martinmauger

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....

To continue 'Coventry Wulfsport-gate', yeah those 'suits' are what I remember, p'raps not the Wulfsport brand as such, but Moto-X style seperate shirt & pants. Not ideal riding atire for speedway....

I could be wrong on that one maybe Coventry never used Wulfsport stuff, genuinely thought they did, but they defo were used by 'Lynn Oxford (Silver Machine & also Cheetahs at one time) & Wolves. I meant the gear with Wulfsport & sometimes Speedway Star logos: separate shirts & pants, you'll know it when you see it, not the one piece suits with Buildbase, etc on them. Not a Bees fan but their suits have looked good in the past....

To clairify; those lycra suits of 1998 (l think) were like slightly baggy and a bit thicker material that are used for aerobics, dancercise, etc. The idea was to be worn over leathers but were too small and made leathers much too tight. The Wulfsport gear, used at various times by Coventry, King's Lynn (Knights), Oxford (Silver Machine) & Wolves was basically for Moto-X. I.e. a silk / nylon shirt - literally just a sweat shirt - and the Wulfsport pants / jeans were slightly reinforced nylon-like material. This stuff was less than ideal but ok-ish with body armour worn underneath , though I know at least rider who didn't (!), but didn't offer a huge amount of protection in the event of a sliding-off spill. 'Kevlars', that is the 'heavy reinforced' material with sewn-on logos is ok also when worn with body armour, but there is also the thinner material (not sure what it's called) with printed logos which looks not the unlike tracksuits used by football players & athletes to keep warm. Leathers offer the best protection of course but are both hot and heavy to wear, in comparison to the 'heavy' kevlar-type material.. Me ? It'd be leathers + body armour, bit hot 'n' heavy but feeling protected....

I'm 60-40 in favour of team suits, but quite a few didn't match anyway so maybe race bibs is the garment of choice long as the riders' own suits are in the team colours....

Speaking personally, if it weren't so far away I'd swing by the storage facility for my own interest to look at the stadium sections for comparison with the rendered picture graphics ....