Chewbacca

To be fair it is the only difference these days.

By lad he was brilliant

Indeed there are houses within 75 metres of the pit gate at Brough Park. Having said that, as far as I'm aware, the promotion have been warned that if they ever close the speedway down, that would be it. They are allowed to race courtesy of being there first. If they shut down and need to reapply they would be turned down on noise grounds.

THE most amazing thing I ever saw at the speedway was Bruce Cribb riding his ice bike on shale. I remember him breaking the lap record at Brough Park by about 12 seconds on a very wet track!!

Reasonably central to the edges of the island? the motorway network?

Doesn't matter when you're 12. It's still funny.

Saw them at Brough Park and can remember giggling all day as Barry Wallace insisted on pronouncing Vaclav as Farts Laff

Surely this is a reward for spending the money to cover the track? It means these meetings can be properly promoted and/or televised safe in the knowledge that they will go ahead on the planned date.

If it saves them from having 'white elephant' stadiums on their hands they just might.

Is there no shale in SA?

I think BSI/IMG should be looking at South Africa for a potential Grand Prix. Apparently all of the football world cup stadiums are struggling to find a use after the competition. This might make them offer an attractive rental. There is a history of speedway in SA unlike some of the countries they are looking at, and the time zone means they can still show it live on tv in Europe.

I was hugely impressed with Bobby Beaton when he was a Diamond. For the first six weeks of his career with us I used to stand there thinking "where on earth is he going now?" as he covered every square inch of the Brough Park track but he was just sussing out out all of the possible lines and he later became capable of passing people on lines that no-one else had ever used around the place. Great rider.

I'm sure they do it to raise their profile and they can then obtain 1. More sponsorship. 2. Larger contracts from the clubs they represent. Didn't Nicki P recently sign a £660 000 2 year contract with his Polish club? That's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Gosforth, just North of Newcastle, is now an ASDA supermarket. Was mainly a dog track but did run speedway for a few years many years ago.

There was a guy called Eddie Ingels who rode one season for Newcastle in 1984. Great attitude and up for anything. Actually got married on the home straight at Brough Park.

He had tassles on his leathers.

Jamie signed for Newcastle as well at one point. I seem to remember he was an exceptional gater but the other 3 and 3/4 laps let him down.

Seen a few posts on the various Cardiff threads about people hating all the American style presentation. I was there with a mate and his 10 year old son who has been to Belle Vue and was distinctly unimpressed with speedway. However, he absolutely loved Saturday night and if we are going to attract a new generation of fans to keep speedway going for another 80 years, then this is who we have to entertain. Kids these days have short attention spans and are used to something happening all the time and they like (shock horror) the loud music and flashing lights/flamethrowers/fireworks. The odd spectacular crash and a bit of pantomime villanry also helps get them hooked. Sorry for the old timers and I sure Romford in 1947 WAS the pinnacle of speedway history but thats what it is, history. We can't go back, and if we tried to, speedway will die when you pick up your flask and folding chair and shuffle off this mortal coil. What we could do with less of were drunken East Europeans who were somewhat intimidating for said 10 year old. I know speedway is bigger than football in Poland but surely they don't have to behave like football fans do they?

I really can't believe that anyone thinks these guys deliberately run into the back of each other, falling off a motorbike at 50mph just to try and gain an advantage. They could be killed by a following rider hitting them! I think NP was in the wrong place at the wrong tome on a number of occasions. Anyway, the whole pantomime villan thing is great. I used to love booing Martin 'Mad Dog' Dixon

If only Barrie Dixon could have ridden any other track the way he blasted around Felton he'd have been a star!! Many happy Sundays spent up their spannering for a mate (who never made it but did ride for the Felton Fliers once or twice). I remember going to Halifax with them. They all very nearly dropped a brick when they saw that place.

There was young Aussie at Newcastle called Kevin McDonald who looked to have a massive future but never rode in the UK again after breaking a thigh. On the subject of Joe Owen I would make the point that it was his crash at Hull early in his career that prevented him achieving what he may have done prior to his career ending smash.

He had the BEST leathers

That was riding with one hand effectively. If he hadn't had that big crash at Hull I'm convinced he would have developed into a 10 point BL man and world championship contender.

In 1976 I was convinced Joe was going to be a world champion. He was invincible around Brough that year. I'm sure his only dropped points were due to 2 engine failures although he did lose one leg of the silver helmet to John Jackson. He had made a great start to his British League career at Hull and was averaging over 8 in his first full season when he had his first big crash. I wasn't there but I understand he went throught the fence and ended up on the terracing, One of his hands had to be literally wired back on. It was certainly a life threatening smash and probably prevented his further progression. He remained a BL heat leader upon his return from injury until he moved back to the NL with Newcastle where he was still an out and out number 1 He was still our best rider when we had a disastarous season in the BL in 84 and moved to Ellesmere Port when Newcastle closed. I was gutted when I heard what had happened at Birmingham. I found it incredibaly ironic that a rider who fell off perhaps twice a season should have his career ended in such a way.