Grand Central

. Now into my fifties ... I must be regarded as being one of the 'kids' because life has moved on and DVDs and the printed media really are a little old hat for me now. Having attended half of the World Finals of the 1970s in person I would have thought I was spot on for the demographic for this production. So many aspects of the Speedway world seem to to be stuck in some sort of time warp from the rest of us who have moved on with technology in all other aspects of our working and social lives. Such a pity. PS credit where credit is due ... The online version of The Star, available through Exact Editions from midnight on Wednesdays is working well, and has got me on rolling subscription for the first time in years and years.

That's good news. Especially if they are willing to work in tandem on the nights when events are taking place at both Stadiums.

.Dishing out some sort of 'voucher' the previous week to 'genuine' greyhound punters may be an option to try to play fair with them. But I do not expect the GRA will be daft enough to give Speedway fans an easy ride to the cheep option you suggest. .

I imagine they will be selling Car Park space at inflated prices on World Cup night.

That is what one would hope. NOT that they all felt able to vote for them in the belief that the pre AGM arrangements had already tied their hands sufficiently tight that they are unable to move!

And as that was entirely foreseeable, totally avoidable and - ultimately - destructive to forward momentum in 2016.. I think shall stick to plain idiocy. Of course it may. But it is usual on any committee for an incoming chairman to have his own 'mandate' that has secured him the position with the confidence of the members. It is rare, unique in my experience, for a new committee chairman to be voted in only to have his hands tied for the first year having to carry out decisions that he does not really agree with personally at all. Especially on matters of real substance that may blight his tenure. That is just daft.

.Thank you for rightly making it clear that the meeting that made so many of decisions that are usually taken at an AGM was not actually an AGM at all. Fair enough. But I am still a little unsure though whether you think this was a good way of doing it or not. Am I totally amiss to think it daft? .

I have a very faint memory of my first trip abroad in 1968 - as late as that - when I was taken to a couple of Victor Boston meetings. I can just about summon up a recollection of the old man, his wife Lola and their son Claud. Most is lost in the mists of time .... but I remember an old tattered poster that adorned my childhood bedroom wall emblazoned with "BOSTONS DIRT TRACK RODEO MOTOCYCLISTE".

The end of the official season in British Speedway is October 31st. Always has been. The term of office of the officers of the BSPA has never ended before that date. All members of the Association, including Chapman were aware of that fact, or should be if they understand their own Articles of Association. Having an AGM prior to that date was idiotic. If you were the outgoing Chairman, or even the aspiring incoming one. Idiots the lot of 'em.

In which case ... Come on you Mighty Belgians!

Yes I'd have thought he would be favourite but Ennis-Hill is odds on for some reason. To me the 11-2 odds for Lewis were good enough value to stick £20 on him straight off. Can't see him being beat myself.

Do you have a particular reason for being the only person pushing this daft point. You are making yourself look foolish. Is that your wish?

Don't be daft.

The polish equivalent of Baldrick at the PZM must have exclaimed ' I have a cunning plan '. One which Mr Blackadder at BSI should have heard with great scepticism. Of course, it could be quite a 'cute' solution to offer a freebie to an extra, totally irrelevant, meeting Last year they could not get the track right enough for the riders to complete a dozen races. The practice session itself being judged by some to be a contributor to the problems. The Sunday restaging date being pointless then. Next year they plan to run forty races or more. So good luck with that. I'm off to to book my flights ... This deal sounds so totally foolproof, it would be daft to miss it. .

A scan of my young schoolboy-filled-in programme https://www.dropbox.com/s/13ei3rnbgy66lcs/Halifax%201978-10-22_page1_image1.jpg?dl=0

Again just terminology and semantics.'Deemed' to be based in Australia. He is travelling from the Uk just like Holder, Bachelor and Doyle. Just a poor show not to take his gear the same way as them, gratis. Penny pinching, tight and just a bit nasty on the part of BSI. Whatever the excuse. .

I don't get the 'obviously' point here. It seems ''obvious' to me that he should be given the same terms on transport as the permanent guys. Other words I could use would be 'decent', 'right' and 'proper'.

It is certainly neither edifying, or just, either for the wild card for the Australian GP to have to resort to public begging just to fund his costs of getting to the GP. Even the most incompetent media-conscious organisation could have dealt with that better. Surely there is a 'spare' member of the Olsen family who could see that is sorted out. PDQ.

"The kid the with the gammy leg ...he's carving them to pieces." Classic.

It is certainly a shame, for us spectators, that Emil is choosing to miss the SGP. No doubt. But no more than that. This is his choice. Or at least it is his choice to take the advice of others who tell him that this is right choice. So why are we fussng so much. We all make choices, some of them better than others. But we must each live with the outcome. In later life he will probably regret it greatly. And hopefully he will take it out on an elderly Suzzi.

.Personally, I find the background to all these things quite fascinating; it could make a good winter feature in the Star to go behind the scenes on some of them. Especially, now that a good number of years have passed. On Norden, though, what with the new seating and still massive capacity .... It actually looks reasonably impressive now! It does look much more like a decent GP venue than Teterow. . Pity, standards really have slipped.

.Ok ... Fair enough, my (mock) sympathy for Ole will not be requited. But the original point made by another poster was to equate a GP at Teterow, on a par with a World final in Norden. That does seems about right. A 'mix' of venues for 2016 that has high points of Cardiff, Melbourne and Stockhom will 'surprise' us with an off the beaten-track 'gem' such as Teterow. Rather similar to that 'mix' of venues for the early 80s World finals... Wembley and LA Coleseum followed by the 'surprise' of Norden. Not quite how we viewed it, was it? Perhaps, as you say, a 'mix' ... not at all a backward step. Possibly. .

It certainly makes you think doesn't it? It makes me feel a little sympathy for Ole Olsen! Imagine striving to get the temporary tracks right ... in Melbourne, Warsaw(?), Cardiff, Stockholm and Horsens. Just so that they can put GPs on at great Stadiums. And BSI simultaneously give them out to god-forsaken places like Teterow. When they are leaving Bydgoszcz, Vojens and Gorzow (?) to lie fallow. Call me cynical but could it be about money? And NOT Speedway.

I would go with Peter Collins to win. Also Michael Lee to be in the top four, probably top three. But I am a little young to know and decide about the relative merits of Knutson and Wilkinson. I wonder if those who have given their top three and have made a decision on these two chaps could give some guidance on their thinking?