old bob at herne bay

I agree with you MD …. remember reading that Martin and Connor “stepped aside” when the successful NDL team was closed down afterJordan/ Fineing/Cook took the reins. Looking on the Companies House Website no sign of Martin Dugard as a director …. nor listed as a promoter . Must only be waiting for BSPL to approve the final statement from the club … with every other club cancelling their EB fixtures weeks in advance, and Tom Brennan unable to guest for Newcastle as not being registered in a teams 1-7? How the club has sunk so quickly from the start of 2021 with 2 teams lined up ….To such a position of debt …. We shall never know ……

Yes, on second looks there are a lot of provisional stock car fixtures at all the tracks….

Blimey Cityrebel, what was wrong at Kent last night …. Comfortable home victory according to speedway updates ? and 15 heats before curfew

Took a look at the Spedeworth stock car fixtures, http://www.spedeworth.co.uk/fixtures.php all Eastbourne fixtures after the end of August are marked “provisional”. I wonder what is going on down at Arlington ?

As the days go by and further anonymous “ holding statements” are put out the more tenuous EB speedway’s future under Jordan/Fineing becomes. The difficulty that BSPL have is the speedway club is owned by 2 directors outside the jurisdiction of BSPL. Neither they nor the 2 promoters appear to have the collateral to clear debt and to sustain the speedway operation. The limited liability of Eastbourne Eagles Ltd. Is £100. Sadly, I would suggest that unless the next home meeting on Sept 4th takes place, they will cease operations. The fixture disruption being caused seems almost irrecoverable before the play off date, and they have a KO cup fixture to complete. The late Jon Cook was another director, and would have similarly been outside the membership of the BSPL. I suspect that his previous promotion at Lakeside with Stuart Douglas , which ended unceremoniously allegedly owing money to riders prevented either taking up another promoters licence? Not for nothing the Dugard family have let out the speedway and stocks operations to others since the passing of Bob Dugard. I am sure they have decided they wanted no more direct involvement , but they expect a reasonable rental for use of their asset.

If ever there was a case for a couple of riders trying out the track before the meeting started - surely this was it ? Could have fed back to the ref and promoter and avoided the injuries that occurred.

Apologies my mistake ….. Eastbourne Eagles Limited. Company number 11727388.

"cityrebel" well, as you asked the question, yes it is possible ...... maybe more then 2 riders haven't been paid ? (allegedly it is only Kennett and Lawson) maybe the stadium owners have refused them permission to race on the track ?. (allegedly owed back rent) tbh the longer this drags on, the more I fear that this might be the end of the Jordan/Fineing/Kilby/Gear era of Eastbourne Speedway Limited. Both Birmingham and Newcastle are clearly struggling this season, but both appear to have access to a track and a team of 7 riders who are willing to race for them in any of the 15 heats.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. The margins of profit and loss are so tight nowadays that even running with the threat of rain nearby can affect attendances to show a loss , even though the track might be bathed in sunshine. Aside from the ludicrous non weather related calloffs 4 days in advance (usually a sign of financial difficulties) it seems reasonable to at least wait until the morning of meeting before even giving any indication of the meeting postponement. Seems the far travelling supporters book accommodation way in advance so any call off will not prevent them losing their accommodation costs. The other side of the coin is that sticking it out and trying to run a meeting on anything but a perfect surface runs the risk of the fickle riders calling it "unsafe" and the entire crowd going home unhappy and some never likely to return. (see Kings Lynn earlier this week) Must have travelled many hundreds of wasted miles to rain offs......... sometimes I have been lucky and seen a meeting I never dreamt would go ahead, and been entertained by the numerous incidents that a wet track shows up .......

In my visits to West Row when the track was a distinct egg shape and Andy Galvin would do 4 laps without putting his left foot down in one continuous power slide ... I am certain the track surface was diced turnips ( that what the lumps looked like the the track rakers were puliing onto the gate positions of the Hackney riders :-):-) We told them too ;-) and those rakers used some good old fruity language .... a right old laugh with the boys from suffolk. ;-) ;-) Always remember Sunday afternoons at West Row withte free airshow from the USAF based at Midlenhall.

Depends whether Sheffield are paying Batch or owe him money ??

Newcastle Diamonds = 45 1. Ben Barker - 2, 2, 2', 1, 0 =7+1 2. Connor Mountain - 1', 1', 2, 3 = 7+2 3. James Wright - 2', 1', 1, 3 = 7+2 4. Max Clegg - 3, 2, 3, 3, 1 = 12 5. Ricky Wells (G) - 2, 2, 1, R = 5 6. Alfie Bowtell (G) - 2', F, 0, 0 = 2 7. Adam Roynon - 3, R, 1', 1 = 5+1 Kent Kings = 45 1. Troy Batchelor - 3, 3, 3, 2', 3 = 14+1 PAID MAXIMUM 2. Ben Morley - 0, 0, 0 = 0 3. Paul Starke - 1, 1, 1, 0 = 3 4. Cameron Heeps - 0, 3, 0, 2 = 5 5. Scott Nicholls - 3, 3, 2, 2', 3, 2' = 15+2 6. Tom Woolley (G) - 0, 0, 0 = 0 7. Jack Thomas (G) - 1, 1, 3, 2, 1' = 8+1

"I believe the lad could be a seriously good speedway rider " Hardly a comment from someone who doesnt like Jake ?

Since being handed the opportunity of a regular team place sadly Jake has taken up the offer half heartedly. Taking bookings at the frittenden fryer grass track, going halfway across Europe for a long track meeting is his priority. I believe the lad could be a seriously good speedway rider but he needs to learn and polish his technique on speedway tracks not farmers fields or 1000m long tracks. Or maybe concentrate on farmers fields and long tracks and pack up speedway to give someone else a chance ?

I see Kent are lined up without Jakey Mulforde ( again) and now Gilksey is missing! Think these “rising stars” need to confirm on which planet they want their star to rise.

Great Central, Thank you for that info re the ownership of the club. I can see in this instance the two promoters have a far trickier role in the running of the club, holding the BSPL approved promoters licence and employed by the Eastbourne Speedway Ltd. Company.

Kent’s 3 big guns will ensure a close meeting, but the minor places will likely be picked up by the Newcastle gusts. Still they need a home win to maximise their chances of survival …..so hope they get a 2 point win with some good close racing to entertain their crowd. God help us if Alf is an example of a “rising star”, he’s been at it 6 years since his debut with Rye House Raiders, and from what I have seen isn’t going to rise much further.

What’s the weather like up there this morning? Stormy night down south in the early hours …. Thunder lightning and torrential rain.

Lee Kilby is the son of the late Bob Kilby, one of Swindon's top riders. Lee, I think was involved with Swindon speedway last season, and was recruited by EB as a "co-promoter" alongside Trev Gear. Why you need two "promoters" is of couse another good question - it's another wage to pay, as well as those for the 2 directors Ian Jordan and Les Fineing

The FIM clearly wanted to stage this in Slovakia to help them develop their growing number of speedway clubs that are springing up all over the country.

Just to prove that there's nothing new under the sun ...... the demise of New Cross was started in my opinion when promoter Fred Mockford packed up after the "Control Board" refused to allow him to sign Olle Nygren in 1953. The speedway shut for 6 years ... .and although it re appeared briefly in for a few seasons in the late 50' early 60' then finally in 1963, the crowds had been lost and never returned in numbers. An early example of how the control board have supported British Speedway over the years !

Cannot blame Buster for wanting to offload the speedways at KL and Pboro. Probably deserves a good long and happy retirement free from the non stop grief securing dates at the Eof E showground, ( although he seems to have a very good side there) and the constant grief at KL from riders who don’t like the track wet damp or dry. StockCars at Saddlebow Road would fund his retirement

and Berwick apparently …. Although they seem be sat on the fence :-)

THJ Yup 2 home fixtures in 2 days sounds daft to me too. Recipe for reduced attendances. However, the EB website fixture list does say that Berwick on the Sunday is provisional. EB sandwiching fixtures between SGP weekends ….I always thought they would run on the Sunday pm when they clashed with the SGP? Would be very sad if they didn’t manage their 90th year celebration meeting , as that was one I would attend .