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Released:
3rd August 2007
Since
the conclusion of the Sprintcar
Thunder Series last season, I have
been on the receiving end of a barrage
of accusations and claims that are
clearly incorrect.
I have
purposely not commented on a number of
articles in Speedway Racing News and
on internet forums in the hope that
this issue would simply be forgotten
and we all could move on.
However
given recent events, this is not
possible.
So
again, I need to defend my actions in
the media where Mr. Bartlett chose to
propagate a myriad of inaccuracies for
reasons best known to himself.
In Mr.
Bartlett initial media outburst, he
made a number of claims regarding
finishing positions at the second
round of the series at Rolling Thunder
Raceway, this was later clarified
beyond doubt in my previous media
release which contained the AMB
timing system report clearly showing
that Lewis finished in forth position
and not in fifth as claimed by
Bartlett.
Further
more; Mr. Bartlett attempted to make
the case that Cobby should have won
the series based on the fact that he
was not given a copy of the Series
Rules (that clearly stated that
passing points in heat races were to
be included in overall series
points).
In a
further issue of Speedway Racing News
(issue 331),
Bartlett indicated that “despite Ray
Solomon’s assurances that the series
points system paperwork was handed out
to all drivers who attended the
drivers briefing before the first
event (November 11, 2006), this
statement was incorrect. Not all
drivers were given the paperwork at
the first meeting. I rang and spoke
to four out of seventeen drivers. I
stopped after four drivers had said
they hadn’t received the paperwork.
It begs the question – why was my
driver (Jamie Cobby) – the then
National 360ci Sprintcar Champion not
given a copy of the points score that
was to be used.
Bearing
in mind the above statement and all
the false accusations and claims made
by Mr. Bartlett, I invite the speedway
public to view the attached video
(Click here to
view)
of the
field footage taken on the first night
of the Sprintcar Thunder Series on the
11th of November 2007 at
Rolling Thunder Raceway.
You will
see the driver of the Bartlett car,
Jamie Cobby (through the window)
actually with a copy of the Series
Rules in his hand at the drivers
meeting. At the conclusion of the
drivers meeting, Cobby then walks out
of the clubrooms, again with Series
Rules in his hands. This is the same
team that stated throughout this
fiasco that they did not receive a
copy of the rules.
The
video
(Click here to
view) also shows other
drivers walking out of the club rooms
with the series rules.
All I
can do is hand the documentation to
the drivers that attended the meeting,
I cannot make them take a copy, and I
cannot make them read it. I can only
do these things in good faith and rely
on people’s honesty and good will;
however this seems to have failed in
this case.
Now that
Mr. Bartlett knows the truth, I
suggest he owes me a full and
unqualified retraction and apology in
the same media forums that he used to
suggest that I “duded him”, namely
Speedway Racing News magazine,
Sprintcarworld.com.au and
AustralianSpeedway.com.
I wait
his apology.
Ray
Solomon
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