Leaderboard

If I was faced with this situation, rather than the nuclear option I would be thinking along the following lines: Blue Badges would need to be registered with the Club in advance, by sending a copy of the front and back of the badge together with another piece of ID (copy of passport or driving licence) and the vehicle registration number to be used. Each applicant would be issued with a Blue Badge parking permit, together with an information sheet which would lay out in clear language the ground rules: • Speed limit of 10mph on the Showground • A clear diagram of exactly where the allocated parking area is • Unequivocal instructions that should any steward be abused or the vehicle parked inappropriately the parking permit would be immediately withdrawn (if the rules are simple and clear I see no need for a ‘second chance’). The majority of Blue Badge holders will be season ticket holders and I would consider making that a requirement of the permit to ease congestion and admin at the vehicle gate. For casual and visiting fans I would provide a dedicated email address where the visitor would email 48 hours before a meeting the information required (Blue Badge number and holder’s name, and vehicle registration number), these applicants would receive a return email authorising parking to produce at the vehicle gate along with the Blue Badge. I appreciate that such a system would exclude the genuine impulse visitor, but would cater more compassionately for the regular fans.

If your post is a pathetic attempt at taking some kind of moral high ground then its just that, pathetic. The passing of Danny Ayres is a tragedy and we as fans have paid our respects by posting messages of condolence on here and other parts of social media, of course there will be other on here closer to the Ayres family who have paid their tributes personally. My post was a perfectly reasonable answer to a perfectly reasonable question posted the other day. How ever hard, the management at both Scunthorpe and Ipswich will need to sign a rider, when that will happen of course is up to each club.

I think one meeting is more than enough to honour Danny, I get the idea of a home leg each and the amount of money it can raise but there are still meeting costs, rider availability, mechanical costs, potential for rider injury etc. I think a one-off meeting is perfect, if ran annually it can help his children overtime rather than just a one-off

Newcastle, like a lot of other tracks, can't afford or not have enough riders to complete a complete season in the NL. I was looking last year at the possibilities of a NL team based on Newcastle/Redcar with shared home meetings, but the only NL track near to us was Belle Vue, which is 140 miles across the country. With the possibility of closure of Newcastle suddenly, we were resurrected by Rob Grant, but Edinburgh have now decided to enter the NL this year and they now have the Northern riders who wanted to ride NL. Rob obviously wanted an outlet for what riders we have, and a small venture in the NT seems like the perfect opportunity to test the NL water. Remember he has had a massive job on to get the Diamonds/Gems/Sapphires set up and running from the available riders, plus some new riders to the UK. As well as Wallinger, the NT will give both assets Josh Embleton and Joe Adcock a chance to show their skills having not been picked up in the declared NL teams. Newcastle will be back in the NJL this season with the Sapphires to defend the league title the Gems won last year The double headers will start earlier on the Sunday afternoon and the admission will be £3 extra. To think you can give the fans two meetings, and not charge extra, shows you don't really have a grip on the finances of running a business.

Michael Green stated in 'The Art of Coarse Golf';- "If you're cheating and still losing, then your opponent is cheating more than you".

A sensible solution which hopefully the club will take on board

So many people in everyday life suffer from mental health.

The problem is that Newcastle do not have enough dates to run a full National League programme but want to have a team racing at that standard to help progress the careers of junior riders. They need a few riders who are experienced at NDL level to help the newer riders. The progression as I see it is NJL, then SDL/MDL and then NDL, Championship and Premiership. The National Trophy was being run this season for the stand alone teams who need more competitive meetings than the NDL can offer and Newcastle are adding extra meetings for those teams which helps the stand alone teams and Newcastle. A win win situation as I see it.

Blimey,,, didn't take long for Crump to be shown the door. Nki,, crump now Lindback,,, who is next,,, we may need to borrow one

I would be prepared to administer such a scheme on behalf of the Club if asked

I can imagine a facility where Danny's race jacket is not used for a month and covered by RR as a mark of respect would be allowed, and even the most anti Godfrey fans surely couldn't find fault in that?

Rusty was the reason I ever started going to speedway I spoke to him one night in town when he first arrived here and he persuaded me to go, that led to me running the track shop for many seasons and fundraising for the club. It also led to some life long friendships who now since closure sadly we may never meet up with again. Supporting the Comets has some amazing memories for me and of course our very last season brought us the trophies we had strived many years to win.

Oval track racing - Simon Wigg, top speedway. longtrack and grasstrack rider over a 23 year career must be the obvious one!

I'm sure Rob and the less bitter, normal speedway supporters, will think nothing of team building until poor Danny Ayres is finally in his resting place.

On a personal level I would welcome Jason coming back into British speedway, even after a long retirement I think he could do a reasonable job, and even at the age he is I think that he would put bums seats as I think that people would be curious to see what he can and what he cannot do. Realistically I don't think that he would or want to make a comeback to ride in British speedway, I think that he will come over to the UK and his focus will be helping his son onwards with his with his career. Those who believe that they will let Jason if he want to make a comeback on 5 point average a living in cloud cuckoo land, I reckon anything between 7 or 8 points assessed average would be more likely. Its a nice thought that he might be contemplating a racing comeback, but honestly I doubt that it will happen, but as they say never say never.

Let’s hope this rider does not have mental health issues as the constant belittling is likely to play on a conscientious Rider . Keyboard warriors everywhere should try ENCOURAGEMENT..

I’ve hardly been since they’ve been back in the third division but I was a regular at Mildenhall 2006-08 in the Premier League days and some of the racing was superb. It’s a great little track when prepared properly.

That mildy track looked like it was good,,,, would be very happy if the new banking at Foxhall provided racing even half that good. Having said that,,, a lot of good races are often down to who is involved. If for example all races at Foxhall had Ben Howe, loram Louis and Gollob in them,,, most would be good.

As no doubt several hundred athletes and cyclists around the globe will agree...

To get back to something hinted at in my opening post, and somewhat similar to Vic Huxley, it seems Max came from a sporting family I contacted a couple of Australian historians, Brian Darby and Peter White and neither knew anything on this subject, but it seems Max had one,probably two brothers that also rode a bit with him at the start of his career. From research it seems Max's Grandparents, his father( 13 years old) and uncle arrived in Australia in 1873 from a small village in Pomerania, which is now situated in Poland, abut 73 miles east of Szeczin. Mackay(Queensland) seems to have been their first port of call, and some of the family stayed there. The family seems to have quickly integrated into local social life, joining the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society,the Brittania Lodge and one member fairly active in local Athletics. They acquired farmland, which I imagine was their plan having left an agricultural area of Germany and think Max's father it is becomes the President of the local Farmers and Settlers Assoc, by the turn of the century. Significantly, he also become a founding member of the local Rifle Association and himself and a couple of his sons (Max had 5 brothers and one sister) started competing in shooting carnivals. One brother, 'Eddie', became good enough to represent Australia at the annual President's Cup at Bisley, England as well as another tournament in Scotland. Quite amazingly his grandson has now competed at Bisley the past 7 years and is currently 3rd in the all time list of Australian representatives !!! Sadly, in 1921 Max's eldest brother commited suicide, hanging himself from a tree on their farm But in early 1927 Max competed in a local Carnival that included motorcyle races, as did one brother listed as 'E.Grosskreutz. Confusingly Max had a brother mentioned above known as 'Eddie', but another 'Ernest', so I am not sure which it was. Then a while later the headline for another local Carnival was 'Grosskreutz brothers were the heroes of the afternoon.' Max in one of his races fell while leading and damaged his Indian motorcycle. In the re-run he borrowed his brothers Harley and won the race. Another brother, 'F.Grosskreutz' also raced in one meeting. This must have been Frank, who in 1928 was bitten by a snake on their farm and another brother(no name given) was jut coming home and took Frank into town to receive medical attention. Snakes must have been a constant danger, as the boys father was also involved in helping someone who had been bitten Another sporting link, was that later when Max had settled in Manchester and was making a name for himself he met and eventually married the daughter of a former Manchester City player

Just asked if I could get a bye to a later round of a snooker tournament if I didn't fancy my opponent, but got told no! If i'm too busy, i'd just have to forfeit. So how did Poole managed it? How can a "professional" sports organisation be more lapse on the rules than an amateur club event?

I did say that about Jens, Grachan. He most certainly had a British wife and was permanently domiciled in Britain. They were regulars at all social events, especially afterf the meetings. No question of dashing off for more important bookings.

Half the Ipswich team were ex- scramblers at one point, as were Arthur Browning , Tom Leadbiter and a few others , including today, riders like Richard Lawson and the Worralls. I can’t think of any that started in Speedway and then moved over to an average standard I scrambling. They are totally different techniques. As a side point though, I remember about 6/7 years ago Peter Karlsson rode in a grass track in Kent , on a bike he borrowed from Paul Hurry. He had never sat on a grass track bike before but proved unbeatable in the heats but unfortunately the meeting was rained off before the Finals. Similarly I once saw Anders Michanek in an end of season grass track at Lydden. He absolutely whopped everybody. I don’t think anybody has mentioned Joe Screen yet. He didn’t particularly concentrate on grass track but used to ride in big money continental meetings , which were not always ovals but some included sweeping right hand bends and jumps . By all accounts he was pretty hot stuff. One thing I forgot to mention about Alf Hagon was that he was also winner of the famous Red Marley Hill Climb which adds to his claim to be top all rounder.

I would of thought 4,000, but found this... Stadium Capacity: 8, 000 Mildenhall Greyhound Stadium is a 280yard ... Mildenhall can accommodate an 8, 000 strong crowd and has parking spaces for over ...

Yep. More so called health and safety issues. Man with some cones is the best bet.

Antonio was on 7.00 (*Assessed) when he last rode for Poole in 2016. He has said publicly that he was looking to include British racing again this season!!

I would like Ipswich to run a second leg of the Danny’s day memorial at foxhall so a second income boosts the funds coffers. even better if Scunthorpe and Kent can run a home leg too and have a proper home leg each so all his fans from all over the country can pay their respects and help his family too

My memory might be playing tricks on me, but from what I remember, didn't Rasmussen have a British wife or something like that, which was used to deem it acceptable? I think it was the signing of Shroek that was the really controversial one - strange though it seems now.

Im not against the rules to not allow an all starts team but surely Newcastle should have been informed before making any signings? The NT side will be good for riders trying to put themselves in 'the shop window' but by the same reckoning if they were offered a 'full' NL team place elsewhere they could no longer rider for the Gems? Either way rushing Wally in as a replacement (no offence to Leon he's not even close) is a crazy decision and removed any minor chances of seeing this side not get crushed all year.

I like him even more now

Many thanks for the guidance HA. You bring out some very valid points. If it was so bad to hire Schroeck why was nobody complaining? Despite the views held by some supporters not all in speedway officialdom are fools. Regarding Commonwealth v EEC riders I'd suggest that the perception was still that the Auissies and Kiwis were 'us' while the Europeans were 'foreigners'. As you say, those with direct British links had patriality, the remainder without rights. I'd say the language and cultural links with the Aussies and Kiwis helped strengthen that view, despite the law. The observation of the slump in BL numbers in the mid-80s is very valid with lot of mediocre Europeans suddenly finding places at a premium. At this point I have a confession to make. I might be to blame, not my erstwhile boss, Ron. I suppose I do have to take some of the blame. When Screen Sport approached KM Video to cover speedway on their new service in 1984 we naturally went for British League racing. However the BSPA believed that doing a deal with us for league racing would conflict with their deal with ITV for World of Sport. Faced with a golden opportunity to put league racing on TV for the first time I argued for coverage of the National League instead. My determined lobbying for my beloved NL won the argument. The NL was semi-detached from the BSPA then and they grabbed at the chance arguing that cable and satellite TV was narrowcasting rather than broadcasting! Suddenly I was in the position to put my decade and a half experience as a fan of an NL team to good use! After the first year of coverage in 1984 several BL tracks started looking at an NL, with a TV contract, that might be a better offer than the BL and we had the first mass switch. I remember Wimbledon manager Cyril Maidment telling me in an interview "We are moving ACROSS, not down". After 1985 the NL was a completely different 'beast' and now a long way from its training origins. It was only later with Rasmussen and Schroeck's signings that the gates opened but by then the places once available for up and coming EEC riders in BL tracks were much reduced and with a pool of talent looking for places the NL was under incredible pressure and temptation to hire them. The NL was changed by the influx of tracks like Wimbledon and Hackneyand the return of Eastbourne and Exeter Okay IT WAS MY FAULT I won't come quietly......

I don't think people realise how much of a divide formed between the BL and NL, although 1975/6 was early. By the mid 80s the NL had its own offices and administration and I believe the split could have gone much further. Having that application in rejected in 1975/6 may have sown the seed.

I heard that too, but with only 3 home & 3 away NT matches, it won't take up much of his time!

If it was my club I'd wait till after the funeral then press on with team plans. As upsetting as losing a rider is, they will eventually have to carry on with the sport!

Uncle Len is partial to an adverse camber bless him.

I really do not see a golf buggy resolving this problem . May help on entry but chaos on exit

Rob stated at the first "fan night" that Nicki had been asked (along with Bjarne and Kenneth Bjerre). It's possible that Nicki has a compulsory polish practice that weekend, since they are rather good at that.

And was that the same guy who a speedway supporter, working in his day job as a conductor on a train, caught out, not having a ticket for his journey from Rugby to Edinburgh? :-)

While they were in the same Team ,Sam Jensen rode at No 4 in all his matches Bickley never got out of reserve ,Nicol has a higher average than both of them so will have to ride at 2 or 4. Jensen is replacing Bickley at reserve is my point.On what I saw last season that is a big +.

I beg to differ.

Of course. Another report from the same time actually mentioned Trujillo as 'open champion of Mexico'. remembering that previously Cordy Milne was Champion of Mexico, even though he was a US citizen. But other reports and even ads list Trujillo as being a Mexican which of course we know is wrong, but I guess this was all released by Putt Mossmann as part of his tour promotion....

Dave am I right in saying only the other week that dave wallinger said he was not riding this year, with work and family time?

Nicki P has a meeting at Belle Vue the following day for Sheffield which would have come into the reckoning for him I would suggest... Big shame because I woukd have paid double just to see him at Brough one more time... #Legend... Regards THJ

There's no real benefit to have wider straights IMO. The legal limit is currently 8 metres wide, which is quite adequate to accommodate 4 riders abreast at the starts. Probably the only time they will be in one line in the whole of the race. Far better to concentrate on widening the entrances/exits to the corners, and widening them to give more racing lines especially with some decent banking. There should always be banking on every track.

charging a dwindling group of loyal customers MORE, of any business to cover a lack of new customers is only going to lead one way!

Was that Burgergate? As I remember the insinuation there was that Wolbert’s food poisoning might have been made up, whereas in 2010 every EL team had an official number eight who could ride as often as the team manager wanted them to which contributed to Pawlicki riding so few meetings. It was a massive loophole and for a change Poole got shafted rather than doing the shafting which I’m sure the vast majority of those watching thoroughly enjoyed

7 hours ago, szkocjasid said: Wallinger is 3.87, the Gems are more than 5 points under the limit now! Which is a ridiculous situation caused by the BSPA.. I was critical of Clegg being able to ride NL but thank god he is or the Newcastle team would be worst than the Scunny team from a few years ago which was criticised for damaging other peoples businesses

Shouldn't hurt home attendances as all matches will be double headers, will also save the promotion money as Wallinger won't score what Flint would (no offence David), not good news for the Gems opponents who will now have to pay for a large home win with a now very weak team unlikely to have the stands packed!

I was there...great day! Razzer was one of my favourites!

Some excellent articles in there this week...Danny Ayres tribute, Swindon track review, English team in 70s and 80s, and big rivalry with Yanks, Lee Ashby feature, Lindgren interview, etc., Good magazine for this minority sport.We should support it.