hmc Wrote:

beepee Wrote:I am wondering if Mr Nelson is the right man for the job of Clerk of the Course.

I refer to the debacle over the cancellation of Saturdays racing until Monday.The reason cited was that after rain 24 hours of dry conditions were required before racing could take place.This seemed a contradiction because on Wednesday after many delays the races got underway only a few hours after heavy rain.Some may argue that the supersports run on road tyres and therefore have a tread pattern which makes wet running okay.....a mute point.

However the Senoir was delayed because of wet roads in the west of the Island but was run after only a 30 minute delay.What happened to the 24 hours of dry conditions?

Another point to consider is the shambles following the sidecar incident at St.Ninians during practice,why on earth did Mr Nelson order a full course red flag,leaving crews who were ahead of the incident stuck out at remote points for no reason.The same ridiculous situation developed after Nick Crowes terrible accident,full red flags shown around the course leaving crews out all over the course and giving severe headaches to all those who had to locate them and make sure they were all accounted for in order to return them safely to the pits.

I have it on the very best authority that when questioned about the decision Mr Nelson replied 'that is what we do at Donongton'

Wake up Eddie this track is 38 miles long.

The problem here is that Eddie Nelson can not possibly explain to everyone why he made the decisions he did. Without breaching anyone's trust, you can rest assured that the correct decisions were made, given the information which was available to Eddie on each occasion mentioned here, bearing in mind he has to try and ensure everyone's safety. I wouldn't be the Clerk of the Course here for a bloody big clock, and take my hat off to him.

I think overall Eddie did a good job, it must be a nightmare to be C.O.C at the TT, lots of pressures from all directions and of course the weather. I think the decision to delay racing last weekend and run it on Monday was brave and also a VERY good call. As a former competitor I can assure you that delays all day and even the next day is a horrible thin g to endure.
As for the sidecar incidents I do think the practice could have carried on until the outfits that had started got back to the grandstand, but I wasn't there so don't have the full details.

As for the race its a tough one, waved yellows from Bishopscourt through to the indidnet may have been possible, but when a machine is on fire in the road it is also very dangerous to all concenred, again, stop all outfits that hadn't gone through the incident with a red flag, but then the outifts that had gone through could have proceeded under waved yellows . However maybe under fim rules you can't just red flag part of a circuit, its either red or not, so maybe then it becomes complicated as to what to do.

Its always easy for us armchair critics to cast ideas but the reality is often very different, usually due to red tape and rules that are designed for short circuit events and aren't always practical at the TT or MGP.
Russ