Dave, Now that you've had a couple of days to chew on what went on , please let us know what happened saturday. Were those 4 or 5 sacrificed to appease Norman? Because if they were, thats an outrage and we should do something NOW!!!!! How typical of the nesc to not stand behind the riders! What did our rider reps (and I use the term very loosely) do about helping the riders in question? I'm for all and I mean all of us standing behind them and boycotting a couple of races to show some solidarity. The only way to show the nesc zealots that we mean business is to hit them in the pocketbook. You riders should take a ride with me to Jolly Rogers and see it for yourselves , it's a beautiful layout,with a state of the art watering system. (not 4 or 5 garden hoses)Sunday when I was there they were dozeing after any part of the track failed to hold up to thier standards. I would like to see that happen at any NESC track, including CENTRAL VILLAGE! So Dave please let us know what went down saturday or call me , you have my phone # ....digger PS. Best of luck Max and Leo in your efforts to get this injustice turned around.

-- Mike DeGaetano (mx29@charter.net), July 25, 2000

Answers

we were two of the few that showed up to add our two cents on saturday and we'll tell u what we saw go on. For the first two hours of the meeting we stood around outside the building or outside the room they were holding the meeting in because the board wouldn't allow us to even go in and listen. everyone was either complaining, getting impatient or trying to listen at the door to get an idea of what was going on. since i was one of the people listening at the door i can tell u they were basically going over and over what happened at middleboro, who's liable, private property laws and pretty much going around in circles not accomplishing too much, mind you i wasn't able to hear every word so maybe more was accomplished than i could gather. when we were finally allowed in the room we told to stick to the middleboro issue, other issues would be discussed at a later date, maybe 15 riders, 6 or 7 that had been banned went in the room. Questions were asked regarding how norm made his decision to ban the 44 riders, we were told he banned the people who transferred classes regardless of proof of them threatning others, at his lawyers advice. the point was made that carter who hadn't been at the middleboro where everyone was banned had still been served a warrent telling him he was banned from middleoboro for life for "contributing to a mob environment" after he spoke to one of his rider reps about the previous middleboro. Norm did change this decision after speaking to carter personally. most of the rest of the discussion was about the rider's actions, how norm had tried to make up for the condition of the track by allowing the riders to take their money back even after practice, how the track was no longer dusty after it was watered, how no one left for the hospital due to the dust, and how norm had felt attacked by many of the riders, both online and during the protest. at one point norm left the room for no apparant reason, all in all everyone remained rather calm and towards the end of the discussion the riders tried to work with norm and say if they were allowed back in they would be more than happy to pick up rocks in evenings during the week or water the track on race day, we were basically shot down for this suggestion. finally a handfull of us gave in and kissed enough ass in the hope that the ban would be lifted. then we left so they could vote. i'm sure there's more to be added by anyone else that was there, when i left i felt something may have been accomplished and that maybe with more meetings like this and more direct contact by riders who actually have the rider's interests in mind, unlike some of the rider reps we have now, more could be done. this hopefullness was crushed when i heard about the boards decision on sunday morning. goodluck in your law suits to those who were banned, i think you have a case, and for the rest of u, start going to meetings even if you choose not to speak at least be there to show your support, things will only get better if the riders stick together and show the board we expect changes for a better future of the NESC.

-- chris & anna (lc755sx@aol.com), July 25, 2000.