CHAIRMANS ADDRESS CRMC AGM 2009.
The Chairman
(Roger Bryant) welcomed those attending and
commented on the good turnout for the AGM.
The text of
Roger’s address is as follows:
Unfortunately
yet again I have to start by remembering those of our members who have
passed away since the last AGM.
John
Wilcox the senior CRMC Clerk of the Course who after all his
health problems as a result of a serious road accident some years ago
unexpectedly died of a heart attack.
Ann
Egglestone who made us all proud by becoming ACU Marshal of the
year 2008 finally succumbed to cancer after a long fight.
Duncan Pemberton who was FRC Chairman, lost his life racing at
Jehonville.
And
Richard Bartlett who lost his life racing in the Isle of Man.
Additionally
Tom Wheatcroft of Donington Park died last month. Of
course we all know that Tom moved mountains to reopen Donington and 2
years ago we started running the Donington revival meeting. Tom donated
the magnificent Wheatcroft Trophy which is
currently in the care of Lea Gourlay.
Last week I
heard that Roy Payne had passed away. At the age of 87
I think Roy was our oldest member. He accompanied his long time mate the
late Len Homer to meetings. Roy’s funeral is on Tuesday
next 2pm at the Crown Hill crematorium Milton Keynes.
Whilst you remember them please
give them a round of applause for their contribution to the CRMC and the
world of motorcycle racing.
THE CRMC HAS NOW BEEN GOING FOR 30 YEARS
So what has
happened in those 30 years?
30 years ago
there were many more racing clubs than now
Clubs were
totally run with just post and phones
Fax was in
its infancy.
No mobile
phones.
There was no
internet
No emails
No websites
No forums
In that time
many other racing clubs have disappeared, but
the CRMC is still here.
We have been
running race meetings for 29 years which equates to about 9000 races
We have raced
on nearly every circuit in the UK + Croix in France
We have about
900 members as good as it has been for many years.
We have a
large number of members who were not born when we started.
There are
5000 bikes out there which have CRMC eligibility certificates.
Finances are
in good shape.
The
Benevolent fund has a healthy balance.
Costs to race
have reduced in real terms whilst operating costs have rocketed.
We have
introduced Periods 3 and 4 to help keep the numbers up.
Consider the
amount of industry that has grown up making parts and complete bikes.
Featherbed
Manx Nortons have been in production longer than in the period.
An array of
magazines linked to classic racing is available.
We top all
that off with close to full grids, a large variety of parade machines
and excellent machine preparation.
Then you the
riders provide stunning entertainment second to none.
Until this
year all this has been achieved with the whole operation run by
volunteers who give countess hours of their time to make it happen.
I think you
will agree that we do have a good story to tell.
This year we
moved into a new phase by appointing John Davidson as
the agent to process race entries for all meetings. This I feel has
worked very well and provides a central point for the CRMC. John is not
now a committee member but attends committee meetings as required to
provide advice from the race planning side. Additionally of course John
does not have a vote on the committee.
2009
race meeting review.
As always we
do a short run down on the meetings over the season.
Pembrey.
Here we
started the season with noise testing like never before which no doubt
was a reaction from the Croft court case. Thanks to everyone for their
cooperation with something we cannot do anything about these days.
At least we
had sunshine and good grids, excellent racing and many more sidecars
than usual. Fortunately the sidecar revival continued throughout the
season. Thanks must go to Ian Johnson for his efforts in getting the
chariots to come out.
The financial
implications of big sidecar grids are massive as we cannot group
sidecars with anything else so the additional revenue can make the
difference between profit and loss. Thanks again Ian.
Darley Moor
Despite the
many doubters Darley was well supported with nearly 300 entries. It was
a pity the weather did not cooperate but at least one class had 4 dry
races. We had many favourable comments about going back to grass roots
style racing.
Well I think
a few got a bit further than grass root level in the mud!
The marquee,
hog roast and band were well received and helped brighten up Saturday
evening. You actually got through 2 pigs that evening and the band were
still asleep on the stage next morning.
Next the Donington revival meeting.
This became a
3 day event so that the Norton Owners Club 50th anniversary could be
accommodated which gave us extra practice and the ability to include
more riders. Fortunately we did it all for little extra cost as the NOC
paid for Friday in exchange for some track time over the weekend. Most
of that was lunchtime which we had spare anyway! A great deal of work
went into staging the meeting and John D certainly earned his crust.
The weekend
started badly with a water main problem which affected the toilets.
However as I said in Open Megga the circuit did allow us in early which
really added to the problems. It was in fact fixed before our contract
time started.
Despite the
water problems the meeting eventually proved to be yet another CRMC tour
de force. We had a good turnout of foreign riders, over 50, and we ran
UEM championship rounds as well.
When was the
last time that 2 Honda 6’s warmed up in pit lane? When I spoke to the
manager Robert Fearnall on the Sunday I asked him what he thought of the
paddock? – ‘marvellous’, The
racing? ‘Fantastic’, Can we have 3 noisy days next year? ‘No problem.’
The race many will remember for a long time was Mike Hose on the 850
Weslake and Lea on the 500 Paton.
What we were
not to know was that the attempt to run F1 would end in the company
going into administration - more about Donington later.
Brands Hatch
This meeting
stood out as the one where we ran out of ambulances twice. Firstly with
the sidecars on paddock hill, I believe there were 7 involved. Good job
the sidecar grids had improved greatly or we would have had nothing left
to start again with!
And then with
the 350 twins accident on the start line we ran out of ambulances again.
Minimum requirement is 2 ambulances, we have 4 – although increased
costs, a good plan.
There were a
number of worrying injuries but hopefully all are fully recovered
without any long term effects. Clerk of the Course Eddie Bellars
probably saved the meeting by conjuring up a 5th ambulance so
we could get started again.
Then to Snetterton for the Race of Aces
A big
accident involving Stu Melling at Russell’s and it must
be said that without the fast action of CRMC marshals and the medics Stu
could have lost his life. We were told later that there was only 2
minutes to sort it.
New committee
member and Riders Rep Jono Yardley did a great job
leading the support for Stu and his family over the following weeks.
There were
some complaints about special interest machines going out before the
parades. I am afraid there was a breakdown in communications there so we
need to warn riders in future. Contrary to some opinions such
attractions are interesting to many people and the overall show that we
put on is useful when negotiating dates.
Cadwell
As many are
only too well aware we had a lot of fallers which cost us a great deal
of time and reduced laps. Possibly our programme was too ambitious and
we need to avoid that in the future - more on that later.
Race 7 caused
a lot of problems with many riders not getting out. We have had the
drains up on it and a report was in the last Open Megga or ‘strangled
exhaust’ as someone once called it!
Lessons have
been learnt on both counts.
One idea we
have is to make a spare Clerk of the Course (if we have one) responsible
for overall communications to the paddock and between offices. To make
it work what we need to achieve is a consistent approach at all
meetings.
That aside
yet again more fantastic racing and one thing I must mention is TT
specialist Guy Martin being parachuted in to grab the
silver only to be thwarted 3-0 by Lea Gourlay on a
virtually identical bike.
One
thing we need to do is thank our marshals and officials for being out
there making it all happen.
One major
change for next year is that our chief starter Brian Rogers
is standing down after about 27 years starting (and ending)
CRMC races and that was just a part of his time spent in racing.
I doubt the
start line will ever look the same again but he has groomed some good
successors and he tells me he will be around at some meetings to keep an
eye on them.
We do have a
small keepsake for you, in fact you can keep your whisky in it.
Here are some
flags so you can practice at home:
OH and here
is the whisky to put in the decanter!!!!!!!!!!
Another
change is that Sue Stacey is stepping down from the
membership secretary job and will be succeeded by Brian Robson’s
partner Glenys.
Sue
please step forward for your decanter.
All things
considered we had another very successful season with full grids at many
meetings.
As ever thanks to John
Davidson’s hard work we maximise the number of riders on the
grid by amalgamating races. As I have said before this can mean that
some don’t get their OWN race but full or near full grids maximise cash
flow and makes a major difference in keeping your race fees as low as
possible.
Supporting
all that is the extra sidecar entries.
Last year I
stood here and asked you to support this club, your club, as much as
possible and I must thank you for doing just that. As I said earlier we
have had good grids all year so what more can we ask.
That has
resulted in GOOD NEWS much the same as last year:
Finances
-
Joy has good news on CRMC finances.
Membership
– Sue has given me good
news on membership and
membership fees will be held for 2010.
Sponsorship –
Considering the financial situation Brian continues the
quest to get more sponsors
Race
entries – John has good
news on the make up of events next year.
Machine
registrations – more
good news from Gordon, Mark and Ian.
Open Megga
– 4 stunning issues again this year with Sally doing a great
job as editor.
National
Championship – we have
major news possibly the biggest for years.
I think we
have had another fantastic season probably one of the best ever.
I am sure
with your support we
can do it again in 2010.
Thank you.
End of the
Chairman’s address.