martinmauger

Very sad news indeed, deepest sympathy to the Mauger family. Difficult to know what to say that hasn't been said already, except Ivan Mauger was The Best and is still a Hull Vikings legend. RIP Ivan....

Promoters have right to sign who they want within points limits, and sack them if comes down to it, but the way Batchelor & Holder were treat was well out of order IMO. Was surprised they didn't appeal to SCB, ACU or otherwise contest it in some way. Still, we all move on, water under the bridge and all that, hope both riders concerned, and every other rider, have good a safe season....

Thanks, that woud be cool. And Redcar (formally Middlesbrough) returned too and Northside & Duns, + all of the above show it can still be done. Just....

This is what I alluded to re: new Belle Vue stadium that raising funds was 'almost' the easy part. I could literally write a book concerning the efforts required in order to build a speedway track, were I not sworn to secrecy . To get a flavour of what is invovled, I challenge anyone to find an area of land, or even an existing stadium for that matter, away from housing & known to be empty and unused for years, then enquire of the local authority about the possibility of a running speedway on said land. Then let the fun begin. So much time, effort, travelling, phone calls + some money, though not a lot initially, will be spent and potenially much blood, sweat and tears expended just to discover either someone owns the land and (frustratingly) refuses to sell or even lease, or that no-one actually knows who the owner is . One will wonder why one is bothering, apart from the desire to build a speedway track and possibly resurrect one's team. I won't say it will be a waste of time as anyone attempting the above will learn a heck of a lot, and you never know it, maybe, may just pay off....

Bit of politics. It was once explained to me that changing anything government or politics related is a bit like driving an huge ocean liner: you turn the rudder in order to adjust the course or adjust the engines to speed up / slow down but in both instances it takes quite a while before anything noticable happens. In other words: time will tell, as always....

Thanx. I have an uncle who enjoys 'the real stuff'....

With almost every track taking some kind of financial 'hit' over the weekend, you gotta feel for promoters. Well, a bit....

At the risk of appearing somewhat dense, though ball games aren't my bag at all, briefly how does 20./20 cricket differ from the 'regular' version of so many overs?...

How good was the racing at the Shay.? Mostly it was good. But also kinda irrelevant - it was worth going just to watch riders sweep up and down that banking. Being (slightly) serious though I loved my Saturday trips to Halifax, and Bradford after the Shay closed to speedway, a relatively near trip on the supporter's club coach meaning I didn't arrive back home too late to annoy / worry my parents, one of many venues which gave enjoyment & pleasure to 1,000's now sadly missed....

Reading headline I thought maybe speedway was featured in 'the' Big Issue that is sold on the streets, peeps might be surprsied at the subjects which get covered. But my bumper 'Star arrived ok and on time, excellent issue as always, will take the usual week to get through, so far I've loved Davey Watt's Premiership preview, Adam Roynon on the Champs League, 'judge' Drury's take on the NL & Crumpie's thoughts on the GPs & competitors therein. Good stuff....

'The Hull version' wasn't that tall....

Adding another 2P worth: ahead of the new season, and excellent 'Star preview, so far there are 3 teams (no names mentioned) whose suits don't match for all 7 riders. Just sayin'.....

True but take it from me raising the of funds to pay for such a facility is 'almost' the easy bit, in many areas just creating a 'track in a field in the middle of nowhere's ville' set up is impossible. Morton & Gordon (forgot his name before) did so flippin' well, only the very last part under their stewardship, the opening meet & leading up to it, went a bit pear-shaped....

Agree Glasgow & IOW turned their club around big-style and what Morton & Co achieved at Belle Vue in getting that marvelous stadium & track built is nothing short of fantastic....

Personally, I don't see that Matt Ford or Poole do a lot wrong. In many ways Ford reminds me of the late Ian Thomas as both tend(ed) to upset people (but not worry about it) due to: pushing rules (which are the same for everyone) to the limit, signing the best riders available to them and wishing to do the very best they can in order to promote their club(s) and make them successful....

2004 actually, good year that with a well-solid team. But please no-one never, ever mention 'Hull Vikings' + '2005' in the same sentance again as that was when we closed with 2 matches remaining at Craven Park . Back on topic; hope it's a good season for the Diamonds and everyone in speedway for that matter ....

Let there be drums, there was drums. Let there be guitar, there was guitar Let there be rock . Sorry couldn't resist, courtesy of AC / DC ....

Wasn't being sarcy, just 'joined in' with the humour I thought you intended. I got a stone full in the eye at King's Lynn on my first visit and never liked going to Lynn much after that, this being attempt no.3 to see a meeting there after numerous rain offs. Falling & landing on one's nut isn't funny, I once fell down stairs - 2 stairs up - and knocked myself out for an hour ro so....

The meeting wasn't that bad, surely. Oh, you mean you prob fell or suffered a mishap of some kind . Mentioned to a pal about Plough Lane sadly closing and he reminded me that when enquiring about seats on a possible Hull supporters club coach for Dons v Vikings, also in 1980, the ticket seller wryly replied "the team don't even go to Wimbledon (referring to 1979 - yet again), so why would we run a coach trip ?!" . Don't recall if they did run a coach or not that year, if they did I never made for some reason....

Ipswich always look professional, like the pre-season studio photo session = quality team pics....

I hear that. And rugby too, to a lesser extent....

Sadly I never made it to Wimbledon, mind neither did 3 of the Hull team in 1979, but the stadium track looked good from what I saw on TV & DVDs with an interesting start / finish line arrangement. Harping on about oldish events aside, another iconic venue with loads of speedway history is gone....

And kinda baffles me the BSPA can't get the Prem League sponsored. "Your name included in league name description 'Whatever Pramiership League' with 14 riders + (potentially) 2 team managers + (potentially) 4 start girls wearing your logo, front and back on riders' suits / bibs, match programme, fence, centre and pit area advertising possibilities, with live TV coverage (approx) 20 times per season, also logos and name included in televised (potenial) Champs League meetings". Don't seem too bad a package to me...

'I was also there' for The Wilkie 4's, big turn out of fans on a freezing cold & wet day with many top riders riding for the 4 teams: Ivan Mauger, Bruce Penhall, PC, etc, etc which showed the high esteem people had, and still have, for Alan. Ivan won the World Individual Championship & tunned around the fortunes of, and won the league with, every team he rode for. Except Hull. The 3-no shows at Wimbledon + 1 non-arrival at Swindon in 1979 which did for Hull's title challenge were entered into the annulls of speedway history. Though Ivan did win the then World Team Cup with New Zealand in that year. Think the only 'major' (no pun intended) national trophy Hull won during Ivan's time (1978-81) was the Interleague 4TT - and ironcially Ivan didn't ride in the IL 4TT Final at Sheffeild. Many riders, didn't make it back from the postponed for 24 hours World Pairs at Vojens the previous day, though Zenon Plech did, but Ivan wasn't scheduled to ride at Sheffield on that day in any case. ...

And there we have the main criticism of team suits, he same goes equally for matching fork covers, mudguards, wheel spoilers, etc. They look cool & professional when all the same, less so when some don't match up mentioned to above ^^. I'm less than keen on some club logos but that's a slightly different topic. And while still on the subject, I'm convinced not a complete change of team colours is a good idea either....