too long. It was clear early in the season he wasn’t ready to step up from the Premier League into a faster and more aggressive standard of racing.

He was like a rabbit caught in headlights but, again, we waited in case he sorted himself out. We were fair to him and I guess it’s debatable in these circumstances whether being fair to a rider is good or bad.

RF: Would you agree that when you finally made changes, you didn’t always get them right?

DG: Yes. Some of our replacement signings were knee-jerk reactions to the situation although, to be fair, there was very little choice of available riders with the right averages for them to come into the side.

RF: Who didn’t work out for you?

DG: We brought in Jonas Raun for Michal and it was soon clear he wasn’t going to improve the side. He was a nice lad and clearly a talented motor cyclist but he was completely disorganised in terms of being a professional sportsman.

There were some reasons because he was coming back after a bad smash at Newcastle and was suffering financially. But he turned up with a pair of shabby gloves. We had to get him a helmet and a race suit from Joe Screen as well as a bike and you just don’t do that in Elite League speedway.

That was a serious mistake but when we decided to offload Michal to Mildenhall we didn’t have a choice, Jonas was the only rider available at the right average. Our backs were against the wall.

We also brought in Nick Simmons and he, too, found Elite League racing too much.

RF: Lukasz Jankowski was injured in June and never rode again. Why didn’t you replace him?

DG: Don’t think we didn’t try. The problem was that Lukasz had a four-point average and there was no-one available. We tried to get Tomasz Jedrzejak’s average reassessed down from five but were unsuccessful.

RF: What were your high points?

DG:  The 80th Anniversary meeting in July was a massive success. We were also encouraged with the terrific media support we enjoyed and this helped to an increase in attendances, even though they remain a long way short of meeting costs.

RF: What were the high points in terms of the riders?

DG:  In my opinion we have the best rider in the world in Jason Crump and were thrilled to bring him back to the club. He was brilliant although I worry about the amount of racing he does because he’s very tired.  and needs the winter break.

And in Patrick Hougaard we have signed a rider who will be a star for many years. He’s only 19 but he’ll play a big part in our future.

BELLE Vue star Jason Crump stormed to victory in the prestige Elite League Riders’ championship at Birmingham last night. He won the final from fellow Aussie Rory Schlein, Denmark’s Kenneth Bjerre and another Australian, Leigh Adams, who rides for Swindon.