Humphrey Appleby

Not really. If there's a technical problem then you can't definitively prove that a person was guilty given no other evidence. Yes, sporting cases are decided on 'balance of probabilities' rather than 'beyond reasonable doubt', but Darcy Ward was clearly not steaming drunk at the GP, and was likely well below what's considered an acceptable limit for driving. That's obviously not a defence if the acceptable limit for riding speedway is zero, but if the testing procedure was faulty or not carried out properly, then it is possible that an erroneous reading was taken. That he publicly admitted to having a few drinks the previously evening doesn't really prove much if there's some doubt over whether he was actually over the limit by the time of the GP. What is ridiculous though, is the amount of time taken to resolve this.

Doesn't necessarily follow. You'd still need to ship everyone and their equipment from Oz to NZ (or vice versa) which would incur costs, and transport costs are not entirely related to distance. Even so, I'd imagine the transport costs were only part of the wider loss made on the NZ GP, and with (local) government support not forthcoming, was simply not viable on the crowds that were apparently declining after the first year anyway. I'd imagine there was no-one else fool enough in NZ to keep losing money.

AFAIK, it depends on the agreement with the rider and/or their federation. What recompense does an employer get when his apprentice qualifies and goes off elsewhere? The fact is that he's got cheap labour for 4 years though. I would agree there should be some sort of pan-European agreement to assist tracks who've nurtured riders, but how far should that go?

Yes, but that's because the sport has declined to such an extent that it can't even hope to pay attractive money, and SGP was partly responsible for that. Plus, people will still stay in and watch the GPs on Saturday nights.

The SGP has robbed Britain of the top riders more than the other leagues. Yes, riders have obviously increasingly given Britain a miss because it's no longer worth their while, but it's no longer worth their while because crowds have fallen because tracks have been forced to race on non-optimal race nights, or not at all in the middle of summer, thanks to the SGP. It has little to do with the number of fixtures. There are not many more Polish and Swedish fixtures than there were in early-90s when those leagues opened up, and similarly there were even more British leagues fixtures at the time. Yet amazingly, top riders not only managed to do all three leagues without complaining, but managed to squeeze in some Danish and Bundesliga matches as well. If the British league was able to pay comparable money to the other leagues again, then you'd be surprised at how much energy the top riders would suddenly find. And that model won't work in Britain. It's maybe possible to rationalise the race nights down to couple of days a week, but 7 home fixtures is not a sustainable for British stadia, and offering inferior products on alternate weeks just means the casual fan will pick-and-choose their fixtures.

Only healthier if their costs are comparable with British speedway. Given what some teams are reputed to pay, even much larger crowds than what we get in Britain are not going to be sufficient to pay the bills, unless substantial sponsorship is forthcoming a well. It been apparent to me for some time though, that speedway around the world can't seem to dig itself out of an association with a specific social strata, and this is a barrier to leveraging big sponsorship and corporate entertainment which is needed to survive in the modern world.

And I also didn't say there shouldn't be a print version. You chose to interpret it that way...

And perhaps you should read things more carefully. Where did I say there shouldn't be a print version of Backtrack - simply that print media has a questionable future and publications need to think about that, especially if it costs more to print and distribute than an online version. The clue is in the sentence "it would be more convenient if an online version could be produced as well." There's no reason why there can't be both a print and online version of Backtrack for the foreseeable future, just as there is with the Spar.

The Polish leagues primarily run on Sundays, and even then not every Sunday, so they really only supplanted the German longtrack scene. Similarly, the liberalisation of the Swedish league came with running on a Tuesday when virtually no top-flight BL tracks ran, so they did not really take days away from the British leagues and certainly not the more lucrative dates. It may be the case that with the Polish and Swedish leagues starting to pay more, riders focused more on their attentions on those leagues, but nearly all the top riders were still riding in the British leagues until 10 years or so ago. Undoubtedly they still would if the pay was comparative with elsewhere, and amazing all the complaints about having to ride too many fixtures would suddenly disappear, along with all the ridiculous sick notes. No-one would disagree that British speedway was already in decline long before the SGP came along, but the SGP was certainly the nail in the coffin. To take-out 12+ (if you include the SWC) prime weekends during the season forced a number of the relatively more successful tracks (e.g. Coventry) to run midweek, which accelerated the decline to terminal proportions. There is some argument that the SGP has raised the profile of the sport higher than it would otherwise might be, and that in turn has leveraged some television and sponsorship money that has keep the sport going. However, most of this has gone directly to IMG, GoSport, the FIM (where it disappears) and the riders, and British speedway has really gained very little in reality. What's been gained probably didn't even cover the decreased crowds from running on midweek days, and that has also contributed towards a general drift away from the sport that has not been recovered. I don't think hit can in any way be claimed that the SGP has encouraged people to the circuits. A counter argument is that league racing could have been just as attractive as the SGP had it been pitched right. I reject the argument about the sport 'never being on television until BSI came along' and certainly with the growth of satellite and cable, I think even a half-competent administration could have built up some sort of relationship. Even my local kart club gets on 'Men & Motors' (even if they probably don't get paid), so I see no reason why league racing couldn't have been pitched as the premier form of the sport.

Except a number of major sports have wage caps, and even manage to catch the cheats sometimes. It'll never work though...

I'd be happy to pay the same price, although I'm sure the online stores take a reasonable percentage of the cover price. One assumes that Backtrack is DTP'ed these days (i.e. not using the old Speedway Mail techniques), so would it really be substantially more effort and expense to churn out a online version? Well I'm not just moving round the corner from Park Lane, but halfway around the world. The point though, is more than things like Backtrack are what I'd read when I'm away from home, and I don't really want to cart around books and magazines when I can take an iPad instead. Yes, I'm sure much of your current readership isn't like me, but frankly if even my mother is moving to reading stuff online, then I don't think the traditional print media has much of a future. BTW - I hardly every pick up the phone to talk to anyone these days, which suits me fine. Far more efficient to do stuff online.

Until riders start using 'standard' engines with selected parts...

Rugby League's immense fortune was Rupert Murdoch (or his executives) looking around for a sport they could buy into relatively cheaply and control. I think it had very little to do with the marketing ability of the Rugby League, and whilst I'd agree that the sport was transformed, it still hasn't really managed to break out from its heartlands in the North of England and NSW/Queensland.

I have virtually no interest in individual racing. It's okay for a bit of variety, but it's utterly one-dimensional and has none of the tactics or intrigues of team racing, even if the concept of team riding has very much diminished in recent times. When I used to watch WC meetings, it was to follow riders from my team rather than having any inherent interest in the individuals.

Try getting a neutral view on a GP postponement from a 'trained journalist'... Well the Daily Mail has, so there's no accounting for taste...

Putting a protruding object on a helmet is potentially dangerous to both the wearer and other competitors, and the fixing creates a weak point in the shell structure. They shouldn't be allowed, and they're certainly banned in four-wheeled motor sport unless they're part of an integrated helmet design. It's pretty astonishing that riders are prepared to compromise on their safety in this manner.

I was siphoning the fuel out of my bike m'lud...

The Storm now play at AAMI (sp?) Park, and previously at Olympic Park, but I think played for some years at what's now the Ethiad and until quite recently still played a number of matches there each season.

Yes, but Copenhagen has also been dropped because of poor crowds. The size of population centres isn't highly relevant for speedway as its strongholds are often in rural or semi-rural areas. If they were, the likes London, Copenhagen and Warsaw would support regular speedway, and the German GPs at Gelsenkirchen and Berlin should have been successful. I don't think Melbourne or Victoria has had much of a solo speedway scene for many years, so the GP is going to be heavily reliant on travelling and casual punters. With the latter category you might get people going out of curiosity once, but whether it's sustainable for the next four years is another matter. The Sydney GP reportedly drew around 20,000 fans (although that was probably exaggerated) some years back, and that was an area with a reasonable active speedway scene at the time. I therefore wouldn't really expect anything more in Melbourne, although it'll be a good effort if they do better than that.

Distances are much bigger for the 'locals' in Australia than in any European country, and even NZ is 3-4 hours away by plane. In addition, whereas the majority of active speedway fans are in Europe and can travel relatively cheaply to several GPs, far fewer will be willing to travel Down Under. Or you could take the interpretation that the stadium owners are desperate for business. For various reasons, the stadium is not popular with either teams or spectators, and has lost both its NRL and A-League tenants in recent years, with some or all of the AFL teams threatening to leave as well.

You must have enjoyed the latest Backtrack then...

Are they his thoughts, or those of his business relationships, as it's often hard to distinguish? Most modern entertainment businesses realise the need to engage with social media for all its faults, and the conversion on the road to Damascus seems remarkable given how 'Internet keyboard bandits' were slated for years through the pages of the Star, despite the fact that many promoters were on the mailing lists and web forums under pseudonyms. Whilst I'd agree that some people do not always interact in a very respectful manner at times, if you take a particular party line (whether for direct or indirect business reasons) that proves to be somewhat economical with the facts, then it's fair game to be called out by the customers. Specific examples would be 'scientifically controlled shale conditions' and the 'Riga GP being cancelled due to heavy rain'. I'd agree that the Speedway Star has probably done well to keep going over the years, and I think it was improved (publication wise) in the initial years of the Rising stewardship. Equally though, there were a number of investors involved, so it wasn't just down to one person. It probably now though, faces the issue (no pun intended) of a ageing readership in an era where the printed media and old-school reporting is on the decline, and I can't see that it can ultimately continue without some sort of change of direction.

Yes, because the stadium is most likely only available in October. However, we may well be being primed for a 'minimal' penalty, 'charges-thrown-out-on-a-technicality' type of thing.

I think there's no obvious alternative if you want an Australian GP on the calendar.

The Star falls between two stools - reporting in a somewhat old-fashioned manner in an era when results and match reports can be found online in real time. It is, and does remain a useful journal of record for the old school reader and future historians, but whether this will be enough to sustain it for future generations remains to be seen. It perhaps has more value in the interviews and 'colour' articles which remain relevant even in a new media world, although one does get the impression that subjects are just asked to tell a story/ramble on without any real probing questioning. I suppose the average rider/team manager isn't the most eloquent, but there are some out there with interesting views and stories to tell, and indeed sometimes it even gets published. What the Star is very poor at though, is any sort of investigative or even questioning journalism. Whilst I can understand that speedway is a small world and it can't afford to fall out with too many of the 'powers-that-be' (such as they are), I do think some of the coverage of various fiascos has been akin to Soviet-style journalism. I think it's only the tractor production figures and the recipients of the Order of Travel Plus that are missing...