Leaderboard

Would that be Ryanair Replacement

Who knows what the ref was doing. Not a lot of atmosphere as far as fans are concerned and those that ride on Poland must wonder why they bother with the UK when you look at the sparse attendance when compared to the Polish scene. If only a UK broadcaster would show Polish league matches, it might encourage more u k onlookers to go to a league match in this country which might help build numbers through the turnstiles

I did say he'd be back for our next home fixture in July!

Not quite. If it is your van then you are responsible and in control so not out of your control would not count.

I do wish people would word things correctly, Doyle did not miss his flight, he was sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off when all the passengers had to disembark due to a technical fault.

Looking to go at least a point better than their last visit the Pirates will arrive at Sandy Lane full of confidence as they remain unbeaten in the league. Sadly Tobias will miss this meeting due to an ankle injury but the good news is he will be back sooner with the injury now being diagnosed as a sprain. Joe Thompson takes his place. Oxford also have a guest in Jacob Hook but the rest of the team lines up as usual with big hitters Sam Masters & Scott Nicholls leading the way. Ashton Boughen has been in better form of late but Pirates have newly crowned British Under 21 Champion Sam Hagon aiming to put his track knowledge to good use to get the better of his opposite number. C'mon the Boyzzzz

Second time tonight! Is Wojdylo still the rising star?

Spot the crowd, hope this isn't a normal attendance, or we will have another team folding.

Normally in legal documents/rules there's a force majeure clause, I would have thought both Doyle and Tungate should have been covered by this, why a flight delay in a foreign country trumps a traffic delay in a foreign country I'm not quite sure. Neither should have been banned imo... or both (definitely neither)

Boughen went over the line and should have been disqualified. Tv is there. Why didn’t the ref view footage?

This is absolutely bonkers. Doyle would also have made it back in time for his UK meeting if he wasn’t told to get off the plane he was sitting on!! Lidsey’s plane took off, Doyle’s didn’t. They both fly back to different airports also. As for “Doyle’s fault for running a schedule that leaves no margin for such eventualities” have a day off ffs. He has his schedule and his timetable set up that perfectly suits him to get everywhere he needs to be bang on time. You don’t inconvenience yourself by planning to land in Manchester and then spend hours travelling down the motorway to his base in Norfolk on the remote 0.0001% chance there’s a technical issue with your scheduled flight and told to get off the plane!! The facts here, are that the SCB investigated both Doyle and Tungate, and were happy with their findings on one rider, and less so on the other and issued a ban. That’s the top and bottom of it.

I very much doubt many riders own the van outright. Most likely on a business lease (if they've got any financial sense) and therefore they are not the owners of the van. Said van would most likely be driven by somebody else as well. The rider is merely a passenger travelling with their luggage. A big can of worms has been opened.

Nope, he isn't. That for me is still Hans Nielsen, given his record over all meetings (not just individual World Champs).

Rickardsson also won the majority of his titles when you only had 6 rounds and 1 bad GP would kill your chances. Jason Crump had five podium finishes out of 6 in 2001, but a poor Berlin GP cost him the title.

Before the heat Monarchs would've preferred a 5-1 & as in the first 12 heats would tell their riders to go for a 5-1. They then could have added, if you're losing a 2-4, we'd actually be better off losing a 1-5. Not saying I agree with that idea, a manager telling a rider to lose a place? But if it helps the team, tough call to make!

Hearing Eddie Kennett has signed a 28 day deal. Poole got his average reduced by 75%, as he's only done 1 lap in 3 years

I think you are correct about the source of the pungent smell. However, I don't recall Branston ever being manufactured in Hackney. In my time in London, it was manufactured in Bermondsey near where my Mum was born and brought up. Branston was made by Crosse & Blackwell. I don't think they were ever responsible for Bovril.

I've heard they've already signed Bradley Wilson-Dean for next season.

Discovery coverage is awful BSN wins hands down for coverage, content etc

Not sure he understands how to ride as a team.

It is a question of convincing a broadcaster and when you look at the channels available and some of the dross shown, those who watch the Polish scene know how good it can be from a spectacular and those in charge over here need to ignore the UK option and need to look further afield

Live Polish Extraliga on TV over here !! Absolutely brilliant idea , sell out crowds some fantastic stadiums , 1st class presentation & professionally run ! We could learn a lot what's not to like ?

i think there should be proper curbs on the inside line at all tracks,

If that’s the case he can only have decided there were extenuating circumstances, because otherwise you have to exclude him, surely?

Great to see the Rising Star win...

Just eat it!

To throw another cat in lidsey in the same polish meeting managed to get to the Uk in time and participate in the meeting

To throw another cat in ...... maybe it was the Airlines fault in not making sure they always have a spare plane available to cover unexpected technical faults!! (ha ha)

That caught my attention too Badge. So nothing imminent, but MAYBE they have an agreement with someone to come in from the start of July..

Just to "throw the cat amongst the pigeons"................ maybe it was Doyles fault for running a schedule that leaves no margin for such eventualities??? (and just because "everyone else does it" doesn't make it right)!

Nailed by Fajfer yesterday in Gorzow so now has 3 ribs fractured which is quite ironic with Oskar being the wildcard for the GP.

He will not be racing many more World Champions in the next few years the way he is riding.

It would be a curious thing to do to tell your 1 and 5 to lose a 5-1 in heat 13 when they had generally been dominating their opposite numbers up to that point. Surely you would be encouraging them to do the opposite and secure a 5-1 for their team?

When fajfer makes that move there is a huge gap, it’s a split second decision, he makes it and then lebedevs cuts across to inside as he is entitled to do and fajfer as much as he try’s to slow his bike can’t and hits him, 100% fajfer fault but no way a card offence

Well, let's say that if a rule existed that purposely weakened one of the teams in meeting I had planned to pay to attend (due to no fault whatsoever of the team concerned) then I would not be parting with my money and wouldn't attend. We may put up with a lot of weird rules, but a rule which intentionally 'robbed' me of seeing two full strength sides would be a rule too far for me to pay to attend such a meeting every single time.

Has there been another era when there have been so few world champions competing? Past, present and future? Obviously Zmarzlik's achievements will be judged in the future, when he's retired along with the current crop. But Rickardsson competed against more world champions: Jan O Pedersen, Per Jonsson, Hans Nielsen, Sam Ermolenko, Greg Hancock, Billy Hamill, Mark Loram, Tomasz Gollob, Gary Havelock, Jason Crump, Nicki Pedersen = 11 champions, 21 world titles 6 wins, 3 2nd's (to Jan O, Crump & Nielsen), 2 3rd's (to Loram, Hamill, Crump & Pedersen), 2 4th's (to Hamill, Nielsen, Gollob & Hancock): 18 World Champions Trick rode in 8 home GP's and won 2 in his 6 title wins. GP win ratio 23.81% Zmarzlik: Greg Hancock, Tai Woffinden, Chris Holder, Jason Doyle, Nicki Pedersen, Artem Laguta = 6 champions, 13 world titles 4 wins, 2 2nd's (to Woffy & Laguta), 1 3rd (to Hancock & Woffy): 8 World Champions Bartek rode in 16 home GP's and won 7 in his 4 title wins GP win ratio 26.37% A higher proportion of GP's have been held in Zmarzlik's home land in the modern era (and I don't care what you say, that is an advantage), with 2020's championship almost exclusively being held in Poland. Add in the ban applied to his 2 closest rivals as good as he undoubtedly is, he ain't no GoaT (yet). Somebody else might want to look at Ivan Mauger's record

Nowt new wi' these idiots, eh?

People are saying should have been red ! Pretty reckless bit of riding.3 cracked ribs for Lebedevs.

I am 99% sure the “ pungent odour “, ( if I can express it that way) came from the Boake-Roberts Abrac Chemical works in Carpenters Road . We used to cycle up from Stratford along Carpenters Road to the Stadium, getting lungfuls of the vile pong as we urged our bikes up the incline. My goodness it was vile, and it was exactly the same smell , albeit in milder form drifting across the stadium when the wind was in a certain direction. Apparently it was well known in the area ( the smell that is ) when my dad was a boy growing up in Bow. As for the Bovril connection, I had an uncle and aunt living in Hackney and I understood the factory manufactured Branston Pickle ( Branston and Bovril were the same company so may have both been made both there) . Anyway the place did pen-and -ink quite a bit but not as bad as Abracs in Carpenters Road. Uncle Fred and Auntie Flo were always coming out with tales about dead mice and things being found in the pickles so with that inside knowledge I’ve always avoided the stuff ! Them was the days in the East End. A great place to grow up in those, days. Wouldn’t change it for the world but wouldn’t want to live there now !

Being from the area and therefore having a number of books on Hackney, I thought I would delve into this Bovril controversy a bit more. It would appear that Bovril was at one time manufactured in a factory in nearby Shoreditch and that when the Olympic Park was being constructed, dozens of old Bovril bottles were found on the site and it is thought that there must be literally thousands of old Bovril bottles buried in Hackney Wick on the site of the old refuse tip there. Maybe the smell was still coming up out of the ground!

Will Jan Kvech be nicknamed Weird Al?

I’m not sure he will be concerned by your assessment.

July 25 is away at Lynn, so there is every chance that will get called off for one reason or another...

If you watch after every race holder wins or loses he never acknowledges his opponents. Look at his other races last night - vaculik is beaten and tries to congratulate him and he ignores it and rides off

People dismissing Zmarzlik really don’t have any idea He is the best around and he does have opposition he is just better Back in the days of the ones off world final you only had a few riders capable of winning it if the Gp series was around in the 80’s Nielsen would have won far more as over a series he was far more consistent then Erik would have been The GP series suits Zmarzlik he is the best out there and will always make semis and finals …. Back in the 80’s Nielsen would have done the same and won many titles ….. how many world titles would Zmarzlik have had if it was a one off final …. One maybe two??? He is the best in the world ….not by miles by the best ….. if there was a one off world final we could have had Laguta , Jack Holder , Lindgren , Vaculik and even Madsen as one off champions Zmarzlik is the best but the GP system shows that even more so for him

You do like his protective boot don't you? Perhaps he'll sign it and give it to you if he ever comes back

Surely the fans that still go have the sport they want..? Cannot blame the promoters putting "any old speedway" out, when those, who by their very attendance, collude with them that it means something...

Yoda is he, surely you mean

Jason Garrity?

You left the heat times out