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As much as people like to retreat to the extremes, things are rarely black and white. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. Kenny Carter lost the plot. I think we can all agree that. What he did was horrific and unimaginable. Even in his crazed state of mind, he knew that and took his own life. Tony MacDonald's excellent book "Tragedy" gives a fine insight into what led to his mental deterioration and the traumatic childhood that preceded it. Nothing could ever excuse what he did, but there are good reasons why he wasn't of sound mind. He was also a brilliant speedway rider. Unless you were a big follower of the sport in the early 1980s, it is difficult to understand just how much of a part he played in the scene around that time. He was genuine box office, the rider fans of every other club loved to hate. He was the go-to speedway rider in the national media, on breakfast TV, national newspapers, Question of Sport, teenage magazines. In pure speedway terms, there has been no-one like him since. Try articulating that in a tweet. It will always been a minefield discussing his life and legacy, ever likely to offend some. No-one would suggest there should be a statue. But that doesn't mean he should be airbrushed from history, he was too significant of a figure to be perpetually ignored.

Jeez, I wonder if they’ll wish Jimmy Savile all the best ... one of our greatest DJ’s .... You do sometimes wonder who’s in charge of their social media account and thought this was a good idea ?

Murdered his wife... Made his own kids into orphans... I can only presume that there were obviously no divorce lawyers in Yorkshire... Take away the Speedway connection completely... Only a vile selfish individual could do such a thing to his own family...

Didn't know they had put the money up this year

Loaning money to speedway promoters- we could see the Horton`s and Terry Lindon making a comeback

THE Government has today announced the latest tranche of funding from the winter phase of its Sport Survival Package. Speedway clubs have been offered £300,000 in loan support. Rob Godfrey, Chairman of British Speedway, said: “Government and Sport England have been very supportive of the needs of British Speedway clubs and the effect the pandemic has had on them. “Taking the time to understand our sport, they have worked closely with a number of speedway clubs to understand their needs, and ultimately provided this crucial funding to help them make it to the starting tapes in May. “We hope this is the start of support for speedway with our most vulnerable clubs accessing early funding support.”

Especially in that era.!

Away tracks booed anyone who was brilliant and not theirs.

Probably because when I started watching Swindon there were 18/19 teams in league

Very poorly worded insensitive post. A bit like posting "Happy Birthday to Fred West - For all his faults, he laid a nice patio"

Matt B. That's the most honest post I've seen on the forum. I've said in the past they should have bought Coventry for the sport and had all big meetings there, and used it for the development of young riders ect.

The biggest missed opportunity British Speedway had was when Sky got involved in 1999. They had the perfect opportunity to put together a proper business plan to invest the money into a proper structure to give it a solid foundation to build on and take the sport forward. But sadly, self interest got in the way.

Hang on I have some straws - pm me your address and I will get them off to you so you can keep grasping

Don't say that. Just as things are beginning to look a little brighter as we come out of lockdown this sort of news would wreck my cheerier thoughts.

Schlein has had his - the pic was posted a couple if weeks ago Does this finally prove he is British

It was only a few months ago that the news was full of the death of Phil Spectre, who died in prison having committed 2nd degree murder (manslaughter as we call it). Was there a news suppression of his contribution to music, was there heck! The BBC and all the rest made sure we knew all about his 'wall of sound' and all the stars he helped bring on. Yes, there was a cursory mention of the young lady he shot, but not much made of it. Therefore, it is quite normal, perhaps bizarrely, that we do still remember the great things people have achieved, even though they have committed atrocities at some point.

To be honest the whole Carter family Family were a bit unstable .The Father was a total head case IMO.

Kenny Carter was well liked in Halifax where I live and got tons of local press. Used to love watching the Dukes away from home where all the opposing fans would be booing him which made for a great atmosphere! He'd go out of his way to make them boo even more but alot of it was just showmanship which is sadly lacking today. However, as good a rider as he was I cannot condone in any shape or form what he did. As Ray Stadia points out though, no one can be sure what his mental state of was at that time and I'm also pretty convinced that the long list of injuries that he had during his racing career (some very bad ones at that) took their toll on him.

Wrong. The age group dates are an estimation of where the vaccination will be complete for age groups. Some areas across England are ahead of others & are vaccinating under 40's now.

need to attract a new crowd with all the Brexit voting Costa Brits being deported this week

TheLate great Wayne Brown at Berwick went from reserve 3.94 to 9.00 the next season and improved it again the next season.He actually improved overnight in the 2nd half of “78 after beating the Owen brothers at Berwick one week.Great guy sadly missed.

I agree with much of what you say. He certainly was box office but as much for his whining and moaning as his on track performances, which were legendary. His achievements were substantial, twice BLRC winner, twice British Champion, World Pairs Champion and all by the time he was 25. But away tracks booed him because they bored of his histrionics. Remembering and acknowledging his performances is a given. Still referring to him as “#kingkenny” is not and I’m pleased the tweet has now been removed.

In Sanders case could have ended differently if those around him had taken notice of signs that they saw prior to the events of April 23rd 1985. John Berry certainly mentions that there possibly were signs that Billy wasn't right . But also mentions Billy hid things well. Didn't he score a maximum in his last meeting? Both were great on a speedway bike, both must have been in a dark place, but only one murdered his wife. Which far out weighs any "good" Carter did.

I think describing Kenny Carter as a monster, is a bit over the top in my opinion. We are talking about one tragic event not a series of diabolical events. We still talk about Billy Sanders talents on track, but sadly took his own life, which I understand was due to problems with his private life. Perhaps that event could have ended differently, if Billy had 'turned right' instead of left. 'There but for the grace of God'.

I think the charity work was perhaps just a calculated necessary 'passport' to enable the awful things so is completely negated The 'off switch' is the difference between a 'normal' human being and a monster. I can't see anyway way to mitigate the actions

Anybody out there knocking our 'management'....take it back ! What a 'coup' ! (Riss) Well done David/Peter/Laurence.... I think having Riss will also help VG.... As previously mentioned, by HG, if Morris starts the way he finished before he got injured, with Shanes/Paco, who can both mix it with anyone round PB, we will be hard to beat at home.... They'll be a few jealous Championship fans out there I'm sure.... Up the Brummies.....Give Us a 'B'!

The rule was reputedly brought in to stop Louis being used by all and sundry as a guest in Div 1, after he was guesting often for Newport in 1970. Shrimp's crash was actually in heat 4, his third ride of the afternoon, it seemed a routine first bend spill. It's scary to think I saw that 49 years ago.....

Looks like they've deleted it from twitter and Facebook now.

Indeed. In John Berry's first book he stated how he rated Tony Davey higher than Peter Collins. The rules in 1971 apparently precluded Division 2 riders from partaking in Division 1 unless they had a tie-up with a Division 1 club. Of course, PC was at Belle Vue, John Louis at Newport, Malcolm Shakespeare at Leicester... the list was probably a little longer than that. When it came to the first match, JB said that Davey was a complete bundle of nerves never having ridden at that level before. Things didn't improve as both Olle Nygren and Alan Sage were excluded from the first heat for tape breaking. Then came Heat 2 and the awful crash... A classic case of 'What might have been'.

excluding assessed starting averages Tsumani!! Arguably if he scored a 15 max on debut he's been on the decline ever since wasn't he a nine pointer from the off? Obviously started on an assessed two or whatever it was at the time but was never anything less than a nine pointer straightaway. I was more interested in riders who had difficult/average starts to their career but suddenly improved during the course of a season. Charles Wright is a more recent example. Having spent a fair few seasons as a four ish pointer was it Somerset he went to and added three points to his average?

We have missed you.

I said that 8 hours ago

Regardless of his talents on a speedway bike, for Speedway GB’s press office to eulogise a man who murdered his wife, then orphaned his children by killing himself is, in my opinion, the height of bad taste. And what sort of “kind wishes” are they expressing?

Think Rob was one of the lads who came into Speedway with plenty of Grass track experience so in the lower leagues looked to be very talented immediately then as he moved up the levels it became harder to impress. Very decent rider but not that extra little bit that makes them into international stars in my opinion. Right little chav at 16 but now matured and been riding Flat track for a couple of years and a good lad to have around, wouldn't be surprised to see him in the top 3 of the British Championships over the next couple of years. Think he would get dispensation to ride a 600 if he returned to Speedway as he is carrying a fair bit of extra padding around these days

Presumably his average is assessed under 10.2.3 (a) [which does specify British speedway] However I am less than convinced the assessment for 2020 should be different to that arrived at for 2019 (which appeared to be a discount of a 10 year old average).

I was aware that he'd lost his life but was never sure if it was speedway related. I remember seeing Boxall against the Gems and he looked like a huge talent. I think he ended up signing for the Diamonds as #1 which I think is where it all started to go wrong. Plenty of example around that time of talented kids who didn't get any guidance or have the resources to progress. Let's hope there's some assistance for the current crop.

ah yes I recall Dugard, Havelock and Silver emerging at the same time. He was on a steep upward curve. World Finalist by 1990!!! 2nd season?? Remember seeing him at Brough in his first season. Scary but quick. Was always going to be a massive talent. yes. What about that group of Aussies. Wiltshire, Adams and Boyce all around the same time after a lean spell. All massive talents For some reason I don't ever recall seeing Mear ride live. Was he mostly top flight at Essex? Didn't he attempt a comeback at one point? Could he have gone on to have been international class?

Todd Wiltshire in 1990 must be up there, started on 5.5 and finished over 8.7 and World no.3...

I think they got lucky. Due to the rocketing covid rates in Germany, vaccine hesitancy in Poland, the EU's multiple cock ups and the NHS success in running the UK vaccination programme being based in the UK suddenly looks more attractive.

Gating Tarts? (Sorry Matej, couldn’t resist)

Is that the answer to any critcism.? Nearly as stupid as asking fans if they have ever ridden a speedway bike.

Thanks for that Phil

£20,000 for Edinburgh, £30,000 for Glasgow because they own the stadium ... full story in SS this week

Will any tell the panel that they SAVED money last year?