crescent girl

Interesting stories from Poland today, suggesting U-24 League could be axed over financial worries. Quite apart from the inference that Polish speedway isn't rock-solid and overflowing with dough, this could see a number of young riders, otherwise thought to be unavailable to Championship clubs, looking for a league to race in at short notice...

Buchanan St Bus Station is closed dure to 'suspicious activity"!

Yeah, only took a month.......

You would? Twice the cost -- for half the season.....?

Matty Wethers?

It's because Heat 15 rides, while counting in your average, skew the "four ride" figuring. Think about it...

Just to confirm, the Fife Lions jacket was bought by Berwick supporter Andrew Scobie, who donated £300 to the SRBF. Much appreciated!

Next season will have an extra blank Saturday inserted for the Belle Vue GP. I have always believed that, especially with a lighter fixture-list, clubs should consider starting quite a bit later, mid- to late-April at the earliest, and thus offer their prospective patrons a greater continuity of fixtures over the warmer, lighter months. Start at Easter (April 19 is the Saturday) and even if last year's clean sheet with the weather was to be repeated (hah!) the bare minimum BSN , KO Cup and Championship fixtures -- having allowed for two GPs and the British Final to be mandatory blank Saturdays -- would take things through to the end of July. With the possibility of rearranged dates for rained-off meetings, plus the pleasant thought of progress in a couple of the competitions, that's the season running on to the end of August at least.............

Can't someone pin this topic?

Conference/AGM is November 12/14th

As described in Speedway Star of October 19th, the #4 race-jacket from the Fife Lions is on offer just now, with proceeds of sale going to the SRBF......... Only known survivor of a set of seven, used at Cowdenbeath for their short and only season in 1965. Any interest? Need to be fairly quick -- bids are currently at £210, will close at end of October. Advise your offer to dick@crystalfm.co.uk

Could we get this topic pinned, maybe? (first request)

Dillon has recently shipped all his UK equipment home to USA. Not planning a return. Not that this will prevent posters naming him in their suggested squads for the next five months....

Anyone remember Rob Grant?

Not me!

We also had the first summer in 56 seasons without a rain-off (home or away).... Fixture lists do usually have a couple of dates reserved for restagings. Plus there were Saturdays blocked for the British Final and Cardiff when no-one could run. I'm not saying it was ideal, but there were reasons. Personally, l'd never start the season til late April. That would soak up blank weeks, and run meetings in warmer weather, too...

There are a few things beyond the obvious keeping the Russians sidelined. If they are now to be considered "Polish" then it is up the PZM to nominate them to contest the GPs -- presumably through next season's GP Challenge system. But obviously, there is a restriction on the nominations from any one governing body. That will mean they take the place of two "real Poles" in the system, which might not go down too well with the Polish public, who don't generally like Russia as a neighbour, and would feel aggrieved if (say) Magic and Dudek were dropped by the PZM to allow Emil and Laguta into the qualifiers...... Another route would be via the European Championship, albeit that only one could win it, and enter the GPs that way. But again, FIM Europe (a different organisation from the FIM in many ways) will have restrictions of their own....... In short, I don't see either of the Russians getting back into the GP system in the forseeable future. Unless the war is ended, of course. Over to you, Mr Putin!

From you, maybe. No-one else.

Biggest crowd l've ever seen at Leicester! Makes the case why play-off are here to stay...

Why not start a petition to have Russia withdraw from Ukraine? You'd have as much hope of success, but at least an ethical reason for organising it.....

It would certainly be a disgrace. Russians should be nowhere near international sport

Word on the street is it'll be Charles Wright. Scunthorpe deploying r/r for MPT.

The onus for ensuring a rider is eligible to guest surely rests with the club engaging him. The referee gets a list of each team's line-up three days prior to a meeting, and checks to ensure their averages are correct, not if they are cup-tied, which is hardly his business. If an ineligible rider somehow gets tracked (as with Drew Kemp at Scunny) it'll always be realised at some point, before, during or after the match, and -- if it really matters -- his points deducted and the result amended. In this case, the points from his three races only marginally change the scoreline, Scunny still win on the night and on aggregate. Riders' averages aren't affected by a play-off meeting and we can all settle down. Bad move by Scunny not to check on his eligibility tho. Might have cost them dearly!

For what its worth, referee (Mick Bates) signed Ben Cook out of the meeting with "head injury, concussion" which carries the regulation nine-day lay-off. The referee also reported that a re-examination/re-assessment was required at the end of that period, prior to Ben being allowed to resume racing activity.

And Oxford's guests on Wednesday are Dan Gilkes (for Jenkins) and Jody Scott (for Roynon)