FTM

Iv,e been reading through post after post for about 2 hrs and I appreciate everyone being upset having travelled and wasted basically a whole day with quite a lot of outlayed costs now I would like to ask will most of you accept the position Mick Horton is in .At the end of last season Coventry Stadium wasn,t being sold and He has only been the promoter of the speedway so this season he puts together a decent team and is allocated the ERC.Mick has never been the Stadium owner it has always been Avtar Sandhu therefore Mick rented the Stadium to run Speedway as far as he new under the same system he has operated ever since he moved in 3 yrs ago.Two weeks before the season began he found out his landlord had moved the Goalposts by removing the Trackman who had been there for a few years and replacing him with an unknown Pole who has reputedly been involved at Bydgoscz.Now we have a massive problem as up until now the previous trackman (who is very experienced) was obviously fully commited to preparing a good track with out any outside interference and don,t forget last year nothing was being suggested that caused any concern reference selling the stadium.This year Sandhu is commited to selling up (although he has promised a 3 yrs cooling down period for Mick to find somewhere else) but He decided to change the track curator setup which he is quite entitled to do.Now getting to the track prep itself IMO the Storm meeting should not have gone ahead so close to the ERC but Mick needs people coming through the turnstiles to make running two teams pay so they did start the meeting. Unfortunately the damage wasn,t done then it was done in November at the last Stock Car meeting most of you speedway fans don,t see the state of the track after, believe me its extremely hard work after a dry meeting to get it back to a safe racetrack for speedway after a wet meeting its a bloody Nightmare .We all know how bad the weather has been all through the winter months and the track still wasn,t right at the end of February .I feel sorry for the new curator but it seems he hadn,t got any knowledge of English track conditions and was thrown in at the very deep end. As far as the BSPA are concerned it doesn,t matter if they have got an advisor there or not if the shale isn,t worked properly over a long period it ain,t going to be Raceable. In my day it would have been Saturday if the weather allowed, and from 6 am Sunday morning as it was sunny most of the day, if it is turned over and mixed with a little dry stuff it comes better and better everytime you move it.IMO MIck has taken a lot of stick which he hasn,t deserved but thats just me ..

Thats that Knackered then

Thought he did very well but he,s useless at Basketball

Sad Sad news R.I.P. Nobby at last you are free of pain now. It was a pleasure to be a workmate and a friend at The home of the Oxford Speedway Team for a couple of years.Condolences to Shirley and the rest of the family someone please let me know when the funeral is thx .

Although some fans won,t( or don,t want to ) accept comments from the Bees promoters reference Friday night the Referee has complete control over the meeting from start to finish. If he doesn,t like any one particular thing if you as a promoter/ team manager/ or in my case trackman(during a meeting at Oxford) don,t rectify it he has carte blanche to refuse the meeting starting at all. IMO I think the fans are to hard on Mick Horton and Blayne as far as the lights and other problems with the Stadium because the Stadium owner has an onsite permanent electrician who is responsible for repairing /replacing lights etc who (although different people have changed througout the years ) has been there ever since I first got on the trackstaff in 1985 .This situation also existed at both Peterborough and Oxford when I was trackman at both operated under the Colin/Mick Horton promotions . Most promoters operate under the renting of premises from another existing organisation who,as far as I can see, are basically not providing adequate stadiums to race in . Hopefully things will improve all round for promoter and fans alike as I appreciate you ,the fans, work hard for your money and obviously like a reward for paying it over the counter and from what I read on here at least Mick and Neil to come on to answer problems whereas a lot of other promoters do not.

Although some fans won,t( or don,t want to ) accept comments from the Bees promoters reference Friday night the Referee has complete control over the meeting from start to finish. If he doesn,t like any one particular thing if you as a promoter/ team manager/ or in my case trackman(during a meeting at Oxford) don,t rectify it he has carte blanche to refuse the meeting starting at all. IMO I think the fans are to hard on Mick Horton and Blayne as far as the lights and other problems with the Stadium because the Stadium owner has an onsite permanent electrician who is responsible for repairing /replacing lights etc who (although different people have changed througout the years ) has been there ever since I first got on the trackstaff in 1985 .This situation also existed at both Peterborough and Oxford when I was trackman at both operated under the Colin/Mick Horton promotions . Most promoters operate under the renting of premises from another existing organisation who,as far as I can see, are basically not providing adequate stadiums to race in . Hopefully things will improve all round for promoter and fans alike as I appreciate you ,the fans, work hard for your money and obviously like a reward for paying it over the counter and from what I read on here at least Mick and Neil to come on to answer problems whereas a lot of other promoters don,t.

Get her a tele to call her own then she can watch sport relief dog games on bbc this week speedway on Sunday and when it comes around again front row seat for Crufts

I don,t think you will ever get a level playing field for either side to agree on. I started going in 1965 when I lived half way between Oxford and Swindon ,my cousin lived closer to Swindon so I used to go to Oxford thurs, and pick her up Sat to go to Swindon. In those days Oxford had Jimmy Gooch,Ron How,Arne Pander,and Colin Goody as their top 4 Swindon had Barry Briggs,Mike Broadbanks,Martin Ashby and Bob Kilby as their top 4 .I could never split the two teams as one better than the other so come local derbies it didn,t matter who won .I think the racing was better teamwise than now as don,t matter who was out in what heat be it star or reserve the better rider always looked after his team mate .IMO speedway took a backward step when laydown engines took over from uprights ,they are much faster but more unpredictable and there are (although air fences have helped ) much more serious injuries in the last decade than there were then.Another major factor in this problem is track materials and track maintenance and I say this being a trackman (retired cos no one wants me ) but not being crabby just putting my honest opinion .

Were you watching the same meeting as the updaters cos in their reports there were far more than 3 passes.But don,t let that stop you from slagging off Leicester,and before you comment on my post no I AM NOT A LEICESTER supporter. Just hoping that at the start of a new season we might have started with a clean slate for all tracks but obviously not.

Have you bothered to read Lewis Bridgers reply on his website or is that beyond your capabilities The fact he contacted Rosco straight away about his situation is IMO much much better than turning up with half prepared equipment and riding like an amateur thus putting us on the back foot from the start.Why not look at both sides before sticking the knife in as deeply as possible

Cant see the people who live outside the stadium allowing the mighty Quo to appear

I dont see how you can say Sandhu is in the firing line I think most of the Bees fans are pretty supportive of him after he took on the Promoters along with Rick Frost a few years ago before getting totally shafted by your promoter and his cronies which as most fans agree was the reason why both of them walked away from our sport.Always has and always will be one of the worst days in Speedway history .He has confirmed with Mick Horton he will be allowed to run for the three seasons before the sale is completed which gives Mick a chance to bring in some much needed cash from what should be I hope some very healthy crowds as unfortunately the bees will not be at Brandon after that unless I win the euro millions for around 30 million then I can outbid the pesky builders and keep the Bees where they belong .I,m an optimist by the way

Hi Gem I thought IT was very funny

Are you always so nasty with any comments to do with Coventry as your last 4 posts have shown I sincerley hope one day all your comments come back to bite you in the A**e and other posters can heap misery on your beloved Poole no one normally likes to see another club and its fans cease to stay open but you seem to revel in other peoples misery

I may be mistaken but we had a conversation among ourselves (office staff and trackstaff,(me and my helpers) in 2008 about the main site of the Stadium and we were told by the council offices, Brandon is definitaly Brownbelt land and as such cannot be redeveloped for anything other than a sporting venue .If I am right there maybe a situation worth looking into by someone with more clout than a poor old truck driver (me) .Fingers and anything else crossed .

Hopefully Rosco will be given a chance to put his mark on the team without most of the fans and critics on here ripping his head off after the first meeting if we dont win. I await with baited breath somebody says something constructive

How long you been watching speedway cos saying Chris has never shown half the ability than Tai is an insult. Tai wouldn,t have been World Champion IMO if Emil had not got injured he was also lucky Hampel got injured taking him out of the equasion and Mr Polish Speedway decided his heart wasn,t in it any more.In the league the last two seasons before Chris left the Bees he was single handly carrying the team and Bham track never really suited his style . Everyone knows at this period of time a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet and I don,t understand why you have to have a pop at him for doing something about getting a package together to allow him to compete If you don,t want to take part thats fine but no need to put the boot in from your high and mighty tower...

Apology accepted I was a bit OTT as well due to the fact my youngest son is Events Cordinator at the Blaze and they usually play most home matches on Sundays and like any sporting club they need regular income to stay competitive. Hope you accept my apology as well

What a naff comment You are not showing much thought for the people who work for the Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team just a case of I,m alright Jack sod anybody else I sincerely hope your put in that position one day

It will be interesting to see if both tracks are willing to publish the actual (Not what they want you to believe) bums on seats figure after both matches to be honest Steve if Chris Holder and Greg ride you will possibly have the bigger gate .Good luck to Havvy I was privileged to be in Poland when he won World Final a great day for British Speedway .Not to keen on the presentation when poor Rick Miller who was carrying a pretty heavy leg injury from a couple of weeks before had to walk the whole way round the track as that was how the riders were presented to the crowd .

you reckon we got young blood good enough to ride against the likes of Poland and Denmark cos we havn,t raced since October last year and there wasn,t anyone apart from Craig Cook good enough then and I don,t see any saviours riding over the crest of a hill to do it this year .But heigh ho anything to have a dig at Bomber

Ditto reading your last few posts its obvious you don,t think Havvy deserves a meeting but unfortunately for you a lot of fans think he does so either write something constructive or if your tired go to bed (yawn)

I don,t think Havvy will be as pleased as everyone is at the moment first meeting clash with his big night

An out and out racer fully commited when asked to ride for his country but once again the powers that be don,t give a toss about anything that gets in their way of making a quick buck. Thoroughly unproffessional decision this meeting should be rearranged to a later date with or without SKY money Once again BSPA are a laughing stock ???

Can you explain what you mean about Greg using British Speedway to suit his purpose Unless I am very much mistaken Matt Ford asked Greg to slot into Poole,s team as Chris Holder was injured for rest of the season .Greg began his career over here a long time ago and he has given a lot of people a lot of pleasure over the years .He is one of the best for mixing with the fans and is always available to sign autographs or pose for photos .How the hell you can call him a mercenary is beyond me. IMO your post wins the crap post of the weekend award