Jonny the spud

It's the off season. Every year we get Phil's " I know something you don't " Bully for you Phil. It would have been nice to announce it earlier so that riders would have been able to use the news to attract potential sponsors, as it's hard to get people to part with money without telling them what platform their investment will be shown on, funnily enough saying that you're in the star every week doesn't hold much sway in the real world . Most riders suits are made or are being made unfortunately without the league sponsors name on them. It's a great sport unfortunately in terms of organisation and public relations it seems to be run by a bunch of ten year olds.

i walked the track at stoke.......... with the visiting teams manager and the referee, ( who asked the visiting team to put in an official complaint and then the home promotor would be forced to act and rectify the problem before the meeting started as the referee himself couldn't act without the aforementioned complaint). you are perfectly within your rights as a rider to put one wheel over the inside line, there was a 2 foot drop immediately after the broken kerbstones which pass for track markers. Boring if all flats were flat and smooth ??? yes i suppose having a proper surface wouldn't encourage riders to try different lines etc, they must love the unpredictability of some of the excuses that pass as tracks. I must remember to tell Holder your opinion next time i see him, oh and all the other riders that seem to prefer racing elsewhere too.

Well there's not a lot of news coming from the club ..... err, i've just bought a van ....... hardly earth shattering eh ? when some training starts i'll stick some photos on here

if you ever get the chance to walk the track at stoke, look at the inside then try to imagine the consequences of plating your front wheel over the line at 70 mph. Believe me, i've ridden internationally and i know how much it hurts when it all goes wrong.

After Chris Holder's accident, he was asked what could improve British speedway in an interview and he replied the standard of tracks. I live abroad and watch good racing on permanent tracks however last year due to my son's involvement i got to see a few tracks in the UK . Oh my god !! Put your wheel over the inside markers at stoke and yo disappear down a 2 foot hole, Go slightly wide at Rye house on the first bend and you hit an offset camber which pushes you to the fence, come steaming down the straight at poole and theres a massive hole / take off ramp between the start and the corner . . . . etc I'm sure there's lots of other "quirky" tracks that fans and promotors will trot out the " well a good rider should be able to ride all kinds of tracks" line. But why can't some of the scant money in the sport be used to provide consistent, flat, safe racing surfaces ? When the world champion ( at the time) points out the blindingly obvious, when will people start to listen and more importantly act on it ?

I have known Dimitri Bergé since he was born and believe me, you don't become world 125 & 250 longtrack champion as well as French 250 champion and qualify for longtack GP's without having a bit of talent. He's been training on a speedway bike for the last 2 winters as well.

I hope that people stop moaning on here about the people moaning on here about the people moaning on here.

Wow. Those 100+ letters , phone calls , emails and discussions must have been a figment of my imagination. Tell me, what's it like to be perfect ?

A phone call from at least one potential sponsor !

I feel sorry for kent. Hopefully I'm proved wrong but only time will tell. I'm 49 years old and have two successful businesses that both use Facebook / twitter / websites and without them I'd be struggling to compete with my competition. It is THE way of getting your message over in this day and age. Anyone who ignores it is doomed to failure. I visited kent once last year as I live overseas but I followed the track building, team building , match reports and press releases with interest. It really seemed to be an exciting prospect. Now however it all seems to be going ** up, the only thing you hear from the club us negative and once in a blue moon I went to RH. A couple of times last year ( you know, the club who's selling point is the best fish and chips in speedway) the stadium was a tip. The music was from 50 years ago. The presentation was dire and the fish and chips were crap. ( and run out before heat 6) It's quite depressing to see the hope that was there last year disappear into a 1960's time warp. Oh well, what a wasted effort instead of what could have been

Wow DAC that was deep. If only I knew what it meant.

We can't go back to that because the world has moved on. People have more choices on how and what to do with their leisure time. Going back to the old days is not an option. Just opening the doors and expecting punters to flood in is about as likely as George Formby releasing a no 1 album. Yes learn from the past but for gods sake stop trying to re-create it, it ain't gonna happen. Don't forget that for every old boy who has years of experience and seen it and done it , there's also a handful of promoters who think the same. Just look at every other sport that has left speedway trailing in its wake, has it stayed the same as 30. 40,50 years ago ??

It's not a question of reducing my outgoings. It's a question of making sure the young British rider has the best and most economical means of getting his equipment and himself all over the country and Europe to meetings I sponsored him with a secondhand van this year and an exploding fith gear in Munich meant a slow overnight drive from lonigo to Leicester with only 4 gears. The old trailer and car excuse in reducing riders costs is a false flag

No most riders need an unwritten van as speedway is their work. The world I live in ??? Actually I'm just about to provide the aforementioned so that a rider can do just that. Of course I could help them with an old car and trailer that's uneconomical and may break down and cost more in the long run in repairs.

Car crash tv. What a shame, although not a fan of the kent team I always enjoyed their updates. You teally got the inside view of a club emerging from nowhere.

What a stupid post. Most riders use modern, economic, small engined, unwritten vans as they are the cheapest and most reliable way of getting them and their equipment to work.

Thank god that's sorted. ...... It was almost turning into an elephantman -esqe banging on about air fences thread.

The non announcement so far does however make it very hard to attract sponsorship for a rider. Especially with the waiting lists at some companies for getting suits / bike covers etc

Is this weeks online edition the same as the printed one ? I.e. half full of stuff that should be in a vintage speedway magazine and not worth the money ? FFS chaps if i wanted to subscribe to a vintage publication i'd search one out

The few times I went. ( not in the van with the bikes ) it cost a bloody fortune in the 4x4

no news ?

Don't flatter yourself than anyone gives a monkeys what you think.

Can we have a separate thread on the up and coming Brits ???? A lot of these guys are racing on tracks they've never even seen before, it'll be interesting to see how the season pans out and how they fare against hopes / expectations ... Who knows, if we have 3 or 4 Brits in the SGP in a few years this season may be looked upon as the turning point.

I've been to the Island a number of times in the last couple of years, i've seen adverts on the ferry for ...... Garlic farms music festivals supermarkets dinosaur parks markets scooter rallys guest houses cycle rides etc...... etc Speedway ? not one mention in any magazine, leaflet or road sign. it's almost as if a casual visitor to the Island wasn't suppose to know

Actually I'm thinking more about track time. £10 a point doesn't even cover the cost of engine wear/ clutch plates / tyres etc