brianbuck

It would be interesting to know just how many people living in or around Cardiff actually attend the Grand Prix meetings. This would perhaps give a good pointer as to whether a Cardiff Club would be supported - IF of course, a suitable venue in the City could be found. I spent some time working in Cardiff during my working days, and the people there all said that the old Cardiff track at Penarth Road was a difficult place to get to in the days when not so many people had cars and had to rely on buses, and that they thought this was why it didn't last very long. The Penarth Road track is long gone now, but I did look for it in about 1964 and found what ws left of it which was just a couple of huts without roofs, and a concrete starting area. Pre war, there was a Cardiff track at a place called White City which has also disappeared now, and some of my Cardiff mates did suggest a place called The Maindy Stadium might be a possibility. Glyn Taylor once told me that he had a stadium in mind - but he wouldn't say where! I never managed to get to Carmarthen, which was a bit of a disaster, but I did go once to Neath and saw that the crowd was poor and the facilities non-existent! I'd really like to see tracks at Bristol and Cardiff though.

Heat 15 is more often than not, just a repeat of heat 13, and staging the fifteenth heat with nominated riders, undeniably gives a big advantage to the top heavy teams over those who have more evenly balanced sides. So I'm informed, Promoters in general want meetings to finish with a race between each team's best two riders - so surely the answer would be to scrap heat 15 and then reverse heats 13 and 14 so that the final race still theoretically features the four best riders of the evening, and by doing so, does away with this unfair advantage - and saves promoters' a bit of cash as well?

I tend to agree with this complainant. I think the Speedway Star is gradually concentrating more and more on the Continental scene at the expense of British news. I think it's still a decent read but there are increasing parts of the magazine such as the "Polish Scene" and the Grasstrack news, that I never read.

Yes, the stock car operation was well used and profitable, and the promoters didn't deserve the shabby treatment that they received from the City Council, who forced them into relinquishing their lease and to close down their operation, and then sold the land to Birmingham City in spite of receiving a substantially better offer from elsewhere (my information is that this alternative offer was actually over £30m greater - the the Council rejected the offer as "too low!" I know the site well as I was born and lived within walking distance of it, for the first 27 years of my life. It was formerly the Council rubbish tip and I've seen it described as the most contaminated piece of land in Birmingham, but although it was a desolate place in the early days, it was developed as a quite attractive venue in an extremely run-down part of the City, and I have always believed that speedway could have been successful there. The problem for the Brummies came in that fact that Dan McCormick moved in there far too early and when the place was in the very early stages of being developed. He had no option at the time for the old Greyhound Stadium at Perry Barr was about to be demolished, and there was nowhere else to go, but in hindsight, it would have been far better to have closed down Birmingham Speedway temporarily, and waited three or four year for the Wheels Park's facilities to be installed. If there is a possibility of getting Birmingham City to include speedway in their plans, then the Wheels Park would definitely be a lifeline for us.

Just been announced that the Alan Grahame Memorial Meeting originally scheduled to be staged at Birmingham next Monday 16th September, has now been re-arranged for Monday September 30th at 7.30pm This will be a Four-Team Tournament between Birmingham, Coventry, Cradley Heath and Wolverhampton, with all four teams being comprised of Championship level riders.

Very easy to just say "Sack Phil Morris" after just one miscalculation hasn't met with universal approval, but if this short sighted calamity did happen, then speedway would find it very difficult indeed to find a replacement with anything like the same enthusiasm, work-rate and drive than Phil has shown since taking on the job.

From what I know of Lampart, missing these last two Birmingham fixtures is not something he is doing from choice. Polish riders who race in Britain are ruled by the wishes of their Polish clubs, and have no real option but to do as they are instructed. I like Wiktor as a person and think he has shown considerable promise this season. He enjoys riding in England and is keen to continue with the Brummies, but I do appreciate and agree with the view of those who are not happy with the way Polish riders keep opting out of riding in British matches for whatever reason, and that there is a need for some strong action from the authorities to keep a lid on this.

I think whichever club has our support, it is hard not to sympathise with Ipswich's situation in which the top end of their team has been virtually wiped out through injuries. Come what may, I think they will definitely reach the play-off's but going on from there is going to be difficult for them. Leicester it seems, are the team running into form at the moment and who must be the dark horses for the title. They looked a very sound combination at Perry Barr last Monday if perhaps on the suspect side at reserve, but it wouldn't surprise me if they do pull it off this season.

Another issue is the so-called "first bend bunching" with referees seemingly under a bit of pressure to restart races with the oft expressed view that "supporters want to watch four man races." That's fair enough on the face of it, but supporters don't want to watch repeated re-starts either, and this season especially, I have observed more and more instances of a rider missing the gate and then either gracefully sliding to earth on the first bend or creating a minor collision with another riders (sometimes his team mate!) so I'd suggest that if this is to become a situation which is abused by the riders, the rule-makers need to think very carefully before introducing and kind of "first bend bunching" regulation.

Surprised to read that there have been issues with Sheffield's. I've been there numerous times and have always considered it to be one of the best prepared tracks in the league. Pleased to hear that there was some good racing there last night though. With the gap between the strengths of the two teams, I wasn't expecting anything but a home win so well done Sheffield and good luck in the play-off's! One small point to make though. We all see how both the guest rider and rider-replacement rules can be beneficial to strong teams and detrimental to weak teams, so maybe there would be merit in devising some kind of system which would base the choice of either rule being dependent on the overall average of the opposition? I'm not having a go at Sheffield over this. They complied with the rules as they are entitled to do, and their supporters would have been up in arms if they hadn't. I'm just making the point that a better and more competitive match could have been possible if the teams had been more evenly matched - which is what speedway is all about?

It continues to amaze me how so many people living in places anything up to 100 or so miles from Perry Barr, seem to have such intimate knowledge of all the background information of how Birmingham Speedway is run and of the merits of the members of the promotion, so perhaps a few genuine facts might be useful to them: Senior Birmingham management have keys to Perry Barr Stadium, and access to the site can be obtained at any time - but access to the speedway track is a different matter. The stadium's major greyhound meeting is staged on Saturday nights so no work relative to the speedway operation can be conducted until Sunday mornings, and even then, the tenancy agreement insists that heavy equipment cannot be taken across the dog track until it has been covered, so this time consuming job has to be done first. When the weather has been as dry and hot as has been the case these last few weeks, watering of the speedway track commences on Sundays and continues throughout the day, and then re-commences on Monday mornings. The suggestion that last Monday "that the track was dusty from heat one" made by someone who was not at the meeting, is absolute nonsense. Regrading and re-watering of the track is usually conducted after heats 4, 8 and 12 as is the case at most other tracks. On this last Monday, the first re-grade was delayed due to the first heat being restarted twice, heat three being similarly re-started, and a further delay when a rider was excluded for failing to make the two minutes deadline and some confusion when he wasn't aware that he had been excluded. The situation with Pawlicki's absence has been well documented, and I imagine that pretty well all of us share the same opinion about this, but having now completed 75% of their fixtures, Birmingham are not now able to replace him with a new signing - but I have it on good authority that no Birmingham rider is on any kind of guarantee as seems to be widely imagined, and the clown who keeps flogging the notion that Birmingham should have signed Artem Laguta, must know as we all do, that Laguta is not interested in riding for a British Club. Where the poster who criticises Sam Ermolenko gets his information from, I do not know. Lampart was nominated for his Rider-Replacement ride in heat 3, but after a first bend collision his machine required adjustment and he subsequently failed to make the two minute warning and was excluded. His exclusion does not allow him to take another rider-replacement ride, which is fair enough. This might or might not have cost the Brummies the match, but it can hardly be the fault of the team manager! Birmingham's difficulties in assembling a more competitive team have been well documented since the start of the season, as have been the difficulties in persuading foreign riders to join the club. The signings of Milik and of Pawlicki have not been as successful as was hoped, and Freddie Lindgren, although still a very good rider, is taking a little time to re-adjust to racing on British tracks after his lengthy absence, so in my opinion, the Team Manager continues to have rather limited options in his job, and doesn't deserve the constant criticism he receives. Fair comment and opinions are always welcome on this site, but it seems to me that there are too many posters from distant parts who are making up their own opinions based on heresay or guesswork, and others who just can't seem to wait for their chance to put the boot in against a club and it's enthusiastic management, which is battling for its survival under difficult circumstances not all of which are of their own making.

Most people seem to agree that the referee made the wrong call in heat 15 - but the referee makes the decisions and these decisions have to be final - that's the way it is, and always has to be, and these things do usually even themselves out over a period, so I wouldn't pillory the referee over this one. On the plus side, everyone also seems to agree that this was a cracking meeting and that both sets of riders put everything into making it so - and that's good for speedway. As a long time Birmingham supporter, I'd like to have been there, but I'm pleased to know that those who did go, saw such an enjoyable contest.

Do people who take Speedway Star agree with me that the magazine seems to be concentrating far too much on what is happening in foreign leagues, at the expense of British affairs?

In all fairness, "dangerous riding" is very rare in speedway with the general level of respect that riders show for each other. The two incidents at Birmingham last Monday did (probably) alter the course of the match, but I don't think either of them came under the heading of dangerous. Lampart was distinctly unlucky in that Holder rearing onto his back wheel and looking like running into him, caused him to shut off and lose his lead not only to Holder, but to Jason Edwards as well and gifted Sheffield a 5-1, and Howarth's pass on Leon Flint was a typical Kyle Howarth piece of hard riding. I don't think either Holder or Howarth did anything wrong (although Flint was obviously not happy at being hustled out of his second place), and as a Birmingham supporter, I'm not griping about it - just giving my own thoughts on two incidents which I watched from the centre green from where I probably had a better view than those on the terraces.

Rule 11.2 says: "A rider taken out of a team through injury, cannot be re-introduced in that team within 28 days."

JJ is correct. The track was watered continuously from early morning, and it was only towards the end that there was any dust. Personally, I seriously doubt whether many of the people who post on this site have actually been in attendance at the matches that they comment on. There is a hard core who come what may, will never be satisfied and a good many more who seem to just follow on and and add their own opinions to these comments.

King's Lynn were smart in their selection of their two guests who made them stronger, and ultimately proved their match winners. Fair play to them for doing so - they complied with the rules, and they deserved their win. As a Birmingham supporter, I was disappointed with my team's performance which was well below par. The team just doesn't seem to collectively click and although I agree that it isn't a strong team, it should be doing better than it is.

Very sorry to learn of Klindt's injury and hope it is not as serious as it sounds. It's rotten luck on him and on King's Lynn - the Stars could do with a bit of good luck for a change. Hope we can have a good close contest tomorrow evening though.

Small world, but good to exchange views with a fellow long-time supporter.

It certainly would. My best wishes to those people doing their damnedest to make this happen. I never had the pleasure of visiting Lakeside's stadium, but I first visited Rye House in 1958 when I was 18. It was then the original circuit with the board fence and the black cinder surface, which stuck to your hair and face when it hit you, but I enjoyed the racing there and made several further visits over the years.

Thanks for the detailed info. I don't know the area well, but I just wondered!

Just an enquiry from someone who doesn't know the area where Rye House is situated - would there be any possibility of a ground share with Grays Athletics FC

What would have been wrong with that? Why would the rider reject the chance of increasing his income by accepting a guest booking and the chance to emphasise that a mistake had been made? No one at Birmingham is happy at a situation which was forced on them by the regulations. One rider had to lose his team place, and someone at the club had no choice but to make what must have been a very difficult decision. I am sorry that Zach turned out to be the choice, but the rules don't allow clubs to have more than seven riders, so who would be the bright spark who could suggest an alternative?

Thanks Siggy for the kind words and for being so gracious in defeat. We would all have preferred to have seen an Ipswich team at full strength - I would have anyway! but injuries happen and their impact isn't always fair. Hope you will come again on Monday and that we can enjoy another match like the last one. Ironic that last Monday was Ipswich's first visit to Perry Barr (the current stadium) for 67 years - and now they are here two weeks on the trot! For interest, the Witches scorers 67 years ago were: Cyril Roger 14, Peter Moore 9, Bert Edwards 8, Junior Bainbridge 6, Bob Sharp 3, Danny Dunton 1, Ken Last 0. Result was 55-41 to the Brummies so we have a 100 percent home record over you!!!!! Have a good trip on Monday - look me up for a chat if you get time.