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Absolutely. It goes back to what we were saying earlier about the nights when Mauger, Olsen, or Penhall came to town; we had been looking forward to those for weeks! One of the other factors you mention that destroy the aura is familiarity. We would generally only see those riders once - maybe twice - a season. Smaller leagues and multiple matches against the same teams means they become a "part of the furniture" so to speak, and they lose that aura. Steve

Bring back the old club call lines at 1.50 a minute, to get your results and new signings

Chris didn’t know who was in our group either did he

Plus this year I will see the 'superstars' riding Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Polish League and Tuesday's every week in Sweden.. And then watch them regularly in the GP's too... All in glorious HD from the comfort of my armchair.. No 'mystique' sadly anymore.. You went to watch Collins, Mauger, Olsen, Penhall etc etc when they visited your track, as it could be the only chance you got all season to see them, apart from the Saturday highlights on World Of Sport of the big meetings...

There wouldn't be enough hours in the day to keep putting out press releases/news regarding speculation,rumours especially that arise from this forum.If Neil and Ged are still the promoters and nothing has changed why should the club have make a news item to say all these rumours are untrue.As i said not enough hours in the day to keep putting out news bulletins regarding rumours that 90% of the time start on here. Now if they have left then things are different and you would expect the club to make an announcement straight away.

Please can we get back on topic i.e. the underwhelming and depressing article by the uninspiring vice chairman Godfrey....?

My favourite rider of all time was Mark Loram right from the point of watching him as a mascot and my uncle sponsoring him all the way through to the Holy Grail. It doesnt however cloud my judgement as to his ability.......He was a one time world champ whose overall form was worse than most other world champions..............couldnt ever stand Havelock but without doubt in 1992 he was the dominant rider on the world stage that year bar perhaps Per Jonsson. I never saw Fundin ride and not much of Mauger either but im not foolish enough to think Mark was better than either of those. But yet out of Rickardsson and Loram i know who i would prefer to watch and pay to see

Disappointing? Didn’t Harris beat Doyle when it mattered most,finals!

Just what the promoters need to listen to. Gone are the days when fans just follow a club blindly, watching any type of speedway is expensive, if the standard of entertainment is poor then the fan will pick and choose what to watch. It is not disloyalty to comment on the standard of racing, when you can fill your programme in on 1st lap 2nd bend, is that entertainment, I fear not. Why is it the fans fault when they walkaway , surely it is the clubs fault for not supplying good speedway and entertainment, so unless the Promoters pull their fingers out and give what the paying public want, I fear for the future of the sport.

Two races that stick out for me are Rolf Gramstad beating Ivan Mauger in the 1979 Swindon v Hull meeting and Malcolm Holloway beating Shawn Moran and getting a 12 point max in the 1982 Swindon v Sheffield fixture.

Do you think any current promotions genuinely give a toss about bringing on young uns? The vast majority of M/SDL teams are all organised and run by devoted individuals despite clubs/BSPA best attempts to hold them back (i agree the NJL is a little different). Until everyone stops thinking about the next meeting and has a genuine view to the future there will be no future.

Doubt that anyone would choose to watch the updates rather than go to the meetings. The guy probably wasn’t going to attend anyway.

Sounds like the name of a good book to me....

The problem is that so many people just see things in black and white, whereas in most situations, there are grey areas that apply to many facets of that situation. One of the biggest issues I have with modern sport (and trust me, American sports are the worst) is that they try to explain and justify EVERYTHING (including probability) by using figures and stats. Look at darts. Percentage shots (having two beds to aim at instead of just one) are inflexible. Points-per-dart averages are also, with the ONLY factor involved being what you throw yourself, but speedway CMA's are affected by many outside factors, such as opponents, gate positions, mechanical issues etc. Having said that, trying to explain to an idiot how you can win at darts despite having a lower average, isn't easy... In speedway, a similar situation used to occur in World Championships. A rider could win every race in every world championship round, yet drop one point in the final, and he ended up second. Another rider could scrape through each time, have a good night at the final, and he was World Champ! That is why I find the SGP's much fairer... This leads me to ask one question that I have been thinking about during this discussion (and I would love to see everybody's answers and reasoning)... Which was a greater achievement; Hans Nielsen winning the 1986 World Championship, or his incredible 1986 BL record away from home? Steve

ive never understood the need for all riders to have the same set of kevlars and team suits so i get why Poole dont do it. I always remember as a young lad going to Rye House and Ipswich and buying the little riders toys and racing them on the kitchen table..........Cox in black and white checks....Naylor all black. Mullarkey in white and red..........Preben Eriksen all yellow......John Cook in grey........Siggy in white with the stars and stripes...........different leathers made it more fun for me back then and i still prefer it that way....dont like everyone decked out in the same stuff.......just my opinion

Thank goodness the vast majority of supporters do, it’s just a very few of the posters on here that quite frankly moan about everything that the club does that doesn’t. My worst fear is that I might find myself standing next to one of these people at a meeting, doesn’t bear thinking about.

The number of studio and pitchside experts deployed to live sport broadcasts is becoming ludicrous. David Coleman and his like didn't need that, and what is more they wouldn't have tolerated it.

I don't know which is worse bad P.R or no P.R. It's certainly not the way to keep sponsors though.

Two ex-New Cross riders battling it out.

But now bad and sad news for Swindon and the Robins as the Honda factory is due to close...this will badly hit working people and therefore speedway attendances...!!

I thought that Rob Godfrey had some "believers" who were distorting the posts with the All Our Yesterdays" posts in order to soften the criticism of his statements.

Swindon v Belle Vue 2008 Adams 2. Crumpie 1 three great races i remember Jason taking Adams from the back in heat 1.Then later on Leigh getting his revenge one of the races Crump was all over him but Leigh stood firm.

Chris on the countdown with Mike bacon https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/witches-promoter-chris-louis-on-his-hopes-for-season-1-5896536

S4S very much respect your views and sentiments, I think we'll have to agree to disagree though about a Club subsidising another that is 100+ miles away. As there are Clubs much closer to Reading that seem to not wish to help. I do think BSPA have to take accountability here, happy to collect Bond money and presumably sit on it, or may be if they took Loan Fees from some of the displaced Riders they now own and invested that in Junior Development Leagues. One issue with SDL/MDL/NDL is they are more "amateur" Leagues now than Development; we certainly had a few 40+ year olds and a wonderful lady rider at Brum last season!

You beat me to it Norbold.

It was. I was there and it was a glorious sunny rare Friday night meeting at Hyde Road. Great that it was captured for posterity too and with the superb commentary of Dave Lanning :-) I am a big Mort fan, so this gives me ample opportunity to indulge myself. Oddly enough, the ones most etched in the memory were not so much Mort at his best (as above), but scraping through World Championship rounds. In 86, winning his last race at the Intercontinental at Bradford, making a rare start and hanging on from Pedersen, Thorp and Shirra (?) after an otherwise unconvincing meeting. Also, the 87 British Final, being last away in his final ride and facing elimination but picking off Doncaster and Cross (on the last turn) to sneak through. I think it was the relief and living every second of those races that made them so memorable.

In the early 60's Craven and Fundin were two of the five riders who were in a league of their own. Björn Knutsson, Ronnie Moore and Barry Briggs were the others. They became known as the Big Five and incredibly in the 1962 world final, four of them were drawn together in the same race, in heat 6. Moore was the one who did not ride in that race which was won by Briggs with Craven (who won the title that year) second.

Another race that sticks in my mind was when those two great characters Andy Galvin and Alan Mogridge got a 5-1 over my favourite Dane (after Finn and Bo of course!) Erik Gundersen, in our BL season of 87. You could tell that Erik was getting more and more frustrated as they covered just about every inch of the track in what must've been the slowest display of team-riding ever! I remember on the slow-down lap Erik looking at them and pointing to his head, as if to say "you're crazy!" Though being the decent chap he is, he still shook their hands..which is more than Ole Olsen did when he was twice soundly beaten by a young Dave Morton in 74.

As N.K.I is not in the line up of any other Premier League Team it must be that he has opted out this season because I don't think Lynn wouldn't have not signed him otherwise. We must use what was a TEAM during the last two or three months and the fact that they will be all together again is good. RISS will improve as he will be in from the start this time KASPER was getting better until injury M.P.T is a must as he really wants to be at LYNN The same goes for JORGENSEN. IF LEWIS can go as well as before his Injury The team will do well and be in the top 4 without trouble.....

Don't see the problem. If it's run badly it'll be his pocket and reputation taking a big hit whereas the punters can just spend their money elsewhere.

Having watched Niels in seven of the eight years, I believe he has been more instrumental to everything Lynn have produced than anyone. There are many reasons why I'd like to see Niels in the team, his excellence, his determination, his quality , his reliability, the list goes on... him having a low CMA would have been easier to fit him in than he would be normally.... With the exception of Lambert, all the rest of the proposed team are young, willing and able, but not any can be relied upon when the chips are down... without that second accomplished heat leader we will struggle ….

Interetsing thread this one. What's developing in to a bore on another thread is the insistance that riders be judged upon how many times he wins a race. Sure winning races is important but it's how those races are won is what many of us remember and judge. Those are the memories I cherish and reflect back on. I particularly recall the classic race between Peter Collins and Gordon Kennett at Hackney...Peter riding the fence and Gordon the white line side by side for four laps which ended up as a dead heat and drawing massive applause from the appreciative fans. Or Gordon splitting the team riding Ole Olsen and Alan Molyneux at Wood Lane and coming thru' fo a tremendous win!

Strange that we have 3 promoters that fail to communicate with each other and the team manager is the only one making official club statements. It gets more like a Whitehall farce by the day .

In fairness to dear old Bryan, and to norbold, of course, did either of them state categorically that Clem Cort appeared in 1929 Southern League matches for Wimbledon and Harringay, or did they simply state that he appeared for those teams in 1929. If only the latter, then where did the claim that they appeared in Southern League matches for those teams originate? Did gustix simply assume that he appeared in Southern League matches, or was there any indication that he did? If there wasn't, then gustix could be considered more than the "messenger"... Similar to Mark Cherry. I am happy to state that he rode for Birmingham in 1976, but I cannot interpret that as him riding in the BL in 1976... Steve

T Balfe Construction are proud to sponsor Peterborough Panthers who are a British Speedway Team. In 2019 they will be in the premier league and we look forward to supporting them. https://www.tbalfe.co.uk/t-balfe-in-the-community/

Most interesting thing there is the omission of T Balfe construction in the team listing on bottom right.

PLAY OFF CONTENDERS Is it only me that I can see no point of the "Play offs" were they not introduced for the benefit of Sky ref. the Elite league? The Championship "Play off" winners won't be getting promoted the following year, so whats the point! I would rather see an end of season K. O. Cup. I've said it before but I think the promoters have taken their eye off the main event, I think we the supporters want weekly entertainment. The Promoters put all their efforts into winning maximum league points by any method with entertainment & good speedway not top of their shopping list......

I was at the meeting and I have just got my programme out to see if I wrote anything on it as I sometimes did if there was anything worth recording. However, the only thing I wrote was on Heat 13 where I wrote, "Christer from behind." I don't particularly remember those races like you do, E.I., but I was always very impressed by Reidar Eide at West Ham. He rode it very well and it was always a bit of a surprise to me that he never quite made it to the big time the same way Sverre did.

I had the privilege to attend the Ronnie Moore Memorial Meeting yesterday at Moore Park Christchurch . It was an outpouring of love and respect for the great man that has done so much for and in Speedway. The attendance was huge, swelled by many past competitors, at least double any crowd I have seen at Moore Park. The meeting needed 81 Races (61 solo and 20 sidecar) to allow all the competitors, who wanted to, a chance to compete. The contestants were in various grades ranging from Bradley Wilson-Dean to the 68 year old on an old upright and the seven year olds on the 50cc bikes on the inner training track. The oldest bike was a 1946 JAP and there were Jawa, Weslake, Godden etc to gladden the heart of an old speedway supporter. There were approximately 50 solo competitors and 20 odd sidecar duos. I was really impressed some of the old fellas still fitted their circa 70's/80's leathers. In the A grade BWD looked unbeatable and his only likely competition Thomas Jorgensen of Denmark had to retire from the meeting after winning his first heat because of the pain from hand injuries sustained in a Mountain Bike crash when exploring our beautiful country. The final was won by Andrew Aldridge after BWD had a mechanical failure while well in the lead. Ryan Terry-Daley was second and Jake Turner third. Unfortunately no new prospects on the near horizon. George Congrieve our latest U21 Champion is about the same standard as Ryan Terry-Daley. They had the best race of the night in the semi-final with passing and re-passing final settled in Ryans favour out of the last corner. A great day and a really moving tribute to a great man and speedway rider.

I think the racesuit has been a bit of a flop for the sport personally. It's embarrassing seeing clubs showing their team off and all the rider's look different anyway. Each rider gets theirs made by their preferred manufacturer so they never match up. Might aswell just use race bibs.

so,build his private business from scratch to be a successful local based business,takes a unused grass field in a run down area and turns it into a profitable business and a track that is upthere with the best in the country,and has won silver wear at various levels and you call him not intelligent a clueless? now it matters not if you like him or not or if you agree with him or not,but to dish out personnal insults is below the belt,especially when the hard facts prove other wise and id go as far as saying that it isnt the BSPA,the MC,the riders,the tracks thats wrong with British speedway,its clowns like you that continually pull the sport down ,,,,,thats wrong wiith speedway and btw,have you looked on google maps yet to see if your statement that the EWR is a circle is correct?

What is worrying is that so many people seem mathematically challenged these days. It's not just that they don't understand it, but because they don't understand it, they don't believe it. Simple mathematics is generally - well - simple! More than that, it tends to be consistent and reliable - until people start adding unnecessary variables. Without the variables, even though the actual answers may differ (and here, I did state that the example was extreme and unlikely - though not impossible) the concept and the processes used to reach that conclusion remain constant. That could be one of the reasons I love darts and speedway so much; they both revolve around numbers! Steve

Like Cityrebel, I am from London and seriously regret the fact that there is no longer any Speedway there. Nearest point now, I suppose, is Rye House ( hardly London !) and I consider it the DUTY of the current Speedway bosses to get the place back in action for our sport at the earliest opportunity. I was told that more than one promoter is/was interested but that the cost of paying off the previous promoter's debts, as demanded by the ( BSPA ? SCB ?) was prohibitive. I read in the SS that the previous owner had been made a bankrupt...why should a prospective new promoter have to pay off his debts ? To be fair, this was just hearsay and may not be true. Does anyone actually KNOW the facts ?

Of course they are interested, the difference being they know their team line ups and are not as frustrated as the poor Lynn fans. They are being treated like mug punters in my book...

Both - On the Racers facebook group a few days back they announced they are still riding at Eastbourne but as second halves on the days that the track is running various amateur days.. see text below.. "The stadium will be host to several Sunday amateur meetings and "Powerslide" days - where beginners can hire a bike and be supervised in their first laps of a track - and the Racers matches will take place after these sessions, running 2 matches on each occasion" Cheers

Remarkable that Ricky continues his story, who knows how far this will go.

Apologies if I've missed this, but any truth in the rumour that Buster's home had a fire whilst he was away?! As for the TJ story in the Star this week - it was primarily about the help he received from the club during 2018. It stated he was 'still hopeful' of a team place.

Really? BV strongest top 3? Swindon 4th? Wolves 6th. I just can’t agree with that.