Combe FF1600 Unsporting Behaviour

[darcym]

Hello all.

I thought it worth pointing out this press release that appeared in the Bath local rag

http://www.thisisbath.com/displayNod...entPK=10385977


I am %100 disgusted with this behaviour from the poster.

Having dropped out of the race myself I watched this accident along with the Marshals, and would publicly like to say this was a clean racing accident cause be close racing. Both Jones and Jensen came into Quarry wild and both where pushing hard, a simpe racing accident.

How Jensens farther can see what happened and make comment to the press from the start finish and see a 3rd of a mile over Avon rise is beyond me. After a great days racing and some good battles this is the sort of post that rubbish peoples name. I am ashamed to see this sort of thing.

I notice the press release mentions nothing of Steven disobeying the Marshals about getting off the track, throwing his helmet and and gloves down and crying over the barrier. This is highly unsporting bevaiour. The bad mouthing of any driver happens in the heat of the moment, but to make a press release days after the event when you have calmed down and to do it on the word of someone at the accident is unjust and uncalled for. Hence why I feel the need to make this press release that rubbish an unjust calling of a driver public.

I'll be digging through my video footage and I hope the camera caught it.

[Ian Sowman]

Matt - that doesn't look like a press release to me; it looks like something a reporter put together on the basis of a conversation with Erling. So his quotes could have been taken out of context, he could have been misquoted. Very likely the reporter will have cherry-picked what made for a more interesting report.

Please think about things like that a bit more. Agreed, it isn't good if people make comments like that - but they always will do - but jumping in like this doesn't help anyone either.

[darcym]

Hmmmm possible Ian, a press release is probably the wrong word, and having been misquoted myself on occasion it is easy to see how this happens, however for Andrew Jones to be names suggest he was singled out and to give names and rubbish the standards of the driving to the press is unaccaptable.

I watched that part of the race closley having been involved in the fight, and then I watched from quarry from where the accident happened and the driving standards of all involved where excellent, a little ragged at times but excellent and very fair.

So see a great battle rubbished and because the result didn't go your way rubbish it to the press is poor sportsmanship. I take your point about misquotes but I standby what I say having been in the recovery truck with the driver and he pretty much slated Andrew Jones something wrotten to me and didn't want to hear when I suggested it was just hard luck.

If that was the end of it, I'd have been happy, but to see this in the paper pretty much word for word is pretty poor show.

If the team has been misquoted then I apologise, but as I said this pretty much word for word what was said in the truck.

[PaulSands]

from that article
" believe very firmly that if you are going to stay ahead because you are quicker then that is fair, but if you can only stay ahead by protecting the driving line and stopping quicker drivers from overtaking then it is very unsporting"
sounds like a perfect F1 driver to me
I assume there will be some "rebuffal" in the Combe paddock next time out

[JustinDawkins]

If the guy behind was so much quicker - then why couldn't he pass? If he isn't fast enough, or hasn't got the balls then thats his problem!

Although its annoying stuck behind a slow driver - there isn't a lot you can do - thats racing!

I suppose he will be complaining of crashes soon because drivers were going too fast!

[RMR]

what a tit. if the quotes are true then what a monkey, whats the point of racing then, may aswell just qualify. suppose there are always 2 sides to a story of a shunt eh JD

[JohnMiller]

Originally posted by darcym
the press release mentions nothing of Steven disobeying the Marshals about getting off the track, throwing his helmet and and gloves down and crying over the barrier

Originally posted by JustinDawkins
hasn't got the balls

Sounds like they've yet to drop.

[JohnMiller]

Originally posted by PaulSands
from that article
" believe very firmly that if you are going to stay ahead because you are quicker then that is fair, but if you can only stay ahead by protecting the driving line and stopping quicker drivers from overtaking then it is very unsporting"

Maybe he thought he was sprinting?

[F3lollipops]

Originally posted by PaulSands
from that article
" believe very firmly that if you are going to stay ahead because you are quicker then that is fair, but if you can only stay ahead by protecting the driving line and stopping quicker drivers from overtaking then it is very unsporting"

Ken Tyrrell (a far better human being than me) used to say that it is the job of the guy behind to get past, not the job of the one in front to let him through



That said, on Saturday I found it a highly entertaining race to watch - purely as a spectator and with no vested interest in the result. Unlike my viewing of the National FF races on Sunday

[darcym]

I enjoyed the battles too.
there are some drivers who bloke and frustrate, and there are a few guys who perhaps need a quiet talking to about being aware, but Andrew Jones has always been fair and the battle looked more than fair where I was watching from.

nothing to complain about.

[RMR]

Have to agree Andy is one of the fairest racers and will not block. i found if you put yourself in his mirrors he through himself off anyway sorry andy. good to see a different winner there too, hope to see other names at the front too.

[foreversideways]

Calm Down, its only a child spitting out its dummy

[Ian Sowman]

I'm sure Matt Beer won't mind me picking this out of the email he has just sent to me. He's talking about the writer of the Bath Chronicle article:

"He's got the two Andrews the wrong way round, completely overstated the collision (it wasn't exactly destructive) and I wouldn't be surprised if that was a very cherry-picked quote."

[Andrew Jones]

Thanx for the support guys. When I read the article to day I was a bit miffed (under statement!) so I called Team Jenson SUPREMO for a chat and he assures me that the driving standards comments are not directed at me but to Nick Jones and the paper left out Nick's first name in the article hence the confusion but he still stands by his coments that Nick should have let Steven past and the Marshalls should have Flaged Nick to let him past (Barrichello should have tried that in the last two GP's)

[darcym]

Utter rubbish - if nick was THAT slow the field would have gone around him. Nicks lap was far quicker than Jensens, I often go racing to let people past....not.

Utter rubbish - and this guys thinking of entering the national FF championship.

I stand by my comments, a great race from Steven, but if Nick is there to get points and he been driving well this year, Nick is not an unfair driver - he's hard but fair. I didn't see anyone even have a crack at passing him, probably because the Harris/Jensen/Jones fight was holding each other up as they couldn't clear each other.

Marshals flagging nick....honestly.

[darcym]

I also wrote the Bath rag and got no response. Good on Matt Beer for taking the time to look into this. Thats how a journo should right/act !

[Ian Sowman]

I don't think he's looked into it, he's too busy with thespians, he's just applying common sense and saying what actually happened...

[darcym]

damn those pesky actors distracting our journos.

[ooo-arr27]

Having studied video footage of this incident, and the laps leading up to the coming together, the racing (both from a Quarry and Tower perspective)was good and fair, and I believe this was just a racing incident - not the first and won't be the last.