PHILIPRISING

AND who paid for them? NSS is best speedway stadium in the UK, let's be content with that, and while never sustainable on just speedway gate revenue alone, with other usage and some decent sponsorship and proper management can still be a viable proposition. MCC must think so otherwise they wouldn't be pulling out all the stops for speedway to continue there.

SO you don't agree that British speedway has one of the best venues and tracks in the world and that is something to be proud of?

I WAS only making an analogy about relative waste of taxpayers money regarding BV and the Olympic Stadium. And the fact that the OS is still sucking money out of the public purse while the NSS comparatively is not. I make no apology for unbridled support for the construction of the NSS. Why should I? It is a magnificent achievement and hopefully one that will remain as a speedway venue for many, many years to come. Now more than ever it deserves and requires the support of everyone and, as previously stated, that includes BSI and the FIM, in trying to ensure that at least a couple of 'big meetings are staged there every year. I have also never denied that bad management this year has been a huge factor in the problems that have surfaced. But there is also so much more that has yet to be revealed and may never be so. Lots of people prepared to talk off the record but few on it especially when various parties are threatening to sue each other.

MCC spent around £7 million of tax payers money (although that was gleaned from the sale of land to MCFC) but their expenditure has ended and what they are losing out on now is rent. The Olympic Stadium cost taxpayers hundreds of millions, to build, hundreds more to convert and is still costing tens of millions to switch from football to athletics and the like and the tenants (WHFC) only pay a peppercorn rent which does not even include the upkeep or the people who man the turnstiles. If Belle Vue's rent was pro rata to that of West Ham no doubt they could easily survive on speedway attendances.

I'M sure you can work it out if you really tried.

BUT it's not an on-going situation like the Olympic Stadium which is still costing millions to stage both football and athletics and for the seating to be changed.

EXACTLY ... I DIDN'T say it was the fault of West Ham, who have got away with the deal of the century. But project as a whole is costing the tax payers millions and will continue to do so. At least at BV what is spent is spent.

WHEN you read about the Olympic Stadium/West Ham fiasco, this all seems quite small fry. Speedway Star putting some of the pieces of the jigsaw together for next week but, of course, many lips are sealed because of impending litigation.

THINK that is only part of it. Loss of revenue and, of course, goodwill from opening night was a massive factor and the battle for compensation from the council, who in turn were I think withholding money from the construction company. Don't know whether the full story will ever come out but no doubt Gordon will want to put his side once any impending litigation is resolved. Sadly, I think he and Chris made some serious errors of judgement in running the speedway side of the business and personally think Mark Lemon, a smart guy, could prove a great asset going forward.

SPEEDWAY cannot survive next door and why should we all give up on what is one of the best stadiums and tracks in the world. By the sound of it the Council don't want to see speedway not running there either and by working together with some sort of consortium it can still continue. As I have previously said, needs BSI (World Team Cup rounds, Finals) and the FIM (GP Challenge, Under 21 Finals) to help by putting top meetings there. It is easy to throw darts at Gordon and Morton (who has probably lost everything) now but let's not forget they did bring the stadium into fruition. Equally since that disastrous opening night, for which they still blame the construction company employed by the council, and the immediate loss of considerable revenue then and the bonanza Good Friday meeting against Wolverhampton things might, just might, have turned out differently. I do understand that while the stadium has terrific facilities that can be used for weddings, conferences, etc, its location is not exactly a prime one and they have found it hard to attract such events. A new stadium manager, probably a Council appointee, the retention Mark Lemon with a bigger role, and outside funding could yet provide a winning formula for the stadium to remain what it actually is ... by some distance the best race track in the UK and a fabulous venue for British speedway. Long may it survive.

RECEIVED this lovely email from Eric Linden, one of the truly great speedway journalists and pioneer Editor of Speedway Star back in the fifties ... Phil: Breaking a long silence, having read Star's brilliantly informative obit on Dave. I took him on for TVTimes and we worked closely together for years, most of them with he as my deputy Features Editor and then Deputy Head of Future Planning, taking the big one over when I retired. Major jobs in addition to all you included in the article. I thought our closeness over so many years as colleagues and, more especially as friends and mates, told me everything about Dave but your article brought up many instances new to me. Congrats to all who did the final research. I would have said it's the type of piece that Dave would have written except I know he would never have had that much to say about just how good he was at his job - or life. Regards to all on what I still regard as my mag - although you have achieved wonders with it since then.

THEY didn't run the SWC, BSI did. BSI had a staging agreement with them but only a few days before the event had to cough up tens of thousands of pounds to ensure that the meeting went ahead.

RECEIVED this lovely email from Eric Linden, one of the truly great speedway journalists and pioneer Editor of Speedway Star back in the fifties ... Phil: Breaking a long silence, having read Star's brilliantly informative obit on Dave. I took him on for TVTimes and we worked closely together for years, most of them with he as my deputy Features Editor and then Deputy Head of Future Planning, taking the big one over when I retired. Major jobs in addition to all you included in the article. I thought our closeness over so many years as colleagues and, more especially as friends and mates, told me everything about Dave but your article brought up many instances new to me. Congrats to all who did the final research. I would have said it's the type of piece that Dave would have written except I know he would never have had that much to say about just how good he was at his job - or life. Regards to all on what I still regard as my mag - although you have achieved wonders with it since then.

EXACTLY and also no track that is the equal to any in the world. Lots of people will go to Belle Vue on that basis. Just hope the likes of BSI and the FIM get behind whoever the new management is and bring as many top meetings to the NSS as possible.

LOOKS that way ...

THEY were all on the Jury but as explained earlier the Race Director does not have a vote.

FOR the record ... It is the Jury President (not always Aramndo, often Tony Steele or Wolfgang Glas), the referee and the local FIM delegate. Race Director sits on the Jury but has no vote.

COULD be on the right track

THEY would get some Sky money for starters and more whenever on TV but it's not a massive amount these days. Some PL teams paying just as much as EL ones (with the exception of some riders like Jonsson, Zagar, etc) so presumably they figure it is a viable option. SHEFFIELD and Ipswich have already stated they don't want to move up, cannot see Ipswich changing either.

TWO looking to move up

THEY won't be

BELIEVE that Lakeside have put their EL licence on ice for three years in the hope that a new facility at their site may become available. Running Friday nights has proved a nightmare with the Dartford tunnel/bridge just a bottleneck. NL would be Saturday evenings/Sunday afternoons. Also rider costs. Speedway Star will be doing a feature shortly about this shortly. In the EL it is not uncommon for a top rider to be on a £2000 guarantee, plus van, plus flights, plus mechanics and accommodation. One track even had a call from a mechanic asking to talk about HIS deal for 2017.

THE GP. Mark was coincidentally in Melbourne but he and his partner Anne are regular visitors when SGPs don't clash with his other commitments.

THANK you for those kind words... Anyway, despite no longer being a journalist, taking a time-out from this debate to write an obituary on my good mate Dave Lanning with whom I shared many an adventure.

AS I stated earlier, for those who haven't grasped it, I was playing Devil's Advocate. The only person who actually knows what happened is Greg Hancock.He gave his version and the FIM Jury, along with many on here refused to believe it. As I have said it looked suspicious to me too but it still amounted to Greg's word against the FIM Jury, which I'm not sure would have been a cast iron case in a Court of Law. I have known Greg since he first had a practice spin at Cradley Heath. Sure, beneath that 'Grin" facade lays a tough cookie who like most riders, most of us probably, will do what is best for himself. But I have never known him lie or cheat which is perhaps why I find it hard to think he would have done so in Melbourne on the rather spurious reason that one point might have helped Holder overtake Zmarzlik. It didn't. But I really don't know without a shadow of a doubt. If, in fact, Greg did deliberately allow Holder to pass then he made a pig's ear of it, hence the subsequent furore, and was even more stupid in not envisaging the storm that would follow, especially after the FIM issued a directive to riders about not giving 100 per cent in races. I reiterate, he was plainly wrong to withdraw from the meeting but the FIM chose to take no further action but even if they had ruled him ineligible for the rest of the championship it would not have resulted in him being denied the World title. I am at a loss to find that some find that hard to grasp.