salty

You "heard" Pedersen took him out. Then advise people to "watch" the semi a bit closer! Quality.

Bryn is support of officials - shock, horror!

If you watch the 3rd re-run of Heat 12 you will see that Madsen was rolling at the start. Certainly moving a lot more than Artur was the second time. As Grachan says PK rolled from gate 4 in the next heat as well. It is the lack of consistency that is poor. You can also say the same about the decisions in Heat 3.

Good start to the season, plenty of overtaking and certainly better than any of last years GP's. Slightly spoilt by the massive imbalance in the gates - total points from 1 & 2 = 91, from 3 & 4 = 47. Only one win from 3 and just two from 4.

My Team is... 1. J. Crump £50,000 6. N. Pedersen © £45,000 7. R. Holta £35,000 12. C. Holder £35,000 15. T. Woffinden £25,000 Ta

If you look at the form from the last few GP's of last season then Holta is a stand-out bet. Over the last 4 events he outscored everyone bar Emil (who beat him by 1 point), so at odds of 35/1 he appears massively over-priced. However, Rune is a notoriously slow starter of a GP season and never seems to hit his straps until the second half of the season. My e/w shillings will be on Holder.

From memory the lyric goes something like "the last night of the fair and the grease in the hair of the speedway operator". Suggests Morrissey is talking about a traditional travelling fair rather than the permanent feature at Belle Vue - just a thought.

Regarding this discussion about when a decade begins, does this mean 1970 was in the sixties?

I for one fully endorse Tony Mac's comments above. It would have been easy for Bruce to have sat on the fence and made bland comments about his feelings for Kenny, but to his credit he has been honest and I think should be praised for that. There was clearly a lot of mutual dislike between the two of them and it would be hypocritical to deny that. Future columns... As a Cradley fan I would obviously like to hear as many stories and anecdotes from Bruce's time at the 'Wood. I also watched Simmo during his time at Plough Lane and would like to hear more about his time there. Simmo covered a lot of his career in his book so I would be interested to hear more about what he thinks about the state of the sport today and what the future holds for domestic Speedway.

Do you want to try and give any reasons for your hatred of Penhall and why the book is such a "disgrace"? Can't see there is enough in it to justify such a reaction...

Have enjoyed reading this thread. Interesting to see so many different views on Kenny, which I suppose reminds us how, when alive, he also inspired such ranges of opinion. I reckon the loss of the title in 1982 was something he never really recovered from, he certainly wasn't so dominant domestically in 1983 as he had been in 1982. Would he have gone on to win a World Individual Title if he'd lived? I doubt it, because the frailties of mind that caused his final actions were already affecting his performance on track. The broken legs in 1984 and 1985 effectively scuppered those hopes and we'll never know if he would have been able to cope with the pressure of being a home favourite at Bradford in 1985. Was he good? He certainly was. I saw the two BLRC victories and he was brilliant on those nights against very strong fields. Perhaps he would have grabbed a title in 1983 at any other track than Norden, but unless my memory fails me he was only one of many riders who had a shout, whereas in 1982 I saw it as between him and Penhall.

You're getting mixed up between the GRA and the Greyhound Board of Great Britain. The GRA are a commercial organisation who run 5 tracks - Belle Vue, Oxford, Wimbledon and the 2 in Birmingham. The Board are in charge of the organisation of the sport. Agree that the GRA have played a major part in the destruction of the sport.

First programme I have for that season is Saturday 28th April against Hackney, with howard riding at number 3. In those days the programme didn't have previous results, only the next few fixtures. According to the Peter Foster book they rode Halifax at Dudley Wood for the first home league match and lost at Monmore the night before they beat Coventry at our place. As you mentioned before they also beat Swindon at home. So that makes the matches he rode at reserve - Home - Halifax, Swindon, Coventry Away - Swindon, Wolves and Coventry Howard crashed in the second half of the Hackney match (having scored 8+2 from 4 in the match) and was out injured from then on for a large chunk of the season.

I always remember in the Cradley programmes of the early 70's in the "Murmurings from the Management" we were never referred to as fans or supporters, but patrons! As in "patrons are reminded to desist from crossing the the greyhound track during the after match tractor ride"

Well you learn something new every day! I'll have to look in my 1973 programmes to see if I was at a match when he rode at reserve. Strange for Cradley to be the beneficiaries of "special dispensation" - we always thought we were on the wrong end of such decisions! Apologies to Andy M for doubting your memory!

To be fair Kelvin rode for a few more years didn't he? Carter was only really operating at the peak of his powers for 3 seasons (1981-83) as his last 2 seasons were ravaged by injury.

Not 100% sure but I always got the impression that the support of Mr Cearns was a key factor in Speedway continuing as long as it did at Plough Lane. When it closed in 1991 I thought that was linked to the fact he had recently stepped down from the board... I stand to be corrected on that point.

Clever use of stats! I would only be interested in run-offs for the Number 1 slot, so I have Hans 0-3, Ivan 1-1, Erik 2-0.

I guess that's a fair point, I'd forgotten that he finished with 3 wins in Amsterdam. Much of the same in Munich I guess, as without the m/f he would probably finished with 14. I think it's fair to say 1986 was the one he wasn't interested in a podium spot. Strange that the Danes would put so much faith in Hans in the run-offs as his record in the World Championship run-offs was poor. Could it be that Hans would have found the A Finals similarly too much pressure????

But as I said before Rob, I feel once Erik knew he wasn't going to be champ then he wouldn't be so driven for the rest of the meeting just to try and get a rostrum spot. 2nd or 3rd meant nothing to him hence the lower points hauls when he wasn't champ. Still reckon if it had been a GP format then you would have seen a more consisitent Erik. Anyone any strong views who would have been Champ in 1983 under the GP format?

Firstly - who cares. Secondly - the "What's my Line" thread started with a question related to Speedway. Not sure about the other two threads you mention, but the "Strictly Come Dancing" nonsense you posted had no place in the Speedway History section.

To me that is the core of the problem when it comes to the performance of the Brits. Rather than them having to finish top 8 or qualify top 3 in the Challenge a Brit knows that 10th would be enough to ensure selection for next year or even worse as long as they maybe have a couple of decent performances at the end of the season. Having this safety net does them no favours. Tai will go into 2010 knowing that the chances are he will also be guaranteed a slot for 2011. Unless he is totally out of his depth (possible, but unlikely imo) or 2 other Brits qualify as of right for the following year (possible, but highly unlikely imo) then Tai will know that he is likely to be back. For years Nicholls - and now Harris - have known that as long as they finish top 10 or 12 and there are no other contenders then they will get a pick in all likelihood. This must affect their attitude to their racing. Compare the way Rune Holta seems to ride his socks off each year to get into the top 8 - the difference being that Rune knows if he doesn't make that cut-off it is unlikely he will get a seeded spot.

That theory could well have a lot going for it. As I pointed out when the Kennett rumour surfaced, if Rune pulled out GB could have ended up with 3 riders in 2010 - which would have been a farce. However, I suspect the powers that be would have pressurised Holta for a fairly quick decision. As you rightly point out now if he does decide to give it up then he would be replaced by Pepe.

Woffinden was actually eliminated in his qualifier, where he only finished as reserve. He then got into the Motala semi through injury, but again failed to progress. I think his seeding for 2010 owes a lot to his improvement throughout the year as well as the impact Emil made in 2009 showing that youngsters could make an impact. Not to mention that he made the wise decision to ride under the British flag.

But you could say that about every rider who didn't qualify by right. Harris failed to qualify via finishing in the top 8 and also failed via the GP Challenge. This is now his 4th nomination as a seeded rider which is becoming a bit comical.