4thbender

Todd Kurtz is in the local press today saying he wants to be back in Sheffield's colours next season. I hope the management take note and don't make the same mistake of signing a load of untested riders - a strategy which has given Sheffield a very long tail this season.

http://www.sheffield-speedway.com/news.php?extend.2791 has some great action pictures of the 23 minutes of racing, but not a single picture of the 2 hours of track grading. The tractor man must be gutted.

Sheffield seems to have had more than its fair share of track maintenance problems this season, but can any team claim to have a more annoying tractor guy than Sheffield? I've just been to watch the Championship Riders Final (or whatever they call it now) and clearly the tractor guy has formed the opinion that we all paid our money at the turnstile in order to watch him do his stuff. The regulation grading after every four heats seems to have been cut down to every two, and the process has become a work of art in itself. He does four laps in an anti-clockwise direction followed by four clockwise and then a little encore with the water bowser. He even managed to hold up the start of heat 14 by abandoning his great big grading-scraping-thingy in the middle of the back straight, which had to be dragged away by four burly track staff. Had the referee not spotted it and halted proceedings it would have been like one of those stop-sticks the police use to deflate the tyres of toe-rag car thieves! Without a doubt the tractor guy added an hour to my grand-daughter's bedtime (she wasn't pleased either because the event finished so late that Norwood Chippy was closed and she had to forego her chip supper). Of the 3 hour duration of the event, 23 minutes was actual racing and 2 hours 37 minutes was tractor demonstrations. We are not amused.

A word about Todd Kurtz... Todd rode most of his career at Owlerton in the no. 2 position, first to Josh G in 2017 and then to Kyle in 2018. His great strength in those years was to turn the no 1's heat wins into a 5 - 1. He scored more bonus points and had fewer last places than any other rider. He showed those qualities again on Sunday: in the races he didn't win he supported his partner (Sedgmen on this occasion) to a 5 - 1 and had no last places. The thing about "second fiddles" is that they never get noticed, but Todd will go down as one of Sheffield's GREAT "second fiddles." I said on this forum in December last year it was a mistake to leave him out of the 2019 team, and so it has proven. No rider has managed to offer regular support to Danny King or Kyle and turn race wins into 5 - 1's. Todd's strengths have been woefully missed and I hope that whoever is in charge for the 2020 season (if Sheffield run again) makes sure that Todd's name is first on the team list. I said last year that Todd is a slow-burner who will have an 8 point average by the time he's 30, and on Sunday's showing he's on target to achieve that.

Thought he was banned?

I'll lay odds that the guest is 18-point maximum man from last week Sam Masters.

Should be well-rested then!

Kurtz rode like a trooper and scored 10 points for Somerset when they visited Owlerton 4 weeks ago and Sedgmen was kingpin in the Birmingham team that demolished us 117- 61 over two legs in the KO Cup in 2010. Sounds like a fair swap for one rider who's struggled all season and another who's back in the States having his shoulder mended.

Kurtz and Sedgeman in, Proctor and Nicol out. Where there's a will there's a way!

Tthought there was some rule that points limit reverted to 40 from June???

Todd Kurtz just became available after being sacked by Somerset. With Broc liable to be absent for the rest of the season, would his average allow him to fill the gap?

The ridiculous Championship fixture policy (which effectively amounts to rationing the sport) has conspired with the weather to ensure that the first three weeks of the kids' summer holidays remain speedway-free. For a sport allegedly aiming to attract more youngsters to the terraces, I would suggest the fixture policy is in need of some revision before next season.

As it happens I have a grandson who was in the training academy of a South Yorkshire football league team and gave it up completely because of the corruption and unfairness that is rife within professional football. He took up American Football and Rugby instead which he regards as "cleaner" sports. I also have a granddaughter and grandson who both play regularly in Sheffield amateur teams. Although I support all three of them whenever I can, I nevertheless wouldn't attend football league matches just to pour money into the pockets of overpaid prima donnas, sponsors and hangers-on. And if you think football violence is a thing of the past you're kidding yourself.

No, it's a football thing. Tribalism is a curse which pervades the footballing fraternity and for decades has erupted into violence on the terraces.

Presumably you've not witnessed the Battle of Bramall Lane whenever Wednesday and United meet in our great city.

One of the great joys of speedway is that you get to meet supporters from every team that visits and, whatever the result, there is no animosity. This puts our beloved sport in a league above football, where fans of different teams have to be segregated to avoid violence. Surely one of the main functions of any sport is that people from different geographies, races and cultures can meet together in mutual respect to enjoy a sporting spectacle. As soon as ignorant tribalism gets in the way of human interaction the whole purpose of sporting endeavour is lost.

Should have kept them both and forgone the King signing. If King had been riding for Redcar on Sunday and Wright for Sheffield we'd have won by 2 points!

Coincidentally, this is exactly the same juncture at which the Tigers' 2018 season went pear-shaped. Having won all our early home matches, from July onward we never won another one. I have a theory that, unlike every other track in the league, Sheffield offers no home advantage whatsoever. As soon as we suffer the odd injury or minor loss of form, away riders can come to Owlerton and score a hatful of points. I'm fearing the worst.

Although I just remembered, I do recall Nigel Boocock riding at Owlerton in the 60's in a world championship qualifier only a week after breaking his collar bone. The referee excluded him after falling off - presumably to save him more pain - but Booey pleaded with the ref to let him back in and I think from memory he won the rerun. But that was in the days when speedway riders were made of sterner stuff.

A broken collar bone is usually about a six-week lay off, which should neatly coincide with the end of our season, so I wouldn't expect to see Broc in Tigers colours again this season.

Aussies... they call us the whinging poms but when things don't go their way (e.g. like certain well-known cricketers who got caught cheating), they cry like babies.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you inexplicably have a 'downer' on Kyle. I made the point last week on another thread and you denied it. But here you go again having a dig at the lad for no reason. What's your beef?

Just enjoying the atmosphere and racing might suit YOU, but judging by the numbers that use the bars and restaurant, there are lots of people that expect a more rounded evening of entertainment, with food, drink and excitement thrown in. Corporate entertainment is what pays the bills for other sports such as football, rugby, cricket, greyhounds, tennis and ice-hockey, etc., and I've thought for years that speedway is missing a trick by not exploiting the full potential of the "prawn sandwich brigade." With the facilities that Owlerton offers, there's no reason why there shouldn't be a "Tigers Enterprise Club" meeting two hours before the start of every home match. Small businesses like nothing better than the chance to meet, greet and network with other business people like themselves. It gives them the chance to build trading relationships and explore marketing collaborations; and if it involves a couple of hours of exciting sport afterwards, so much the better. From the management's perspective, it gives them the chance to widen their business base and attract more sponsorship. Before I retired I used to run a business club that met (of all places!) in a wholesale supermarket and we used to get over 60 business people attending regularly and inviting their mates along. The only thing we offered was a cup o' tea and a sandwich. The supermarket loved us. Having said all that, it wouldn't work on a Sunday - business entrepreneurs like their day of rest!

Some people simply have no class.

Zucchini, potato rosti with feta frittata accompanied with a little rocket salad.