FOXES THANK THE FANS
NORTHAMPTON Foxes co-promoters Paul Hunsdon and Tony Gaul have thanked supporters for their patience during an extended break for track work in Monday’s home clash with Sheffield.
New shale has been added to the circuit at the International Shaleway in a bid to improve the quality of the racing, taking on board feedback from the first half of the season.
This presented issues prior to, and in the early stages of the meeting, with the blade required after Heat 2 to remove loose material.
All riders from both teams were supportive of the efforts and when racing got back underway the outcome was a thrilling night of speedway, with overtaking in most races as the Foxes and the Tigers fought out a dramatic 45-45 draw.
Hunsdon said: “We’d firstly like to apologise to everyone that as a club we got it a little wrong with the track to start with, and what the riders were telling us was perfectly understandable.
“The additional shale didn't bind as well as we hoped, so lessons were learned there and there’s no blame in this situation, it is simply a learning experience for all of us.
“We took action to rectify it as quickly as possible, and I think we proved in the remaining races what a good racetrack Northampton can be and is going to be as we move forward.
“Obviously we know that we can’t have that sort of delay for track work at every meeting – that won’t be acceptable to anyone, but what we need to do now is to get it as close as possible to what it was like from Heat 3 onwards last night.
“The track staff did exactly what we needed them to do, and it does show the potential in the track because I honestly didn’t think we’d get racing of that standard, which was absolutely top-class.
“It was seriously good racing, a proper speedway meeting on a proper racetrack, and that’s also credit to the riders of both teams.
“We’d like to thank everyone for their patience, and sorry we got it a little wrong to start with, but the reaction online does indicate that everyone enjoyed the meeting once we got going properly, and we did look to push things on to make up time during the evening.
“We must also say a big thanks to the Sheffield riders, their captain Josh Pickering and manager Simon Stead for their understanding and for being prepared to work with us to make sure we put on a good show for everyone.”
The Foxes return to action at the Shaleway next Monday (July 27) with the visit of King’s Lynn including Grand Prix superstar Max Fricke and GB legend Chris Harris. Tickets available from https://northampton-speedway.com/ticket-office .