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Hi Rob, it's nice to hear a little reminder of how a nomadic team turned out to be such a success for Rye House, I'd actually forgotten that. I would like to assure you that at Reading we are certainly not in this to make money, none of us have ever taken a penny, not in "wages", expenses or anything else. It's more a case of spending our own (we are not wealthy people), as an example last years pit board and website included 3 "sponsor's names" that were paid for by 2 of us out of our pockets. We take no gate receipts, and as you said, money comes in from sponsorship, fundraising and club members who donate a small amount each month. Also we have a land and property professional who is a Speedway enthusiast and is every bit as keen as we are, constantly looking for what he considers to be suitable land (he is obviously far more knowledgeable than we are) and speaking to land owners and planning departments. We all know this has all been done by various people in various locations across the country with varying results but our attitude is that nobody else is gonna do this in Reading so we'll keep trying for the foreseeable. I get what you mean when you say you can't be sure what peoples motives are or how serious they are, but I hope this reasures you that our intentions are honourable! I hope one day I can say our venture was as successful as yours...

A very young age to pass. I remember the impact he made at Ipswich when he came in late season in 1986! Good servant to Coventry and Sheffield! 1989 World Final at Munich when he found a very fast line by sticking his front wheel over the inside line creating a tremendous amount of grip in a Scalextric rail like way! 1991 or 92 Fours final at Peterborough when 3 riders crashed down the back straight in front of him and he then tried to jump over them. The subsequent interview on Anglia TV when he was upset by fans who claimed he was an "idiot" and his "I think the riders are going a bit crazy today!" statement was classic stuff!

"National speedway stadium" so why not use it!

Its Matt who is putting the 1-7 together for 2020!! Danny is the spokesperson.

Wish there was a 'shocked' emoji to respond to a post. 55 is very young. RIP Roman.

You can look at the programme cover on the Speedway Championships website, all the riders are listed on that cover. Also, how we know we are correct in the finishing three they are listed in this 1934 programme. 1931 Lamont, Tauser, Bellissent 1932 Wilkinson, Bellissent, Killmeyer 1933 Meynier, Wilkinson, Lamont.

Beg to differ regarding your comparison of Silver and Wright.

Good luck with finding a new home, be great to see Reading, Oxford and Swindon doing battle again

Kurtz & Hume or Kurtz & bowtell would create a solid line up of 1 3 & 5 as well as 2 solid second strings in Kurtz & Nielsen with 2 deserves that can score points too.

Surely todd Kurtz would be a good signing?

Not at all the 100 Edinburgh fans would try to get in through the the pits gate and wouldn't buy anything unlike the Glasgow fans. The use of the word customers was deliberate

I was briefly involved in a serious attempt to relaunch the Rockets last year. The situation is far more optimistic than people might think. We had agreement to run at one point before a change of mind by BMR. Looking on now from the sidelines and having seen the demolition work at the stadium I suspect once the work is completed that speedway will be back. It's far too easy to spread doom and gloom on this forum, often based on honest opinion but lacking in direct knowledge or involvement. If you do have such knowledge then I will bow to it. If not, it does no good to spread despair at the situation. I'd say it all depends on the exit of BMR from the stadium and the kart people wanting to put their new asset to its most logical use.. Now, back to matters Kentish.

News from Bandits' HQ tonight: POWERED BY!... We are delighted to announce your new ‘Powered by’ sponsor for the 2020 season! Please welcome onboard Keenwood Karpets of South Road Wooler. Keenwood Karpets have backed the Bandits for a couple of seasons, and company directors Paul Wood and Gary Flint (your FTS Bandits team manager) have pledged their backing to the club for the upcoming season! Paul adds, ‘We have backed the Bandits over the last few seasons and when the opportunity became available to take the ‘Powered by’ package, myself and Gary were very keen to commit. From a business perspective, the Bandits are the biggest professional sports team between Edinburgh and Newcastle and it makes great sense to us to associate our company with the club. The Bandits social media presence and website generate lots of traffic and is always professionally maintained and the awareness of the club in the local area is only going from strength to strength.’ Keenwood Karpets supply all types of flooring for your home and also your commercial environments. Pop along to the showroom at South Road in Wooler and check out a wide range of Carpets, Vinyls, LVT, Beds and Furniture all at the right prices. Stay tuned this week for even more sponsorship news and all of the latest from Bandit country as we look forward to an exciting 2020 season!

And Cradley rode at Stoke in the top league... And Coventry rode at Leicester in the NL It does take itself very seriously doesn't it? Pity it's operating model doesn't do the same.. Lets face it, loads of meetings will take place next year with 'select' sides, particularly at NL level as the higher leagues get priority, so does it really matter what the body colour says? Letting developing riders have more rides has to be nothing but a good thing surely? And if you can keep an old name in the public eye then so much the better for anyone's future quest in trying to find a permanent home you would think..

Is it that rough over there that you can even pre book fights

Been to leicester twice and have yet to see a pass on track think again mr godfrey send it back to peterboro!

Yet again its just short sighted from the BSPA. The NL is dangling by a thread and with Plymouth likely to attempt a step up again next season, Kent to discover how viable two side are and standalone teams like IOW & Mildenhall to find out how workable a reduced fixture list is things are far from certain. To then prevent the possibility of Reading, Exeter or any other nomad team that has the funding from joining the league when clubs are folding far faster than they are opening is yet another showing of ineptitude by the powers that be.

Whoever thought this up needs sacking! I'm a speedway fan, reasonably well off and Somerset / Cardiff was OK for me as I'd do both meetings from Midlands as 2 separate trips to avoid stupid Hotel Rates in Cardiff. Lots of fans do Somerset and Cardiff as a round trip, stay over and its the annual pilgrimage to the mecca of the sport at Cardiff. This adds on for many an extra night and extra meeting and for those up North/Scotland and down South a very late return home Sunday night / Monday early hours. I won't do all 3 in 3 days. I'll go to Cardiff, go home and then a short trek over to Leicester. Why not 4's at Peterborough where set up and racing last season was "off the scale" superb meeting, not that Pairs wasn't too but that place is not capable of handling big crowds (Somerset). Leicester is a lovely set up but naff track, limited parking and from what I have heard Pits are very small and not a lot of space. Why couldn't we have 4's at Peterborough in May, 4's at Somerset in July, and CLRC at Sheffield in September??

1934 Rye, Case, Killmeyer 1935 Rye, Murphy, Bellissent. That's all, there were no more than these five annual world championships from 1931 to 1935 in Paris. In 1936 the FIM took over and staged the first officially sanctioned world championship final at Wembley.

You have them......Speedway Champions site is accurate......

Boycey, Darcy and Crump are all Matt's eyes and ears in OZ - even Leigh Adams and Rod Colquhoun too!

Best to walk away from them Chris. You made a genuine mistake while trying to help them. Clearly best not to try. Plenty of other places to talk here.

RIP Roman and thanks for the thrills while you were at Sheffield

Vissing then! Lol

I don't know. His autobiography, Speedway Walkabout, was published in the 1970s. He, of course, repeats the claim in that. I don't know if he had any earlier books published, though he did have a regular column in the Speedway News before the War, so he probably first mentioned it there. I'll do some research.....

I was just going to say the same thing you beat me to it

Now 102 !!!

https://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/18135889.yobs-cause--3-000-worth-damage-northside-speedway-track/?fbclid=IwAR0UxK07zYLINWVez4zYgzf4fzMsO4JTYT8JfE_7DIW3v9zGa2nawnmptNc

Geography has been a problem to some for a number of years. I was at a football match some time ago when a joker on the terraces cried out "oi ref get back to Wales" when this comment invoked much laughter he indignantly responded "whats the matter he comes from Slough doesn't he"

Ah sorry getting my ex Peterborough riders mixed up!

Tomorrow’s penultimate round from Mildura gets underway at 8.30am UK time with updates from speedway updates and Sue( the boss !!).

What's the Mitcham Midget upto these days get him signed up at reserve

When I went to watch Posh at The Dell the Soton fans were singing dirty northern b******* - it made me chuckle as I'd never though of myself as a northerner

The likes of Bowtell/Morley/Wood have all had recent Championship team places. They shouldn't simply be dismissed as 'N/L riders'!! Lets not forget we are looking at a 2nd string and reserve (or 2 reserves?) at Championship level - not Premiership!!

They couldn't even run a double header in 4 hours last year, there's no way they'll be able to do a triple header! also when you consider a 15 minute walk each way to and from the car park and as Gemini says probably a lengthy queue to get in with their 2 "turnstiles". Another example of how out of touch the promoters are on what it's actually like to attend a Speedway meeting these days

I remember reading some years ago an article about Billy Hamill. This was in his days at Brandon so was probably 2002-3. From memory, he had a plan to set up equipment on the centre green which I assume was "talking" to a transponder on his bike. The idea was that, in practice, he could measure his speed at all points on the circuit such that he could then determine his performance throughout the lap. Having measured many laps and experimenting with different lines etc. he could then determine the optimum way to ride the circuit. I wish I could tell you the end of the story, but I never heard anymore about it. Sounds like a good plan though, eh? And that was getting on for 20 years ago.

oops, sorry, I didn't realise that so I do apologise

I don’t think championship standard riders will have any problems, riders like Ayres, perks, Hume, Morley, Bowen etc absolutely flew around there last season. The adverse camber on bends 3/4 seems to be sorted now. For me the only thing that needs doing to improve racing is to widen the back straight, this would make the exit of bend 2 faster as some riders have to lock up slightly if they go too wide in the bend. This work was definitely in Lens thoughts but whether he will have time at the end of his ski season to do it remains to be seen. Have a look on google earth & you will see what I mean.

They’ve shut this idea down because the BSPA want to shut down the wholeness league! Their idea is clearly a 2 tier concept with a genuine training league like the MDL so why would they effectively let Reading step up from the MDL to the NL when they want to shut down the NL anyway?! The name thing is all a cover ploy to stop a new team entering a league that they don’t want to exist.

Stupid idea to hold it at Leicester for all the reasons False dawn said earlier. Even if the meeting ran smoothly you'd be hard pushed to walk back to the shopping centre and actually drive your car out of the centre within 4 hours, bearing in mind there will be a massive queue.

Stupid idea to hold it at Leicester due to all the reasons False dawn has said above. Hopefully common sense will prevail before July and it will be held sometime at Peterborough, or anywhere else more suitable because Beaumont Park certainly isn't.

A Race/Bingo night has been arranged for Friday 7th Feb with a 7pm start at the South Gosforth CIU Club. New signings Nick Skorja, Connor Mountain and Ondrej Smetana will be in attendance and there will be a Hog Roast supplied by Rob. Tickets available via the Supporters Group. http://www.newcastlediamonds.co/news/article.asp?id=101072&fbclid=IwAR3tTJqwySFxZSb-KL8Eg61B6TDysfbSFH8JhQ-6AY6zgaolil0MlsshYGE

Is he even any good?

I am going to Cardiff. I love the fours. I'm fairly local to Leicester. But this decision seems to make very little sense to me. Running the fours anywhere on the Cardiff Sunday, with the possible exception of Somerset, seems slightly odd to me. Logistically, for the fans, how does this make sense.? Is the supporters coach from say Eastbourne, going to return home a day late, via Leicester? Why destroy the concept of the "fours weekend" by combining it with the GP weekend. And the hosting track. So Peterborough is not available (?). But even though it's convenient for me, Leicester would seem to have some severe limitations. Car parking for the fans is an issue. I got caught out at the Ben meeting last year. The supermarket parking we use every week has a strict 4 hour limit. And let''s not have any more discussion about the legality of the imposition of fines. If you get a parking fine, do you really want to challenge it or risk ignoring it? The car park is "policed" by comparing video images of you entering and leaving. If you can't leave because everyone else is at the same time, that's cuts no ice. I know. So you can't park there for the fours. You will not get out of the car park within the four hour limit unless you leave the meeting early. I don't know much about the accommodation of riders vans and pit space but I suspect that they will both be tight. And despite my misgivings, should this meeting be heavily supported, will the stadium house that many supporters comfortably?

I would have thought that a league with the word development in it's title, would welcome any opportunity for more youngsters to enter the sport. And retaining a homeless fan base, albeit a small one, is surely desirable.

Doesn't matter.... it's not our choice to who rides and when they offically announced is it? We won't know that "Rider A" or "Rider B" fitted perfectly into the points limit but "A" wanted £300 a point and £2000 start money. Whereas "B" will never ride for the club again after past issues. We won't know that "Rider C" could only do half a season We won't know that "Rider D" has a lower average but fits into the team as is well liked by the club and gets on well with his team mates. What we will know is that 7 riders have eventually been selected to be a 2020 Witch for the right reasons for the club.

Such a childish comment would come from an Eastbourne fan

So Leicester have got the championship fours after Cardiff, will be interesting where they will park all the bikes and Van's?

In this day and age, if it can't be recycled, it shouldn't be made.

£35 ticket for 2 meetings and approx 40 races is a bargain