Bryce

Isn't Iversen missing the British season because of the Polish league's rules on the number of teams their riders can ride for around Europe? If so, he won't be available even if he wants to come back to KL.

Despite Zach and Alfie being elsewhere the Hammers never broke sweat tonight. Williamson was excellent for Buxton, bettered only by 18 point maximum man Ben Morley. Other than that a rather forgetable meeting attended by a worryingly low crowd. I think a good crowd and a cracking meeting when Birmingham visit in 2 weeks is badly needed.

Having been lucky enough to have had a few chats with George at Lakeside, I have to say he is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Gentleman George is indeed the perfect nickname for him.

One thing the Diamonds are guaranteed from signing Alfie Bowtell is 100% effort. The young man gives it everything and is very willing to learn from his more experienced team mates. He's also lovely with the fans. I wish him all the best in taking the step up.

Oh my, this is sad news. Fond memories of Ila in his time with Leicester and Cradley in particular. RIP

You need to contact Mark Sexton who is organising it. His email is marksexton@lakesidehammers.com The coach leaves from the nearby Thurrock football club.

Well I have to admit that was the most boring meeting I've seen in a long time. Great that the Hammers looked strong, and especially pleased for Alfie Bowtell who is a real battler. Nice too for Nick Laurence and Connor Locke to bag a few points. Having said that, the opposition were very poor. Excuses were made regarding injuries and mechanical issues for them only tracking one rider in the last heat, but they weren't very convincing. Not a great advert for the sport today.

Wow, that's surprisingly more teams than I imagined; though it's still only a small percentage of all the teams racing overall.

Does anybody know the last time a team rode a whole season with the same 7 riders all year? Must be a while ago I reckon.

I think of the poles who rode over here in the Backtrack period, surely Zenon Plech is the undisputed top dog. A total legend for Hackney fans. Perhaps only Jancarz at Wimbledon could be said to be held in such high regard by British fans.

Indeed. The guy stood next to me was an occasional visitor to Lakeside, and he also said he'd have stayed away had he known about Boxall. Things weren't helped when Plymouth lost Rob Parker without him completing a ride. Effectively the match was over before heat 2 was re run. Thankfully Roynan at least gave our top 4 something to think about and a couple of decent races ensued. Certainly not a match that will live long in the memory though.

A few more who were world class but never quite got it done : Tommy Knudsen, Billy Sanders, Malcolm Simmons, Chris Morton, Jan Andersson

I actually counted the crowd about 15 mins before the start and came up with around 250. It was of course bloody freezing and up against West Ham v Spurs. Good meeting on the track though.

I did actually ask Jason Edwards about team openings and he told me that he's still too young to compete in the NL by their rules. Glad you gave it another go and enjoyed the meeting. It was rather a good one I agree.

In no particular order : Erik Gundersen, Alan Grahame, Bruce Penhall, Alan Emerson, Kelly Moran, Denis Sigalos, Kenny Carter, Tony Rickardsson, Alan Mogridge, Andreas Jonsson.

Regarding Barry Hearn, my son does some coaching work for Leyton Orient and he assures me that every single member of staff off the pitch would have him back tomorrow over the Italian guy that now owns the club. Regarding the concept of a high profile mogul coming in and revamping the sport, I believe it's never going to happen for one simple reason. The people currently running and owning the clubs are not interested in the bigger picture. Most of them seem content to just scrape an existence from season to season. Short of an extremely rich person literally buying them all out, it's a non starter of an idea; and anyone that rich is probably not going to throw that amount of money away to own a dying sport.

RIP mate. I'll miss our chats, as the whole speedway world will miss you.

I know we haven't always agreed on everything, but it's always been respectful disagreement. Fact is, speedway at Lakeside wouldn't be the same without you. Keep fighting and get well soon.

Regarding the Melbourne GP, Greg should have completed the meeting. Should he face a sanction of some sort? Yes. Should he be stripped of his title? No way. That would make a mockery of the entire season. I don't think Tai would want the title handed to him in that way either. Regarding Greg Hancock as a person. I think he is a genuinely nice man. An example. My brother has quite severe autism and his social skills are those of a small child rather than the 57 year old man he is. At the Rico memorial meeting Greg was swamped by fans seeking autographs and pictures. Despite the numbers, he was patiently speaking to everyone. When my brother went up to him he spoke rather excitedly about his memories of Greg when he started out at Cradley. My brother's social difficulties mean he sometimes comes across oddly, and I was concerned he was doing just that to Greg. Greg couldn't have been nicer. He spent a good 5 minutes chatting to my brother and when we left my brother felt 100 feet tall because of the way Greg had spoken with him. Is he perfect? No, but who is? He is a genuine legend of the sport and rightly so.

Most restaurants and fast food chain outlets will only sell one brand or the other, because that's the deal they've signed. By the same principle the Polish League can implement this idea completely legally. It's THEIR terms and conditions for THEIR league. Riders are not forced to sign the contracts, they can refuse and continue to ride in Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Germany etc etc. It will be the rider's choice to not sign or sign the polish contract. What this really comes down to is a test of club power in Poland vs rider power. If enough riders kick up a stink, the polish league may find it's not in their interests to push the idea through.

I must agree. Heat 13 was a fantastic heat of speedway. Doyle looks a class apart at the moment. It seems he has the equipment, the ability and most importantly, the belief to be world champion this year.

Of course we need a good win, but alas it's not in our own hands to finish 4th. If Swindon get just 1 point at either Belle Vue or the Arena we can't catch them. Here's hoping Belle Vue thrash the Robins and we beat them by more than six.

I rather suspect BT have no ulterior motive beyond a much much larger audience on their main channel for the Premier League football than they would ever get for the speedway.

Understood. I didn't know about that rule. I imagine it had the promotors pulling their hair out though after all the delays.

Is this the longest running meeting ever? If not, it surely feels that way.