oldace

Correct, however much he is a loathsome individual the World Speedway Championship is not a popularity contest, it is a competition to find the best speedway rider in the world and Ward is a contender so on that basis and as such should get a wildcard The consequences were a 10 month ban, which he has now served.

Should be OK though, due to stop anytime. Will remain cloudy for the afternoon and then brighten up for the evening

Reduced or free admission is all well and good but once you have attracted the crowd by that method, and it usually will work, Brits love anything free, you must show them something that they consider worth paying for. Free admission got Lakeside a near 5000 crowd (accepted some would have been other clubs existing fans) but how many came back. They clearly didn't think what they saw warranted the usual admission cost The actual cost is largely irrelevant anyway. People simply want value for money, if they spend a fiver they want goods to the value of a fiver. Speedway in its current guise is nowhere near value for money at £16.00 plus (admittedly £16.00 on the gate only equates to a little over £13.00 nett).

The formation of a second division in 1968 was called just that, the second division. In 1975 it was renamed the "New National League" the new to distinguish it from the original National League which as you say, ran until 1964 but was the top division then. The New National league ran for two years if I recall before being re branded in 1977 to simply the National League. The name "National League" has now been used to name all three of the divisions of British Speedway

You were being ripped off then. When the ACES left Hyde Road in 1987 admission, including programme was £3.10. I dont thik 5 years earlier Cradley was double that

I think he is pretty spot on Sidney. Lee and Collins didn't hang around long enough to dominate the NNL, they had bigger ambitions and moved on quickly. Remember how many clubs came into existence between 1968 and 1975. These new track needed new riders. A combination of old hands past their first division best and raw rookies came along to staff these clubs. Guys bought bikes one week and were league racing the next. By 1988 the NL was a whole heap stronger than its 1978 counterpart for the reasons Grachan has highlighted earlier None of that is to decry the old NNL/NL, it did exactly what it was set up to do, develop riding talent for the BL. Prior to the late 80s and the NL promoters deciding they wanted to rival the BL rather than work together it worked pretty well. As more riders got cushy in the NL so the BL relied on cheaper foreign imports starting the path to where we are today

Very true, I forgot about Michael, he definitely failed to adapt. Such a shame really because after a troubled 81 and 82 season he got himself going in 1983 and could have built on that in 1984.

Yes indeed Sidney. I suspect Ivan would have adapted to the system prevalent in his time and been a prolific gater whatever the era. It wasn't (still isn't) about simply dropping the clutch and ringing the bikes neck and Ivan was an absolute master of the right amount of revs, body position and clutch set up for any track conditions. Nowadays of course they have to have the throttle on the stop and feather the clutch to control drive to the first turn. To be honest, apart from Erik Gundersen, who struggled no end initially, all the top starters adapted and things were pretty much as before without the farce

Indeed he was, the starts in the 70s and early 80s were farcical, the tape touching rule is one of the best rules introduced in the last 40 years. It now need taking a stage further though, if it were possible to police it accurately, then any rider who moved even a fraction should be out. The nonsense of flyers and the constant re starts needs eradicating. It is supposed to be a reflex action start, not a who is the best guesser test. At the very least where a rider is warned that should carry for the rest of the meeting with another offence resulting in exclusion

Weymouth v glasgow is on there and id very similar

There is video on you tube of a Weymouth 1980s National League match. Watch it and then tell me it is a better standard than today's PL. It is not even the standard of the current NL. Incidentally the 70s and 80s had only two world champions who started in the New National/ National league. The last 12 years have had 4 riders who started their careers in the current second tier, it really doesnt indicate anything but others have cited it as a strength of the old second tier when in truth the current second tier has produced twice the amount of world champions

It would be both in this case. The median being the middle number of am ascending sequence of numbers if there are an odd amount or the mean average of the middle two values in the ascending sequence if there are an even amount. Either way I agree, you were trying be a smart arse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone else with no grasp of averages then. In your ideal world where would the lower order teams get the riders from? In an ideal world the limit would be 42.5 unless the number of teams in the league changed. The average Average is always around 42 so with a limit of 42.5 all the current riders could be accommodated somewhere. Some riders retire and new ones come along and the league can grow and prosper With a lower limit say 39. In a 10 team league that is the equivalent of having to shed 30 points average wise. It is like getting riod of 4 10 point plus men and replacing them with 3 pointer, the strategy that has brought us to the weak league we have today Any higher than 42.5 and there will be a lack of riders for the weak teams to strengthen Obviously the current system changes the figures somewhat but the premise is still the same

[quote name="grachan" post="2642971" timestamp="1436281411 I have a programme somewhere from 1976 that showed the averages of the sides at the start of the season. The highest was around 55 and the lowest about 39. Nobody gave it much thougt then. What other methods could there be to ensure even balanced teams? And with an average of just under 10 bonus points a match, just under 5 per team, your 55 point team is 50 and your 39 point team is 34 using the modern way of not including bonus points leaving a mean team average around 42, all exactly as it would work today.

The main reason was that Eric Boothroyd was offered Odsal on an initial rent free basis which coupled with the high rent, and as you say Remedial work that needed doing at the Shay pretty much made the decision for him. Of course only a few weeks into their tenure there was the Carter tragedy, Odsal wasn't the most atmospheric venue with only a couple of thousand in there and to top it all, save for about 3 weeks in July the place was ffing freezing!!!!!!!

No, that is just some nonsense you made up. The statement was quite clear. If a club severely doubts a match will go ahead (current state of track combined with forecast) then a call off more than 48 hours in advance means the OB hasn,t been mobilized and will incur SKY in no cost, it will also give them time to possibly re locate to another match. With less than 48 hours everything has started to swing into place re covering that match, costs incurred etc and they would like to do everything possible to get the meeting on. It is a perfectly reasonable request

I suspect we will only have to wait just over 3 months for that one

National Speedway Stadium is, in essence just a name. It is the new home of Belle Vue. The funding is partially from Manchester City Council to be paid back over a number of years and it is in keeping with the overall re development of East Manchester in general and this area in particular, as a "Sport City". Like Shawn says if you expressed any doubts about this ever being built then you wanted it to fail and should now be hanging your head in shame

Where do you suggest the new home of Belle Vue should be built then. London maybe but it seems a tad far for Aces supporters to travel every week. Birminghams is fairly central but again quite a way to travel and would Manchester City Council be as keen to help fund a stadium 100 miles away. No on reflection I think a venue in Manchester is the best place to build a track for the Belle Vue Aces of Manchester

What he means John, in plain English just so you can understand is Why the fkuc do you insist on acting like a pr!ck on each and every post

Loved him in cracker

He was throwing the apples because he had some upsetting news a few years earlier, the school goldfish died apparently, he is not sure if he threw 1 apple or a few dozen, he often loses count on amounts between those parameters

Probably in the throes of applying as well

Sounds like Darcy Ward back in Aussie during the close season

Spot on, and it is that record that places Nicki as a legend of the sport. Whether people like him or not is a matter of opinion, that he is one of the greats is not, 3 world titles is testament to his status as a legend of the sport