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The current issues remind us that speedway has a huge story to tell, even if there's nothing happening right now. The success of Backtrack, I suspect, is not just nostalgia, but the previously unwritten back stories - why and how things happened behind the scenes. These are things that the internet cannot provide as easily as it can provide results but along with speculation and gossip often posing as news. Sometimes it needs expert hands to establish and make sense of what is or has actually been happening and that's worth paying for.

Would be a bit silly to announce that there will be no speedway this year to then go back on it should circumstances allow some racing in a few months time. Wait and see for the time being is probably the most sensible course of action. Plenty of time before Oct 31st to call the season off.

Riders all had different qualifying systems, and it was possible to scrape through a couple of meetings, put in one good night, and you were World Champ! Now, you have to perform over a whole season.

I know we were devastated when we realized we were going National League, but it really was a breath of fresh air. Having that heat-leader trio of Johnsy, Mike, and Jamie, was great. Having all those tracks within an hour of home was wonderful, and it is so depressing that we have lost nearly all of them...

Woah great find Ian. I haven't even got to the crash yet as i've spotted myself as a kid by the start gate right at the beginning of the clip and got myself a bit emotional.. will watch the rest now!

Tommy Jansson is a classic example of a "what if" and a "we'll never know". His record at the time he died was good, but not that outstanding. He had won the World Pairs twice, but even then, on both occasions, it was very much as the junior partner to Anders Michanek. 1973: Michanek 15, Jansson 9; 1975: Michanek 17, Jansson 7. (By contrast in 1974, Sweden also won the World Pairs, but this time with Michanek 14, Sjosten 14). As you say, riders like Collins and Mauger certainly rated him highly as did the Wimbledon faithful of course. But, sadly, it is a case of what if and we'll never know....

I realise you could be acting obtuse to give speedway more stick, but the post isn't about assistance, it is about sponsorship. So are you saying speedway shouldn't receive sponsorship or are you mixing things up ? Just posting to get attention ? The thing is though, why shouldn't everyone, big and small, sport, business or private person receive assistance if they need it? In some cases at this time I have read that restaurants etc might be taxed less. Now that isn't giving them money, but helping them get through this difficult time by not taking so much off of them. Might be a way for sport as well....

When I was going to Lynn in the mid-70's I looked forward to seeing Doug Wyer, Jim McMillan, Finn Thomsen, Eric Broadbelt and Dave Morton come to town. Not the superstars of the era but solid #1's who always (seemed) to be giving it all. Sometimes their teams would spring a surprise but mostly they were on losing teams, Most of them nearly always got open bookings for the Littlechild, Dow Trophy or Pride of The East, so clearly they were liked and trusted to entertain. I must have Jimmy Mac's autograph on so many Lynn home programmes....

Honestly Gone a bit slow again so here's a little smile for today and its a true story apparently (Cough Cough) Three couples are trying to get married. Three couples are trying to get married at the same church. There is a young couple, a middle-aged couple, and an elderly couple. The three couples meet with the vicar and discuss when they can get married. "If you wish to get married in my church, you must all go one month without having sex," says the vicar. One month later the three couples return to the church and talk to the vicar. He then asks the elderly couple, "Have you completed the month without sex?" "Yes we have, it was easy," replies the elderly couple. "How about you?" He asks the middle-aged couple. "It was hard, but we didn't have sex for the whole month," they respond. "And how about you two?" He asks the young couple. "No we couldn't do it," responds the boyfriend. "Tell me why," says the vicar. "Well my girlfriend had a tin of beans in her hand and she accidentally dropped it. She bent over to pick it up and that's when it happened." The vicar then tells them, "You're not welcome in my church." "We're not welcome in the supermarket either," says the boyfriend. Boom Boom!!! Stay well; stay safe and look after yourself... Regards THJ

I don't think there was any conspiracy as far as Jerzy Szczakiel was concerned - Mauger fell off thus gifting the Title to Jerzy. A Track accident, that is all in my humble opinion.

I always enjoyed my visits to Plough Lane in the late 80's. There was a great atmosphere with Dave Lanning's 'golden oldies' and friendly (most of the time) banter with the Dons supporters. The London cup final in '88 stands out for me obviously, and the sense of anticipation when those two great professionals Steve Schofield and Andy Grahame met in '90. It was such a shame it went wrong for both clubs the following year.

And remove Fricke.

Add Dan Bewley to that list.

I`m pretty sure that Anglia TV filmed it for their weekly speedway programme- if my memory serves me right Keith Huewen did the interviews including the team manager of the winning team !!

By the starting gate at the very beginning.. hanging over the fence in my red arsenal top as a 13 year old..

I'd say the Tommy Jansson years were my best years and maybe 1985-ish when Wimbledon dropped down. Strangely maybe, but I really enjoyed those first couple of seasons in the lower league and did travel about a bit too outside London The 70s, when I could go to White City, Wimbledon and Hackney. Then the 80s with Wimbledon, Arena Essex and Hackney with regular trips to Rye or Eastie

Tracking back over the posts it was you that introduced the 'poison'. You clearly don't like anything to do with Poole so just don't watch any of the videos. Simples! (Incidentally next Wednesday its Poole v Brummies from 2013 if you want to know what to avoid!) As for this section being 'your' league, well 'simples' seems to be an appropriate word. By the way from previous comments I thought you were only interested in the 'international' section. Apologies Monarchs fans - keep up the good work.

Continuing the original list: 31= Peter Craven, Jack Parker, Split Waterman 1.92 34= Jimmy Nilsen, Igor Plechanov 1.90 36 Soren Sjosten 1.87 37 Anders Michanek 1.86 38 Henrik Gustafsson 1.85 39= Brian Crutcher, Bill Kitchen 1.80 41 Peter Collins 1.78 42 Kelvin Tatum 1.74 43 Phil Crump 1.73 44= Jeremy Doncaster, Dave Jessup 1.70 46 Antoni Woryna 1.68 47 Eric Langton 1.67 48= Ron Johnston, Tony Rickardsson 1.65 50 Aub Lawson 1.62

Another great edition thank you, loads of variety Zmarzlik; Craig Cook, Michelsen; Shaun Moran interviews, Off the Beaten Track is always excellent and news too about Tim Dixon, The Ultimate Eagle rider; Jan Staechmann and especially Rovno all very interesting too. Smashing read!...

Have yet to see a club put on a home defeat. The clubs are playing to their own fans and rightly so. I am enjoying the Edinburgh videos and Redcar as well. Some good racing.

Star has certainly come up with interesting topics a good read.Well Done to All the Team

I watched that 4TT pile-up, close to, from the back straight. I remember Matousek got to his feet, grinned broadly then mimed a bird in flight to the crowd.

Yes, I think that was the one. Thanks! As I recall, World of Sport got Coles's permission (and ensured he was unhurt) before screening it.

I remember an incident at Wolverhampton in the 70s. A polish team were riding there. Edmund Migos and a team mate tangled and both ripped up half of the satfety fence on the back straight and both ended up on the greyhound track. Edmund was taken away in an ambulance. The stadium was in silence. When they had finished reerecting the fence, Edmund surprisingly appeared for the rerun!

New Sportowefakty article today- Google translation Currently 2020 PZM Warsaw FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Poland appears in the official FIM calendar from August 8. It is known that the competition at PGE Narodowy in Warsaw cannot be played without an audience, because it is unprofitable due to the very high costs of arranging the artificial track (about a million zlotys), renting the facility and licenses. The entire Grand Prix cycle does not have to take place in Poland, because there are still Danish or Swedish locations, but the head of some activists is thinking about distributing medals in the second half of October at the stadium in Warsaw, where weather conditions will not play a key role due to full roofing of the object. At FIM, they can't imagine a situation in which this year we wouldn't have the Individual World Champion selected in sporting competition. As we have determined, a scenario in which the tournament would be played in Vojens (12 September) would not be excluded, for the next week we would move with the cycle to Malilla in Sweden, where there are no strict restrictions on gatherings even now, and in the autumn complete loosening of the situation in sport, and another slot - 26 September would be a possible reserve date (e.g. for Wrocław, because the chances of riding in August with supporters are negligible). The series would end with Toruń - October 3 and Warsaw (October 17 or 24) competitions. Today nobody in PZM wants to confirm this information. For now, tickets for the event scheduled for August 8 are still valid, and there are not too many fans' questions about returns. The tickets were sold subject to the organizer's right to change the date of the competition, for example due to circumstances beyond PZM's control, which are certainly the effects of a pandemic. According to the so-called By the anti-crisis law, the organizers of competitions in Wrocław, Toruń and Warsaw have 180 days to make refunds for purchased tickets, if the events were not to take place at all. Theoretically, they could also transfer tournaments to 2021, and then the tickets would remain valid. Certainly for some fans, the ticket to the Polish Grand Prix round is something important. In recent years it has been difficult to buy a ticket, and tickets were sold on the trunk in the capital of Lower Silesia.

Have to agree - excellent read each week Well done and Thanks to all involved Stay safe everyone

Norman, we need your help urgently here http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/89376-west-ham-query/ I haven`t slept for 2 nights

Personally think the star has become a better value magazine during these times. Love the stars of tomorrow pieces keep up the good work

Why does PL football need help, the major sport in the country, don't understand that comment at all there are loads of minor sports, including Speedway, who may or may not survive, who would need very small amounts of money to survive, and yes I am a UK tax payer

Reading the plethora of doom and gloom predictions for many of the sports at the top table, eg Football, F1, Rugby, and Cricket, with regards to possible sponsorship issues and how they will pay their huge overheads post C19 as companies adjust their out going priorities... Is there then a chance for Speedway to attract some of those who would still like to be seen on TV, but would be now looking to spend tens of thousands (at most) rather than hundreds of thousands or even millions? Some major companies will be pulling out of some huge deals and the likes of F1 and Rugby in particular will be paying out vast sums greater than any 'match day revenue' would cover, hence they are so reliant on this sponsorship money coming in... Meaning just a few big deals going missing will leave huge holes to be filled, (by possibly no one).. Without wishing to sounding mercenary, maybe Speedway could piggy back on the back of their dilemma and hoover up some of the much lesser cash on offer? Some deals that will be on the table post C19 will make hardly any difference to those who need millions to survive, however, as all things are relative, some of these deals could be seen as huge with regards to what British Speedway is used to and could make a massive positive difference to the sport.. For me. Someone should already be putting a few feelers out to companies that Speedway ordinarily wouldn't even consider as they are 'out of their league'. As I would suggest some big names will be down sizing massively but will still want themselves seen on live sport coverage, and as it's now on Eurosport too there is an even larger audience reach...

The first and only Jewish World Champ-we live in a primarily Jewish area (Thornhill) and I mentioned this to my Jewish mates-none of whom had heard of speedway. Good on Lionel, the only other Jewish speedway rider I am aware of was Gil Goldfinch. Before you ask - No I am not Jewish-I tried to join but they wouldn't have me because I didn't have a good enough sense of humour (allusion to the Seinfeld show!!!),,

The 4TT final at Peterborough in 91 i think it would had a bad one that i thought it was the worst i'd seen. Wiltshire, Parker, Hancock and Matousek all came down on the back straight. Been trying to find it for a while but don't think classic speedway videos had it when i looked last. Was the one where Matousek threw a punch into the crowd after breaking his wrist. Wiltshire broken elbow aswell i think.

Following on from the point above, there really was a changing of the guard in the early to mid 80's. Look at the rostrum places from 1980 to 1983. Lee, Jessup, Sanders, Penhall, Knudsen, Olsen, L Collins, Sigalos, Muller, By 1986 the only one doing a full season at the top level in Britain was Knudsen. Olsen, Penhall, Sigalos retired, Collins and Jessup in the National League, Lee did a truncated season and Sanders (and Carter) were no longer with us. As for Tommy Jansson, he may well have hit the heights in the sport, but sadly we'll never know.

The clueless Godfrey has a proven track record for overseeing the failure of British speedway over the past few years and clearly doesn’t possess the business acumen to run the proverbial booze up in a brewery, he is incompetent and way out of his depth. As for ‘central independent’ control, whatever that means, of the sport has been talked about for years and will not happen. The Club promoters won’t agree to that, there view is it’s there money and they want to have there say and that will not change. Speedway has been heading to financial disaster for many years and the Covid19 crisis will prove to be the final straw. Realistically and sadly many other sports and businesses, far stronger and more prominent than speedway, will not survive the effect of this crisis, the serious challenges and financial impact we will all face in the future will be enormous.

Another great issue today, especially the saga of getting riders out to Rovno in 1991. It's the perfect example of very welcome 'filler'.

THANKS, nice of you to say so.

Found this interesting. A thread on the German forum about the Master of Speedway series, which at the beginning was a bit like a short GP series 1978 with a round in Bremen, Gothenburg and two in Vojens 1.Peter Collins GB 27 2.Ole Olsen DK 22 3.Michael Lee GB 10 4.John Davis GB 9 5.Malcolm Simmons GB 8 6.Dave Jessup GB 6 7.Phil Crump AUS 6 8.Gordon Kennett GB 5 9.Ivan Mauger NZ 4 10.Tommy Nilsson S 2 11.Jan Andersson S 1 Of course the world final that year was Olsen,Kennett, Autrey 1979 with 3 rounds in Germany, Sweden and Denmark 1.Bruce Penhall USA 34 2.Peter Collins GB 27 3.Scott Autrey USA 27 4.Michael Lee GB 19 5.Gordon Kennett GB 17 6.Ole Olsen DK 17 7.Hans Nielsen DK 15 8.Dave Jessup GB 12 9.Billy Sanders AUS 9 10.Phil Crump AUS 8 11.Anders Michanek S 5 12.Malcolm Simmons GB 3 13.Hans Holmqvist S 3 14.Ivan Mauger NZ 1 15.Michael Lohman DK 1 World final was Mauger,Plech,Lee 1980 and only two rounds in Germany and Denmark 1.Hans Nielsen DK 30 2.Bruce Penhall USA 22 3.Chris Morton GB 20 4.Ole Olsen DK 15 5.Peter Collins GB 14 6.Dave Jessup GB 11 7.Gordon Kennett GB 5 8.Michael Lee GB 4 9.Ivan Mauger NZ 3 10.Tommy Knudsen DK 3 11.John Davis GB 2 12.Svend Lund DK 2 13.Jens-Henry Nielsen DK 1 World Final was Lee, Jessup, Sanders 1981 was two round only in Germany and after that it wasn't really worth mentioning 1.Hans Nielsen DK 27 2.Bruce Penhall USA 16 3.Egon Müller D 15 4.Bobby Schwartz USA 12 5.Erik Gundersen DK 10 6.George Gilgenreiner D 10 7.Bo Petersen DK 6 8.Josef Aigner D 6 9.Ole Olsen DK 6 10.Jan Andersson S 5 11.Chris Morton GB 5 12.Georg Hack D 4 13.Dave Jessup GB 3 14.Billy Sanders AUS 3 15.Larry Ross NZ 2 16.Peter Würtele D 1 17.Peter Collins GB 1 World final Penhall, Olsen, Knudsen https://www.speedway-forum.de/forum/index.php?thread/18836-master-of-speedway-bremen-1978-1988/

An example would be the Ray Tauser pic you posted yesterday. It was originally on an article in the States. The photo you posted still had the watermark or stamp of that magazine on it. So it has been copied from that article and then pasted elsewhere including here There is a google facility to check photos. It is often used by people trying to track down pics or even track down if their photo has been used elsewhere. You go on the google search page and up in the right hand corner ( on my phone it is up in the middle)there is an image link. Then you post your photo or the url and do a search

This weeks Re-Run, kindly sponsored by Save Coventry Speedway, sees the Bears take on Scunthorpe Scorpions from July 2018. Join us on our Facebook page on Friday at 7:15pm, in association with our friends at Tapes Up Productions. Speedway GB

How far do you want to go back, here`s Cradley Heath v Birmingham from 1980.