oldace

With the Elite League season only a few weeks away this is a total disaster for Speedway. To lose a historic venue like Coventry at virtually zero notice is terrible news. Not good for their riders either, where can the get a ride at this late stage. I think everyone knew Brandon was borrowed time as a stadium but no one could have expected the end to come so quickly

That optimism seems likely to be misplaced.

What a fantastic gesture, to put a meeting on purely for the fans out of the goodness of their hearts. This has restored my faith in human nature, you simply can't buy kindness like that.

Professional sport is the total opposite to normal business, particularly sports like speedway. While in normal business you have little regard for your competitors financial well being, quite the opposite in fact, with sport you want (need) all your competitors to be successful financially. You can't be a sports club in isolation, you need others to play/race against. For speedway competition starts and finishes on track, it doesn't continue beyond that. In an ideal world every club would start with an equal chance, certainly they must be able to potentially win most home matches and be competitive away Of course one team would win and one would be last but it shouldn't be a hopeless last, unable to win a match with crowds dropping through the floor

Like the business model that has 99% of all football clubs bankrupt with clubs forced to pay silly money to compete with the likes of City or Chelsea. Such a policy can work in a normal business but with a sports club it is vital that all clubs are financially successful and an across the board pay policy would be the way to go for that to happen

Mmm. That is the exact story told by Ivan Mauger in the 1981 Lada yearbook. If memory serves Ivan didn't name Billy, merely referred to a top Australian international rider. The only slight difference is that in Ivans version two promoters got straight onto the phone to Billy and near doubled his salary Are we to assume that the exact same situation happened twice with polar opposite outcomes or someone is getting their facts mixed up

If he had won that heat I agree he would have been set fair. He had already beaten Ivan and still had another gate 1 to come but would still have had to face Olsen from Gate 4. As it panned out though 14 would still have won it. Even though Bernie really got a lot of stick for that it wasn't as bad as it was made out. Barry was coming back inside as Bernie had a lot of speed to go through the gap. It was actually very similar to Penhalls first turn pass of Nielsen 9 years later but on that occasion Hans stayed on

Better watch ourselves now Grachan, the forum bully boy is on our case. He took my dinner money last week and gave me a chinese burn!!!! Just a joke Ian !!!!!

Quite. It has split the speedway world in half for 32 years. The real loser though was Les Collins. The norm back in the day, particularly with Tore Kittilsen, was to let a race continue if the fallen rider was on the outside away from problems. The inexperienced American track staff though just ran onto the circuit forcing him to put on a red light that otherwise wouldn't have come on. With little over a lap to go there is no way Bruce would have caught PC. Still its all history now, Penhall won, the others didn't and speedway went into even more decline

Indeed he was, but not by the time they come out of the 2nd bend. Penhall had passed him and Carter wouldn't yield, hence he ran out of room and fell off

"Contact" Kelvins favourite word. It really is all about being in front. Two riders racing neck and neck down the straight into the bend. Now if the rider on the outside is half a wheel behind and tries to continue the race into the bend he will get wiped out by the sliding back wheel of the inside rider. Clear contact but totally the fault of the rider on the outside who didn't concede the corner. In that situation he has to run in later make a wider turn and try again later. On the other hand if the rider on the outside is half a wheel in front he can continue the race into the bend quite safely, the bikes can turn in unison and no one falls off. It really is all about getting your wheel in front. Now in the case of Penhall/Carter they were coming out of the bend but the same applies On a track like Hyde Road Carter would have been OK to keep going in that situation. If it was Halifax or Hull (or the coliseum) he wouldn't because he would know exactly where Bruce would be and that there would simply be no room for him. In the cut and thrust of a world final Kenny simply made a bad call

It happened the other way round though. It was Carter running into Bruce that sent Bruce out of shape. In a normal broadside it would be impossible to do such a manoeuvre as flicking a back wheel out. A rider may do an exaggerated over steer to turn back hard under an opponent but it involves a lot more happening than just "flicking the wheel". However many times you may have seen it and from whatever angles the truth is it was entirely Kenny's fault, he simply raced into a dead end

We would all like to see sppedway in wimbledon michael but it simply cant happen. The site now has to generate a massive amount of money in the minimul amount of time and, no matter what, speedway cant be in any way part of that. It was always the likely outcome from the moment rcp bought the gra. Zero investment and maximum profit in the short term before disposing for acquick profit is the rcp model. I suspect the plan was always to dispose of wimbledon cowley and belle vue but this is proving problematic and they are saddled wigh enormous debt on a business that can never hope to make inroads into paying it off

Michael i have to wonder if you have learning difficulties. Arthur cross has explained over and over but you still keep coming back with the same stuff Put simply speedway isnt excluded from anything. If speedway offered an instant solution to finding £50 million then the gra/galiards and the irish banks would embrace it, if speedway could offer the council the potential £1 million pounds per annum that 400 - 500 houses then bet your bottom dollar they would be right behind it. As for supporters groups trying to do someting. Without the werewithal to actually make it happen then its toaltally pointless. Please read what is being posted and accept that, as things stand, there is zero possibility of speedway at plough lane

That's the swear filter for you, and I tried to fool it as well

Or alternatively FFS some people are thick as idiot.

Only th once Only the once

Bast was pretty good on the tiny California circuits, there is no denying that. He regularly beat the top riders of the day on them. In reality though he was beating riders who were simply in the States on holiday and picking up a bit of spending money while they were there. When it came to real racing Bast fell short, 1977 at White City for instance. In view of that, as you say Bast is nowhere near a list of top 100 best ever. That said if, like Penhall did, he had the ambition and desire to go to Europe he had it in him to do much better but he was happy in the sun and earning a nice living

Why are you sorry. <personal abuse removed - rules are same for ALL> This country will Be a better place when he leaves

Yes I agree with that. They are able to push it to the back of their mind or, like you say, dismiss it as something that happens to someone else. However when that risk is right under your nose just before you go out it is a bit harder to dismiss it.

Indeed they did, and Steve Weatherley is also a regular in the pits at Eastbourne. From a riders perspective though, they are trying to put the risk to the back of their mind and the last thing they see before they go out to race is someone paralysed from a racing accident.

Without wanting to sound harsh a person in a wheelchair through a racing accident is probably not what a rider wants to see just before he goes out for each race.

Indeed. Sadly the houses wii also be the death knell for speedway in swindon.