old bob at herne bay

East end fan ….. you are correct I was NOT at Arlington. Not been there since the days of the Lakeside Hammers.

This NDL is all a bit "Mickey Mouse" cannot really be taken seriously when most of the teams seem to regard it as a chance for some practice. Would have no problems with that if it were free to watch ...... but some think its worth £15 a meeting :-( :-( Yesterday evenings affair between half a team of seasulls and a royals team missing one their key riders, totally unsatisfactory for the fans who paid good money expectiong to watch 2 teams of 7 riders.

You have to go back to Lakeside in 2016 in what was the equivalent of the NDL when Paul last rode competitive speedway before being signed by Len in 2021. How on earth he attracted a 5 average astounds me. Some way to go if Paul is to even achieve that assessed figure this season. It honestly made me rather sad seeing Paul alst week struggling, after memories of seeing him in action at Lakeside. I wish the lad a safe season and hope he doesnt suffer any more injuries to the long list he has already.

I was always told this was about safety - methanol has much lower flammability than petrol. But it burns witha clear flame which when it does catch light makes it harder to spot. Methanol also has a high octane number allowing the use for high compression ratio engines as used in speedway. Conversely it is less enegy dense than petrol hence more fuel is needed and the "mpg figures" for a speedway bike are so poor. Indy carts used to use Methanol after a number ofpetrol fires , but now use ethanol fuel. I

Fair play to Redcar for offering the crowd compensation fo the delays. The reasons for delays get ever more inventive. Should they buy a pair of Raybans(other brands are available) for the refs box ?

“Many a true word spoken in jest” Thats what I thought when I read the match preview by Trevor Gear who states “ good to get back to normality” Yup , normal it is , R/R and a gust for both sides. . This week EB have the rub of the green with Scunny opting out of a decent gust for their number 1. Met Office show fair weather for EB so 3 points in the bag tonight.

I thought Greg had retired from the sport....... maybe just one more hurrah ?

Took a chance on the weather for this one - amazing there hadnt been any rain in Sittingbourne. Pretty tame meeting to me .... Howarth was a very good guest and on a mission with some robust first bends, Gilkes was outstanding IMO but otherwise it was pretty much "From the Gate" stuff, which will be familiar to Arlington supporters. First "race" of the nightwas Scott versus Ed in Heat 10. Surprised that the Eastbourne youngsters Brennan and especially Kemp didn't do bettter. Just Lawson and Kennett IMO prevented what might have been a much closer aggregate score. Touch of complacency maybe, or maybe the Eagles having their wings clipped by Leicester has undermined their confidence. Kent will limp on with R/R and a guest and struggle to score 46 points to win a league match IMO ... cannot think Poole will be such a lacklustre lot as the Eagles tonight, with a dead KO Cup rubber to contest. Central Park remains a fine stadium to watch speedway, but they still need to work on the PA system, I could barely hear the announcer, missed several race heat times, which the announcer failed to repeat, and the on track interviews with riders sounded like they wer coing through a drainpipe.

Any news from the track ? - live rainfall radar shows rain very close to Sittingbourne

city rebel - keeping an eye on those thunderstorms, at the mo they are over Maidstone. Rainfall radar showing heavy rain is also centred on Maidstone - south of Sittingbourne. fingers crossed.

Wouldn't take any notice of the companies house declarations. I am sure that all clubs have a good accountant to present the figures that suit their circumstances. In a largely cash based system who really knows what comes in and what goes out ? Most clubs are run by volunteers with a few cash paid staff. As has been said earlier, if a promoter was actually paying out £100k from his own pocket to keep a speedway club afloat he wouldn't do it twice. They must be making a living out of being a speedway promoter. Not a fortune maybe , but they certainly are not shellling out £100k a year from thier own pockets to promote a speedway club. Individual meetings bit the dust years ago when the cheap skates decided on a 12 heat format. If someone put up a new bike as a prize (a la Internationale) and run a 20 heat format with some star riders taking part the crowds would come to watch.

Paul Dugard is Martin's brother. Then Kelsey Dugard is Martins son. You also have the Kennetts at Eastbourne , Gordon, Barney and Edward. Then the Collins clan , Peter, Phil , Les.

Looks like I can now buy a ticket " on the gate" and might take a trip tomorrow to see a CL meeting at Central Park. Let's see how I feel tomorrow. Its been a while ...... lets hope I don't jinx the meeting and invoke the curfew .

To partially quote an earlier poster, with my comment in italic. "you have to hand it to the Eagles management for their track preparation" Good to be vindicated for something I knew always happened at Arlo ........ prepping the track riding lines to suit the home team happens everywhere, but doctoring the start grids is a step too far in unsportsmanlike behaviour. The "seagulls" took a pasting in part 2 as well I see in the training meeting.

I believe Christina Turnbull is a regular referee at Arlington ….

You couldn't make it up - seems I have been banned from Speedway Updates site for what I can only assume is my post stating the Scott Nicholls was superb and is a "wily old fox" ! That or crticism of Eastbourne's track ! Oh well their loss - was thinking about becoming an updater.

Good question .... maybe thats what "is holding up the paperwork" Not even Poole Speedway will be able to circumvent UK Border Force work permit rules...... unless he hitches a ride on an RNLI lifeboat from France to one of our beaches in Kent.

Yup BT Sport have signed up Richard Lawson to replace Scott in the studio. Apparently part of the deal is that Lawson gets a free haircurt in "make Up" before he appears on TV.

This team line ups for this fixture are beginning to resemble a pantomime. Only in speedway. (Well at least in Cricket they changed the entire team in advance of the match !) Scott Nicholls ? Is he riding for BT sport or Leicester tomorrow? Nathan Ablitt .... one of "Eastbourne's own" is he riding for his club ? Sings4Speedway suggests he isn't ?? Drew Kemp - is he still riding in Poland tomorrow ? or is the Gdansk meeting cancelled due to the GP reschedule? As for Jake Knight .... you couldn't make it up ..... Never have I seen such a set of complicated rules to prevent an English junior reserve rider being denied a ride. Surely in the "interests of speedway" he should be allowed to ride for someone tomorrow ?

East End Fan clearly enjoys his speedway at Central Park Sadly nothing I read on the Speedway Updates site about the meeting remotely tempts me back to watch a speedway meeting. 6 heats all restarted, delay after delay with the new rule of "anticipating the start". Referee changing thier mind about exclusion decisions. Capped off by 2 mismatched sides , with the home side never looking like snatching an unlikely victory. Thats "Top Quality" racing ? Not for me.

Very interesting presentation by Paul. Agree that UK speedway has created its own problems with doubling down ......... star riders in the PL now ride in the CL as well. Don't have any answers as the riders concerned would all probably retire if they couldnt race in both leagues, or demand more money to ride exclusively only in the PL. The NDL has deliberately been dumbed down by the NDL promoters and that has widened the gulf in ability between the skill level of NDL and CL which is more of a STEP than a smooth progression , with no NDL riders of a standard to score a point in the CL and thus creating a shortage of riders.

Expect a home win on the Arlington bowl. EB should be able to carry Ablitt at reserve. Leicester will need their gating boots with the hot weather forecast.... frankly I don't see them being quick enough out of the starts to trouble the home team, who are no doubt practicising on track as we speak ;-) ;-)

objection lodged

Steve, Think Garcia was in and rode in the Berwick side in 2019, and declared in their team for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Seems a far cry from just signing AN Other rider who hasnt even arrived in the UK and claiming r/r ? Blatantly contravenes the rulebook....... just surprised my local team Kent don't pull a similar stunt, sign a couple of unknown overseas riders and claim their paperwork is delayed and use guests and/or r/r .

Dont think he is fit - shoulder injuries need time to heal - trying to ride on will not improve things and cause a loss of confidence. Riding tiht racks like Central Park won't help.