Tsunami

At last a decent and deserved win for the Gems. Glasgow were a bit understrength at the start, and suffered misfortune with falls and EF especially in the 125/150cc. Good competition from Sheldon Davies in the 500's getting second place in all his three rides, and pushing Josh from the gate in every race. Caydin had two falls, and although not injured, his bike prevented him taking his last ride. Maximums from both Josh and Archie, but the rider that took the eye was the tenacity of Danny Smith having his best meeting of the season. Watched by a decent crowd of Diamonds and Tigers fans, it brought to an end a long drawn out evening.

Sargent seems to be an arse every season. His action could have seriously damaged both Ludde and his bike with his stupid move to block Ludde on the line. Don't even think about people who say the throttle works both ways, as Ludde had seen the gap and in a rush for the line the little Tw*t Sargent closed it after Ludde had already moved for the space. One day Sargent will get his comeupence, here's hoping. Missed Tero, and a hopeless guest who has not shown any Brough form, but I can only assume it had been thought that Tero was going to be riding and Stewart was the only local, available at the last minute. Robbo had a shocker except one ride and the rest just filled in holes behind the top riders that Glasgow had. Summers for Vissing, who is useless and dangerous at Brough, was a very big upgrade. Nice to see the Gems get a heathy win against the Giants 26-8 in the second half.

The main meeting will be followed by a NJL meeting between the Newcastle Gems and the Glasgow Giants. Bring it on.

And travel to every meeting for two riders.

Whether the Swindon track is madness or not, It was included in a plan and passed by their council to provide a leisure sport facility alongside the accompanying housing development. To not build now would be illegal manoeuvring by people with this sort of history. Torquay beware. Belle Vue got through because it fitted in with Manchesters grand master plan for a massive sports complex, and there were people who forgot what business they were in and forgot about normal trading cautions.

Forever the cynic I see. I deal with facts and realistic outcomes unlike you. Do you think Swindon fans are convinced they will have a track next year, given the manoeuvring of GB Stadia. I am sure they would love to be reassured they will have racing next year but not from you I would hope. I see no more 'rich' clubs on your list at the moment.

Yes that's one, and the rest are ? You are assuming Swindon will have a track next year ?

So who is the 'rich' these days. Much more level playing ground now with less 'rich' and a smaller influence on the rest.

But that was the agreement to the decision, and those who missed out, Middlesbrough for one, felt that they could not compete with only a second string as their no 1 ride..

There was some big players who called out the shots by not releasing top riders to the lesser teams to allow them to compete fairly. That situation has gradually changed with a more urgent need to work together, or go under. That wasn't a choice in them in the 90's.

Josh has been here and there trying to get a NL league whilst still trying to earn a living. 3 days and three meetings with the IOW being the middle fixture would suggest he is trying and not struggling. He is in the Stoke 1 -7 but seemed to be used as an alternative pick to O 'Keefe, who now seems to be a Kent rider. Josh gets rides only when he is picked, which is hardly convenient to either him of me(his TM for the Newcastle Gems NJL team).

Was Tony Richardsson not bought for a similar figure as Crumps ?

Especially if there is one big league next year, or the current numbers in the Championship are maintained and have A and B fixtures.

Still a few at Northside track.

...and Ray Harris of Stoke fame.

Bike transponders were going to be mandatory in about 2002 to allow a real meeting to be transmitted in graphic form to the Fair East to faciliate their lucrative betting industry. That was the only reason why a green helmet cover was brought in to allow punters to bet using their TV remotes. The green cover was to allow the idea to proceed with an expected new input of new big money. When it didn't happen, the green helmet cover was dropped as there was no real purpose for it then, much to the ire and amusement of the usual suspects. Perhaps the reason it was not pursued was the risk of tampering or damage/dislodging of the transponder, resulting in void races which was not acceptable to the broadcaster or betting firms involved. Perhaps the same could be said with such a clinical issue as starting which has to be right every time regardless.

Yes, it doesn't matter what era a song is from, as long as it is appropriate and generates excitement. Great old tunes like Wipeout and Blur's Song 2 are played everywhere.

I've known this accident happen many times after the ban was introduced, but the difficulty is that you had to have at least one receipt of having an oil drum taken away by the environment agency. Difficult to stop these sort of accidents.

Did very well. Great final round from the stand-in.

Yes at Newcastle. We opened Newcastle in 1997 and had a local Aluminium smelter, Alcan, on the coast at Newbiggin. We trialled 'furnace bottoms' on a path in Northumberland during the winter and it looked Ok to do the job. The new track and the fence were put in, and the track compacted like shale tracks. A difficulty was found on P % P day, when a hole appeared which caused Andre Compton to fall and he receive a spiral fracture on the leg bone. More work was carried out and during our first opening meeting, the track broke up badly and the riders were not happy, but with intervention from my 'friend' Ian Thomas he helped us to get thought the meeting with the riders agreeing to see the meeting out with a new inside line down to avoid the holes. The problem was that the furnace bottoms doesn't bind like shale. despite any amount of compaction. In fact compaction only toughened up the top surface, but it you spun the rear wheel it went through the toughened surface, and dropped into a new hole created by the spinning. During the following week this material was dug out and scattered around the car park and interior areas to get rid of it whilst the then closed Cleveland Park was opened up and all it's shale transported to Brough by lorries. This was compacted in layers, and meant we are fit enough to open up with our second meeting the following week with massive praise from all the riders at such good track. Later on in 1999, Newport had a similar problem with compaction of their 'oatmeal' looking shale, and Tim Stone had to stop riders warming their tyres on the home straight. The main issue with a material is compaction, and the materials ability to bind under pressure. Old engine oil from 'loss' engine systems, and some later on, helped this sticky problem, but that is now not allowed under the H % S environment rules. The test of any track is to squeeze a handful of shale to see it is sucks together, and hope that the pinky/red shale is dark during a meeting as a change to pink means it is now too dry and needs some water.

Used to be called Vulture Races to decide who was at number 7 in the following meeting. Was outlawed sometime after that, and went back to natural selection process. Seem to remember a similar race was run immediately after the main meeting to secure a ride in the organised second half competition.

In the early 00's KL used to pear 3 types of track. They were in the then Premier League and the track was heavy and grippy with a lot of clay in it, and it was difficult to ride on if you were a lightweight and 'a slider in' type of style. KL later on say for a Friday meeting, all the top surface was removed by Huggy and Buster, and it was piled high off track to make it easier for the CL teams to ride on. At the weekend, some weeks they held Stox meetings and a mixture of tracks was prepared for them. All with the same material, but differently prepared, watered and compacted. Possibly the newer shale isn't as adaptable as the old stuff.

Usually mixing them up I think, to give the engines a bit of cooling time.

Same night as the British Youth Championships at Belle Vue.

It's the 'rich' that keep the sport going. Surely your reply should be in the Political Section.