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From what I remember, quite the contrary! Injury wrecked what looked like being his best season, can't recall what year off the top of my head. Always liked Ty, passionate rider and a very funny, dry sense of humour. Pleased to see him making a good start to the current campaign.

You can blame the Championship promoters for our Danes being missing

Congratulations to Paulco and Elaine on their wedding today.

Two days until the meeting and the forecast is still dry for Sunday. Two iconic teams without a permanent home, I do hope this meeting is well supported.

Barker being a gobby little sh!te..... never? The bloke will get his comeuppance one day when a rider takes real offence. shame because in there somewhere is a good exciting rider

I was able to watch Ivan's funeral from Australia from a livestream 90 minutes. Emotional, very interesting, great pics and clips and so great to be watch! When the bagpipes play New Zealand's national anthem went Ivan's coffin was driven away .. l had a few tears. I hope that the livestream has now recorded and is still to watch. Really wonderful watch. (There is right through the flicking film was very poignant). https://livestream.com/FuneralLivestreamingAustralia/events/8173657/videos/174019226

Plenty of time for the forecasters to give us numerous conflicting forecasts in the next 48 hours

Why? He scored 15 last time at Lynn on bikes that are almost certainly sitting in Norfolk. There seem to be a lot of comments on Premiership match threads about Polish meetings this year, not sure scores over there are particularly relevant to our league. Not rubbish at all. If all clubs had worked together for the good of British speedway as a whole there would have been no clashes as Premiership fixtures would have been on Mondays and Thursdays.

As much as i like speedway if i was there i would probably be fishing right across from that track in Wislok river.

Did you see earlier the link to the live you tube of rzeszow practising this afternoon- who wants to watch that !!!!

What a joke !! The fact that Lynn agreed to this meeting tells me all that we need to be know. We cancel meetings because of the effect the weather would have on the crowd and then arrange to run a meeting when half a team is missing . You couldn't make this up...... Why not switch this fixture to Thursday when all the riders could've rode, or just give Swindon the points without bothering to race, it would save the embarrassment, it cuts-out the financial outlay, it would save hours of work and let the sport be left to die quicker...... You can add me to the list of those not bothering to go ....... .

That is a shame if NKI is missing as I wanted to see Zach beat him again.

Sorry this is nothing but a total farce. I predict a Press Release on Tuesday calling Wednesday's meeting off because of previous heavy rain coupled with poor forecast. Anyone want to bet against it?

Another massive crowd in Lublin !!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/04/24/ivan-mauger-speedway-world-champion-obituary/

For the 3 heat leaders this year guests are allowed As Baggy points out above 2nd strings are r/r

Apparently the developers have argued that we do not need Blunsdon as we have now made Wimborne Road our own

You might be adding a few more days to that song by the end of the season,,, it might end up like a Craig David number

Some lovely memories of Ivan from Peter Collins and Alan Wilkinson in this weeks Star, the overriding theme seems to be the bike preparation they gained from the great man.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Regardless of the weather I'm giving this thread and meeting a wide birth, absolutely pointless.

Great ride by the ZG reserve, and Dudek takes a lot of credit for protecting him so well.

Gambo has put on the rolling averages thread that 2017 WILL now be included (20 meeting total) This could make a big difference and will certainly even out any potential large risers or fallers

indeed scored 11pts from 6 rides

Hoping for a you tube link just before the lublin v Rybnik match starts. I have a decent Eleven 2 picture on http://www.maniak.tv/kanal-2 it`s also on http://v4.ustreamix.com/stream.php?id=eleven-sports-2-poland&v=1524484509 It`s a nice day in Rzeszow- their training session is live here

Looks like I caught one too!

Weather forecasts appear to be ok for Lublin and Leszno today- cloudy / sunny intervals- no rain forecast.

Great win for Poole last night! Good for speedway to see them back to their best and moving up the table. Even Szzzzpaniak is on the up - he kept Alfie Bowtell honest! Onwards and upwards, next league match against Wareham Wobblers! Happy Days.

1 meeting/round will have 5 cameras. The other 3 meetings will only have 1 camera. http://eskilstunasmederna.se/speedwayplay-com-klubbarnas-egna-kanal/

And a very good job you did. Some really good comments. Thanks

Really pleased to see that even the Telegraph did a full obituary of Ivan on Wednesday this week. A lot of stuff I am sure many of us were not aware of.

That is what I am saying is it not,with their expieriance the track should not be the problem however it is prepared.i don't think Newcastle are front runners this year so we better be " on the ball" when some of the others come visiting.

Nobody around me saw anything going on between Kyle and Barker in any of their races. Maybe a bit of close racing between Charlie and Barker, but nothing like Barker does all the time. If you dish it out you should be able to take it back They all need to be warned before the return match on friday. We don't want anyone getting hurt.utt

That has to be the easiest game of "Where's Wally?" ever known...... I take it the Echo are trying to put their readers off going to Wimborne Road. That reminds me, The Living Dead's on.......

Barker got a slap I hear tonight. Anyone know what happened

AUSTRALIAN FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX VENUE SEARCH UPDATE by PSE Events In March BSI announced a search had commenced for a new home for the Australian FIM Speedway Grand Prix and they had joined forces with Melbourne based PSE to manage the process in Australia. Stage one of the three stage process was open to all tracks and interested venues across the country with the first stage closing on 13 April. Submissions from Adelaide Showgrounds, Canberra National Speedway Stadium and Ipswich Motorsport Park will now progress to stage two. Work on stage two has now commenced and further information will be announced once this has been completed.

Apparently, there has now been a *U-Turn/*Rethink/*Clarification (*delete as appropriate) regarding the Green Sheets. 2017 averages WILL be included this year for a 20 match Rolling Average. Riders who do not have a 2017 average will maintain their starting average until they have completed 4H & 4A.

Don’t think that’s the exact wording used but even then at the time he probably was but fair plsy to the lad he’s improved a lot since then.

I don't know why there is so much talk of track covers. Kings Lynn haven't got any ,and will never have any. Covers wouldn't be practical and where would the water go once it was on the centre concrete?

3rd from the left in the 2nd row back(green cap) looks a dodgy character

No doubt the Sky money ended up in the pockets of big name riders.

i think that's more to do with Kings Lynn being a multi-use stadium, so the covers would be up and down all the time and there just isn't the staff or volunteer levels to do it

IVAN did it his way ... It was only two years since Ivan Mauger had equalled Ove Fundin’s record of five World Championship victories in Gothenburg in 1977 but there were many who felt that the Kiwi would struggle to go one better and fulfil his dream of standing alone in the history books. Despite seeing his great rival Ole Olsen claim the title at a Wembley in 1978, Ivan’s faith his own ability to claim the record he always craved remained undiminished. Ivan might already have had six but for an untimely crash at the Slaski Stadium in Katowice in 1973 and it was here in 1979 that he devised a plan that would turn upside down how he had approached all his previous World Final appearances. Ivan would always establish his camp well away from the centre of attention, out of the public eye, untroubled by the media mob. Of course, there were no mobile phones in those days but even if there had been his would have been turned off. Nothing would be allowed to interrupt his preparation, surrounded only by those closest to him, including mechanics Gordon Stubbs and Norrie Allen, manager Peter Oakes and his immediate family. All that went out of the window. Ivan joined the Press corps (39 strong with all the British national newspapers represented along with journos from provincial papers the length and breadth of the country) encamped at the Novotel hotel in Katowice along with the likes of his Hull promoters Ian Thomas and Brian Larner, fellow Kiwi Barry Briggs and American speedway supremo Harry Oxley. After practice, Ivan returned to the hotel, ate with us and then adjourned to the bar (no alcohol of course) chatting away and ignoring protestations from both Briggo and Oxley that he should retire to bed and get some sleep in preparation for what lay ahead the next day. It was all so out of character and prompted many to conclude that even Ivan didn’t rate his chances and was simply in Poland to enjoy himself. This theory, however ridiculous, did however gain still more credence the following morning when Ivan asked if he could hitch a lift to the stadium later in the day on the Press coach. It was so unlike him, but he was relaxed, chatty, at ease with himself and everyone around him. As the coach made its way to a parking area we had pre-arranged a couple of hours before the start, Ivan jumped off and walked into the giant stadium like any other spectator, unrecognized by anyone. He simply disappeared into the crowd. Those of us who knew him best had already began to speculate that this all part of a carefully constructed plan, to take all the pressure off himself and convince his opponents that despite his history he wasn’t a realistic threat. It was, as we all found out, a brilliant tactical ruse. Ivan, a few weeks short of his 40th birthday, raced to a superlative sixth title success, defying those who suspected he was past his best. We celebrated appropriately with him at the hotel before flying back to England the following morning. Ivan wasn’t the only one who walked away happy and enriched by his evening’s work. The bookmakers had slashed the odds on a Mauger victory and the ever-astute Thomastook full advantage and placed a bundle on his Viking winning. Ivan never rode in another World Final. He had smashed his winning six and, as ever, done it his way.

It's how you build your side. Some prefer to be top heavy with weaker reserves, others go more balanced ensuring always a strong reserve. It's not a recent thing, it's been that way for decades. It creates opportunity for astute management (which there is hardly opportunity for anymore) yet some want to sterilise the tactical options yet further. Jakobsen had seven rides tonight purely because of RR.

I also agree that Will is doing a good job. His use of reserve switches has been very on the ball. As for Neil Vatcher, whilst he may indeed not have been an inspiring team manager, he does seem to have done an excellent job with the youth speedway set up. There has been a steady stream of kids with high potential coming through the system in the last two or three years. Perhaps he's found his calling?

Or was it due to having another extensive regrade after ht10 that yet again worked against us. We were in complete control up to that point but in heats 11 - 15 the score was 11-19. That would have finished us off against decent opposition, as it did on several occasions in 2017.

...now that doesn't surprise me! Wouldn't trust him as far as one could throw him.

It's the Monster girls going around on bikes in just their bikinis

Its been a long wait, so hopefully a decent crowd will flock into Saddlebow Road and see all the changes that Robin Brundle and Buster have put in place. I really hope they have turned it around and people enjoy the whole experience ( win lose or draw).

Don't disagree but sooner or later people have to stop raking over old ground, wipe the slate clean and allow the club to make amends though. I was trying to lighten the mood a bit really as it was all becoming a bit depressing. Hopefully this time on Thursday the comments will all be upbeat because at the end of the day we all want the club to succeed and to be a positive place to go don't we?