foamfence

I don't think anyone could seriously deny his achievements, that doesn't make him universally popular or beyond criticism though.

Used to enjoy seeing him leg-trailing round the banking, when he visited Halifax.

I agree but you know what they're like at following each other, if someone gets a new fork cover they'll all want one.

I didn't say that I thought otherwise but it's like Tai says, it's more dangerous on some of the tracks here and the money is less, that isn't necessarily all about reducing standards, it's more about having them reduced for you by other countries and by the fact that most clubs here use rented arena's, with that in mind I think we do well to get any GP riders. I used to be a regular at Bradford, they had a big continental style track, top riders, especially British ones, they were well publicised in the city and Odsal and nearby Halifax had tradition running back over decades. They won the league and closed! Despite some given reasons for that, the place was empty (embarrassingly so) by the time it closed. So raising standards might work but would it work enough to be viable, when you consider the costs? I don't see any great change, not because the promoters are useless but because doing what you can with what you've got, is a better option the closing down or becoming a Sunday afternoon amateur sport.

There haven't been any, the attempts to standardise equipment have never been stuck to or come to fruition, as for lowering standards? Well in the 'last 20 years' top riders can now make a living in Poland and Sweden and the GPs but the World Champion says that he'll be here next season and he's about as high a standard as there is.

They don't stick together, there's always someone who breaks ranks, twists the rules, or accepts inducements. The only way to make them work together, would be for the BSPA and SCB to have complete authority, then again, the current leader doesn't come across as having the capacity.

You can't force spectators to attend but you could introduce cost cutting measures.

They'd probably need to have a lot of multi-meeting tours if they moved down.

Sounds almost like the Provincial League and that certainly worked.

Everyone has an opinion and they're entitled to reveal it but none of us are selectors and none of our opinions are superior to any other. We should know in the next few days.

Holder and friends seem to assume he's getting one. Imagine if Pedersen and Hancock had done a full season, Holder would have been well down the list. I would think that Nicki, Greg and Martin are pretty much nailed on, which leaves one place, definitely wont be a Pole and all the regular countries have some representation, so it might be a surprise?

Are you really that bothered?

The 'club' is bigger than any one man.

Well from what is posted here, it would seem that he has basically excluded himself from attending. Hopefully the full account will be revealed and soon.

That sounds a rather sad state of affairs, is it like that everywhere? At Odsal and Halifax there often seemed to be past riders wandering around, Arthur Forrest and Arthur Wright were frequently there and Vic Lonsdale used to go on the centre green with his video camera.

I never mentioned the word "chosen." This month is filled with pointless and frequently rained-off fixtures that were never rearranged for earlier dates because of rider (un)availability. You recently had a fixture where one team had six guests and R/R, partly because two riders were on holiday and one was out of the country, that couldn't be arranged earlier because riders weren't available and ironically was rained-off anyway.

No, as things are now too many riders go missing for other reasons, his 100% support means riders who put their British fixtures above those of other countries (with the possible exception of those in their country of origin). There might be a few that don't like that, so they have the choice whether to accept it or f*** off!

Obviously you would allow for FIM meetings and such, then again, there are some that might argue that young Mr Lambert hasn't always shown British Speedway the support that he might. The current situation certainly needs something doing.

They are actually £3950 if you are VAT registered, your comment "regular service's" could be misinterpreted, the claim is once or twice a year. There are a lot of riders who don't get 50 plus races from GMs. Your comments about Freddie Lindgren are pure guesswork. While it is certainly possible to get a secondhand GM for £1000, there are very few (if any) riders in the top three leagues actually using them, Dean might possibly know of one or two.

You certainly ARE against the GTR! All you've ever done on this thread is criticise it and anyone who spoke favourably about it. There are some riders now in their second season with the engine, they seem to have found it to be 'competitive, reliable and economical.' For the first half of the season Freddie Lindgren did very well with it at all levels, then again, most GP riders seemed to switch engine builders mid-season, so they basically played a game of musical chairs with tuners and where one found failure another found success, with the same tuner! Much of which is just psychology, if a rider feels he's made the right move he'll feel confident, until the novelty wears off.

I know that Dean, I was really referring to his comment about 'average jobs' and didn't want you to think I was having a dig.

With all due respect to Dean, that could just be an indication that most of them aren't among the sharpest knives in the drawer.

Welcome to the barrel scrape.

Scunthorpe is quite near to both, they have run training schools, experience days and a winter amateur series, over the years.

Surely there's more to your post than that, at the moment it's as clear as mud?