Bruiser McHuge

Why did Trelawny close ? The pictures of its setting looked really good although I never went there

I would say that is less so now...it certainly used to be the case and the fact is that big lads do look good at 7 and 8 and do catch the eye...but I do think that academies and centres of excellence are now looking at abilities rather than just size....my club and also the school team had had players taken from Manchester City, United, Oldham, Fleetwood, Stoke.....and other clubs from the league have gone to other teams and some of them are smaller technical players...so it's changing....they just need a chance to break into first teams eventually. We played Wallsend Boys Club once in a tournament...I was expecting more from them as they are famous..I was disappointed with them.

Andy Smith rode on a Polish licence for a good while...whatever licence you ride on doesn't just allow you to ride for that country.. Lambert is English and England are the country he is eligible to ride for

I watched Loram every week for a season at Kings Lynn in the 90's and I would certainly say he was one of the most talented riders I've ever seen....that doesn't mean he was one of the best riders of all time but as a natural talent on the track he was up there..certainly one of the most exciting riders I ever saw.

Michael Lee at 16 was just before my time...I saw him at 18 and he was some some talent..I imagine possibly the best 16 year old.. I saw some good 16 year olds...Mark Loram I saw in the junior league at 16 and he was good....Andy Smith at Belle Vue was very exciting at 16 but the worst gater ever at that age...Havelock I saw.......but the best 16 year old I ever saw , and still is , was Joe Screen....I'd known about him for a while as he had the same sponsor as my brother in law so it was basically a countdown to when he was 16....10 pts from 12 on his debut and the track craft of an international rider ....a couple of weeks later he was passing Sam Ermolenko from the back....amazing talent... I actually think Screen underachieved at world level for his talent but at 16 he was the best by fat that I've ever seen......I've only seen Lambert on TV and he looks a good prospect , very up and down but that's expected but he has a really good chance of doing really well I think with the right backing.

I must admit that starting watching speedway at Hyde Road in the 70's was a huge advantage...the sport was still attracting decent crowds, good atmosphere and great racing...it was pretty addictive for a kid ....my interest certainly tailed off once Hyde Road shut ..it was kept alive by my sister marrying a speedway rider but for a few years it was only that fact that kept me going to speedway.....I knew then that if it wasn't for that then I would never be attending live speedway....and once he stopped riding then I stopped going and I must admit I haven't missed it... I've been to 2 meetings in 20 years and that was to take my son when he was young...he never enjoyed the meetings and never wanted to go back so I've never been again....I'm sure I'm not alone in that respect. I do actually watch the sport on TV and I do like the GP's which I think are a real plus for the sport but as for day in day out speedway I cannot see anything that justifies or merits mainstream press coverage ahead of other sports that also don't get coverage.

The newspapers, especially the tabloids have cut back on most sports coverage really which is ironic as they have more pages for sport than ever before...it's not just speedway , there are loads of sports out there that get no column inches whatsoever....it's wall to wall football with the odd other sport thrown in occasionally..F1, international rugby etc.. When I was younger The Sun used to have full scorecards from county cricket in its paper...now you wouldn't even get county cricket getting a mention......times change and it's not just speedway missing out.... I do remember the Daily Express Spring Classic though....The Sunday Mirror were big sponsors of meetings....The Daily Mirror had back page reports on the Golden Hammer at Cradley midweek and a back page report on Karl Maier winning the World Longtrack title...imagine that....Kenny Carter had a weekly column in the Daily Star......times have changed for all sports in the national press

Certainly a lot of riders thought Hackney was a very dangerous track. I was introduced to speedway at Hyde Road in the 70's and that was the only track I saw for a good while so I think I was totally spoilt and just thought that Hyde Road was what all speedway was like...of course watching Peter Collins and Chris Morton there every week spoilt you as well.. It was later when we became hooked that we started going away and being quite shocked that speedway wasn't the same at all tracks...in fact I'm sure that if Hyde Road hadn't been the track that I first went to then I don't think I'd have become such a big fan. I can never get the love for the Shay though....I went there reguarly watching Belle Vue and I always found the racing very fast but very processional ..it certainly wasn't my favourite.....Sheffield I did always like though but outside of Hyde Road I think my favourite UK track was Cradley...I used to really like that track. Outside the UK I loved Claremont in Australia where I saw plenty of meetings...when it was prepared properly for bikes it was a fantastic track with a great atmosphere and a great night out.

Bridger has a nerve...he's supposed to be a professional rider who signed a contract with an Elite League team....it's then up to him to get himself sorted for the season...he can't go around blaming anybody....he's the rider and it's his responsibility to be in a position to ride at the start of the season...if he isn't then it's nobody's fault but his and any team would be better off without him

Yes I watched John Davis ride in a German League meeting in the 80's when I was in Germany... In the 70's and 80's most top riders rode in Germany on Sunday's in individual meetings and of course the longtrack scene was much bigger back then and a lot of riders did German longtrack at weekends.. I remember the Polish League opening up to foreigners around 1989 or 1990 and that was where riders really wanted to go....I remember Paul Thorp telling my brother in law around that time what he was earning in Poland and that he really had to get a place over there...I don't think that early money lasted for a lot and some got their fingers burned but it was the start and of course foreign riding in the main now means Polish League

Bonus points should count in a riders average ...it's a team sport and the best ride can be shielding a rider who is winning the race to get a 5-1 that would never have been got otherwise.....for that rider to get 2 on his average compared to the race winner's 3 is stupid.....team strengths should be reflected at the end of the season to reflect bonus points....a paid max is equal to a full max any day of the week.

My daughter's friend teaches English in Bulgaria...my daughter has visited her numerous times and absolutely adores Bulgaria and the people...she even got a job out there herself last year during the summer holidays

So they missed a few deadlines ?...that's construction , that's stadiums..... The much crowed about FC United stadium should have been finished absolutely ages ago...then it should have been ready for the start of this season....it's still not ready and the club are still nicking Curzon Ashton's stadium..........but all I ever here in the press about that is positive news..all I hear from fans is support....they know it's being built and they know it's took miles longer than expected but it will be done.....and this will be done.. I think they were a bit naive and optimistic in their announcements early on..that didn't help...I still think calling it the National Speedway Stadium is over the top and again will lead to criticism when some people say it doesn't meet those expectations...and they probably won't to be honest...but I'm sure it will be a really nice little stadium with an excellent track and that will be something the club and the sport can and will be proud of even if there are further delays which to be honest is quite likely..but it will open

Not defending Garrity as I haven't seen enough of his Rye performances but I though that last season there was no way you could compare a fast track reserve to a top 5 PL rider.....generally the fast track schedule was ridiculously easy for a top fast tracker, even when Garrity scored 19 he only beat 3 opposition riders on the night.....it definitely gave everybody the impression the rider was better than they actually were, maybe Garrity believed that as well......the PL heats were far far tougher to score points in than being a fast track reserve last season

I can't see how this would work...EC riders surely couldn't be barred from racing if they want to ride and a team want to employ them..there would be legal issues there surely.....also would the FIM have the powers to bar a non EC rider who meets every criteria for a work permit ?...I would doubt it.. ...and I do honestly believe that any British rider who is good enough will get a team spot somewhere ...nobody will slip under the radar if they are good enough......I just think there aren't enough training opportunities for very young riders, the route from grass track seems to have dried up and a few motocross lads are now coming across but these haven't ridden speedway since their early teens.....more training schools and training tracks are badly required to give British youngsters a go and then the pool of talent would be bigger....as it is the pool isn't big and there aren't that many Brits to choose from but anybody good enough will still get there somehow ....and also, how would this improve the Champions League which is a flawed concept anyway.......the top riders would choose Poland and Sweden so there is still a strong possibility of the same riders from those 2 leagues qualifying so one team will have to change...and the British teams who wouldn't have any of these riders just wouldn't be strong enough to compete .....it just wouldn't work.

I've known some Aussie riders ride in Britain and not pay any taxes..so they might live there but not all are contributing to the country ! I know a case where about £10,000 was put in an exhaust pipe and shipped back at the end of the season....it was then forgotten about and found years later in the shed !.....about 3 Aussie banks wouldn't accept the money as the notes were so out of date....eventually one did !!...I don't think tax was paid on that !

Really ?......I think that a lot of the appeal about speedway is the fact that the races are short and quick, and hopefully a few are action packed......at its best that is an incredibly attractive format for Motorsport I think, especially for youngsters. I think there can be too long a gap between races with nothing happening but it's down to the promoter and the ref to get that balance right...when done right speedway can still produce the goods. I've been to stock cars a couple of times over here and I really struggled to follow who was winning and the rest of the positions....same with speedcars in Australia....I think this 54 seconds of action is a big plus point for the sport .

Peter Collins got a 21 point max ..I think at Wimbledon......never known a 24 pointer .

My brother in law rode in Britain in the mid 80's to early 90's and he was off his bike at the tapes virtually every race at the tapes !....so it's been going on a while...not really a big issue for me although Tai getting a spade out was a bit too far ! When I started watching speedway in the 70's I can't really remember riders off their bikes gardening but I used to love the big races where the riders were at the tapea and another one pulled away or rode off and came back....I used to think it added to the tension but there were bigger crowds and more atmosphere anyway...used to love all that back then

I don't really get the criticism of Cook....speedway is a pretty short career and I don't see anything wrong with treating it as a business and try and make as much money as you can.....Cook is never going to be World Champion no matter what countries he rides in so if he feels he can make more money by doubling up in Britain than by signing the sort of contract on offer abroad ten fair play to him. My brother in law rode in Britain and he always said it was a job first and foremost and he was riding mainly to earn money and he did very ok indeed out of the sport when he retired...nobody in the past criticised top National League riders like John Jackson, Tom Owen , , Nigel Crabtree and the like for staying National League and not going British League....no doubt it was a business decision for them much like Cook today. I'm sure if the right deal came up for Cook he would take it but at the moment it would take a lot of personal investment to do it and giving up Premier League as well...for a younger rider likely to a potential GP star like Woffy then fair enough but each rider is different and I don't blame Cook at all for staying doubling up at this moment.

Erik Gundersen, Lance King, Simon Wigg, Alan Grahame, Phil Collins, Peter Ravn, Jan O Pedersen.......with Simon Cross at number 8 when Pedersen was injured. Still the best speedway team I've ever seen....was decimated the following year with the points limit though !

Yes I was at Wembley in 81....loved that.....now compare that to say Havvy's win...no disrespect to Havvy who was a worthy champion that whole year but the event itself and the media coverage was poor......after Wembley I went to 83 in Norden, 84 in Gothenburg , 85 in Bradford, 87 in Amsterdam , 88 in Vojens and 90 in Bradford....I loved them all but each year the media coverage went less and it dipped further as we got into the 90's ...I think a GP had to happen .

I think the GP series is a massive step forward from the old World Finals, or should I say what the World Finals had become. The World Finals were never the best 16 riders in the world anyway but there is no doubt that they were superb dramatic entertainment in their day and on mostt occasions produce a worthy world champion.......but there is no doubt they had faded and the last couple were shadows of what they were...people look back at the heydays of Wembley, Gothenburg and Katowice but. The latter day ones were really nothing like that, I think to move with times and to try and generate sponsorship and outside interest then a GP was and is necessary and unfortunately the World Final had had its day.....I think from the outside they look very professional and promote an excellent image for the sport. As for the points system I have no problem with it...I think it's good that a rider winning the final actually wins the GP...it's less confusing for viewers and ensures it builds to a big finish...I also think it's good that a rider not winning the final is not penalised by losing their race points gained on the night....it's the best of both worlds and does mean every race means something. As regard to the line ups...well there isn't really a rider that you could honestly say should be in there who isn't so if you're good enough you tend to get in so the champion is always a worthy winner....Emil Sayfutinov is another story but that's his decision and not the GP' s fault. Now play offs......I am a big fan of play offs in sports...and in theory I am in speedway as I think it gives clubs plenty to race for and plenty on a meeting for fans when clubs are still fighting for play off spots where a meeting might have been run of the mill with nothing at stake...I think it keeps seasons alive......my concern with speedway is that in other sports play offs are contested by the same group of players who have competed through the season whereby in speedway they are often contested on wet , almost u rideable tracks and with teams sometimes unrecognisable from the team that actually got them there....a team winning a one off match with 3 or 4 guests just doesn't feel right and can take gloss off the win....so I'm not sur play offs are totally right for speedway on the track...but in principle I like the idea of them. ....and I'm not convinced riders would flock back to Britain if there were no GP.s....the biggest factor there was the growth of the foreign leagues, especially Poland...Britain would still be behind Poland and Sweden for a rider planning a schedule

Don't know what exactly happened over there but the riders got the flights and accommodation paid for...now that's a decent deal..I've no doubt they sold gear because that's what visiting riders tend to do...and they would have got decent money for scoring well in the meeting.....all in all I'm sure they could have got a bike over there and rode...and I struggle to understand them moaning about having to pay for some food ......I don't think they have come out of it very well from what I can see.

Sam Ermolenko is by far the best team rider I've ever seen...awesome........Hans Nielsen wasn't bad either !