AFCB Wildcat

My fault with Emil I'm afraid as I picked him for my once a year bet which is ultimately the kiss of death!With Emil to win and an each way on Kildeman who I fancied could shake things up I was feeling quite smug at the semis but as usual it went badly wrong 😒

To be fair, most of the responses have been objective rather than the usual rudeness and ridicule dished out to anyone suggesting an alternative to something that is flawed and clearly isn't working!Personally I love the world cup format and although maybe not practical for the league format for the reasons stated I would like to see it used for the playoffs. Loss of team riding? As said, it's more or less gone and you see more riders hindering their partners than helping them these days. At present most playoff teams are filled with guests due to unavailable riders or decided by who has managed to manipulate a quality second string into a reserve birth as a ringer so to me a 4 team 4 man format would be a much better option which could produce a much better quality field and with the nominated heats certainly make the managers work for their money too. After all we spend a whole season just to eliminate 4 teams so why not shake it up for the finals?

Received ours today too.

I only ordered mine online last week but I've just received an update email to say that they were despatched today so I'll let you know if they arrive.

I would have thought that GTR getting it's first GP win so soon after it's inception was quite a big deal but it seems to have been played down. When was the last time a GP was won by anything other than GM? When Kelvin mentioned it in Saturday's commentary it seemed to be met by an embarrassing silence from Nigel and the subject was dropped. Scott touched on it in the studio but I felt it warranted a bit more praise for such an achievement.

But you've said it means "exactly that" then quoted something it doesn't say I.e. "he can't ride for the rest of the season"If that was the case it would say "ineligible to compete in further rounds for the remainder of the season" What it does say is ineligible for the FIM world championship for the remainder of the season and Bewitcher is absolutely correct in saying that this makes you ineligible to be world champion and that can't be argued. The "remainder of the season" aspect would mean that the punishment ends at the end of the season and he would be legible for next season's competition. If whoever wrote the rule did not mean it this way then it is badly worded but otherwise as far as I'm concerned it's quite clear.

But I suppose you could argue that "remainder of the season" is intended to mean that the ineligibility is only till the end of the current season and they would be eligible for the next season subject to qualification I.e. not a permanent ban from the series.I agree with you're last paragraph. I think it's badly worded and I guess only the person that wrote it knows what they meant regardless of what it literally says.

Agreed that the clutch lever and release mechanism are only used for the start but without the plates to transmit drive to the back wheel you won't be going anywhere.

I think there might be a bit of a problem if you took the clutch plates out! :0

[quote name="PHILIPRISING" post="2869400" timestamp="147740 Hancock has come up with a plausible explanation and one that a court of law might find hard to discount. Only he knows whether or not his bike suffered a mechanical failure. No one can definitively prove one way or another. Guilty beyond all reasonable doubt? Has he come up with a plausible explanation though? The explanations I've seen allegedly from Greg say firstly a lever attached to the handlebars then a lower bracket assembly on the clutch arm coming loose. I don't see how either would cause a slipping clutch which is what he described. The only reason I can see for the clutch slipping would be failure of the friction plates or springs. The problems described could only fail to release the clutch which would not be a hazard while riding and after the race he would only need to pull the kill cord after slowing the bike down or stall the engine so to me it doesn't make sense unless someone can explain otherwise?

I only just seen this thread but yes I noticed it too. When Buczkowski went through the tapes in heat 3 Tungates back wheel was spinning the whole time and he was creeping forward long before either Buczkowski or Cook moved. I was surprised nothing was said at the time with all the replays.

That is correct but ‘Boscombe’ was only retained as a connection to their former name of Boscombe FC when they played in the Bournemouth district league before representing the town at national level. Boscome is a district within the borough of Bournemouth not a town in its own right so Steve is correct in that both AFCB & Poole Speedway represent the whole of the Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch conurbation and the attendances at both venues are a mix of residents of all of these towns and the surrounding smaller rural towns & villages. Back to the topic though, I’ve seen a few threads over the years with posters urging promoters to ‘wake up’ & ‘get out and promote’ without receiving the abuse that RP has on this thread just because she defends Matt Ford so that seems unfair. I have the utmost respect for all promoters as it’s basically a hiding to nothing & without them there would be no Speedway but it has to be said that Matt Ford has raised the bar. He is passionate about Speedway & has taken on Speedway as his full time business & livelihood and how many of his critics would be brave enough to do that when historically Speedway has been run as a hobby or sideline to the promoters main business? He knows what his customers want and is hardnosed in going about achieving it but that’s business. I find it laughable when I see ignorant posts on here suggesting that it’s somehow easier to promote speedway in Poole. You reap what you sow & there are major roundabouts across the conurbation sponsored by Poole Speedway. Go to Bournemouth sea front & there are advertisements on the promenade railings. I was in Poole today and in the main shopping centre there is a unit with a large screen TV in the window showing Speedway action, a bike on display and trophies in the window. All the things I’ve seen posters urging promoters to do over the years on here he has done but then gets ritually slaughtered as the ruination of the Elite league.

Thank you for the explanation and sorry that I took it the wrong way.Obviously the flag has deeper meaning in the States than it does here and the thread was specifically about if Somerset should continue to use it. My concern was that by making an issue of it's racist implications in the UK it might now be adopted by idiots here to cause offence or indeed take offence when all the flag has been is a symbol of country music, the rockabilly culture & the dukes of Hazard type stuff that people here enjoy and should be able to continue to without being made to feel guilty in some way.

I didn't really mean my ignorance of the history of the flag TWK just my ignorance that people were offended by it and I still think that is their problem if they wish to attach a sinister significance to it and take offence where none is intended. My late next door neighbour was a big country western fan who went to line dances and had the flag across the bonnet of his Ford Sierra. There wasn't a racist bone in his body so why should his enjoyment of the flag be spoilt by someones offence. Okay I take Iris's point that it may be wise to know it may case offence to a minority but we can't all spend our lives treading on egg shells because people want to hold on to hitorical grievances and that was my point. Just seems odd to me that you get accused of arguing on a discussion forum just because you have a different view to them. I'm not suggesting other peoples views are less valid than mine, I'm just saying what I think and to be asked if I want to return to the racist attitudes of the 70's because I don't think the flag should cause offence seems a bit rude!

Who needs educating? I'm 51 years old & until recently I had no Idea that the flag was offensive & I suspect that not many people in this country black or white did. Now we all do. So now it gives idiots who want to cause offence something to rally behing & those it's aimed at a reason to be offended. That's my point. Oh well I'll just carry on being blssfully thick and let superior people like you educate people how to cause offence!

Well go on then im intrigued. I tried to treat your post with the contempt it deserved but explain why anything I wrote would lead you to ask that pathetic & insulting question. A bit like Iris who had to suggest that "I don't understand a statement" when in fact I just don't agree! For the record I don't think humanity has evolved. Racist remarks have had to be policed out of the mainstream but thats not to say that the same bigotry doesn't exist anymore because unfortunately it does. Sadly racial hatred & intolerance on all sides is still alive & well for those who wish to persue it but Somersets flag is the least of the problems.

But it's only offensive because people either choose or are told to be offended by it. Can't you understand that? Like I said, most people are happy to get on with life whatever colour they are. If my biggest problem in life was a flag I would be a happy man!

How on earth is telling people to be offended by something that isn't intended to be offensive educational? It's just creating a problem in places where previously it didn't exist. There are always going to be places where racial tension exists unfortunately but why create a problem ? If people aren't offended by something, why tell them they should be?

and that's the problem. We've had to be told that it's offensive or to be offended by it where as previously we didn't know or weren't offended. This is the PC that people complain about. There wasn't a problem and now there is. If people want to hold on to historic vendettas they will always find something to rally behind or be offended by but just let the rest of us get on with life whatever colour or race we are! I

so what conclusions can we draw from this? I

Very sad news. My sincere condolences to her family & friends. RIP Shazzy, I will raise a glass in your memory at Cardiff.

For me the incident was pretty much what we see week in and week out. A rider overtaking on the inside and moving to the fence to block the run on the outside. Hancock seemed to be unsettled and went wide so obviously Pedersen was going to make the move. I don't believe for one minute Pedersen intended to fence Greg he just thought he was clear of him when he moved to the fence. It's fine margins when you're at that speed. I can see why Greg was annoyed and Pedersen was rightly excluded but the reaction was OTT in my opinion. Funny though :-)

I remember many meetings being forced to run to heat 6 in the old days so we didn't get our money back but did the result stand after 6 heats? I can't remember! I certainly don't remember any controversies between teams as to whether to carry on or not but then we didn't have Sky or social media then.

I think you took my post the wrong way TWK as I was in no way implying that you were anti Poole. I have always found your posts reasoned and unbiased . You said that the the view of the incident depended if you were a Poole supporter or not (which incidentally im not) I made my views on the Belle Vue incident clear at the time and as many others have said already if Coventry had been winning by a margin on Monday they would have been prepared to go out in heat 10 and I'm sure Middlo would have done the same as Havvy except he would have been slaughtered to a bigger degree on this forum! I was pointing out that it's a shame that any thread involving Poole cannot be discussed rationally on here without the usual suspects bickering. I myself like to think I can view incidents and make my own judgement, right or wrong without prejudice.

But surely if that were the case every debate involving Poole would just amount to a lot of pointless bickering and blinkered posts driven by blind loyalty or irrational hatred! ............. oh hang on .... :-)