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Evening All, I don't have as much to say about the team as some (good afternoon, @TotallyHonestJohn ;-)) but I will say that I'm sure the boys will do us proud in 2020. I'm also sure that the Club is in very good hands. Have a cracking Christmas, everyone...we'll be at the tapes in March before we know it!

Merry Christmas and all the best for 2020 to all my speedway friends and the party-pooper,,, 'IF THE MONSTERS HEEL'

But the Poole thread(s) are where everyone from every other team in the league(s) goes to aren't they?

The experience they will get in OZ will stand them in good stead, both have got good mentors Down Under in Tai for Leon and Jason for Kyle, lets hope they take good advantage of this

Great idea. Maybe start a seperate thread rather than have it 'hidden away' on a less well-read Poole thread!!??

I think bombers biggest problem is that he doesn’t employ a mechanic and drives himself to meetings seems to me to be a false economy as he isn’t mechanical minded and must be tired with all the driving especially doing two leagues grasstrack longtrack and many guest bookings. He did confirm in the speedway star his poor home form was due to the track being different every week !!!!!!! Glad it wasn’t his fault. He will certainly be better suited at Peterborough and will gain more points at home but the Bomber who rode for Coventry has long gone. I wish him well and thank him for his efforts for the witches. He certainly gave it his all.

Have a great Christmas Sid and the same goes to all my fellow Robins fans (even that miserable sod DC!)

Good luck Wrighty , he was great in his prime, hope he can re gain some of that form from years ago.

Hope everyone has a Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year and special greeting's to all the budgie fans.

Has to be Freddie now or they have made a massive cock up. Im going for massive cock up!!

I think a season round a track like Armadale will do Leon good, he should be able to win races at that level and on a track that is a polar opposite to Berwick.

Hard to understand why you wouldn't want Flint back?

It seems some Promotions are starting to do some 'out of the box' thinking.. Maybe some actually do come on here after all and we should charge a consultation fee? The next stage for me is a loyalty ticket for those who attend 'now and again'.. Say attend five matches and you get the sixth half price? Five more and you get the next free? Something tangible that you feel rewards you.. "Keep 'em coming regularly" has to be the output of any promotional venture... And when you have punters attending events through habit you are a long way down the road of being successful.. My team have, I would suggest, circa 3000 fans who attend over a season with various degrees of attendance levels, ranging from the die hards to the Easter Bank Holiday one offs, resulting in a huge disparate number from their best attendance to their worst.. Enticing those who attend once or twice to attend five or six times, and those who attend five or six times to attend ten or eleven is the key to overall success.. And easier to get them to do that I would suggest than get 'newbies' to become regulars..

You know how to spot a talent !! Keep it up

Iris, don't believe everything you read in the papers. Especially when it comes from the animal rights brigade. I've been a part-owner of a greyhound, which was treated very well by the trainer and then looked after he retired by one of the other families involved. Plus there's a whole Greyhound Trust in the UK which doesn't exist in e.g. Ireland.

Captain Ben Morley is back again with the Warriors,,,,,,,Sadly not as yet a Championship place,,Kent will surely be kicking themselves later for signing Rob Ledwith instead of Ben who would have been a much bigger scorer on a similar average...Their loss..!

Yeah there is nothing to be afraid of when you look at other teams. If the top 4 ride to form then we only need a bit of improvement from the other 3 and we will be ok. Hopefully they are patient with Rowe.

Totally agree Norbold and you have a solid case also how many riders became World Champion over the years when they were not recognised as the best .? Farndon,Duggan,Warren,Adams,Jessup, Sigalos, Jansson are all riders that i believe were good anough to be world champion but fate intervened.

Nah, not seeing anything there,,, but a get the resemblance with Les Dawson

The thing is, Sidney, that there was no World Championship prior to 1936, so you can't just dismiss everyone who rode before then. You have to take into account what the big events were at the time and how well the riders did in them. And certainly, the Star Riders' Championship was the equivalent to the World Championship. Essentially, it's purpose was to find the best rider in the World and was run on very similar lines with qualifying rounds and a final. As a secondary "big" event, the London Riders' Championship brought together all the top riders in the world apart from those who unfortunately rode for Belle Vue (!) Also, the Golden Helmet was a very significant competition between the world's elite, which Farndon absolutely dominated. The fact that Tom Farndon was a dominant force in all these competitions means you can't just dismiss him because he died a year before the World Championship started.

Harris on that average is a steal for the Panthers, if they go back to how the track used to be.

25 years ago greyhounds we’re put down frequently . now it’s very rare a greyhound would be put to sleep . A lot of this propoganda bu11 rubbish about greyhounds comes from nw caged Rita James her name and lets just say she’s a unsavoury person who don’t give a monkeys what lies she tells as long as she keeps getting donations in pot

Luke Becker confirmed by Wolves this morning.

I am kinda interested to who THJ is now... Other than a poster on this forum... Seems to do a lot for the riders at least... Even if he does keep... Ummm... Cropping up on here with some rubbishe

Ray Stadia, on your point of "rent a protest" At Shawfield ther is usually about a dozen protesters with dogs, one night there was twenty odds. low and behold aTV news crew turned up to interview them. We have had to supply water for the dogs on a very hot summer night, so much for caring for the dogs. I was in a shop and a woman with a retired hound, she was a member of Greyhound Awareness, was telling a gob smacked assistant how a dog with one eye had run into the track wall and was hit on the head with a hammer. I assured the assistant that it was completely untrue. In fact we did have dogs who were blind in one eye and raced well.

Birmingham have introduced a brilliant new offer .10 ticket season book for £145 +50p off the programme. This gets you into any 10 fixtures of your choice at Birmingham.

As I've posted before I don't really know much about dog racing so I can't comment about the animals welfare but what I will say if anyone who jumps on the animal rights bandwagon and claims that horse racing is cruel and barbaric are very naive and easily led or they have absolutely no knowledge of how the horses are trained and looked after. They are probably treated better than humans. Their stables are immaculate and are the equine equivalent of the Savoy with prices to match. Everyone is entitles to their opinion but what folk must understand is a thoroughbred racehorse is a trained athlete. They are ultra competitive. They are individuals and have their own temperament. They have a jockey on board to guide and encourage them but they are not forced to race. Surely you have seen a race where a horse has refused to start? A loose horse will continue running not because it is a stupid beast and it has been trained to do so. It will continue because it wants to beat the others (even though there's no jockey on board). Unfortunately though horses do get fatally injured. It is horrible to witness and no racing fan enjoys seeing it. When it happens it is usually instant (broken neck), but if a horse incurs a leg break, etc, the care they receive is immediate and the the horse is "put to sleep" within minutes. It's horrible yes, but if a speedway rider suffered a fatal crash or a driver is killed in motor racing do we say their respective sports are inhumane and should be banned? Of cause not. Someone posted on this subject that horses are killed every year in the Grand National. This is highly inaccurate. One unfortunately died this year but prior to that the last fatality in the race was 2012.

Blimey all this talk of cruelty to animals, they will be wanting to ban bullfighting next!

Wow a can feel the burn... Ow Ow Ow... break out the Germolene E45 and Sudocrem... is that the best you have got... Oh and if I can put you straight I have never bought any rides? (Illiterate numpty) friendship as this is how it has worked in the past Newcastle want to sign a rider (and Workington for that matter) Darryl Illingworth Allan Headly and Steve Whitehead all came to me and said we are trying to sign X; Y; or Z; and they will only sign if we can come up with extra sponsorship would you be prepared to help by stumping up XXX pounds to sweeten the deal and I have never refused and to be fair to the three mentioned they were always genuine and courteous and kept me in the loop and told me what they were trying to achieve... Now the current Balloon who built this team used to hand my name and number to riders and say go to this bloke he will sponsor you "but don''t tell him who you got his number from" now that is taking the urine big style... However anyone sent to me for sponsorship who has ridden for one of the clubs I follow(ed) got something and even down to injured riders who got help whilst they were out. In fact when I won the money draw at Newcastle once I gave that to an injured rider.. by the way all of the riders grassed up the provider of the name and number... Every one... Why do I do it... well here is the rub; its not to ingratiate myself with any rider and certainly not to benefit my business as I have never had one lead come from sponsoring any club or rider... its because I want Newcastle to do well and whether that is in Speedway Football Rugby Ice Hockey Basket Ball Table Tennis or Bar Billiards as a Geordie and son a of Newcastle I want my home town club(s) to do well in everything they do... If giving a rider a few hundred quid to get an engine tuned or buy a new crash helmet or support their travel in and out of the country and it makes them a happier and more contented rider which has the knock on effect that they ride that little bit better for my club then so be it... Honestly you have no idea... just another one of Mr Speedways gay little incubuses Regards THJ

Trouble is my greatest seven changes and I guess somewhere on this particular thread I have listed my previous choices...however as I type they would be Mauger, Briggs, Moore, Olsen (reluctantly), Nielsen, Fundin, Collins with Michanek at first reserve (based upon riders I have seen).

Back on to the topic. It’s easy to be down on Kirkmanshulme Lane but, we should not forget that it was the original site of the Belle Vue Aces when it opened in July 1928 and, had it not been there when Hyde Road closed down, Speedway might have been lost to Manchester for good. My first visit there must have been 2003 or 2004 when I was first involved with Glasgow. At that point, I went to few away tracks so my “standard” for speedway stadia was Glasgow Ashfield, Edinburgh at Armadale and Workington. All “serviceable” rather than comfortable. After a rain off at Hull, I went to Kirky Lane with one of the Glasgow riders and was knocked out by what I saw - a fully enclosed glass fronted stand with plush seats indoors. I thought it was properly luxurious. When Chris Morton, David Gordon and I joined forces at the end of 2006 to buy Tony Mole out of BV, I couldn’t wait to be part of the operation. It was only when you saw it close up, you realised how dilapidated it had become, how poor the viewing was on the terracing, and what a mess was made to the track by the stock cars. We were contracted to let them race there in exchange for them making a contribution towards track repairs. My recollection was the payment was around £1600 but it cost us more than that to effect repairs. We had a decent relationship with the stock car promoter - well, some of us did - but the cars, especially the F2s, were so powerful, they cut through to the track base. But that is all in the past. I will be sorry to see the old stadium go, inevitable though it was as soon as speedway moved out. It’s on prime development land after all. People talk in hushed tones about Hyde Road, and so they should, with Speedway being ridden there continuously for nearly 60 years. But Kirky Lane did the next 29 or 30 years, so it was a little more than just passing through. I’ll miss it when it’s gone and hope that, rather than departing the earth completely, some of its soul heads down the road to the somewhat austere (imo) NSS. (I’ll probably get pelters for saying that )

Why, has someone nicked it?

Well said. The animal rights brigade seem determined that all animals should not be allowed to enjoy themselves.

Has to be the worst number one signing in history in the UK top flight league. His press interview comes across as not being interested in the UK because it’s not enough money. That offer was probably more than he deserves anyway. Just who has been ‘raving’ about Wolves? I’ve not seen many positive posts about the proposed line up only howls of derision by potentially building to 2 points lower than the points limit. As for NP, I won’t be surprised if he ends up to averaged rider at end of the year. That’s what opinions are all about.

James rode for us at Sheffield as guest reserve in 2003 and he scored 2+2 that night and I said to George in the bar afterwards "sign him"!!! He was riding for Buxton at the time and were obviously a Sunday track too, so it wasn't going to happen, sadly!

Personally i would say Hans must be nailed especially on his current average, be a major shock if he doesn't return,also Oostergaard would be a good reserve especially at home and i would expect Tungate also. The makings of a good solid team with no weak links.

Is Harris actually signed for the season or is it subject to Ippo and Lynn getting the riders they want ?

Jordan Stewart has signed for Swindon.

Opole and Poznan must be certainties for a top 4 position and the remaining play- off positions will be 2 from the other 4

Ben Morley is a warrior for next season. Was hoping he would have been in at least one of our teams for this year!

Can we not agree that all 3 are genuinely very good prospects?

Crickey, Sidney, that's a difficult one. But if forced to, I suppose the three riders I liked watching most were Sverre Harrfeldt, Christer Lofqvist and Peter Craven.

Yes, and Vic Duggan, both of whom were never world champion but won the equivalent trophy of the time.

To have been around to watch the greats from that era would have been a real privilege.

3 predictable signings, throw in Hans then the guessing starts.

well that was a good few mins read, to pass some time away on a boring nightshift

Disaster for Kent!

Just to get back to this point and wondering looking at the results. Not wanting to contradict, more clarification Looking at the Davies Park handicap classifications, which I assume is a ranking of how good a rider is, it was as follows in January of 1928 just before the riders came to the UK Scratch: Huxley + Lamont 1s Arthur 2s Pearce 3s Smythe and Cecil Brown 4s Buchanan 5s S.Bayly, J. Bishop, S. Durston, B.Scott, A.Pritchard, L.Lawrence 6s J.Binney, H.Hastings, B.Unwin 7s F.Hore 8s B.Jones, B.Faber, H.Meston, L.Percival,R.Anderson Of course this is just one track and it is possible Frank Arthur felt wrongly classified as he opted to go from scratch in at least one meeting !!! And in his heat he almost made up the 7 second advantage that Fred Hore had over him, but his bike played up a bit on the last lap..... What is also interesting from a technical point, is that the cut-out was being introduced at Davies Park by early 1928 and some riders were ignoring the ruling. So the bikes was pretty much the basic 'speedway' bike by the time the riders came over to the UK, as I remember posting a link that stated Indian at least were producing dirt track racers with no brakes fairly early on. From memory maybe even in the 1910s

15 and under are free. I'd like to see a carer concession (free or at least reduced) as for some that is the only way they can go and it can make for an expensive night out if they have to pay full whack for someone to take them.

It`s going to be a sell out !!!!!! just 2000 tickets left.