4thbender

Thanks for eight great years. There'll always be a special place for you in the annals of Sheffield speedway history, and a welcome for you on every future visit. Best wishes.

The important thing about building a team for next season is that we sign riders that are happy above all else to give everything for Sheffield. It appears to me that Jack prioritizes his own agenda. Six points in the home semi-final (when we all know he's well capable of double figures, even on a bad day) causes eyebrows to be raised. There was something about certain riders' performances in that Owlerton semi-final that made me feel uncomfortable in a way I've never felt uncomfortable before. It left me feeling that changes might be called for.

Woofy said in Thursday's programme that he's hoping to stay with Sheffield next year. Following the semi-final debacle, I think Jack may be the sacrificial lamb. Woofy, Bomber and the elder Holder sounds like a good heat-leader combo to me. We must keep Picko and Kyle at all costs, with (maybe) Jye Etheridge at no. 6. How do those averages add up?

You're quite correct. Having checked my facts it was at Cradley, not Wimbledon. And it was a handgun, not a shotgun. However, a rider going about with a gun in his toolbox has the potential to create the most dangerous scenario to ever happen at a sporting venue. He should have been banned from every track.... but he wasn't!

Sheffield Council overspent by £15.6 million in 2023/4!

The advent of air fences causes dirt to pile up around the foot of the air fence. Track staff do their best to shovel it back between races, but Sheffield is a huge 400-yard track and referees are under pressure to keep the meeting moving on at pace. What can be achieved between races is therefore limited. However, no-one wants to see riders injured (and we're all delighted that Ben is none the worse for his incident) but perhaps the speedway authorities might look at technical options for re-distributing the gathered dirt.

Well I'm saying it! Both Holder brothers scored their lowest home points total of the season. Was this coincidence or was it contrived? For one of them to be a bit off-colour would be understandable (if a bit unusual). But both? I smell a rat.

Yes, I believe a proposal was put forward a few years ago to take a few feet off the inside verge but the proposal was turned down by the stadium's owners.

The Sheffield track has remained the same since 1929. Unfortunately we haven't had the same benefit as the BV fans of having a brand new stadium paid for with taxpayers money. Those on here who lionise the wonderful NSS and criticise the "lesser" stadia like Sheffield should remember that.

Garry Middleton once pulled a shotgun out of his toolbox and threatened to blow someone's head off in the Wimbledon pits.

I've watched speedway for 58 years; I've watched great riders and riders who were not so good. I've seen them come and I've seen them go. But I've never seen a talent like I saw on Thursday night in the Cubs v Colts match at Owlerton. William Cairns is 15 - he must be still at school. But on a track he'd probably never seen before he scored 18 points and was pretty much untouchable. The lad has a prodigious talent and it is without question he will race at GP level before his contemporaries have got their boots on. I will watch his progress with great interest. Mark my words: he is a champion in the making.

Nah... he's Big Ears.

Looking forward to giving Noddy a warm welcome back after winning his first GP on Sunday in Croatia.

Nah mate, they didn't. They were fourth.

Sorry to upset the applecart, but as a dyed-in-the-wool Tigers supporter for 58 years, it gives me no pleasure whatever to see "my team" racing in the semi-finals with only ONE rider who actually started the campaign in Sheffield colours. I do not recognise this team as MY team and, even if it should reach the final and emerge victorious, I cannot perceive any circumstances in which I could rejoice in a faux-Sheffield team as Premiership Champions. Added to which, the "final" itself (assuming faux-Sheffield reach that stage) will be a race-off between the teams that finished third and fourth in the league of seven, making it more a 'mid-table joust' than a contest of champions!