foamfence

Why have regional leagues and then pick riders from one region and put them in the other? Surely the point of a regional league is to reduce travel for spectators and riders.

With some end of season winding down in the overseas leagues, it might not be difficult to find a reasonable replacement for the last few meetings.

Breaking away from the rest and having one semi-pro league and one amateur league, is something that comes to mind.

Probably even less than that, to be honest. There are simply too many people trying to make a living out of it.

If you look at videos of the recent World Junior Championships on YouTube, the 250s look adequately fast but how reliable would they be and would they be even more dependent on tuners and setup?

Who is Alex Harkness?

Howarth and the German were both on a joker, Howarth broke the tapes and the German got 6!

Exactly right and I hear he has a younger brother who looks the business as well.

Glasgow have shown that some improvement is possible without changing the rules and structure of the sport (true that not every promotion can afford to spend to their level) but a return to busy stadiums is highly unlikely. The two best supported leagues are in Poland and Sweden and both of them have seen numbers decline by probably a greater percentage than here (they just began their decline from a higher level). Another problem that can't be got around with current bikes and noise regulations, is that too many tracks are miles from anywhere and aren't particularly local to anyone, I used to go to Halifax, Bradford, Belle Vue, Sheffield and Doncaster by public transport, I even went further for some away meetings, these days that's impossible in most parts of the country. I've introduced lots of friends to the sport and explained what was going on, most enjoyed it but almost all of them drifted back to whatever occupied their time on their evenings and weekends before they were introduced to Speedway. It's a sad state of affairs but as Alex Harkess says "it's difficult to produce a cure for the ills."

It worked because most riders had off-track jobs and there wasn't the opportunity to ride in several countries a week, in many cases they were lucky to get one match a week. A semi-professional future is quite likely, the way things are going. There are already a lot of riders using club bikes or engines. With the very poor reliability record of modern engines a track spare probably wouldn't be the answer.

To be fair there was a lot of criticism in both directions.

Just looked at the line up on the Tigers website, not overly impressed with it.

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/speedway/redcar-bears-suffer-double-injury-9720104

What Masters got shouldn't be allowed to set a precedent, we can never overcome inconsistency or mistakes from referees. Tungate's action was deliberate and reckless, even if his intentions might have been less damaging than they appeared to be.

He was OK at Kings Lynn but deteriorated at Belle Vue, his PL form hasn't been as good over the last two seasons either. EL promoters bring in whatever they see as the best option. Are you sure he decides who gets a place? I should think that Chris Morton and his fellow promoters decide that.

What?

Sorry, I completely disagree. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Some people seem to think Tungate was justified because of Auty's reputation and the unproven claim that 'he didn't really mean it.' So am I to assume that they would come to a different conclusion if the recipient had been someone other than Auty? The fact is that Tungate should face an enquiry and be prepared to accept whatever consequences they decide to impose.

To me, his form has declined over the last two years, he wasn't improving with Belle Vue or Ipswich and that sealed his fate for this year. I wish him well and hope that he can get back to his best form.

Spot on, Steve. http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/speedway/redcar-bears-skipper-stuart-robson-9665641

Hopefully other clubs won't build such a horrible track.

I'm nearly 70, it seems I should write my memoirs, particularly in the 1960s. Most of you innocent lot would probably cream your pants reading it and I never thought it was out of the ordinary or particularly outrageous.

Was he drunk? No! He simply failed a test that isn't actually a test of drunkenness (that would have to be different for everyone as everyone has a different tolerance level to alcohol). Has he done drugs? Who hasn't? Even Tai uses Snus (a banned substance in this country). Is he a sex pest? I know plenty of outwardly respectable people who've done far worse than him (have you lead a sheltered life or something)? Welcome back Darcy! Thank's for sticking with British Speedway! Go out and prove your greatness!

A laser that automatically brings on the correct exclusion light and no arguments.

If riders were employed and paid by a central agency and allotted a team place by them, it might just sort the problem and introduce more transparency to any dealings. Each club would then have to pay the agency a weekly fee to be included, that way you would have a fairer distribution of money. There would be bound to be grumblers and refusers but they would either take it or leave it.