theblueboy

Well, that was a waste of ten minutes...

An excellent summary of the evening's events ER... JG very unlucky to have finished on the losing side. Showed great pace all night and to have beaten Doyle twice, once from the tapes, once from behind shows he is in good form at the moment. Somerset can take heart from their performance and will be an extremely hard side to beat at home given the bad luck they suffered tonight. As a result of this excellent meeting, B fixture has now been pencilled in.

Is that the same Grondal that's scored a 6 and 8 away from home so far this season? I'd take that every day of the week from my reserve away from home.

One swallow blah blah blah..... I can't validate your statement. I can only speak on the numerous visits he has made to the Abbey, where he has made a lot of riders look very good due to his inability to mix it, despite his GP status. I suspect most people, certainly Swindon fans, would say they are more likely to have seen rocking horse sh*t than a Bjerre overtaking manoeuvre. Your not going to persuade me that Polar is anything other than a gating tart and what I witnessed last night was a miracle...😛

A poor night for the Robins but well done BV they deserved the victory. Swindon were the architects of their own downfall. Given that this was always going to be tight, I thought Swindon might win 46-44 47-43, I cannot understand the logic in throwing away gates 1 & 3 in the opening races. In footballing parlance it's like kicking in to the wind. I cannot remember LA choosing 2 & 4 when he had the option. Then, I witnessed the 2nd miracle of my speedway career. The first was Seb Ulamek passing an Eastbourne rider. Yesterday, I witnessed Polar Bjerre pass Doyle like he was stood still. The immense satisfaction at seeing a gating tart overtake a rider is definitely an 'I was there moment'. Finally, Adam Ellis chucking away two points, which summed up his evening nicely. The crowd was decent but in truth, it was a poor meeting and changes need to be made immediately at the first GSA to stand any chance of competing this season.

58 points against the League winners? I'm glad the Private Frazer talk of 'we're doomed' was put to bed in emphatic style. #nolegformetostandonsaysshovlar

As Plainmoor isn't a big site and surrounded by housing on all sides I can't imagine that its the sort of prime real estate that Clark and his boys are looking for. Not a lot happens in Torquay unless Showaddywaddy are in town...

I always wondered what happened to Johnny Ball...

Could be known as Swindon Bobbins this season... Seriously, £17 for this line up? My leisure £ plus petrol may need a rethink. 😞

Well, I have to say, how deeply unimpressed I am with the line up this year. No disrespect to any of the team but it will be 10 years since we raced Coventry in the final and the difference in the quality of the teams we had, would be, in footballing parlance similar to the current like ups of Chelsea and Newport. I accept speedway is in a terminal spin but I have to say the journey from Bristol, every Thursday, is going to be a slog. Rosco should have kept quiet re Doyle until after the AGM and made the offer of a team place conditional on the points limit. With the offer in place, there was no option but to plough on. This could be similar to The Charge of the Light Brigade. I can only hope that, if the new track is built, that there will be as much advantage to the home team as the away team, which may actually help them this season.

Grondal appears to have his own limited company, set up earlier this year, surprisingly based in Swindon... Coincidence?

Agree, but surely Doyle is where is in the world rankings because he is consistent? How many occasions will that happen? There is not much to challenge Doyle on a head to head basis. Given his ability and the current crop of EL riders, he is very unlikely to score 8 or 9 points a meeting from 5 rides. That's not to say it wont happen, but there's more chance of Tottenham winning the Champions League. On the basis that Doyle wins 4 out of 5 every week, both home and away, we won't need too many wins from the other riders to start making a difference. If Doyle scores 13 every week, the worst we are going to get is 23 (if my maths is right) and that's where we get tubbed 5-1 in the remaining 10 and the Swindon rider finishes last in each Doyle heat. So for every point they gain is a point less for the opposition. Let's be fair we are not up against The Coventry team of 2007 and most of the teams that have declared a rider are ok but I am not getting too excited e.g. by Poole's line up. Doyle's achilles heel is his ability to team ride. Several times last year Swindon threw points away because Doyle became impatient with Sedgmen or Wright and cleared off in to the distance. Don't get me wrong, Doyle is THE stand out rider and we have him. he is a selfish rider but that is not meant as a criticism. he wants to win and I get that. If he learns to help the guy at number two and learns to team ride like Leigh Adams covering the inside, whoever is at two, will start to ride to their potential and we can do better than people think. It's up to Doyle to exhibit that side of him and make it happen, which as captain, and top rider that he is, should be part of his armoury anyway.

Agreed. I think he rode in the NL match at the end of season for Coventry. Looked good and was only one of two that troubled Ayres that particular evening.

Speedway, to me, is like a lardy cake. When I were a lad, lardy cake was huge, fresh, full of sugar, fruit and sticky stuff. A treat and a half. I loved it. Now, you get a small piece, dry, tasteless, the odd bit of fruit, no sticky stuff and bloody expensive. Occasionally, you get a bit that reminds you how good it was but it will never be the same...

The fact that most employers have a staff function and partners are included doesn't mean that there is no benefit to you as an employee. Most companies settle via a PAYE Settlement Agreement so it is not reported via a P11d and charged to you via your tax code. Harris is not an employee, so why shouldn't he fork out. No doubt he'd claim as a deduction on his tax return...

Let's not forget the bi-annual tournament involving Davey Watt...

If people want to wallow in self pity, not get themselves an education, sit on their arse and expect the state to fund their lifestyle they don't get any sympathy from me. Plenty of opportunities if people want them but too many people want it gift wrapped. The Queen still brings more kudos to this country then you could ever imagine and if people want to come and see her and spend their monies here because London is a great place then good on her. My family are from a council estate, we all worked hard, all have good jobs, we pay tax/NIC, we didn't have a family holiday, or new clothes, we were below the poverty line but I am not moaning or self-righteous. I get on with it and so does everyone else. Your anti-Roylist anti-capitalist stance is amazing. I bet you own your own home, nice car, have a good job, go on holiday. How much thought do you give to the poor then? Anyway, back to the topic...

The Queen pays income tax and has done so for several years...

Only for self-employed entrepreneurs... So, given that half of Europe, and beyond, helped itself to our housing, our hospitals and welfare system do you think it was right that we carried on allowing these people to do so? Perhaps we should have just allowed the French and the Germans to dictate terms and tell everyone how it was, how it was going to be and we just bend over and take it? Anyway, back to the speedway, for years we, the fans, have moaned about foreigners sitting at reserve on a false average, if that means those inept fools at the BSPA have to finally address the position i.e. think about speedway at all three levels and provide a cohesive and joined up approach then it may be what speedway finally needs. Unfortunately, I think they might just take the Blue Peter attitude....some sticky back plastic and some glue et voila!

Out of interest, at what age did the extra digit start to grow?

The trouble with the rule book is that its a bit like tax legislation. Everyone knows what the intention is, until a promoter tries to get round the rules, even though everyone knows what the position is and should be. They then manipulate the intention of that particular rule. Before you know it, the breaking of rules becomes commonplace and the rule book eventually becomes an irrelevance.

I have no idea why you think pro-footballers are self-employed?

Surely you know paper boys are up early and out delivering... I wonder if he has ripped his blue and white tassels off his bike this morning? I also suspect that the picture of Lindback, which was lovingly put in to his back wheel last week, has been ripped out in disgust. As Starry is a betting man he'll appreciate this... When will Starry return to the BSF? 10/11 Today 5/2 Friday 4/1 Saturday 100-1 To do a Shovlar (I hear Syria is nice this time of year)

chomp...chomp...chomp