Leaderboard

From reading some of the views expressed on here, you'd of thought that the only purpose of this meeting was to find a wildcard rider for the Cardiff GP when it was predominantly about winning the National title. Dan Bewley is already in the GP so was he chasing an impossible win from the off?? Being a wildcard in a single GP will be soon forgotten but having your name on the national trophy with all the greats that have won it before puts you in a hall of fame and that's what it should be all about. I really don't see how anybody can say that Adam's wildcard is tainted when the other option was to elect someone as National champion off the back of a ballot after only 3 rides completed . In my opinion that would have been a bigger farce and that name on the trophy would certainly have been tainted. In the circumstances I think they made the right call. Nobody deserved to be called British champion that night and it's correct that it is being re run. I also believe it's correct that Adam, as current British champion should be able to take the wildcard ride that he was denied by Covid as his win was worthy. By all means criticise the organisation for putting this event on so close to the GP without a contingency plan for this scenario but to suggest that Adam should forfeit his place to someone who won nothing is in my opinion ridiculous.

Why would that have been fair . Not every rider had ridden v each other had the same gates etc etc..The meeting was quite righty declared null and void so people need to stop going on about who scored what as it's has zero bearing on the picking of the wildcard..

Maybe he knows he’s on his way out so decided not to bother?

Oi, less of the compost please

The way I understand this is that the work on the greyhound track finished last night and the speedway had access from today and they found several safety fence posts damaged and needing work / replacing. This gives them less than 48 hours before tomorrows match to find a contractor to possibly break out the posts, concrete in new ones, allow the concrete to cure / harden and then re-hang the safety fence and possible have to have a track inspection of the works carried out before they can race. I am no track expert but I have worked in construction and to get a contractor, get all that work done and signed off in under 48 hours is a tall order which I think the management realise hence the early call off. Give the management team a break I'm sure they want to lose a race day even less than we do, especially for rectification a problem that is no fault of there's.

Gary May is one of the best team managers, always seems to make the right move.

He doesn’t deserve it and is not a genuine competitor …. yet 8 days previously he rode to a 4 ride maximum in the European pairs semi final while Chris Harris only scored 4, being replaced in two of his rides. You really have some serious issues to bring up school sports days and parenting. I don’t make up the rules, I flew over to watch my son race. Nothing more, nothing less. if speedway isn’t considered a serious sport , maybe look at the kind of people that follow it and how unreasonable they can be when things don’t go their way. ( clue, you’ll find him in the mirror) I’d love to discuss it more but you seem so angry and looking to blame Adam / me / anyone it would be a waste of time. I’ve met some great people in speedway. I’ve also me some idiots who spend so much time being so angry with everything it’s a waste of energy trying to engage. guess which ones I don’t waste time on.

Onesport are a bunch of shysters !!! they have decided to make the rest of the SEC series PPV to customers not in a TV contract area. they want 9 Euros for Saturday or 24 Euros for the remaining 3 rounds- well as far as I am concerned they can get stuffed- They promised we would be able to watch the series when they did the deal with TVP Sport Poland. I will be watching on a stream - they are not going to get a penny from me !!! Edit from February From Onesport TVP Sport acquired the rights to show SEC in Poland. - We are already working on broadcasting options in other countries. I'm sure that all speedway fans outside Poland will be able to follow the European Championships without any problems - adds Lejman. http://speedwayeuro.com/en/ppv

Looks like the numpties have gone into hiding again. They come on here spouting crap without knowing the facts. Yes we do have dog meetings Tuesday Friday Saturday but we also have the BAGS dog racing on Mondays and Thursdays so track time for our track staff is very very limited. Once again idiots with no facts jump on the slag speedway down bandwagon. The people who don’t attend speedway meetings at their own track or people who don’t go to Sheffield speedway regular. There is also stock car racing at Sheffield and they just run their meeting and leave the track in a disgraceful state leaving our track staff vaulenteers to sort out. It’s a real shame these people get on such a high by slagging Sheffield speedway off because with the sport been in such a decline I worry what will happen when there’s no speedway to slag off. Probably be slitting their wrists. Some people really need to get a life and join the real world.

Picking the current British Champion who would should have gone last year makes perfect sense.

IMO it is the other way round. The British Final lost a lot of its importance and interest from the average fan when it stopped being on the route to the World Final. Ok, you still became British Champion (the best of British???) but so what?. We did see riders dropping out for little or no reason. The added incentive of going to Cardiff restored some of the interest for the average fan but increased the incentive for riders massively. The chance to ride in your home GP in the caldron that is The Principality Stadium when you're riding well is surely one, most riders find exciting. To split these two endeavours into two meetings would leave the British Final even less meaningful than it was before.

Go to the link below, then, where it says "Supporters" below it hit the "see more" box continuously until you reach the bottom of the donations, date of the first donations are there: https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/newcastle-diamonds

The logic behind Ellis getting the wildcard is one that I agree with. But at same time. Ellis knew that when he won the final the wildcard wasn’t up for grabs. I may be biased but I do think Brennan should have got it but only because I’d like to see the best YOUNG riders Do the wildcard. also it seems the wildcard is more important that becoming British champ. the wildcard situation as taken the gloss off being champion. It’s time we stop this wildcard nonsense. And make it all about the British final ONLY.

The World`s best plus Adam Ellis.

Absolute farce...speedway continues to shoot itself in the foot by msking stupid decisions. Should have been 12 heats and then finals..rather than brainstorming up that crap after 1 hour...disgraceful and if this was in Poland there would have been a riot and what's the betting Eurosport don't show the restaging!?

Forgetting that 8 days previously he’d scored a 4 ride maximum in the European semi final ( which Team GB won) while Harris was replaced in two of his rides after scoring only 4 points. It pîsses me off that I even need to point this out but it seems that the numpties online spout cråp with impunity. i know I shouldn’t bite, but when I get personal messages slagging him off and read some of this on here I just like to put the record straight. it’s no wonder 99% of riders and officials in the sport avoid this site like the plague.

Maybe they not fixed the tapes. Maybe that’s the real reason. maybe riders are missing. there are no dogs today so got all day today to sort the problem but I am a cynic

Or this would be another very well thought out solution, but no that would just make sense and too obvious so the powers that be thought they’d mix it up abit

Not particularly a fan at all. I just like to see someone given their fair due. Hence, I can't really accept him being labelled as not world class or other riders 'destroying' or 'easily' beating him in a year when the facts indicate he was damn close to being, if not THE best rider in the world. Going forwards I can't think of any other rider who had as much control over a speedway bike as Hans Nielsen. But if I was to identify a chink in the armour, I think his nerve and judgement wavered a bit more than it did for other greats when it came to the very sharp end. He lost three run-offs for the World Title and let the 96 GP title slip when well within his grasp. And I think the clashes with Knudsen and Ermolenko (although he got away with the former) showed rare misjudgement.

In the event of the British Final being abandoned....the Cardiff Wildcard should go to the leading (British) rider in the British League averages (IMO) I guess (at present) that would make 'Bomber' the worthy candidate!

Could and probably should of just said too Brennan and Harris, need a run off between you both for the wildcard spot, then restage the meeting at a later date too see who the champ is. If they hadn’t faffed about I can’t see that the track wouldn’t of held up enough for one race

Great news.... Weds Sept 7th....Alan Grahame Memorial Meeting.... I look forward to paying my respect to a true legend of the sport. Not just a great rider, but a great person too!

Tom Brennan is first reserve, alongside Leon Flint

I was there Monday, not that that matters and have now had time to think about this. Should a contingency have been in place? Of course it should, but it wasn't!! Should the result stand? No of course not. 3 rides in and obviously some riders had an easier 3 rides than others. Should Adam get the wild card? On Mondays showing, then no, but Monday is a one off meeting that didn't finish. I think he's the only fair choice having missed out last year. He had a poor 3 (2 really) rides for sure, but it can happen to any rider. Let's get behind him and let him have his big day with the support of the nation. Good luck to him.

You'd think Ellis was a Championship reserve who somehow fluked his title last year reading some of the comments on here. Okay so he's not been quite as good as last season but he's still got the 3rd highest average amongst British riders in the Premiership and qualified for the European Championship. And maybe worth remembering 2013. Nicholls finished runner-up to Woffinden in the British Final. Harris (3rd) got the wildcard instead. I'm a Harris fan and wanted him to win this meeting but I don't really see that he's in much of a position to complain given the chances he's had previously. Brennan's time will come. He's been unfortunate to miss over a year of development through Covid and injury but you can see the progress he's making. Hopefully he'll be given the 1st reserve position, get a couple of rides and I'm sure he'll get the wildcard sooner rather than later.

Incorrect. The result only stands IF a re-run can't be staged. Most promoters don't bother re-staging a league match if it reaches heat 10 (for obvious reasons), but the British Final can be re-staged, so the result of Monday becomes null and void. 'someone' (literally) posted the regulations yesterday, but here's the link again: http://www.scbgb.co.uk/regulations

… and that is your opinion. Fortunately those making the decisions don’t agree with you. As the meeting was abandoned, the only “fair” decision was to have the current British champion have the Cardiff wildcard. It doesn’t really matter if you agree or not because that is what is happening. I do feel for Bomber - who was riding out of his skin on Monday - as always. Tom Brennan will get his chance in the future as is making good progress in his career.

Yes but my point is the track would have still been rideable for 2 or 3 more races whilst they were pratting around ringing some bloke up in Italy and asking the riders what should we do!?. Anyway there all it's, but's and maybe's but in my opinion what they came up with was a farce and just sums up British speedway. For instance I've seen fixtures recently where teams are putting out R/R's and guests without tracking a single team rider and then the situation at SON where we have no reserve when a rider gets injured. No wonder all my mates mock that I'm into speedway as it really is run like a tinpot sport in this country. Oh and remember Belle Vue v Poole a few years ago in the showpiece final?...there's another example with the same dimwits in the background making stupid decisions..maybe Godfrey, Steele and their cronies should run for prime minister as they certainly have all the attributes!

Technically Ellis will still be the British champion when the British GP is staged, so correct decision was made.

Once the decision was made to restage the meeting the rule book is quite clear on procedure. Don't forget that once the meeting is abandoned no further track action is permitted so a race-off on the night wasn't an option.

Eleven Sports guys and they were pretty serious saying that. Fingers crossed.

None of that makes sense..why was it a impossible win ? If it had not rained the meeting would have finished and we would have got a wildcard ..in what world is that impossible.. You might not like it but no result was called last night so it means next to nothing how the riders were getting on. it's null and void and just an unlucky for thou's involved the Bottom line is the Current British Champion who was robbed of his chance last year will take his place. I can't understand what all the hate is about ..

It's an odd one. With all due respect to Kasper he is either the cheap option or a last resort. Perhaps the club have given up on 4th despite what they say in press releases?

Not the point I was making. If you travel from further afield you often need to book trains to get best deal and book hotels. Hotels can be cancelled but trains rather more tricky.

It happens! In 1980, Roger Johns scored 16+1 at Hyde Rd in the KOC, and beat PC three times. He rode there in the BL a few weeks later, and scored 3...

They should hold it at Peterborough whilst it's still there.

For all u Pirates out there..... C'MON THE PIRATES BRING IT ON

Not sure that`s a great suggestion when they couldn`t ( or Wouldn`t) field a full team in the final of the major team competition of the season.

The British Final as a BSPL / SCB Event should standalone as a ring-fenced National Championsip of the highest importance like it used to be. Ditto the Premier / Championship / NDL titles. The "wild card" has almost become more important and dfelected the pride and importance of being British Champion. SGP is a totally different entity and should remain so. Team GB is an independent entity and has thrived as such at Full and Youth Level although BSPL have interfered negatively with possible GB Fixtures on more than one occasion and caused cancellations. May be it sould be left to Team GB who participate in Events under the SGP and Global banner to pick the "wild card" based on best interests of Team GB and International Riders.

IMO he will do one more season in the Champ league before calling it a day ,seems to have hit the deck a few times this season and that always focuses the mind when entering the autumn of your career .

I agree it should be about being British Champion. Maybe, there should be an Open meeting to select the Wildcard. This could be for riders riding in the Premiership/Championship (Non GP riders only). Any Nationality could enter but must be riding in the UK. Winner goes to Cardiff. A bit of an incentive to ride over here. I suppose it would have to be a British rider if we had no riders in the GP?

He didn't go to reserve last season

Whilst I don't think the decision to give the WC to Adam was the wrong one in the light of the meeting being abandoned and, presumably, due to be rescheduled, I do agree that they could have called the qualifiers after heat 12 and gone straight into either a 3 or 4 man final to decide the title. I think they had time for that.

Bomber was British champion few years ago..shall we chuck him in next year?!...Ellis doesn't deserve to have it..he has been poor this year...it should be Brennan or Bomber on merit and it was shaping up like this on Monday to prove it.

Well funny you should mention that and I have also been monitoring the HMRC website and not just for this one but for a client we done work for who were on the brink and owed our company money... we couldn't understand what had gone on because very similar to the Diamonds scenario this company went through non payment of VAT... Went pop then were miraculously brought back into being with the same directors and a slightly different company name... and to cut a very long story short the two directors in this case done a deal with HMRC to pay about 90k each off a 286k VAT underpayment... they got a 106k rebate off a bill by stumping up 180k between them... doesn't help us we got hit for 19k once we claimed back the VAT as bad debt... however and to come back to what we might be missing "has a deal been done" because it is the only way you would get away without being prosecuted... and you would never be able to find out unless someone was to freely offer the information... Regards THJ

Just as a matter of interest and perhaps posting as one of the "expert accountants out their (?).....", not that I profess to be an expert by any means, I do wish to make several observations of my own to add some degree of balance to the dialogue particularly as I make no apology for questioning some of the claims and accusations which were being levelled at George English in previous threads and posts on this forum. Firstly, and just to remind myself if nothing else, it should be noted that the Liquidators final account for Newspeed 2003 Limited was made up to 1 July 2021 and that company was actually struck off from the company register on 7 December 2021. There is no mention whatsoever in the final account of any monies being received from a GoFundMe source even though this apparently started producing donations in June 2021 according to Steve Park. One presumes that these funds were received by Newcastle Diamonds Limited, although that is entirely conjecture on my part. Secondly, the Liquidator made the following remarks in his final report - "INVESTIGATION INTO THE AFFAIRS OF THE COMPANY I undertook an initial investigation into the Company's affairs to establish whether there were any potential asset recoveries or conduct matters that justified further investigation, taking account of the public interest, potential recoveries, the funds likely to be available to fund an investigation, and the costs involved. Within three months of my appointment as Liquidator, I am required to submit a confidential report to the Secretary of State to include any matters which have come to my attention during the course of my work which may indicate that the conduct of any past or present Director would make them unfit to be concerned with the management of the Company. I would confirm that my report has been submitted." In other words, the Liquidators report was filed on or before 1 July 2021 and the company was dissolved 6 months later without any objection it would seem from any creditors including HMRC for a massive £158K plus VAT debt. So here we are in 2022 and there is still no definitive evidence in the public domain which would support any allegations of wrongdoing against former directors of Newspeed 2003 Limited. There is a list of corporate and personal tax defaulters published by HMGov which is regularly updated. This list includes details up to and including offences committed in 2021 for amounts considerably less than £158K. Nowhere can I see any reference whatsoever to either the company or individuals who were directors of that company. So what am I missing? I hardly think HMRC are sufficiently compassionate to let off an individual who has deliberately and fraudulently underdeclared VAT revenue to the tune of £158K, so what can be the explanation that no one is apparently being held accountable for such a massive loss to the Treasury? All in all it's a really sad state of affairs and I doubt we are ever going to hear the full story from official sources for reasons I know not why.

If Adam Ellis is unable to take his place at Cardiff, will it therefore go to Charles Wright, who finished third behind Ellis and Bewley? Do they have a proviso in place?

What a ridiculous comment, that Ellis is a "scumbag" for accepting the wild card. Is Bewley a "scumbag" for accepting a GB spot ahead of Kolodziej, Smolinski or Lebadevs who scored more in the GP Challenge? Is Celina Liebmann a "scumbag" for accepting a SON2 wild card despite scoring less points than THIRTEEN other non-qualifiers in the qualifying rounds? Is Tom Brennan a "scumbag" for accepting a SON squad position despite having a lower average in both the Prem & Champ than Charles Wright, Richard Lawson, Richie Worrall, Kyle Howarth, Danny King & Steve Worrall?

I'd imagine his Panthers teammate is actually very pleased with the result (heat and overall) but couldn’t and wouldn't say publicly

Why would the British under 21s matter to Poole or Middlo? Now if it was the Austrailian Under 21s you might have a point