oldace

I agree with you Trees, whenever I see British clubs in dire straits, crowds measured in only a few hundred, constant rain offs and the future of the sport in this country in grave danger it always gives me a good laugh

Another totally undeserved testimonial. Still while there are people daft enough to attend these meeting the riders will continue to milk the system.

This forum is amazing, about the only events in the sport that draw big crowds and usually provide great racing are the SGP, SWC and the Elite League play offs. Amazingly the luddites usually suggest doing away with these events.

I hope the forum members are more helpful to you than they were to me. All day I waited at the cinema because no one could be arsed to look what time my movie started, and i didnt get to see any speedway on Sunday in the wilds of the outer hebrides because no one told me whether there was any on or not

Not got a clue as to which track but that contraption isn't doing anywhere near "116 mph on the straights". 40 or 50 mph tops

Wednesfield v Birmingham in the Elite League is taking place on Saturday and being recorded for future transmission on Sky. It is not actually on TV on Saturday

Indeed, it is hard to give meeting the credibility a National Final deserves in front of a few hundred people at Oxford or Wolves etc, Brandon was, and still is the best setting for the event from both stadium and geography point of view

Not so unfortunately, the 20,000 crowds died away at the end of the 70s, by the late 80s the British Final was a mere shadow of the event it once was playing to only a few thousand although as you say a sight more than today. I attended many Wednesday nights in the seventies but missed a few from early 80s onwards and remember going again in 1986 and thinking how much the event had declined

Actually no, the exact opposite, the switch to Sundays was the start of the decline in the event although it really just mirrored the decline in the sport in general.

Actually the golden era of Brandon British Finals was Wednesday evenings, Sundays only came in the mid eighties

I don't think he would Sidney. not that he wasn't good enough, the Sanders of 83/84 vintage could easily beat the best in the world. Billy's problem was always channelling that determination and aggression into something positive, with Billy it seemed to turn into desperation. The focus seemed lost because of his ever increasing desperation to win a world title and I think it would have prevented him ever doing it. Truth is though no one really knows as regards what might have been, fun trying to dissect it though isn't it

Ole could be ruthless, to the point of dirty on occassion. He blatantly stopped in front of Egon Muller in a World pairs event sending him crashing down hard. Also Mort was less than pleased with Ole's methods in the 1983 Inter Continental Final!!!!!!!!!!

I tend to agree with you, although I wouldn't undermine Nicki Pedersen who has evolved into a great rider (sometimes even safe). I do think that Olsen at his peak just shades it over Nicki. As regards being ruthless Olsen was no gentleman on track and could be hard to the point of dirty on the odd occasion. Nicki still gets judged on his early GP years when he was riding a little harder than his ability level at the time and it got him into some situations, but the the last 5 or 6 years have seen Pedersen mature a lot as a racer

Yes Craig did indeed make the correct decision, in fact there really was no decision to make, the ref is not there to make up his own rules, merely to apply them as per the rulebook, that is what Craig did. Of course it doesn't help fans understanding when the commentators keep repeating incorrect info.

Yes Sidney 1965,1967,1969 and 1970 British Finals were at Custom House

We had a lot of success in the seventies in the world team cup, we won 4 (5 if you stretch it to 1980) titles, but we are 32 years without a genuine win in that competition (I dont consider we were worthy winners in 1989 really) Post war, those few years aside, England never really ruled the world, not unless we were borrowing commonwealth riders anyway, We did though usually have a few genuine contenders about and in the 60s and 70s it was rare that at the beginning of the season you knew for certain an Englishman would not be crowned world champion, the situation we are in today

We have only had one world champion per decade in the last 5 decades. Craven in the 60s, Collins in the 70s, Lee in the 80s, Havvy in the 90s, Loram in the 00s. We are only 2 years into this decade so plenty of time to keep the sequence going.

Can't help with regard who rode in that match at Crayford but Clayton Isbel was young Aussie who came over from Claremont in 1983. He was a regular at Belle Vue training schools and a few Colts matches and looked really fast, particularly round Hyde Road which was probably due to his Claremont upbringing. Newcastle and Crayford would not likely have been the two best tracks to showcase his talents on I suspect. He went home at the end of 83 and if I recall never came back

I have no issues with Nigel Pearson, I quite like him nowadays, nor do I have any gripe with the Sky coverage. I am also under no illusions as to how insignificant speedway is to Sky, it is purely something to show between the ads and its format lends itself to multiple ad breaks. As long as viewing figures are reasonable speedway will stay on Sky, when they drop, speedway will be off our screens like a shot. What I thought strange was you coming on here stating that you, in essence, steal the service (for whatever reason). While your case may be different the internet streams are partly responsible for lower viewing figures year on year for Elite League and this ultimately threatens the sport staying on Sky. Stealing is stealing, however you dress it up

Have I read this correct. Is someone who steals a service telling a legitimate buyer he should be grateful for the service received If I was stealing my weekly shopping from Sainsbury's I would accept the odd out of date item in there, but as I pay for it, like 99% of the population, rest assured I voice my disattisfaction when something is amiss

Yes indeed. The pass on Jessup and Davis was something else, went into the bend not really looking a massive threat to pass either of them and came into the straight in front of them both, right the way around the outside. With having PC and Mort and the perfect stage for them to perform in Hyde Road we were certainly spoiled at Belle Vue in the 15 years prior to its demise Watch it here

The home number 3 (at Belle Vue invariably PC) met the away number 1 in heats 11 and 13. In heat 13 he was joined by the home number 5 (generall Mort in that era) so yes, it was never easy for a visiting number 1 to get a max at Belle Vue in that era. Teams often played about with line ups, Exeter were known to have Ivan at 2 to combat a team using a tac sub in an otherwise weak heat 8 if Exeter had built a 6 point lead. It does of course leave you vulnerable elsewhere but that was the art of team managing, a modern team manager is largely redundant to be honest, fixed gates, riders having to take certain positions in the team combine to give him no leeway at all

I would agree with that to be honest. Michanek was head and shoulders in 1973 and pretty darn good in 75. No league form to judge 1974 on but a World Title is a pretty good yardstick. Mort, for all his consistency in the early eighties at league level his lack of starting technique meant he was never a really serious contender for the big one

Not a bit early at all Phil. Crowds in Poland, for league racing have been falling for a few years now. It was once a relatively cheap day out for the Poles but now a league match, in real terms, is about the same as here and with the ongoing development in Poland the Poles are finding other things to spend their leisure dollar on. Their authorities made the same mistakes as here in believing you could afford a few lost fans by simply upping admission to the rest. Polish speedway is not just on the slippery slope but a good way down it

As you say, good by British standards but way down on the norm for Lezno a few years ago. Polish speedway is slowly replicating its British equivilent in that it is losing fans and upping admission costs to compensate and getting into the spiral that creates. The bubble of Polish speedway has already burst and a year or two will see it implode