topsoil

His battles last night with Etheridge and Jakobsen certainly didn't look like a rider contemplating retirement. Granted I have only seen him riding at Berwick this season and in shared events (the Fours he was very good, the Pairs poor) but I would still have him down as one of the most entertaining riders in the league, love his visits to Berwick.

That's a shame

Guess you'll never know :-)

Speculating is pointless

Which ones are these?

Without the Cardiff GP it makes no sense to take anything from the Championship to Somerset. Miles away from any Championship club, surely it would be better served somewhere more convenient for Championship fans.

Good meeting on a well prepared track, some really good racing as usual, Schlein and Palm Toft the best riders on the night for me, but it was the right final, two underdogs maybe at the start of the night, but the best pairs on the night. No complaints whatsoever about the racing, track or entertainment. My only gripe is the annual one for this meeting, the lack of toilets and food and drink outlets throughout the venue. Two portaloos, one ice cream van, one burger van, one drinks van and a small table on the third bend, to serve the back straight and third and fourth bend crowd is ridiculous. People scoffed at giving the 4TT to Redcar, but give them their due, there were toilets, food and drink outlets on every bend, no queues and no races missed as a consequence. Somerset know what to expect every year, sadly so do the fans. Still, a good meeting, just part of what is still a great weekend.

Does he belong to you?

In theory yes it is. That would be the ideal scenario. In practice, however, it may prove a bit more difficult to carry out.

The difference is that the promotion now also are working men who have to put in a day's work before they can think about speedway. Peter made his money mainly from renting out property and had a lot more time on his hands.

The track isn't great, that's there for all to see. The entertainment hasn't been close to what it was last season. But my point is that we are having extreme weather conditions this summer, which for the man in the street are excellent, but for those trying to prepare a track must be a nightmare. It's easy for us sitting on the sidelines to complain and say "just do this" but in this heat it will almost be a full time job keeping the track in good condition.

So all that it takes is to find somebody with the spare time to go down every night of the week and spend a few hours soaking the track. Which, bear in mind is 368 metres long, so will take a while. Then you have baking hot temperatures the next again day, so anything you have done will dry out in no time. As for the influence Nick Morris had over track preparation, you can only speculate about that. Only those who carry out the work will know the truth as to what the difference is between last season and this. Whether they are doing anything different, or if it down to the weather this summer. Those of us on the sidelines can only guess.

Just about summed it up there. My own personal take was that he took on too much himself and was stubborn to a fault. I've known Peter for a long time and the stories he tells are very entertaining. I just find it funny how hypocritical a lot of posters can be on here.

Interesting to see Peter Waite being lauded, when back in the day, I bet you could go onto these forum pages and see him getting slated by the fans.

The point I was making was that a poster claimed no work was done on the track from one week to another. That is wrong. As for the reasons why the track has changed from last season, we can all guess.

You obviously don't see them down at the track during the week doing work and also Saturday mornings and afternoons then?

If Workington ride anything like they did in the Championship Shield this will be a tough one

My first visit to Redcar and very impressed with the racing on the track. Plenty of food and drink outlets, plenty of toilets, meant no races missed due to standing in queues (please take note Somerset). Decent prices and not over charged like some venues. Sadly the days are gone where you need to accommodate 4-5,000 fans for a shared event, so no excuses why the likes of Redcar shouldn't host events like this. Dust yes, but unavoidable, given the temperatures. Overall, would say well done Redcar, a lot of other clubs and venues would do well to look and learn.

So you want rid of Spud and Doolan, who would you suggest as replacements?

Northern clubs, with Berwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow in particular, have had problems in the past persuading British riders to sign, as they don't fancy the travelling. This is probably why these clubs also have a history of recruiting, especially from Australia, for young riders to come over and live locally. Berwick currently have Gappmaier, Etheridge, Pijper and Summers who all live locally, cutting down on travel costs. As for struggling to bring on young British riders, all three clubs have teams in the NJL and Berwick currently have Luke Ruddick, Leon Flint and Keiron Douglas, all riders who have came through their after meeting rides, riding in the National League.

Going to take a minor miracle to get that deficit back. Yet another Armadale nightmare. Doesn't matter what the line up is, Berwick seem to have a mental block going there. Will take a hell of a turnaround now.

I have a feeling you will see a very different Edinburgh to the one which got well beaten at Shielfield a couple of weeks ago.

Not exactly sure of the format, but one semi will be over ten heats, the other twelve. The final twelve as well I would imagine.

Looking at his scores, it may have been a season too early for him, but I'm sure he will make it.

It was interesting that his signing came around the same time that a rider revealed in the Speedway Star he was still due money from this club from two years ago. Hopefully Nick Morrid gets all he was promised.