remembertheracers

Privatisation of the Royal Mail will probably be the same joy as the utilities, British rail etc. Double your money on shares, more for insider banks, higher prices and no improvement in service. My first st privatisation issue arrived on a Tuesday! And for all its good intentions I found the online stuff so far is hard work.

Very disappointing about Jason Doyle. As to doubling up riders we look like having Morris at Somerset, Worrall at Edinburgh which is a horrendous regular trip and possibly Birks at Scunthorpe on Fridays. Not good news when Swindon race away on Fridays is it? Guessing the first two to be announced will be Kildemand and Morris...

Clearly if Swindon, Birmingham and I am sure other EL teams had not made such a drastic move it would be a £20 sport - even if attendances didnt drop further.Read the quotes of rthe Pebley Beach sponsor - the club nearly didnt survive. And as someone who is pro EU and the Commonwealth I still think it is vital to restrict this to UK born and based riders only. I do agree that one or two have been around a long time and carry too much weight even but it gives the promoters more choice. As an aside why has Swindon's infield training track been used so rarely. I do think local riders are good for clubs - the great Belle Vue and Ipswich teams proved that.

Come off it, the crowds have not flocked in for several years and like it or not those 23 riders will be drafted. We have had substandard riders, too many doubling up with date clashes. Of all the clubs none struggled more financially than Swindon, so the delusions of grandeur are misplaced. It hasn't been a real Elite League for almost a decade. There is just a chance this may save the top league in some form and may just help a few Brits progress more quickly.

Would not the inclusion of Ben Reade and Darryl Ritchings generate interest, both are local boys for Swindon.

Both are media savvy, its an interesting post with your observation. I think though Simon's away form had most to do with his departure. I think Simon would want to stay at Sheffield in the PL which would rule Swindon out with their Thursday nightbut most of all I hope that multiple leg fracture is healing well.

Troy Batchelor lifts the lid on Swindon debts in this interview http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/speedway/10740392.Batchelor_lifts_lid_on_Robins__turbulent_season/

While we wait for the 2014 points limit, and expect it to be low I think if Swindon have Kildemand, Doyle and Morris - and they should! - they will be the top three riders in terms fo starting averages. That in itself would be as much as even a better season, without Sky, could consider affording.

Barring a major shock, and I wish the Brummies well, the title is Poole's. So a damp squib end to Sky's weekly coverage of the Elite League. Like most paying customers I loathe the principle of double points. You might get away with explaining to a non speedway person that a rider can get 6 points for winning a race. But one who scores 4 for second place when the winner gets 3 defies all logic. I also feel that no two teams should both use rider replacement in any match. I dont care if one team is missing a number 2 while its opponents are missing a number 3 - it means too many delays. Equally when an unsatisfactory start is called with all four back the pit gate should remain locked. Meetings should start on time and no excuses for 2.5 to 3 hours to run 15 races is acceptable except for serious injuries. Speedway, with or without Sky needs to think of paying fans and their kids who have work/school the next morning. I cant congratulate Poole, too many factors in that Belle Vue v Pirates televised match stunk to high heaven.

Having read Matt Ford's comments in the Poole Evening Echo about the viability of 2014 for the EL I'd expect a very low points limit. Whatever please no Kennett!

Reports on the BT Sport project are not good in the short term, so any interest there seems unlikely. Sky, it appears, would want paying to keep up the current schedule. I suggest Mr Rising's earlier suggestion might be correct -that they might show play-offs only or simply cherry pick an odd match here or there. The consensus here seems to be that the EL is no longer a credible sport, that is very sad. Tinkering here and there will not do this winter...

Agree with Lord Porn of Dorset that the winners of this tie will be crowned champions of the last Sky Elite League as we know it. Totally pitiful crowd at Blunsdon tonight after a silly postponement last Monday and a late start (7.45)and long track grading gap when the rain moved in last Thursday The fans are p..... off. Will Tango Ronnie give the Robins the bit more grip Rosco says they need now that Midland Robin has stepped back?

PER was magnificent and 1990 was Reading's greatest year. 1st and 3rd in the World Final, League and I think also KO Cup winners. I thought Todd Wiltshire was a future World Champion until his back injuries. Happily Todd recovered, Per is very badly paralysed. A double tragedy for Reading and Swindon will sympathise with former Robin Lee Richardson so badly missed and Leigh Adams paralysed. Four really great riders there, all badly injured or worse. Makes you realise how dangerous the sport can be, even though Adams' injuries weren't from speedway.

Time and time again Bridger lets himself down. He was a potential talent but needed tough handling even in these politically correct days. He clearly lost his way and will now never make a top rider.

I enjoyed it and the commentary without the shouting and yelling was such a pleasant change. Loved Scotty likening Nicki P to a Jack Russell too! Some of the linking up was dodgy but this was their first effort - and with no Tony Olsson/Phil Rising there. I agree a lifetime rule should be changed. The referee should have discretion to put all four back, Lindgren did the right thing in avoiding what looked a potential big time crash and Vaculik was innocently collected. Think you are outvoted!

Ben Barker's reputation on and off track stinks to high heaven. Stupid Cookie for getting sucked in.

Lets face facts - only Tai Woffinden has a real future. Harris, Nicholls and Kennett are on the way down; King and Barker are as good as they are going to be. Bridger is probably the same. Kennett is a proven cheat, Barker and Bridger are brats. They may not be ready but Worrall, Birks, Cook - and down the track Ellis - have futures. Is it time to patch up with second best, or go for an all out youth policy with Tai as the leader?

Pawlicki for Kennett? Rosco to put Birks in Ht 14 instead of Coooory or Gooomolski when he should! Rosco Time to give Birksy the easier number 7, the boy has something. And carry a bit of paper saying should I make a reserve change in Heat 14, its a mistake you make too often and may well have cost Swindon a point at Brum.

Eurosport every time. The guy in the studio was different, less posh but he didn't drive me around the bend like Ermolenko who sat on the fence and took a lot of words to say very little. They also have Pearson shouting less and cut down on the time with Baldy and Kelv. Hope Sky stick with British speedway, but also hope it is one big league next year. Scunthorpe and Somerset were the best two meetings this year, but KL next Weds was good. Prefer Tuesday or Wednesday night matches too. The missus likes her soaps on a Monday...which made Mondays at Smallmead a good night to go out!

They had loads of meetings in March/April when it was freezing. Meetings started late and ran slowly - the website still says parade 7.20, first race 7.30. Cut and pasted from the fixtures section at 21.00 tonight All home matches start at 7.30pm (parade 7.20pm), unless otherwise stated. Ever known them stick to that??? And rarely do they get on with it and run matches at a reasonable speed. Then loads of blank Thursdays - why put reserved in the programme if you have no intention of using it? They rarely update the website on lineups till the day before, a waste and lack of promotion. Too many fixture cockups. Those are facts. Should have kept Doyle who lives in the town and is thus a walking advert for speedway. Gathercole for Gomolski would hardly weaken them - but what is Mr Andersen's beef at the moment, he seems to want to ride only when there is nothing else?

Having lost 5 of the last 7(make that 6 out of 8 unless its rained off at Coventry on Friday) the Robins need a major turnaround to make the top 3. Scunthorpe dont have to ride that many Thursdays but the Robins managed to clash with most meaning boy Birks has not had a fair chance. Far better to have kept Jason Doyle than sign Kennett, the Pole is occasionally hot but mainly cold. There is a feeling at Blunsdon that all is not well in terms of finance, direction, promotion and attention to fixtures and the fans.

First let me say I have no intention of giving up on Speedway Star, I think it is an excllent publication covering a struggling minority sport. It had a revamp at the start of the season, but after two months I have to say I dislike the format. I can see that the magazine now tries to get two or three stories on each club, but dislike the way you have to leap around to find what you want. As there are no Reading Racers I really have no axe to grind, except that I'd like to find the non news stories on Belle Vue, Poole, Swindon or whoever in one place and not dotted around. Some of the writers seem less interesting than say twenty years ago, but in part that maybe me having lost Reading, and even dear old Oxford. Does anyone else have any thoughts? My only other criticism is the big cutback on the Grand Prix previews. Otherwise well done Mr Rising et al

In both televised meetings last week Klindt looked like he has lost his nerve. Never did achieve his early potential...

I merely said that Kurtz was dreadful on Thursday,,looked like he was not trying, and in that instance I'd rather see a local boy who will ride his balls off. Kurtz is I know a PL reserve, I do read Speedway Star but his performance was almost offensive - and I am a neutral by and large not a Swindon fan - except when Zagar was in the team..

Then Kurtz owed it to Rosco and Swindon to put in a decent effort, which he did not do last night. He has been around the PL for 3 seasons at least. English Roundabout called his performance the worst since Sumner McKnight. I did not have the thrill, or rather the lack of it, of seeing him ride. He must have been awful though!