brianbuck

Yes. Well done Newcastle Speedway. Typical generosity and thoughtfulness of Geordies. Birmingham made a similar gesture with free hot drinks and cakes at the Perry Barr Press and Practice Day, which was also much appreciated by those of us there.

I saw the Mail as a natural replacement for the old "Speedway World" which was launched in 1937 and continued until about 1961. The World was a newspaper style publication, always well informed and very well filled with highly readable articles and did not waste too much space with pictures. Unfortunately though, its appeal fell away when it established a link with Stock Car Racing which meant that half of it became of very little interest to speedway people. I preferred the Mail before it switched to the magazine format which made it become too similar to Speedway Star. I always thought there was room for both publications but less so when they became more like each other. I was sad to see its demise.

As a speedway enthusiast for over 60 years I think it is fantastic to read of the progress at this superbnew venue and would like to wish the promotion and the team every success in 2013 and beyond, and hope very much to be able to take in a meeting at this stadium before the season is through.

Very pleased to hear that everything has been put into place to allow Plymouth to continue operating next season. I wish the new promoters every success in their efforts to provide a team that you supporters deserve. Best wishes from a lifelong Birmingham supporter to all Plymouth enthusiasts.

I don't think there need be any concerns about Adam Roynon. He has had an unbelievable run of bad luck with injuries and he was treated shamefully at Workington last season, but I am confident that in Adam you will have the National League's top rider in 2011. Adam is a genuine racer and I believe that in him and Tom Perry, Dudley will have two of the most entertaining riders of next season.

It's impossible to look at any speedway website these days without seeing this call for an independent ruling body, but no one seems to remember that this is what we used to have in the pre 1965 era when the sport was run by the old Speedway Control Board. The board used to include one promotor and a riders' representative. The remaining members were appointed by the ACU and the constitution decreed that the board must always be comprised of a majority of ACU nominees. The board was constantly criticised and the major gripe used to be that decisions were being made by people who had no financial involvement in the sport and that this was unfair and unacceptable to those who had. The Shawcross Investigation at the end of 1964 which resulted in the formation of the British League, accepted this and agreed that control of domestic speedway should be invested in what was then called The Promotors' Association, but which later became the BSPA. Are we saying now, that we want to go back to having a Speedway Control Board - which everyone wanted to get rid of back in the 1960's? The present day successor to the Control Board, (known as the Speedway Control Bureau)includes two members of the BSPA Alex Harkess and Chris Van Straaten, and nine other officers. Its actual role seems a bit obscure.