teddy2706

Maybe this has been discussed before, if so perhaps someone can point me in the right direction please? I apologise if I am going over an old topic. I have spoken to a few Scottish supporters about the impact a 'Yes' independance vote will have upon Glasgow and Edinburgh. Some seemed disconcerted at the question, others blase assuming nothing will change. If Scottish voters vote in favour of independance, will both teams be able to remain in British speedway? I would like to think that they can, but we have no German, Swedish or Polish teams riding in our leagues, would Scottish teams then be regarded as foreign? Similarly, can we assume that the ACU will have no jurisdiction over motorcycle sport in Scotland if independance is acheived?

Vog is available to manage a speedway team. He has all the qualities; good knowledge of the rules, crafty, sly, utterly ruthless and encylopaedic with figures and statistics. But you cannot pay him cash as he works for Revenue and Customs!

Boozer~ I agree with a great many of the things you say on here, but whilst your comments about the gate staff at Loomer rd might once have been correct, it isn't the case now. I cannot speak for the turnstile, for I do not use it now, but when taking a motor vehicle into the stadium, you are treated to a pleasant and sincere welcome from a pleasant lady at the gate. Your remark is a little out of date, that's all.

Glad to see you back on here Malcolm.

Thank you, I don't drink but my friend who is travelling down with me to the Stoke/Somerset double header might want one, much appreciated.

Saturday was my first visit to the SBA. Nice clean stadium, good stands for spectating, good view of the pits (very important for me), decent catering, pleasant people there, clean toilets and decent parking just up the road. Add to that a nice lunch in Sainsburys just down the river, what's not to like? Poor Mr. Freemantle's crash was the only low point and I hope he feels 100% soon, it was terrifying. Is there a pub nearby though please?

Whilst agreeing with Fast Gater and plainly being at least as old as he, old video clips often show rolling gardeners watching the tapes, not the solenoids. Mauger was effectively dictating the start, roll once, pull back, roll again, pull back and the ref would let the tapes go, but Mauger was already letting the clutch go, but from two feet back flying just under the rising tapes whilst already moving.

Quite how it was anything to do with Andrews remains unclear to me, he was left at the line with his head pulled back by the tapes when every one else had gone. To be truthful, the whole thing hinges on a referee's determination not to be made a monkey of by a rider anticipating the start, if the tapes catch his peak he has successfully passed his bike under a rising tape that has already been released by the referee.. What is the problem apart from damage to a referee's ego? What next, riders not to move until the tapes reach the top of the poles? Speedway becomes like Europe, bound by red tape and regulation!

I understand that stahlpanzerrohrgewinde means steel conduit thread?

Panzergewinde

Anyone who enjoys grasstrack is treated to temporary facilities equal to, or better than Stoke's permanent ones. In this day and age there is no excuse for poor toilet facilities, unimaginative catering and poor bar choices at a permanent stadium. But in conjunction with a poorly prepared track, lighting issues that could see someone killed, illegal working practices involving tractors and equipment and a marked reluctance to complete fifteen heats of racing in less than two and a half hours ( I assume to swell the bar takings), what is actually left to enjoy?

Anyone involved in engineering will have seen apprentices coming into work and using centimetres instead of millimetres, a source of much aggravation because the teaching profession know nothing about the real world where centimetres are never used. Years ago I worked with a bloke who was good at heights. He would shout down trunking or conduit measurements, I would make the piece up and chuck it up to him. The trouble was, Jeff liked accuracy and I am long sighted, so he would want a piece making at 27 17/32" and I struggled to read the 32's scale on a tape measure. Worse, he had lost the first foot of his tape measure in an accident so I had to remember whether I should add a foot to his measurements, or take it off! Chaotic. Electricians went metric in 1971, so used conduit sizes approximately the same as the old imperial 3/4" and 1" i.e. 20mm and 25mm. The trouble was, the imbeciles at the Institute of Electrical Engineers and their cretin relatives at BSI had failed to understand that on the continent they used PG threads (you will never believe what PG stands for) so for years we never had the right thread adaptors for foreign equipment. Add to this the change in the cable colours made only to accomodate foreign electricians working here and you will wonder how anyone turning on a light stays safe! So, speedway bikes should weigh not less than 169lbs unfuelled and if you read American custom or hot rod magazines memorise 16.8. This converts cubic inches to cubic centimetres. Nearly.

The lady who works the car-park side of the gate, often with her daughter, is Gaynor, an extremely nice lady who is always ready with a friendly smile. To be truthful, she is the only nice thing about entering that stadium.

From the outset, I wish it to be known that I like and respect Malcolm Vasey, I don't agree with all of his views, or all of his decisions, but I absolutely respect his right to voice his opinion and I know he offers the same courtesy to me. Personally, I think he paid Halifax Tiger a grave disservice with his comments, but, he is entitled to his opinion. Malcolm commanded Stoke fans respect on taking the managers reins. That respect has eroded because he is tarred with the same brush as the promotion but not always fairly so. But, lie down with dogs Malcolm and you risk getting fleas, in this particular case, in your ear! Now, Malcolm is loyal to the club that employs him, that is how it should be, but it does not mean that the promotion are always right. If they were always right, it would be standing room only at Loomer rd. and it plainly is not. Many Stoke fans have helped the club in many ways, yet despite that, they are treated with complete and utter contempt and disdain by the Tattums and Mr. Crabtree. Vog has been a lifelong fan of Stoke speedway, was loyal, faithful and even as an impoverished student travelled everywhere to watch them at every opportunity. He wanted success for the club, but put up with mediocrity because he was a true and loyal fan. What he couldn't accept was to be treated as an object, a chattel, an asset, a cash cow, but worst of all, a whipping boy for all of the clubs ineptitude, meanness and rudeness. To demonstrate what I mean, here is an exchange from the bar counter. Me: "Caroline, could I have a brandy please"? (My friends wife was cold). Caroline Tattum: "No" She then turned her back and walked away. Me: "Caroline, why can't I have a brandy"? Caroline (over her shoulder, still walking away): "Because we don't have any"! Who needs this sort of treatment?

I will not criticise Malcolm Vasey unless it is to his face. But, both he and the Tattums would be well advised to pay heed to HT's comments here. HT watches more speedway in a season than anyone else I know and travels thousands of miles to do so. His opinion is valid, valuable and should be ignored at a promoters peril.

How many active speedway supporters are there in the UK? Have we an organisation to make our collective voices heard? Any thoughts on this please? Sadly, this sort of thing happens all of the time in Britains nanny state, where politicians prefer us all to spend our time at home or having sunday lunch at Tesco's instead of letting us discuss things and practice dissent. I know of at least two places close to where I work where houses have been built next to existing factories. In both cases residents then complained about early morning noise, smells, vehicles etc. In one case the factory spent an absolute fortune to placate the residents, the other moved to an industrial estate well away from Nimbies.This judgement endangers every speedway track, MX track, road racing venue and grass track in the country that has any sort of residential development close or planned for the future. It will open the gates for complaints countrywide, something that the Supreme Court are perfectly aware of.

Will the residents (are they even residents if the house burned down?) then sue the RAF, the USAAF and the motocross track if they are successful against Mildenhall stadium? Because they will have no trouble winning that case too if this is the precedent! This judgement seems to me a clear cut case of judges being completely, utterly out of touch with the real world, something that has worried me for some years.

I don't want to discount it Vog, Andrew owns that record fair and square and probably will do for a long time to come and I hope it always stands as something riders aspire to better. In any case, if the track is shorter, the times should be faster, but are not by a mile. Certainly, I doubt Andrew's Godden (if that was what he was riding that day) was anything like as powerful as todays GM's, but that is opening another can of worms entirely.

Why do they write so small these days! I look forward to S.S. but if I have a single axe to grind it is that National League speedway pages are shoved to the back. But, they do have interesting interviews with young riders, lovely pieces on past riders and great photographs and offer us insights into the sport that we might not otherwise have. On line articles and forums and news are great, but us geezers like to read a magazine in peace, but how long that can continue is worrying. It does (or did) appear in Tesco's and if this can tempt the odd spectator back who has lapsed from watching live sport, then that has to be good news doesn't it?

I don't know Rob Branford, but I have seen him race lots of times. He never seems to give less than his best. Regarding the U-21, I saw that meeting and I believe he won fair and square and rightly deserved to win. As far as I am concerned, he is worth the admission money to watch, fast, a proper racer who never gives up and seems to have well prepared machinery. What's not to like?

Welcome back to Ryan!

Maybe the motto of the BSPA really is: "We've had your money, now clear off". Certainly being a speedway promoter would appear to be "a great job if it wasn't for the pesky supporters".

I didn't include Adam Ellis because I didn't think he would ride another NL season, sorry, I should have included him. I knew Shane had retired, but so too did Tim Webster.... Two riders not on that list for obvious reasons, who I felt were a great loss to NL speedway are Gary Irving and Jaimie Pickard, both sadly missed.

Without commenting at all on any of these riders competence and abilities, the following list of riders (to the best of my knowledge yesterday) appeared in last seasons final greensheet, but appear not to have signed for any NL club this season. Please correct me if I have made any mistakes or howlers: R. Blacklock T. Govier G. Isherwood A. Kirby S. Woods L. Rumsey A. Baseby N. Stoneman R. Branford R. Franklin T. Fenwick T. Heath J. Knight S. Hazelden S. Waldron T. Young L. Priest S. Tedham Some of these may have retired or are unable to ride or have signed secretly for someone, but I was suprised at the length of the list.

Despite James Easter losing me twice on his tours, I like him. However, I don't much like his views. Speedway riders are not really employees and should not be treated as such, if they were employees, you would have to pay them holiday pay, get sued if they injured themselves at work as well as having to complete RIDDOR procedures and go to prison for Corporate Manslaughter if a rider was killed. You would have to lay them off properly in winter too. Blocking Billy Sanders from negotiating his own pay would certainly be regarded as illegal now if a monopoly or cartel were operating the block and probably was at that time too, either way it stinks. If an employee of one travel firm left to go to another, would James Easter think it reasonable to influence that persons pay elsewhere? Paying to watch a sport entitles me to hold an opinion and excercise the free speech I am entitled to. James Easter can get stuffed if he believes that speedway enthusiasts should be silenced, censored or ignored, people died to win us that right and we have enough with a government that treats us like mushrooms, without James trying it on too. Many of us, in small or larger ways try to support riders and smooth their way financially. I am sure that when James was managing teams, he didn't try to stop that sort of input did he? It seems we can put our hands in our pockets, but our opinions as paying customers are not welcome.