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You never know Norman, I can honestly say at the moment I don't remember, the great thing about Wembley was that everybody seemed to get on with everybody else, it was like a great annual social event. I was a fan of Ove and enjoyed my trips to Norwich, and I nearly peeed myself as a second-halfer at Long Eaton one night when Ove's bike packed up and he borrowed my bike and went and won the race in his usual time and gave me a display of how my bike should be ridden. Needless to say it was never ridden again like that. Sadly some of my memories of fifties and sixties got affected by a fractured skull in '66. Loads of empty patches in my memory. I know there was a lad near us at Wembley who reckoned he was gonna win a fortune on a TV programme. I wonder if he ever did.

Completely agree. Any rider that has a year out of British Speedway should be reassessed before the next new season.Some riders have made massive strides in their career since out of racing. Lambert was a completely different rider in 23, it’s a mockery to bring a rider in on a false average. Lidsey has had 2 seasons of progress in the toughest league in the world yet gets to keep his outdated British average. Bonkers, another false average. Bellego has progressed in the world of speedway yet comes back on his last British average from years ago. Bonkers again and another false average. Woffy coming in for a wolves in 2016 ruffled plenty of feathers because he was a world champion on his low real average and this was one that seemed to stir this whole hornets nest that we have now and the one that seemed to stick in the teeth of Aces fans mostly (but happy to use that now). I think the common factor is that fans don’t like riders coming back and using outdated averages at a gain to other clubs (unless it’s the fans of the club that get the advantage I guess). It seemed that loophole was closed but reopened to suit any club or promoter asking. I think for transparency (not a word the BSPL seem to like) riders missing 12 months from the UK get an annual reassessment based on their Polish and Swedish averages. Surely any rider who rides in the GP should at least be a 9 surely? Minimum 8. I don’t think any fan would begrudge riders being fairly assessed on their current ability, not an outdated one.

You couldn't anyway as Thomas hasn't ridden for you yet. As Lisa says, it was in reference to the suggestion that Dan T might be waiting for another club to fit him in once averages change.

Don't think Bagpuss means us as the talk was about Dan T waiting for a place at another team.

While I've never been a fan of race suits & always preferred race jackets (partly as it's easier to recognise the riders) I must admit the Bears race suits looked really smart!

Hmmm, does the big number on the back not give it away then..

These Wolves fans are feisty

I think Redcar have put a nice subtle touch on their race suits which helps with that issue. Each rider has a different colour just above their elbow to help differentiate the riders. Nothing massive, but a clever idea from whoever designed their race suits!

I think in the main people will stick with what they know, unless other riders were flying on something new. Which didn't happen. From what i gathered, although the engine went a fair bit longer between " servicing" ( a rebuild in effect) their performance dropped off before the service interval was due, add to that they weren't cheap and harder to tune. Someone might pop along who has used one to give us first hand knowledge

You are perfectly 100% correct. Tony also used to race a 500 Triumph twin on grass.

I seem to recall reading that Len Silver objected to Harringay re-opening as it would eat into his crowd at Hackney.

Wasn’t Tony a road tester for Triumph at one stage, along with Road racer Percy Tait ? I might be wrong but I have a feeling they were both involved with developing the Triumph 3 cylinder 750 cc.

...Tony's now based in Reeth apparently. Somewhere I used to visit regularly hoping to bump into him.

No it wasn't. In the past averages were based on every league match in the season. They still should. Rolling averages should be based on the number of league matches in a season. 10 is too few to get a fair average.

Harris won and Gilkes was taken out. I just watched it back again and it’s clear as day! You can easily see Harris won by just pausing the video at the line.

...I have a feeling that Jim also went into partnership with ex-Bee Tony Lomas in the antique business?

Yes, exactly that. Shouldn't happen, but it does. Hence why I prefer Chromecast, because that doesn't care about the device your casting from - the technology works in a different way. But Android tablets are garbage. It's a first world problem, and I have plenty ways to solve it.

75-15 with the pussycats veing lucky to get the 15

The 1963 final was the first one I went to. I was sitting with my friend next to a group of Coventry supporters who we chatted to during the meeting. Perhaps we met in another life, jrs!

Going to go for a very slender 46-44 home win for the Witches, looking at the potential line ups and presuming its Kemp not Rowe at no.7 for Ipswich, i can see the Purple Panthers leading by around 2-4 points by Heat 10 but Witches will turn it around in the last 5 races. Doyle unbeaten, Emil to score around 8/9 from 5 rides

That's outrageous!!!!

Very sad news indeed. Jim used to work with my old man and I think it was summer of 1954/5 that Pop took me to Brandon for the first time and introduced me to Jim and that was the start of my love for the sport. He really was an under rated stalwart for the Bees and spent thirteen years at Brandon. I well remember the trip to Wembley on a BTS coach for the World Final in '63. What mad days out they were, but at least that year we had Jim, Nigel, Ron and PO to shout for . He actually ended up getting me the worst and shortest job I ever had, in the unit next to him and Mick in Bayton Road. I only survived polishing out welds inside stainless steel vats for about an hour. I came out deaf and coated in SS dust. RIP Jim and thanks for introducing me to this mad sport, my thoughts and prayers are with all your family and friends. B

Perhaps maybe he doesn’t want to ride for Poole plain and simple maybe not everyone wants to ride for them even though some on here would find that difficult to believe.

All meaningful matches should be included in riders averages. What's the difference between a K/O Cup and a League Match? True averages would then apply and be the same for all.

Without the uncertainty in 1975 of the Cowley stadiums future existence I'm sure top flight speedway would have probably continued at Oxford. I think Bob Dugard wanted to stage National League racing at Brighton in the late 70's after he'd reopened White City. Only the planners stopped those plans which was a shame cause that was and is still a decent stadium and would surely have attracted viable crowds. Indeed I still think speedway could be a goer at Hove Stadium and would stand more chance of getting bigger crowds than nearby Eastbourne would?

QPR had a couple of spells at White City in the early 30's and one season in the early 60's and I think crowds of under 20,000 in an arena that held over 60,000+ didn't create an atmosphere and no doubt the rent was very steep. Nowadays their Loftus Road home is ageing, only holds just over 18,000 and is hemmed in all four sides so any possible expansion would be limited. QPR are actively seeking to move to a new stadium that could hold 30,000+ which in modern times if they get back into the Premier League they could probably fill. Had White City just down the road still been about then that could have been the solution and no doubt in modern times it would of been renovated and reduced in size so it would likely have been a solution to QPR's relocation plans. Interestingly Messrs Dugard and Dunton the promotors of White City Rebels speedway had originally looked at reopening speedway at Harringay but for some reason decided that White City was the better bet. Looking back now one must wonder if speedway at Harringay may have indeed been the better bet especially since League racing had been staged there successfully a little over 20 years before so many of their regulars would still have been about? Anyway back to Long Eaton, used to enjoy my visits there as the track was fast, there was always a nice atmosphere, the stadium was harp back to bygone times and the track had a loyal hardcore support. When they closed in 1997 part of the planning consent for the redevelopment of the site with houses was that they provided space for a new smaller speedway stadium. The major drawback was the construction cost of the new stadium was £6M I think I saw quoted and the venue was only allowed to stage speedway with no stock cars or greyhound racing allowed. Of course building a stadium costing £6M that only staged speedway maybe up to 30 times a years in front of crowds that would rarely creep over the 1000 mark wasn't ever going to be a viable proposition for a private investor. - A Somerset/ new Workington like set up near Nottingham or Derby could be viable?

If when you’re on the new website, go to the web page options on your phone and you can choose “Add To Home Screen”. If you do that, it turns the page into an app basically and you can then use the site as you would an app.

This is an interesting thread. It is such a shame that we no longer have speedway at the wonderful Buxton track, which is not a huge distance from Long Eaton.

Why are they woke? The actual meaning of woke has nothing to do with it. Woke people are more likely to be anti greyhounds. No planning application has ever been submitted and it’s not far from the site of one of the old Nottingham tracks.