waiheke1

people keep saying this, but no he hasn't. He admitted drinking the night before and failing a test. If the tesr was faulty, his admission of guilt was based on a false premise.similarly, if u "confess" to a crime but police have not followed procedure, your confession may be deemed invalid.

dont know abour that tbh, I would have thought the establishment of the national league should compensate for that.but for example how many hours were available at hyde rd for the likes of pc, mort, andy smith etc. When they were youngsters vs what tracktime is available for youngsters now? I could bexwrong, but imagine there are more restrictions around what hours practice sessions can be run and the number of clubs owning their stadiums. would add also that lack of forward planning by bspa is another factor. And ideally we should be sending england teams - both youth and full- abroad for test matches if we really want to develop british riders.

it is boocock they have averaging over 11.9. Had been meaning to query whether this was accurate, and what tge average should be.also, can anyone shed any light on a billy burton recorded as scoring 14 from 5 rides in his only meeting for birmingham in, I think, 1982?

are you referring to the standard of the domestic leagues, or specifically british riders?If the former, then the number one factor is surely not the gps but the formation of leagues in poland and sweden where riders can earn more money. Without gps I would expect some, but far from all, top riders may return to the el. Remove the polish and swedish leagues and you could guarantee almost every top rider would race in britain. if u are referring specifically to british riders, I think it is driven by a myriad of factors, and I struggle to see the gps as a major one. Surely it is more to do with increased cost to start out, decreased training facilities or even general outdoor space to learn riding a motorbike,lack of visibility of speedway as a viable career,seeming reluctance of british sportspeople to try to mske it overseas (not so much of an issue when the british league was the strongest in the world) etc would be interested to know why you see the gps as a bigger factor than these.

No way will poole not be favourites when odds are released. like scb I'd be looking to bet a fair whack on poole at 5/1.

I had a wooden rattle that I took to the speedway each week in the 80s

brits? There were only two brits in the meeting and I understand tai doesn't drink? Were tai and bomber really both drinking heavily before that gp?

no, that is an excellent post.it's a shame more of your posts aren't of that nature. the reason people have a go at you is not because of personal dislike, but that 80% of your posts ARE drivel.

not necessarily. Ward was apparently just over after a drinking session the night before, so if the machine was reading just slightly too high that would have been the differ between pass and fail.a rider who hadn't drunk the night before would likely still be well under - or even zero? - on the same machine.

disagree with all of this1. I think cook will improve beyond his current kevel 2. If he performs as per ladt season, he will add at least a point to his average by virtue or riding part of the season as a second string 3. Why would a 6-7 point british rider have no future in the el? 4. Who are the british riders being kept out of the el by "mediocre foreigners"? Can you name one british rider of suitable standard without an el team place and the foreigner keeping them out,

what year/s do u think they would have won?I seem to recall quite a bit of debate on this topic, and in the end I think the consensus was that plechanov wouldnt have taken a title (era dominated by fundi/briggs until emergence of mauger)

1972. his second ride bernt perrson knocked him off

it was his first.in 81 it was his 3rd & 4th

not sure your logic is correct. A conviction for fraud can carry a heftier penalty than drink driving, despite the fact that the latter is clearly the more likely to cause injury.

??? Of today's top riders only hancock was racing in the el in the 80s, and he doesnt race el now?

As an aces fan, I grew up being told that jack parker was the greatest never to win the title. He, plechanov and split would seem the popular choices. two other riders worthy of consideration. jessup - 2nd in 80. Would possibly have won in 78 but for the ef, and in 81 would likely have finished 2nd but for two ef. He is also won of the very few (perhapd only?) rider never to be champ who almost certainly would have been under a gp system (80). The other is hampel, like dj also derided as a gating tart. But two 2nds and a 3rd make his record comparable with the best of the nearlymen, and when you tske into account form across all events he has been statistically . the best rider in the world in at least one season.

83 swindon team: crump, b andersson, herne, holloway, busk, mastrup, sorensen. hardly crammed with world class talent?!? (Crump excepted). There were plenty of awful teams in those days as well as some awrsome ones. Actually the 83 eastborne team deserves a mention: Woods, eskildsten, lanham, l johansson, a erikkson, geer, righetto. You cant tell me any current el team is worse than that one?

that's a shame as when you post about old time speedway, which unlike most of the bsf you got to witness first hand, you could bring a lot of value to the forum.unlike on threads like the barry butterworth one where you seem simply to be on a wind up.

when tested hecwas well under the drink drive limit for on the road. Im pretty sure lots of the riders dont drive themselves to meetings.

You have proved that the decline happened before the gps started, and that gps have slowed/reversed the decline.

Nki and bjerre at 1? Woffy and pawlicki at 3 Garrity and sarjeant at 9= Harris and andersen at six batch and killer at 5 Zagar and nicholls at 7

Kerr and rose at 1? Do we need to name the position as well as pair? I imagine would be dominated by 1&5 pairings plus reserve pairings

even though the OP introduced playoffs to the discussion, and gavan mentioned poole (and other teams) only with regards to the playoffs?

really? I notice you havent responded to my early query about how the 45000 that attend cardiff each year vs the thirty something thousand that attended the odsal world final supports this claim?Or how the british league went from 17 teams in 1980 to 9 teams on 1990, but in 2014 the el started with ten teams?

On this occasion I dont see how gavans post can be seen as anti poole?