John Leslie

Why don't we do away with the 1-7 numbering and list the riders alphabetically with an index?

Does it have an alphabetical index?

Don't think Simon Stead would be allowed in the Midland Development League at all, either as second string or heat-leader

Thing is, we did experience him trying to ride about 10 years ago, then we experienced him trying to promote. (not to mention trying to diet). So why is this man now trying to take candy from babies in a competition which is supposed to be for lower end youth development riders?

So, everybody's favourite failed ex-promoter Nicky Mallet provides a few racejackets and buys his way into a junior youth development competition for which he is in no way qualified? Smells a bit bent and mickey mouse.

Agree. Bit of a joke having him in a Youth Development GP for young grassroots riders, surely there is a more suitable candidate

Ah...you're only comparing the riders of 2012 against the combined total of 3 decades not 4. That makes much more sense!

What definition of the 70s are we using here? When Ole Olsen was winning his first world title, Erik Gundersen was just leaving primary school. Barry Briggs keeps popping up but he started his British career in 1952 We seem to be comparing 2012 against the pick of riders from 1952 - 1989 and calling it "the 70s"

You mean you'd pay £18 for a book with just 100 small pages and half a dozen words on each page? I might buy a book for about a tenner with 50,000 words if it was a subject of interest. I could buy a pack of playing cards that could be used for poker, bridge, cribbage, whist, and hundreds of other games, and I'd expect to pay £2 or £3 for them. I certainly wouldn't pay £18 for a pack of cards and get all orgasmic about it just because they had a picture of speedway printed on them. I hope the poor sod who started this thread looks sensibly at his costings. If he starts producing thousands of packs of these cards expecting to sell them at an uneconomical price of £18 as people are encouraging him to do, then he could end up losing a lot of money.

Why are you so aggressive? I've read his idea the same as you have. If his information gives me "absolutely no idea" then it's the same information that you're getting orgasmic about when you also have absolutely no idea either. The guy asked for opinions on whether he'd be able to sell his Top Trumps style Speedway cigarette card game to Speedway fans. Being a Speedway fan, I'm quite qualified to give an opinion. And my opinion is that someone would have to be barking mad to buy 100 bits of printed card for £18. But maybe you'd buy it.

Exactly. Not enough people would buy. Maybe there is a small nerd market that would pay £18 for what amounts to nothing more than 100 printed cigarette cards, but it's a very small nerd market. Some speedway folk moan at paying £2 for a 16 page matchday programme. They're not going to pay £18 for 100 cigarette cards. They'd be better uploading the cards to the internet and charging 50p for people to print them off themselves and use.

I still don't get it. Apart from playing cards (like Top Trumps), what else do I get for £18? Is there a board and playing pieces (like monopoly)? Are there model bikes? An interactive DVD? What else is there apart from the cards? If it's just a set of playing cards, I stand my my original comment that I can't see how it can justify a price much above £5

You'll never sell a card game at £18. The nearest comparison to what you are describing is "Top Trumps". These sell at around £4 or £5. I would say £5 is the price you need to be near.

Because that's what it says it costs on the website http://www.insidespeedway.co.uk/index.php/subscribe It also says you can buy a single issue for £3.90 + P&P, but this presumably will be more than £5 altogether or else the subscription wouldn't be worthwhile

That was what I noticed. I think my Speedway Star is just over £100 for 52 issues. This proposed new magazine is £20 for just 4 issues. So for a fifth of the money I'd only getting a thirteenth of the issues. Doesn't seem good value.

Did Stanley Unwin write that press release? This was my favourite bit "in many cases current British Speedway clubs indeed rent out venues on only other than on the evenings of club meetings taking place"

I can't get over the fact that on this forum no teenie girls have posted a load of hysterical drivel because they fancy Ward, think he's "cute" and are upset that he's let them down. ...Oh wait a minute.

Maybe he was just "misquoted" I'm sure it's quite possible that Darcy said "I got caught fleeing from the police on an uninsured motorbike whilst high on pot and drink, and now the court has my passport", but he got misquoted as saying "I spilt some of my ribena on my passport, so i thought I'd better send for a nice new clean one"

Of course it's rubbish. You're claiming the comments that you like are genuine, but the comments that you don't like have been made up. They're not separate items in two separate news reports and sports reports. Both comments are in the same article which will have gone through the same sub-editor and editor. They couldn't include something in quotation marks if it wasn't said, else they would be open to libel action.

Rubbish. Matt Ford's quote is in the exact same article. Matt Ford makes very sensible comments that he doesn't condone Ward's actions, and he thinks he should get professional help before he ruins a good career. Middleditch's comments are those of a prat. He thinks all youngsters get drunk, smoke pot, ride unregistered, uninsured vehicles on the road and flee from the police. He thinks drunk druggies shouldn't be on a speedway track, but it's ok for them to endanger innocent life on the ordinary roads.

Following Darcy Ward's court appearance for fleeing police after being caught riding an uninsured motorcycle whilst drunk and on drugs Middleditch was quoted in the Bournemouth Echo saying "It is what most young people do these days isn't it? He wasn't racing or putting anyone else's life at risk on the track". So Middleditch thinks it's Ok for someone to ride a motorbike whilst drunk and on drugs, and to run from the police. Clearly this statement is not compatible with the job of managing the Team GB National team. No way can the SCB be seen to be condoning an opinion that riding a bike whilst drunk and on drugs is acceptable and "what most young people do". Middleditch's position with the national team is untenable and the SCB must act swiftly to remove him from the position.

To be fair to KKS, He/she/it didn't say it was interesting.

Maybe it's not such a minority. Give me league racing over a GP any day.

And he's already written to the manufacturers complaining that there are no detailed instructions saying where the blow-up valve is.

To be fair it seems to be only one nerd rather than all supporters. As regards football, I've done some research into Panini sticker books and it seems the teams are indeed in alphabetical order..... but shockingly with no index. I'm sure football has at least one comparable nerd who has complained about this. Now looking at last year's randomly ordered Speedway Star season preview, I've run some extensive double blind tests by holding the edges of the pages and flicking through the magazine whilst looking at the team names which are written in huge letters at the top of the page. The largest league is the PL with 13 teams, so to find any particular team at random, you may have to flick through a maximum of 13 leaves. This can actually take up to 1.4 seconds!!! Clearly the Speedway Star wasting up to 1.4 seconds of everyone's time is not acceptable I therefore suggest, nay demand, that the Speedway Star season preview should be arranged in alphabetical order, with a colour coded index at the front, tabbed dividers on every page, and a 24-hour helpline phone number printed on the front cover for anyone having problems.