E I Addio

BL 65, can either you, Bobbath or Norbold tell me anything about Ronnie Rolfes career. I vaguely remember him having a couple of rides at reserve for Hackney back in my schooldays but that is all . He stuck in my mind because it seemed like the peak on his helmet was made of cardboard and flapped up and down when he was racing, but apart from that I have neither seen or heard about him before or after.

Neither has Masters gone to Poole and beat the Turbo Twins, as Lawson has. At his best Lawson is a very good rider. His trouble is he doesn't seem to have a regular mechanic and seems to do all his own driving which mush grind him down over the season. He always seemed to start the season like an express train at Lakeside but was losing his edge by mid season. However Speedwáy is his living and as far as the comparison with Les Collins is concerned, he probably will be much the same getting a decent living but it wouldn't surprise me if over a career he finishes up with more in the bank than Masters, even though Masters perhaps hit a few more high spots. I don't see Masters as a second Jason Doyle though. At the moment he is not even a second Dave Watt or Adam Shields.

I get your point. Riders like Jim Tebby were of their generation, when people in general didn't understand things like fitness and diet in the way they do now. Times move on. I think fitness is overrated in someways. In most sports fitness has to be focussed on that sport. In Speedwáy upper body strength is important so I can understand working on weights, but I don't think riding a motto cross bike necessarily adds much to Speedwáy fitness because it is a totally different sport. But it has to be put in perspective. No point in being 100% fit if you lose the benefit by not setting the bike up properly or not having the wheels in line. Speedwáy is a very complex sport from a competitors point of view and it's important to get every aspect right and not keep working in the gym if it is at the cost of preparing the bikes properly.

Years ago I attended a fans forum held by the motor cycle club I belonged to at the time. Alf Hagon was on the panel, although he was long retired from speedway and grass track racing by that stage. Alf was of course from an era when people didn't understand fitness in the way that do now and motorcycle racers in that era didn't generally train other than riding the bike, but at the time the forum was held the idea of fitness was becoming prominent. Alf was asked about the importance of fitness and he drew a comparison between himself and Barry Briggs who was of course the first speedway rider to take physical fitness seriously, long before anyone else did. Alf's answer was that it was more important to ride with your head he had raced Briggo many times and at the end of the race Briggo who had put heart and soul into it was, more or less hanging off the bike in exhaustion but Alf had hardly broken sweat. Now, that response may be a bit of an exaggeration but I think maybe today's riders concentrate too much on fitness and not enough on using their head. Tai Woofinden and Greg Hancock are perhaps the exceptions who both have very smooth styles but one has too wonder whether some the others could find an easier way than the two wheeled acrobatics they perform. In short I think many riders see working in the gym as a short cut to making up what they lack on the track. I also remember seeing a film clip of Briggo being interviewed about his fitness regime. His take on it was that it didn't necessarily make him any better but it kept him at the top longer, and I think there probably is a lot of sense in that.

That's a good point about his joints. When you consider what we now know about the severity of his hip injury that required a hip replacement at quite a young age it's not surprising that he struggled with the inside line at Lakeside. It's not surprising either that he wasn't too keen on adverse track conditions. Further damage to his re-built hip would have had devastating consequences. Still , you can't argue with his record : 7 world finals, British Champion, Commonwealth Champion,, Inter-Continental Chamion and World Long Track Champion.

Nothing wrong with being 40 or older. I was delighted when Peter Karlsson signed for Lakeside, for example. The problem with David Mason is not so much his age as the fact that he comes with the reputation of being a boring rider who is content to sit back in the minor placings if he doesn't gate. I understand that it could be useful to have an experienced rider on the track, experiencing track conditions who can perhaps help the younger ones with set ups better than Kelvin, who is not on the track, is perhaps able to. I get all that , but as a spectator I like to see riders who raise your expectation and pulse rate every time they come to the tapes and I can't see Mason ever doing that. As for being 40 it's not so much his age per se more the fact that his record suggests he has reached the point where he is in decline. His record last year was that he finished third in nearly half his races and to my mind that is a second strings told , not a third heatleader. I do like the look of the first four signings.

I think it always was at Lakeside subject to proof of being unemployed. I seem to recall it being announced around 2009

Boxall got very close to being signed as EDR reserve in the Lakeside EL side a couple of seasons when ago after a couple of impressive guest appearances but he got injured. He is pretty good round there. Not sure Bowen will do much though. The thing is we don't really want a team that is winning purely because 90% of the opposition have never seen the place before and get in a tangle on the first bend. I agree we need a winning team but there needs to be decent racing on the way. This is where a lot of people seem to agree David Mason is a poor signing. The crowds won't support a rider who wins if he gates but is content to sit in 3rd or last if he misses the gate. He doesn't really seem to be a racer. That seems to be the reason he wasn't particularly popular at Kent. The other thing is success on the road. There are two or three riders capable of decent performances away from home but I don't think there is a fan anywhere who thinks the last two signings are going to be banging in big scores on the road.

You could be right but unfortunately Mason and Lawrence still look as poor as they did when first announced.

I don't know if I am getting a bit ahead of myself here but I have noticed that the latest announcement on the club website refers to Jon Cook and Kelvin Tatum as the "club bosses " but no mention of Stuart Douglas.

I think the intention always was that race days would vary, keeping away from Fridays where possible. Not sure if that will really work though.

Personally, I wouldn't quibble over the difference between £12 and £13, as long as the entertainment is good. If it's boring and processional in every race I wouldn't even want to pay £5 People say. NL racing has a particular attraction of its own . I am still undecided I'll probably give it a go with an open mind. I am prepared to accept lower skill level and get behind young riders making progress even if they fall off a bit, but I still don't see where David Mason fits into the bit picture. As for the programme, I have always had one and to me it's part of the entertsinment. I enjoy reading the promoters notes etc and filling the scorechart in is part of the interest, but at this level I wouldn't want to pay much for one. For a variety of reasons a lot of people I talk to have been slowly getting disenchanted with Jon Cook over the last year or two. The promotion have to make 100% effort to get the product right and engage the fans more this year otherwise it is just not going to work.

Here we go again. Mr Cut-and-Paste Machine with nothing constructive to add to the discussion. The Speedwáy fixture list is the only one people are interested in.

He didn't mention anyone by name, he just said David Masons biggest fan, and lo and behold, up you pop. If the cap fits........ You still don't seem to grasp the irony of constantly singing Mason's praises when you haven't seem him ride for donkeys years and have no real idea af what he is like these days. You might as well argue that Tommy Price would be a good signing on the basis he was a good rider last time you actually saw him ride.

It is. It's also becoming obvious that he wasn't first choice, otherwise he would have been among the first announced, not tacked on almost as an after thought and one of the last announced. We have got the wall flower nobody else wanted. We don't want someone who can only hold their own around their home track. Most of the youngsters should be able to do that. We need someone who can score big points away- something David Mason has shown himself singularly unable to to on a regular basis. The clue is in the job description- "Heatleader" not "Heat hold you owner at the home track"

Very difficult to disagree with anything in the last four posts. I was prepared to give the NL a go and I wouldn't have minded paying £13 admission if it was entertaining but I am not going to pay when only half the team have ant prospect of improvement. I feel sorry for the four previously signed. They deserve better than this.

Slightly off topic Norbold but how did Jacks fatal accident occur. I am right in thinking had hit the safety fence and was struck by a follwing rider ?

No disguising the fact that Mason is a dire signing in what is now looking a dire team after seeming so promising when the first four signings were announced. Even if Mason scores a maximum in every match,(which of course he won't) he could only do it in the most boring way possible. The greater likelihood is that in the majority of his races he will be trundling round trying to block off whoever is behind him, if anyone. The plain fact is that it is a junior league for young riders who may not yet have th experience and the professionalism to entertain but they do have enthusiasm that the crowd can warm to. It is very important in Speedwáy that the crowd have favourites they can get behind and support. That's what gets the fans in. Nobody is going to have Mason as their favourite. Sorry but I see no positives in the two signings. Idont know this other bloke but one can hardly be expecting much from him . I just don't know where they go from here. There are a few decent riders but as a team it inspires neither confidence nor excitement. Very disappointed. Can't see many going through the turnstiles.

The last straw for me. Almost every fan you speak to over the last couple of years has been saying Jon Cook is losing the plot. This just about confirms he has lost it. A great signing in the eyes of the attention seeking Gustix who never actuall pays to go through the turnstiles, but a 40 year old gating tart in decline is not going to provide the excitement that makes people part with their cash. Rye House it is for me then, and it seems for a fair number of others as well

Refer to the O.P. Men like Alan Hunt, Mike Broadbanks, Brian Crutcher, and Treveor Hedge were mentioned as examples. That sets the pattern for the thread.

But if a bloke has been riding 20 years and is not only still in the bottom league but on the way down as well, (as in the case of Davd Mason ) it's difficult to see what he can offer, and more importantly how many punters he is likely to pull through the turnstiles.

Would that be something to do with a certain race win at West Ham circa 1967 ? Jackie Biggs. So close to being World Champion in 1951 but nerves got to him, continued riding for another 20 years before being killed in a tragic track crash due to machine failure, at an age when most riders have retired. Never saw him ride myself , but by all accounts a thoroughly nice bloke who always had time for the fans. Wayne Briggs. Speedwáy gave his brother Barry fame and fortune but all it gave Wayne was injury after injury. Norman Hunter. On the cusp of a great international career when that terrible hand injury reduced him to a second string but he still carried on riding, Adam Shields. After he won the Div 2 Riders Chmapionship ( or whatever it was called back then ) had was being spoken of as the next Jason Crump, but like Wayne Briggs , each time he started to get into his stride another injury cut him down. Adam was another one that Speedwáy took a lot from but gave very little back. Adam Skornicki, Stuart Robson, and Kauko Nieminen, never quite made it to the big time but totally loyal to the sport and thoroughly, thoroughly nice guys who always gave 100%

I think you are right on that sid. I saw full face helmets for the first time at Brands Hatch about that time,then Briggo straight afterwards. I am sure he was the first Speedwáy rider to wear one. Correct me if I am wrong but I think he wore one of his own design, with the Briggo brand from the very beginning.

Gustix is entitled to his opinion just as he would be entitled to an opinion that that the earth is flat but it would still be a stupid opinion if he had no facts to back it up. He as put forward an opinion that because of the points averaged the NL is on a downward spiral. When asked to back up that opinion he can't. What is the point of expressing opinions on a DISCUSSION forum and not being prepared to discuss them. Not surprising he is viewed by many as as attention seeker when he continually posts such utter twaddle .

I know what you are saying. I agree he would put points on the board but every lap would be the same, round the white line on the bend, drift out to the fence on the straight to stop the outside run then back to the white line on the next bend. It is sooooo boring. Mason would be even worse. I just feel they need riders who are prepared to grab a handful of throttle and go for it even if they fall off in the process, as long as they gradually learn to stay on and improve over the season, which they should under Kelvins guidance..