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Particularly not fair, right or consistent when Gordon Pairman tells us that the BSPA reduced Jonsson's average when he came back to the UK because he was no longer the rider he had been. The consistent application of the rules would result in averages being increased for riders who have clearly improved since their last time in the UK and that is what should have happened. Of course you have to be capable of viewing things objectively rather than just subjectively to understand the harm this sort of inconsistency does to the credibility of the sport.

Indeed, it seems that this 'rule' doesn't actually exist despite more than one promoter and rider believing that it did. Not at all in keeping with the open, honest, transparent and uncomplicated way that British speedway is run

THANKS to everyone for their comments here. I speak as someone who (other than sanctioning the cost!) had nothing to do with its production. I'm very proud of the of the people who did the hard graft and know they appreciate how well it is both perceived and received.

He and Adam have used it so far, they’ve been helping Gary Drake with development since last year. Adam used it for this lakeside meetings . 10+2 away at Peterborough and top scorer on points at the #RICO meeting. They will be using it more throughout the season.

Hopefully all clubs promotions will now look into the forum as regards future postponements.If they can contact Steve Shovlar he will tell them exactly what the weather will do 48 hrs prior to each and every clubs home matches.He will detail exactly whether any rain will hit any tracks in those 48 hrs.And on this evidence clubs will know 100% whether to postpone or not.So thanks must go to SS for saving speedway a small fortune in the future.

There are times when the adverts are more welcome than the posts......

We are not all mouthy gobs as you put here at Poole thank you ps there is a lot off speedway between now and October win or lose so let's enjoy it

Please don't assume all Poole supporters are this arrogant, sometimes afraid to admit who I support.

So a Holder who isnt in the right frame of mind, has seen his form nosedive over the last 2 seasons is actually a stronger rider right now then Kildemand??? Kildemand over Holder every day of the week right now, Holder has loads to prove

Bloody adverts in the middle of posts is a pain.

I didn't need to. It was bone dry according to your oppo.

10 point plus away win, but maybe worky could get a result if they feed Glasgow with a manky cup of tea and uncooked burger.

Unfortunately when a sport is corrupt and therefore clubs are treated differently questions like that are irrelevant.

Well that isn’t what we all wanted to hear but it’s far better to call off now than having a repeat of problems of the past - so we’ll done for making a early decision.

Yep I’m with Haza. For 18 notes I at least want the chance of being entertained with decent racing. Not watch Buster take off tones of slope with riders then working out if they fancy it or not., I guess I’m not as committed as the likes of Trees. If committed is the word.

On my hour long walk to work at 4:50 (to Wolverhampton) this morning, the contents of approximately 1400 showers emptied themselves over me on said walk. I was convinced this was rain as it was so wet. However, after consulting with a wonderful thing called technology, this assured me that in fact, this was not the case & I was clearly mistaken. Hope that clears things up.

well Your in poole not up here, so its you who dont know what your talking about.

He's on a wind up, don't feed the troll.

I will defend where required and I will be honest when I have to be... being a member of the Workington Speedway Trust.. I know what it is taking to keep speedway running... not just in Workington...

Who made you boss? Discussions develop where they develop, so tough breast.

Which 'former promoter' are you referring to? If its Gordon Pairman then he is a current co-promoter who also serves on the Speedway Control Bureau - so I guess he should know the truth!!

Lots of sour grapes again towards the Poole team. Perhaps their promotions can put together a side to challenge.

Well i hope so but there is a lot of racing to do between now and then. The fact remains anyone can make any comment on any thread and they are certainly not going to stop because you tell them to!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news if u like Lord Lucan but £2.50 will be the programme price this season... it was announced at meet the riders thatJacko wanted to bring back a proper programme this season..24 colour pages. Unfortunately the price is determined by printing costs. I have also informed Steve of my disappointment in the catering facility on the grandstand side... a little girl behind me was totally ignored and several others served before her until I noticed her standing trying to get attention... they had also ran out of tomato sauce.. shock horror. Oh and the height of the canopy is not adequate for taller people it will have someones eye out if they are not paying full attention!! Its very dangerous!!! Oh and i waited ages for a very poor excuse for burger chips and a hot chocolate like dishwater not only that but serving 'hot'drinks in cups with no lid is a danger too when walking past children running around and passing people in the grandstand as well as trying to carry food. Whinge over.

Come on Worky everyone is rooting for you now!! (That'll be a season ticket at any track of course.)

The reason you fail to see what he is 'whinging' about is because he isn't whinging. Feel free to look up the definition. He expressed his frustration and disappointment and with his circumstances - wife just had a baby etc etc, most sensible people would have no problem with him doing that. Its not as if he phoned up and say he was unwell; he didn't throw his dummy out of the pram; he didn't say that the Edinburgh promotion are an embarrassment and should be banned from promoting; he didn't say Nicki Pedersen knocked me off and its not fair. Ironically the only people whinging are those having a go at Harris

Quite right. Don't let the facts get in the way of a poor conspiracy theory.

Haza, I don't know what you want the club to do to make you feel wanted. We have all read your negative comments on here. At least Trees is doing something positive with the supporters club.

It’s next to the rule that says you can achieve an average after only 2h & 2a meetings (Max Clegg) or the rule where a club is fined and docked 3 points for a bogus call off. Last year a rider was stopped from riding for seven days after missing a meeting due to illness. The rule is in the rulebook in bold meaning its new for this year, even though it was applied last year? Some “rules” are written some are not as this allows fluidity in their interpretation dependant on which team is involved.

So you still think he's a temporary replacement. Let's wait & see. I get the feeling he will not be back for a while, if at all this season.

Annoyingly the set days for Premiership were set to be Thursdays but were then changed to Wednesday to appease some Championship clubs. Surely, the top league should have precedence in the matter& teams could have moved up to keep their Thursday spot.

The problem is, that joe public doesn't think that 15 minutes of 'entertainment' is worth 20 quid. Run the main event for those that want a quick get away, and put on some motocross for those that want their money's worth.

That's got me out of a tight spot, as it's my 54th Wedding Anniversary that day, and I'll be back in my wife's good books now, by not going out and leaving her.

Any prospects of rain that will count me out - not prepared to stand around waiting for the track to be bladed either - if in any doubt about the weather we won’t be attending.

Not really. Many tracks run at the lower levels weekly, and often twice-weekly during high summer. These tend to be the Spedeworth tracks in the south and other, lesser promoting groups. It's much less cohesive than speedway. The monthly meetings tend to be BriSCA events where there is a national travelling circus of drivers, backed up by local racers. Taking Coventry, a good 50% of drivers at Brandon on a Saturday would be seen at Northampton the next day and the fixtures were arranged so that there were few fixture clashes at F1 level, which Coventry mainly operated at. So to the fans the racing was 2-3 times a week, within a fairly tightly-spaced area with the northernmost track being in County Durham and the southernmost being Northampton. So, most supporters would have a wide choice of meetings and not just a monthly event at their local track. Fans would follow their heroes around the various tracks, just like we would follow our teams. There is also a greater tradition of monthly racing at individual tracks, dating back over six decades. By contrast speedway's successful years were always based on regular weekly speedway. The professional promoters of the past knew this and made sure that the fixture gaps were kept well under control. Len Silver for example would even go so far at Hackney to arrange a top-class individual meeting, Superama, at Waterden Road when the Hawks were away to a Friday track like Wolverhampton, Newport or Glasgow. Continuity was the key. 'Make it a date, Friday at 8' was more than just a throwaway marketing line, nor was the Rayleigh equivalent of Saturday at 8. Sadly "Make it a date, Sunday at 4.30" wouldn't have quite sounded right at Rye House. For several peak months of the year we are now witnessing almost monthly speedway. It doesn't seem to be doing much to raise crowds does it? Returning to Rye House, it's been commented on how the track had good crowds early season last year but they tailed-off later. Perhaps this is because the early season saw regular Saturday night racing before the fragmented midweek schedule came along once the full SGP and Polish seasons became a more lucrative distraction for riders? I worry that a full season like that, of irregular Mondays and Wednesdays could be damaging for the track. We can only wait and see. I do hope it works but I can't help feeling that BMR's lack of understanding of speedway that has see the move to the top level could prove to be costly for a track with decades of weekend racing.

Equally I think a team shouldnt be able to refuse a fixture where the date is reserved for restaging of postponed fixtures Lakeside should be compelled to take a fixture if it is the only reasonable date available Priority over riders will then need to follow the regulations as set out Thats why fixed days for each league shouldve meant fixed days full stop

Don't think it can be called that any more.I know it's not been tested really yet, but with Glyn on the case,i imagine it will be Poole's best track in years.

Thank god for that C49 I thought I was hearing things!!

Gordon Pairman made the comment in this thread and it relates to two riders in the current Poole team so it seems entirely relevant to make comments about it in this thread.

Mate, no rules get broken. If they are not above board then the BSPA would not sanction any signings. Its as simple as that. There are to many uptight people on here who want more to do with Poole than there own club, although, i can understand why...

Not exactly. All teams have essentially redeclared as it is the start of the season. Josh was in your declared 1 - 7 at the end of last season therefore you will be allowed a facility. You wouldn't be allowed a facility, for example, Charles Wright, if he was injured elsewhere before your first official fixture as he wasn't previously in your end of season 1-7. 16.5.2.2 No facility is permitted to replace a rider, who although included in a Re-declaration has not made an appearance for that Team since being re-declared. That is why Poole have had to sign Kildeman on a short term contract to replace the missing Chris Holder. They can't get a facility for Holder as he wasn't at Poole last season.

In which case his value of £25,000 will be shot to bits.

So the weather wins. Dreadful easter weekend.

So the more powerful bikes have brought little to the 21st century sport of speedway? Only to mean that meetings can't be run as they used to be - often in poorish conditions, but still to decent sized crowd. Now that the crowd is on average 750 -1,000 no one can afford to let that drop by 30% - 50%. But speedway remains an outdoors "summer" sport and there has been no improvement in things like track covers ( except here and there ). One more bad summer it seems, could scupper speedway completely. What a pity we had not gone with ( or kept ) lower performance sealed engines. Is it too late for something like that? It could well come back to something like that in a few years. A different sport in some ways but one that the crowd base could afford.

Hi Gaz, lovely to chat again. Had the rain stopped as forecast I have no doubt the track would have been prepared and raceable. As for your last point, I think you’re spot on; that’s definitely what they were up to. I mean let’s put aside the fact that the meeting was called off before the gates opened. The meeting was called off well before most people needed to leave to get there. Chris Harris should maybe move to Coatbridge or some other Weej outpost. Love, your favourite Monarch, Jan. xxx

Keep telling yourself that, you are still wrong. A 7.5pt rider now would have been 8.5 to 9 in 2003 in most cases. It's a mathematical fact. There were EIGHTEEN teams in the 2nd tier in 2018 compared to TEN last season. That immediately gives you 54 heat leaders, compared to 30. Your list of 'endless' riders is solely due to the size of the league. Iversen wasn't a top rider in 2003, indeed neither was Zagar. it was his debut year. Tony Atkin averaged 7.00 in 2003!!! Please don't try and tell me has ever reached the level Klindt can ride at. Craig Cook, Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls, Nick Morris blow 2003 Stonehewer, Wilson, Watson and Cunningham out of the water. Cook isn't in the league this year but you can throw in Danny King, Richard Lawson, Ricky Wells, Kyle Howarth, Rory Schlein as riders who would have been pushing 10pt averages in 2003.

No one forces a Speedway rider to ride, they do it because they enjoy riding a bike and getting payed for it, and believe me it’s much better than a 9 to 5 job, if they don’t think they don’t get paid enough, simple get a normal job

Ah! days gone by...the Easter 3TT involving Oxford, Swindon and Reading. Oxford on Good Friday, Swindon on the Saturday and Reading Easter Monday. Those were the days!

Team kevlars look good, pleased to see the blue return.