Watt slams official as Eagles are beaten (From The Argus)

Watt slams official as Eagles are beaten

9:00am Friday 22nd May 2009 in Eagles news

Eastbourne Eagles skipper Davey Watt could be in hot water after revving up his machine in front of Foxhall Stadium clerk of the course Keith Barton at Ipswich last night.

Barton made an official complaint to referee Paul Carrington after an eventful heat 11 that swung the meeting the Witches’ way.

In return Watt blasted the Ipswich officials and called them ‘unbelievably unprofessional.’ Until then the visitors had looked capable of gaining something from this Elite League contest. But they then conceded two 5-1’s and three 4-2’s in the final five races to slip from just 31-29 down to be swamped 53-37.

Watt’s troubles began when machine examiner Fred Cotton reported him to Barton as the riders were lining up for heat 11. Chain guards that are now on the market with a gap in them have recently been outlawed by the authorities.

Watt had taped up the offending hole, but this had slipped off, and the Australian was asked to re-tape as he was preparing to start.

His mechanic obliged, but when the tapes went up Watt was left trailing and while well adrift held one hand in the air appealing to the referee to order a re-start.

When this did not happen, Watt rode round to the centre green start area and twice revved up in front of Barton in an attempt to spray the official with dirt.

“I have made an official complaint to the referee,” confirmed the long-serving Barton. “Stones could have struck me in the eye and I could have been blinded.

“Despite his frustration there was no excuse for Dave Watt to take it on me.”

A furious Watt stormed: “I am astounded that Ipswich have been able to run while having such incompetent officials.

“It was unbelievably unprofessional. They berated and hassled me on the track as I was waiting to race.

“A second can mean the difference between first and last, and to top it all the start was unfair and it led to the downfall of our hopes of winning.

“If people question my actions my answer is that they only have to look at the events leading up to them to understand my frustrations.

“Speedway is my job and it is dangerous enough without being hassled like I was. The tape came off, and some new tape was put on.“ Rider replacement for David Norris accrued just two points, and when Cameron Woodward rode for double points in heat 14 Eastbourne’s luck was out and he trailed in behind the home pair of Daniel King and an in-form Carl Wilkinson, who failed to score in his opening ride and was then unbeaten by an Eagle.

Eastbourne scored a 5-1 in heat two with ex-Witch Chris Schramm following home Ricky Kling, and they achieved another maximum in heat seven when Lewis Bridger rode exceptional well to shepherd round Woodward ahead of Piotr Swiderski.

This put Eastbourne two points ahead and they remained very much in the hunt until Watt hit trouble in heat 11.

After the meeting former Eagle Scott Nicholls did some laps and so did Chris Louis, who has not ridden a bike in earnest since breaking his upper arm 12 months ago.