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Indeed, entirely new levels of pettiness. Best filed under ‘who gives a toss’.

Some people just talk nonsense ...

Great news !! 2 rounds of the Aussie championships will be live streamed to the world, with again commentary provided by Kevin Williams and top man Jason Crump. These are the rounds at Albury and Gillman Dates 4th January Kurri Kurri 6th January Albury 7th January Undera Park 9th January Mildura 11th January Gillman Stream ( times TBA) will be shown via https://www.australianspeedwaychampionships.com.au/news/ at Albury meeting starts at 8.30am UK time on Monday Jan 6th and at Gillman Saturday morning 11th meeting starts 9am UK time Decent field for the 5 rounds Max Fricke Rohan Tungate Chris Holder Sam Masters Jack Holder Ryan Douglas Rob Medson Justin Sedgmen Brady Kurtz Jaimon Lidsey Jordon Stewart Zane Keleher Zac Cook Jye Etheridge Josh Pickering Jack Morrison reserves Brayden McGuinness Ben Cook Matthew Gilmore

How the hell Hume has not got a premier league ride next season is beyond me a class bloke on the bike and a class act off it also.ridiculous in my opinion.

A wonderful film about speedway on the island. Taking the bikes by crane off the boat. And one or two great Swedish riders of the time including Olle Nygren and Ove Fundin

Spot on, regular competitive racing should help him on. Plus extra track time. The same could be said for Keiron Douglas as well.

Wallinger is closer to 37 than 27

There was a lot to report on, Split led a colourful life !! In 1967 he was arrested at Newhaven while attempting to board a ferry to Dieppe, after gold with a value of £10,000 was found in the chassis of his fiancée Avril Priston's car. A subsequent raid at Priston's family home in Bedfordshire found illegal firearms. Waterman was convicted in March 1968 of attempting to smuggle gold out of Britain, as well as unlawful possession of firearms including two sub-machine guns, two rifles, and three pistols, and possession of dies for forging coins, and sentenced to four years in prison. The gold was thought to have come from a bullion van robbery in Clerkenwell. Priston was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle gold and possession of two pistols and a pen gun, and was sentenced to six months in prison. Also in 1968, Waterman was implicated in the case against the Kray twins and two other men, who were charged with conspiring to murder George Karuana; Eugene Elvey, a witness in the case, claimed that Waterman provided a 'hypodermic briefcase' and poison as the means of committing the murder. Waterman married Avril on 15 September 1970 at Caxton Hall in London, and they later lived in Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain. In 1977, Waterman was imprisoned in Italy after being convicted of possession of forged Spanish pesetas with a value equivalent to £500,000, as part of a plot to bring down the government of Francisco Franco.

Greyhoundp - would you prefer the Labour alternative? Salma Yaqoob - who famously turned her back on British soldiers parading through Birmingham before leaving the Labour Party to join George Galloway's Respect Party?

See in early 1928 (January) before the High Beech meeting there was an English rider listed as riding at the Speedway Royal in Sydney- A. Hunter !!! Looking at the first season in the UK I don't see his name turn up Does anyone have any info on who this pioneer English rider was ?

Eastbourne 1st - 3rd Great top two, if Brennan can score like last year, will be a very potent team! Not the strongest at reserve but have plenty of potential there! Glasgow 2nd Best rider in the league, good reserve in Jensen, Bailey has plenty of promise but there's also plenty of question marks in the top 5! Edinburgh 1st - 6th Very strong top two, reserves look very decent, if newcomers perform could challenge for the title, if not scrape into top 6! Poole 3rd / 4th Hard to judge as have two places to fill, but have strongest 3rd heat leader in league! Scunthorpe 4th / 5th Weakest number one in the league, but have a great reserve in Lambert & the most promising 2.00 rider! Leicester 5th / 6th Strongest second strings in the league, but alongside Redcar have the weakest reserves! Somerset 7th / 8th Good top 2, exciting riders behind them, but pretty weak in the bottom three! Kent 7th - 9th Middle of the road side, Gilkes is very promising! Birmingham 8th / 9th A good number one & probably the strongest reserve in the league! Berwick 10th / 11th Very solid, potential in their reserves but weak at the top, home advantage should help! Redcar 10th / 11th Strongest top 2/3 in the league, but also weakest reserves in the league! Newcastle 12th Strong reserves but very weak everywhere else!

Your not in the NL, yet.

What is interesting in the development of broadsiding I that in a meeting at West Maitland in 1925, which incidentaly was a 'benefit' meeting for injured riders and their damaged bikes, under the auspices of forementioned J. Hoskins it seems 3 riders were fined and banned for 4 weeks for 'dragging their feet' !!! C+ J. Datson and J.Sweeney

That is what I was thinking around the 14 mark and oap's 10

It is interesting on this subject to note that an Australian newspaper on 21st February 1928 had the headline Speedway in Britain The Australians Keith McKay and 'Billy' Galloway helped to organise and participate in, a successful first cinders track motorcycle race meeting in Britain at Loughton (Essex), today(19thFeb). The attendance numbered 10,000 from London and the Home Counties. A thrilling exhibition of daring and skilful riding was given

As it was Belle Vue's home track for nearly a third of it's history, it's still a sad day for the club. I don't think any long term fans will be as 'misty eyed' about it as they are about Hyde Road, but it's much more than a footnote to the club's history.

So right Mike if i was Danyon I would be nearly packing it in .

Curiosity is eternal

Only the good come from gods country of the east end of walkaaaaa...ruffassssssssssss

It took you 14 years to come up with that question?

I like the look of that team. Holder Ayres and Covatti are all racers and entertainers. Klindt is great at foxhall and will improve when Nico moves into the team we will always have a exceptional reserve i would be very happy with that team.

Often feel it was a pity seeing as some of those pioneer riders lived into the 70s and 80s that they weren’t interviewed more. You started your career as author a tick too late

I would imagine he will be a second string on that figure and if he has an injury free season he is likely to be a bloody good one.

Their not from Waaaka, so lip up fatty!!!

He’s not going to be anybody’s 1 or 5 on 5.79.

Squire Francis Waterman (27 July 1923 – 8 October 2019) [1], better known as Split Waterman, was an English speedway rider who twice finished second in the Speedway World Championship final. Waterman took up speedway while serving in the British Army in Italy and went on to become one of the top riders of the post-war era. He made the headlines again in the late 1960s when he was convicted of gold smuggling and firearms offences Waterman applied to join the Royal Air Force when World War II broke out but was unable to join as his job as a toolmaker was classed as a reserved occupation. He joined the Local Defense Volunteers (the Home Guard) in 1942, before joining the Royal Fusiliers, and was posted to North Africa before being involved in the Allied invasion of Italy. Shrapnel wounds that led to him being declared unfit for front line service saw him transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and posted to a workshop in Pozzuoli, near Naples. Waterman acted as a dispatch rider, and motorcycle racing events became a regular occurrence, and Waterman was involved in building a speedway track at Vomero Stadium. He became a proficient racer on his adapted BSA M20 bike, and it was from speedway racing that Waterman gained his nickname; After falling in a race he split his racing leathers down the back, after which his colleagues referred to him as "split arse", which was later shortened to "split".

I can't remember posts about who's team gets more loan fees than others, until Poole dropped down Let it go

With an injury free season, I think Hans can average 6.5 to 7. Most riders in that bracket have them. I would of had Hans at Lynn on his average.

Yes, it's never been very clear whether Billy Galloway knew about the intention to start speedway in Great Britain before he boarded the ship and worked his passage as a barber or whether he found out by accident from Keith MacKay, who happened to be on board.

You would have thought at times last season that he didn’t harsh but true from seeing some of it first hand.wallinger that is.

Holder.....covatti.....and the last edition is a fairly local Yes forever blue......it will be a good one for you....hope he does a good job for you

Rutherford has been around a long time now and at best, is a poor reserve, no future in him whatsoever in my opinion. Wallinger is around 27, again in my opinion, not a one for the future. At Berwick we have Mason Watson, only been riding a year, ex Moto X and you can see the improvement almost weekly, The type of rider I’d like to see the promotion going with, After all it is the National DEVELOPMENT League

Most of the time Ben has been at number 2 in the championship not at reserve and was getting good points at most track.

Just that batch and perks are quite a bit more expensive than Ellis and Nielsen. batch will cost a bit more after last season.

Exactly. To add to that Ben has ridden Championship away tracks fairly regularly for the last couple of years whereas Ledwith hasn’t at all for 20 years.

Well enough clubs have signed him

2019 away aves, Ledwith 5.26/5.68 whereas Morley 8.98/9.46, so can't agree with you on that!

It remains to be seen what the seven line ups look like, we may be whittling about nothing but there is definitely a case for spreading what decent riders we have left across the seven clubs. Such a small league is a bit of a nonsense anyway but if you are going to have four strong sides and three also rans those bottom sides may as well run in the Championship and the remaining teams can have six months of challenge matches and all qualify for the Play Offs.

From my experience Aces51 this year racing in the Premiership was one of the better ones of recent years.Swindon my club have really got the club on a even keel the track is exciting not perfect but we are getting there.We have a management team that the supporters can relate two and you can approach them personally and they will listen.Your club is the benchmark ok your team has fell short a little but in Bewley, Kurtz, Wright, Lidsey you have got lots' s to look forward to in 2020?As for the NSS the track is one that everyone can be proud of for me in the top four tracks in the world.My wife actually got me three DVDs for Christmas of the Colts and the meeting's against Leicester were terrific and it is great the Colts are running again.My wish for the next couple of years is for the Premiership to get to ten clubs that enter that would be great and for the likes of Palin, Bickley, Bailey,Thompson twins, Gilkes, Rowe, Mulford to kick on in the longterm.

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 )

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

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..

So we save a whopping £1 on last years prices for second division speedway? Terrible. A more realistic price would be £14.

Almost guarantee? Sounds suspiciously like internet tittle tattle, unless of course you do have the balance sheet for Cardiff at your disposal. No, though not. None of us, of course, do. So, let's seek some facts we do know: 1. BSI Speedway make a chunky profit. Over £4m at the last annual accounts: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03369723/filing-history 2. The Cardiff GP has been running for 20 years...I think we are a little beyond it being a brand awareness marketing exercise now. See point 1 again...you think BSI would do it if it were not the dollar? 3. The Welsh Government invest £3.9m in major events in Cardiff, but are a little shy when it comes to the specifics of the speedway, but we know their previous grant was £850k to host the event in Cardiff: https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-10/ATISN 13379 - internal review .pdf Of course, without the black and white balance sheet for Cardiff, it's completely your prerogative to dismiss all of the above. But if you still think it a myth that Cardiff makes serious dough, then you do so knowing BSI are highly profitable business, running a showcase event for 20 years bolstered by significant state support. Think again.

The new rights holders would be off their heads to jettison Cardiff. It's a proven money maker with a loyal base, the event template is long embedded and with the safety net of (rumoured) seven figure support from the Welsh Government, it's a classic no brainer. Broadly, I think BSI have done a good job with the GPs. With venues like Warsaw, Cardiff, Stockholm, Copenhagen and the like, they have moved the World Championships on significantly from the fading embers of the old one-off finals and the early GP series at Coventry, Pocking and the like. Live World Championship speedway on live television is now taken for granted as are some of the plush stadia it takes place in. 25 years ago, the world championship was in a very different place, despite what some fans and their rose-tinted monkey masks would say. But, I agree that there has been some stagnation in recent years and some freshening up could be a good thing. A more global series with new venues and new markets would be a welcome development. Good luck to One Sport, I sincerely hope they make a great breakthrough. Biased I may be, but a quality SGP stands fair comparison with any major motorsport world championship and is - I believe- a great product. My fear is that they will discover why BSI had difficulty in establishing any long-term sustainability in new markets and regressed to the reliable core markets of Polish, Swedish and British audiences. Put it this way, I wouldn't invest any of my own money into SGP's potential international growth.

Not at all, my point is we pay over the odds for tickets in this country. We as a nation are too gullible when it comes to ticket prices for all sporting events. For example, People constantly complain about prices to watch Premiership football yet all the stadia are full with waiting lists for season tickets at many clubs. In fact, if you read through the Cardiff GP threads on here people are always moaning about the price of a ticket but still go.

Or their bad manners.