Edinburgh Monarchs have put in a formal protest to the Speedway Control Board about the handling of last Friday's match by Rochdale referee Colin Reeve.
John Campbell argued that the Rochdale referee should never be allowed to officiate again. The match was marked by a number of controversial decisions which left riders from both teams angry. Reading heat leader Phil Morris launched an attack on the referee when interviewed by Scott Wilson.
John Campbell claims that Reeve jeapodized the safety of the riders by watching heat 14 from outside the referee's box.
Campbell commented:
"On one occasion I saw Mr Reeve outside the box. That was in heat 14 when our rider Blair Scott clipped the fence and fell off on the home straight. Riders take 15 seconds per lap. It took Mr Reeve at least that time to get back in place. And I'm not sure he switched on the red light to halt the heat. I guess the other riders would not have stopped unless the flag marshals had taken it upon themselves to stop the race."
"Yet they are sometimes told not to wave the red flag until they see the red light come on. If Mr Reeve had slipped on the steos on his way back to the box, goodness knows what would have happened. We could have faced a horrendous situation of riders charging around the track and ploughing into Blair who was lying injured."
"There was a suggestion that Mr Reeve couldn't see inside the box because of the strong sun. He should have worn sunglasses. In my time at Armadale, I've never heard that the sun has prevented referees from making reasonable decisions."
Many of the visibility problems occured on the first and second bends. Ross Brady was knocked of twice, by Phil Morris in heat 3 and later by Armando Castagna in heat 14. The latter prompted some 'aggro' in the pits. In both cases the issue was ducked and 'all four back' was the decision.
Reading also had plenty of complaints. Paul Clews tangled with Kevin Little at the start of heat 3 losing a chain and was justifiably very annoyed not to get a rerun. Phil Morris made an attack on the way that heat 3 and heat 14 were handled. Phil was excluded from heat 3, according to the referee, for clashing with Ross Brady. This was news since Ross was way ahead and it was Kevin Little who he hit. The referee compounded that by awarding the race to Little with Brady second. Yet Brady led from the off and was way ahead throughout.
John Campbell added:
"Colin Reeve, in my opinion, is the worst referee in British speedway and the sooner we get rid of him the better it will be for all concerned. Despite his right or wrong decisions, what we cannot have is a referee officiating from outside the box. If Mr Reeve can make that kind of judgement during a meeting, he is clearly not up the job."
Colin Reeve declined to comment.
The Speedway Control Board commented:
"When we recieve Edinburgh's letter of complaint we will look into the matter. I can say no more until I've seen what they have to say."
Monarchs have sacked the track staff member who refused to hand over the winner's flag to Phil Morris for his lap of honour. Campbell added:
"The track member in question has left our staff. I thougt it was scandalous. Edinburgh are above that sort of thing."
After the hostile reception he received from the crowd, Phil Morris was offered and accepted an invitation to compete in the Scottish Open Championship to be held at Armadale towards the end of July.