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Isnt he the old drip who does/used to do the announcing at Berwick?

Multi Million Pound investment? Council set up the infrastructure level the land and stick a fence round it... Diamonds lay a track, hire or buy a second hand genny; hire or buy a second hand stand (similar to what the Falcon's started with at Kingston Park) set up a scaffold type stand (aka Redcar) stick an air fence round it build some pits and a changing room (similar to Scunny) and off you go generating funds daily and not just on a Sunday... training sessions to hire out amateur meetings to run... stock cars and a BMX track out back to encourage the kids... outlay for that around 150k... No different to Scunny who have a good set up and Rob Godfrey started off with a basic site and built on it over the years... that site didn't just land overnight with one massive outlay of Dosh its taken time to build.... and that's certainly not the Olympic Stadium is it... but it's fit for purpose and does the job... Regards THJ

Your starting to become a regular Forum Fanny now Dick. Must be an OK site after all.

...and Vaclav Verner won the Yorkshire TV Trophy ahead of Lee and Penhall....and Reg Wilson won the Jubilee Trophy ahead of Mauger and Autrey. Good night's work for those riders, but pretty meaningless in the grand scheme. I don't imagine Mauger and the rest lost too much sleep either. I don't want to come across as knocking Davis. As above, I think he got the maximum from himself. I don't think it as been mentioned...but at one time (and possibly still holds true?) he reached more British Finals than any other rider. Which is testament to his professionalism and longevity. But I don't think its plausible to suggest any World Final was poorer for his absence, that just doesn't paint an accurate picture. He was a good rider for a long time, but that's it. There's a good reasons why through Davis' career he remained a fringe rider for England and guys like Louis, Simmons, PC, Jessup, Lee, Morton, Carter and later on Wigg, Doncaster and Tatum were automatic picks for a few years each.

Ah okay. Whilst Poole had that excellent pass on Jason Doyle in playoff SF vs Somerset which put us through! Will always get a good reception at Poole just for that!

The cost of getting Redcar speedway from a brownfield site to being open for racing in 2006 (in a very basic stadium) was in excess of £250,000 which equates to nearly £400,000 now. On that basis, when you add in the cost of an air fence, if the existing one can’t be used (and something that wasn’t required in 2006) you are looking at £425,000 for a basic set up. The other end is a purpose built stadium like Belle Vue. It cost in excess of £9m. I’m really not sure what you’d get for £150,000, but I doubt it would be anything like the proposed Newcastle set up

Well maybe just Saturday!

Derek Timms once told me about a rider who gave his engine to someone claiming to be a tuner. It was a set up by some of his team mates as he was constantly moaning about his bike. The "tuner" did nothing more than polish the casings, cylinder and barrel so the engine had a mirror finish. The guy fell for it and claimed it was a lot faster than it was before!

The site at Seaton Burn would be ideal for multi use such as speedway stock cars bmx any travelling fairs circuses even possibly music festival noise licence being granted of course, if I'm right it's a brown field site which I think would make gaining said licence easier, somebody like Rob who I beleive runs an events company would certainly get the best out of it, which makes all this even harder to accept, and I'm sure he feels the same, it would be the making of speedway in Newcastle, but at the moment looks like a complete non starter.

Lot of huffing and puffing on behalf of the two main local authourities Newcastle and North Tyneside and the potential of something materialising at a site in Seaton Burn but Im not sure what come of it and it seems to have went cold... plus with all the song and dance that went on about moving from Brough I think the promotion become a little disallusioned IMHO about the idea of investing thousands of pounds in a new site when there was little support for the idea... however if someone does come in it is an option that must be explored further when all ARC will sanction are yearly leases on Brough. How do you build a business plan on that... Regards THJ

Honestly I did and there was no way of telling what was lying in wait for anyone who took it on... It was totally bad luck... because if Rob had of collapsed Newspeed from the off and just ran with the new company from the start he would have been protected from what happened and not lost anything... The books were a shambles and I knew what was going on as I had the same accountant as Newspeed but I thought there could have been possibilities in taking it on however when Rob came in I backed off... And with luck like that I will never win the lottery... Regards THJ

Surely if the hole was CLEARLY visible before the meeting how come neither team spotted it on their track walk prior the start?

Cracking little setup

Every week.

It was more than 1 rider who was not happy with the track. And Birmingham riders too, had the same thinking.

No need to be ageist

I haven’t been on here for a long time but nice to know nothing has changed Ford and Shovlar give their totally unbiased assessment and all Is believed lol

He was just making excuses. The 'extra track work' which was carried out was just a few passes with the usual grader. As for Stef couldn't turn the bike: everyone else could do it. He actually ran into Grobauer trying to overtake.

Cuthbert Dibble and Grub....

Presumably a 7 day suspension for him then?

The title is ours to throw away now.

I went to the Birmingham meeting on Sunday and there were lots of empty seats in the stand. I don't think you need to worry too much about being at the front either because the seats aren't the conventional plastic chairs, they are benches on top of quite steep terracing. We took our 10 year old grandson and there were much smaller children next to us sat at the back and they had a perfect view.

I’m surprised the 4 team events seem to have lost favour back in the day there was always these in the calendar at most tracks. Rayleigh Romford Canterbury and Eastbourne drew big crowds and lots of rivalry - all gone now of course. You get a full meeting of racing matching riders of similar abilities. Might they be used to reduce costs and rider availability becomes even more acute especially at the Premier league level.

Edinburgh has always been well ahead of the game regarding Media and Press coverage on their website and it’s paying off handsomely now.

LOL! James Shanes is a gating tart, that's a good one. Best one I've heard this year!

1980 was a lovely side and if Phil had of started the season we would of pushed hard that year.Steve you can relate to this because Oxford like Swindon had some weak teams over the years then to get the Hans/ era must of been a dream come true.For me the team winning did not matter having a regular feature in the team like Keen, Hitchy was brilliant the fans could relate to continuity having a hero.

easy to explain... Worral - gating tart, Cook - gating tart, Schlein - old gating tart. Here to help.

I think that run off with the great Willy in 1975 said it all Steve he should of been harder Bernie certainly was in 1972.? Ashby rarely gets mentioned but he was a terrific rider to watch every Saturday he had great skill.It saddened me how he was treated by Swindon in 1980 but he had the last laugh by winning the league and bonus with Reading that year.

As Briggo said of Ashby " at one time he was the best rider in world but didn't realise It!".

Don't know about capacity, but 2007/9 Grand Finals v. Cov and Wolves the Shabbey had crowds of over 5000, with hundreds of away fans. The 2012/ 17/19 finals v. Poole, Wolves, Ipswich were not as well attended, probably not much higher than some league matches, it was quoted between 3000-3500 for the three. Around a third of fans lost to the sport. Very few away fans at the last two finals. In ten years hundreds had lost interest with the ever weakening line-ups, and promoters increasing admission prices almost every year to cover falling attendances. The biggest crowd I've seen there in the last ten years was when they charged a fiver admission. I remember a 4's tournament could have been 10 years ago? Swindon, Oxford, Reading, Cradley?, well attended, a few from Oxford and Reading there.

The rest of the UK are thrilled to see you beat tho Shovlar Stefan's injuries aside of course

Just got back to Poole and wondered why I bothered. Awful meeting devoid of any real racing other than Danny King. First of all, and most importantly, get well soon to Stefan who I have heard is suffering from broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken collarbone. Stefan has been a major player in this Pirates side and will no doubt be sadly missed for the remainder of the season. Get well soon and I for one would like to see him back with us next season. A nasty tumble along with Grobauer into the 4th bend fence. I thought the track was bumpy, wavy someone else called it. Riders were gating, going out wide and that was it. No passing all meeting. Riders who failed to make the gate, forget it. Gate and go. Very, very boring. It didn’t help that our number one was appalling tonight and cost us a win. Already down Ben Basso and before the first lap of heat one Stefan, Rory rode very much within himself. Beaten by Shanes and Morris with ease is not good enough. 5-1’d twice with ease. Looked disinterested. Is he under orders from Peter Adams to ride within himself? After being reduced to a 5 man team and only having one rider out in two heats, it became apparent that tonight wasn’t going to be our night but really we deserved a point, and even that eluded us. No faulting Danny King and Steve Worrall. Cook tried but is not a gater and neither is Danyon, who tried all night but just couldn’t get out of the starts. The Brum riders are dialled in and with track conditions as they were, there was no catching once they gated. The man o the tannoy was shouting how wonderful it was to send Poole home with no points. That may be so but one is in hospital in a poor state. He said that Brum can still make the playoffs. I hope they do do we can pick them. A decent crowd I thought. But no atmosphere to speak of. And other than the result they can’t have gone home thrilled.

I get bored watching live speedway on TV, long breaks for adverts, plus riders taking an age to get settled into their start positions for races! Watching it after means you can fast forward lots of wasted time!

This has been discussed before..... The top riders and tuners who have invested loads don't want standardised engines.

Emil is very experienced and has ridden a multitude of tracks in many countries. He has competed against every rider of note and beaten them all. I reckon he knows what he is talking about.

I just want to say congratulations to Mark and his team at Plymouth in achieving something really quite special this season for speedway in the West Country. Mark has truly worked his socks off, like us he gives literally all that he has in trying to ensure that fans, riders, sponsors and officials have a brilliant night out - he has delivered. He takes pride in his events, pride in his stadium, pride in his "show". People of Plymouth, be proud because you have a good one here and you are now starting to see the acorn Mark planted grow in to an Oak. Businesses are starting hear of the Gladiators, and now have pride in aligning their brand with your club, fans are flocking back, great food, great service, good people. Long may it continue. Congratulations.

Bottom line is Cook withheld his services for whatever reason and clearly Ipswich reported that and rightly got a facility. The upshot of that is Riders are then given generally a 7 day suspension or longer depending on circumstances, as the Ipswich press release says his return is subject to SCB approval. A lot of the problem is clubs don’t properly explain riders absences, Pedersen and Palin are missing for the Panthers, nothings been said explaining why, either by Peterborough Plymouth or Scunthorpe. Its doesn’t help but fuel suspicion and rumour on the internet.

Pretty shocking by the majority of Ipswich riders this year, bar Danny King. He’s been absolutely fantastic in amongst a pile of pure sh!t. The likes of Jake Allen (the biggest culprit and at the bottom of the pile of dung) will come up smelling of roses though. Now on a very handy average of 4.Something or other, he will no doubt be a trump card for somebody. I hope that somebody isn’t Ipswich though. Let someone else benefit from his low average. If he lines up as a Witch next year, count me out. His efforts this year have been pathetic.

A blessing in disguise. Watching Allen struggle around Foxhall has been painful for all concerned.

He is the encyclopaedia of information on here he/she must be getting numerous calls per day from the Championship clubs to relay to us minions on here. Or maybe not.

Yes, I have actually.

That Wolves meeting was watched and deleted within two hours it was so boring Brennan/ Flint were the only bright spots.The sport is in huge trouble in the UK and there has to be debate and major changes come November/ December.Will it though ? NO a few rule changes trying to paper over the cracks and the show plods on.

Presumably an opportunity for Jorgensen & Riss to meet the team & get some matches in. With seemingly no replacement signed for Ulrich I expect Jorgensen & Riss to be the guests used.

Sounds like a very frustrating/boring meeting for all those that attended last night...... Can I just point out that I watched a so called 'mouth-watering' clash in the Prem on Monday night Wolves v Belle Vue and though the track had no issues, the match was as boring as hell.... Leon Flint providing the only real entertainment (buzzing around at the back and not really having the skill to pass)..... (P.s if anything exciting happened after Heat 8, then I stand corrected, as I turned it off at that point....) Not to mention the 'processional' racing at 'Togliatti' in the Grand Prix at the weekend. Speedway as a spectacle is 'dire' right now.

When Andersen missed his Berwick debut they had to revert to Garcia in their 1-7, Poole couldn't do that with Keleher, so got a guest for Smetana, so I'd guess Glasgow revert back to Sedgmen in the team, but how would that effect the transfer cut-off date? If the declared team still has Sedgeman in it, does that mean Nowak has missed the transfer deadline?

Birmingham have always graded after heat 3.

Below 7 above 2 in the second tier for team build only and if they go above 7 you've scored for that year... but at the outset the rider wouldn't be coming in on ridiculous wages or aspirations of huge guarentee's... Regards THJ

So no one moves up? do away with the "Top League" and everyone comes "Down" and the NDL is run with the "second/junior teams of clubs only who can afford them" which leaves Mildenhall out on a limb a bit but bear with me... if the Monday and Thursday rule is stuck to for TV revenue then the clubs who may have genuine reasons for not running on those days are Newcastle; Kent and possibly Birmingham and the perceived (other) "Hard Up" clubs like Berwick and Scunthorpe (maybe wide of the mark with these comments but again bear with me) and maybe bring back Eastie and the IOW or even Oxford till they find their feet which gives 8/9 clubs in a mid way Secondary League and state to these clubs they can not utilise a rider with a 7 point average or more in the newly formed British Primary League it will save on costs; no temptation to go and get a perceived "top league" star on a ridiculous rate and no caps on riders wags who feel they might be worth more than they actually are; the market will dictate what they are worth to clubs. If there are no brakes applied (pardon the analogy) then this run away wage chase will never stop. Promotions cant be trusted to stick to wage caps that's been proven more than once in the past so take the temptation away... likewise to strengthen the Primary League no one without an average of 6 or more in the Secondary League can move up (So 6 moving up divided by 1.5) can race in the Primary League which means the lowest average a rider you could have in the Primary League is 4 and for the Tertiary League (or NDL) no one can not move up to the Secondary League until they have achieved an average of 6 in the NDL (So 6 moving up divide by 2) giving a starting average of 2 for the Secondary League. Build to say 45 in the Primary League 35 in the Secondary League and 30 in the Tertiary (NDL) to again restrict teams with unreasonable or unfeasible team building ambitions and this will potentially give 11/12 teams for a Primary League 8/9 teams for a Secondary League and anyone who can afford to run a junior team in the NDL can do so... Last thing we need are more clubs closing down and there is still a need IMHO for a staging league in British Speedway as a pathway to the higher echelons of the sport... this Rising Star thing although full of good intentions is a waste of time and effort as putting young kids in without racing time and experience under their belts at a senior level is just a joke. There is an average system and a process to see these junior riders progress and everyone goes through it from Craig Cook Steve Worrall Richie Worrall and Rich Lawson to James Sarjeant Max Clegg Willie Lawson Ashley Morris and Simon Lambert ultimately they all find their level. Put the rule book in the bin and rule No 1 should be; there will always be a minimum number of rules to adhere too; if the rules run to a second page rule No 2 should be the BSPL will work to reducing the number of rules to one page. Do we not over complicate things at times? Regards THJ

Same circumstance with the same rider but a different outcome and the only reason being he was an Ace back then. https://speedwaygp.com/news/article/6177/cook-forced-out-of-cup

Unfortunately, the "mental health card" has become the new "race card". It will invariably be abused and ruin it for those genuine cases. No one is allowed to question it, end of.