E I Addio

I don't know what to say about this one. I have said many times on here that you nearly always get entertaining Speedwáy when Wolves are at Lakeside but it just didn't happen for them tonight. If the top end had shown the spirit of Max Clegg it would likely have been a great match but the higher up the order you look the more lacklustre they seemed. It was clear from heat 1 the spark wasn't there. The root of the problem seems to be with Lindgren. Now I like Freddie, he is a nice bloke and a class rider but he reall y wasn't with it tonight. This is a rider who was virtually unbeatable at Lakeside until the recent past, yet not only was he beaten by Lewis Kerr, he came out on a t/r and was not only passed by Nilsson but he was trailing him by half the length of the straight by the end of the race. In heat 13 he wasn't even on the pace, miles behind. Worse than that, he was constantly on the wrong line, stuck in no mans land.,This is not the Fast Freddie of old. He somehow doesn't seem to have the old hunger any more. PK still looks class on the bike but he has nothing left to prove and understandably he is not going to bust a gut at this stage of his career. It really says it all though when Wolves are putting a reserve out in heat 15. Finally Kim Nilsson. Since joining Lakeside from Newport 6 years ago he has progressed slowly, inch by inch, race by race, from reserve to second string to heatleader. His first paid 18 was notable not only because it was his first but because he pulled out a reall class performance as Tony Ellis has said. He rode with the sort of confident, flawless, immaculate professionalism one would normally associate with someone like Leigh Adams. A great effort.

So, Lawsons rides to be taken by Kim, Ed, Lewis, who can all do the same sort of job but his other ride to be taken by a reserve which will be a lot weaker. Hope Ed's ear infection is full recovered and his balance is not affected. Wolves don't really miss out by having R/R for Masters because he was all over the place last time. A lot depends on Rory guesting for Kylmakorpi. Joonas has usually managed to pull off at least one or two race wins in most of his visits over the last few years. Rory likes the track and is more than capable of doing as well if not better than Kylmo, but having said that, his form at Lakeside in the last couple of years is not what it used to be 4 or 5 years ago. Hammers should have enough in the tank to get home, but Wolves are always a tough nut to crack at Lakeside and can't be written off by any means. A Wolves win is a realistic possibility although the odds are probably against it.

Lawson and Nilsson are on exactly the same average. Does this mean Lawsons rides are taken by Nilsson and those lower or can AJ take a ride ? Wolves look weak on paper but they are not top of the league for nothing and are nearly always formidable at Lakeside especially when Freddie is on form so coukd be a tough one. Rory has always been popular at Lakeside and is assured of a warm reception from the fans, but whether he has fully recovered from his early season injuries remains to be seen. Good to see him back though. Fred, Rory and PK, three of my favourite riders, and I was impressed by Max Clegg on his last visit so looking forward to this.

Oh, so it's all Sky's fault now is it ? What a load of old tosh. If you bothered to check the Poole website before posting such twaddle you woukd see that the change was nothing to do with Sky. According to the Poole website it was originally fixed for Monday 11th July to avoid a clash with a Danish League fixture " which no longer exists", so it was then switched to Wednesday 13th July. Anyway whatever the reason for the change of dates the fact remains that Poole were not entitled to a facility for Ellis. Now, for the second time it was not a last minute complaint . The online report in the Bournemouth Echo confirms Ford eventually conceded the point 5 hours before the start and it had been disputed a long time before that, so it was in no way a "last minute" thing as you claim. Enforcing the rules is not exploiting a situation. If Ford got his act together properly none of this would have happened. Stop digging . You are getting like Starman.

Since when did two wrongs make a right ? Belle Vue did wrong, the forum went into meltdown, the SCB took decisive action and issued a hefty fine, the promotion admitted they did wrong and now that's over and done with. The question now is whether the SCB will take decisive action as they did with Belle Vue and fine Poole for fielding a six man team, contrary to the rules or will it be kicked into the long grass and forgotten ? That's not anti-Poole bias it's treating two clubs impartially .

..and once again makes a fool of himself by getting his facts wrong. No reason why Ford should have tried to cheat in the first place.

Last minute ? The report in the local rag says that Ford " finally conceded defeat at 2.40 pm",nearly 5 hours before the start and there had been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing before that so clearly Ford had been trying to get away with it for a long time before that. He was hardly taken by surprise by it all . No way Ford would have given in if he thought he was in the right. He tried to pull a fast one and didn't have a plan B ready when he got caught out.

Dyslexia is a reading difficulty not an intelligence difficulty. Some of the most successful authors ever, from Jules Verne to Agatha Christie suffered from dyslexia, but it didn't stop them writing classic books that reached wide audiences. Tai used an expletive because that's the way he speaks, that's all there is to it. Some people find it unnecessary others are happy with expletives but it's ridiculous to try to explain it as some kind of social change or set out what's right or wrong .

Don't know where you get that idea from. Words have a certain meaning attached to them and by and large society couldn't function if most people didn't use words according to their proper meaning. Of course, there is a certain constituency who are content to live in the world of gobbledegook where wicked now means good, gay no longer means cheerful and colourful, must have is now spelt "must of" , and "awesome " is used with such frequency that it now seems to mean pretty average and the there is apparently no word now that means awesome in the exceptional way it was originally used. Words accurately used are the basis of our legal system, contracts, insurance, science, medicine and basic communication.The divorce courts are full of people who have chosen not to learn to express themselves properly and start swearing at each other instead. 75% of the prison population (i.e. mostly petty criminals) have never bothered to learn to read and write, thus cannot express themselves properly and have become unemployable. Most of us have been born into the richest laguage in the world, which is why it is spoken the world over . It is the international language of air traffic control for a good reason. If your choice in life is not to use words with there proper meaning then you are missing so much as your daughter will be if she is directed to slovenly speech. Tai used a commonly used expletive that many people of limited vocabulary use instead of proper adjectives. That's all there is to it. Analysing and trying to suggest there is some great shift in society and that words are somehow not as important as they used to be is nonsense. Words basically mean the same as they always meant, but as always, a certain section of the population choose not to learn them or use them properly.

1. That's a bit rich considering the number of threads you have started moaning about the sport and complaining that flings ain't wot like they used to be in the good old days. 2. If you are offended by the people complaining it's probably best if you don't read the thread. How many Speedwáy GP's have there been and how many of the previous winners have found it necessary to use the F-Word when interviewed in front of the crowd afterwards ? Its not the end of the world, just a shame he couldn't come across as a bit more articulate on that particular occasion. Shouldn't disqualify him from riding for Team GB though.

Not sure what that's got to do with the discussion. Drink and drugs have been a part of music for even longer but when a certain team manager tried to justify one of his riders drug taking on the basis that "It's what young people do" almost the entire forum thought he made a complete idiot of himself. When the same rider was caught over the alcohol limit before a GP he got a ban for it and it was no defence to say drugs are part of music. Young people are almost always crass, it goes with the territory of adolescence. Doesn't mean adults have to be.

No, I didn't say it was Tai's fault , just correcting your incorrect statement.

Not only in this country. This country struggles more than the other mainstream Speedwáy nations, but everything in the Speedwáy garden is not always rosey. There are plenty of riders in Poland in particular that are not being paid or having pay cuts forced on them, and haven't a couple of Polish clubs gone bankrupt in the last few years ?

I struggle to think of any that use extreme expletives when they are in a direct interview, especially when it is at one of the Blue Riband events of his or her sport. No doubt someone will say it has happened, but it's certainly not commonplace. It's a shame it happened at an event when Speedwáy would be being viewed by casual viewers than probably any other Speedwáy broadcast this year.

Agreed. All the promoters see is a stronger team. If a foreign rider of Pedersen's calibre can't stay out of reserve he shouldn't be foisted on the fans in the Elite League. A 37- year old has been, well past his sell by date, in a reserve slot intended for the development of young British riders is not what the fans pay to see. It makes a total mockery of the league as a serious competition. The fans are being taken for fools and an increasing number are not standing for it, as falling attendances show. Yes, needs to be sorted in the winter but whether there will be enough fans left by next year to sustain a realistic level of top league racing remains to be seen.

They always are. However good the TV production is, it cannot convey the atmosphere, the smell, the speed, and to some extent the tension. That's why it's irritating when we get the couch potatoes on here the day after a TVmeeting telling us how poor it was, track was rubbish and all the rest of it. Speedwáy is a live sport and unfortunately doesn't convert that well to TV, in fact most motor sports are nowhere near as good on TV as they are live.

I think we are getting off the point and into speculation now. There is absolutely no dispute about the fact that a patched up team of guests is not going to bring the punters in. Finding a way round the problem is the hard part. The starting point is why we're Poole five riders short? One was injured and you can't help that, but the rest were riding abroad and therein lies the problem. British Speedwáy his so heavily dependent on foreign riders that some teams would almost cease to exist without them . That is problem that has snowballed over the years and some promoters have found it too easy to bring ready made foreign riders in and ignored the development of home riders, but that is the problem the sport now faces. The other part of the problem is that continental fixtures take precedence so much more than in the past. Bjarne Pedersen was clear enough when he stated in Speedwáy Star that he was giving priority to British Speedwáy at a time when he wanted a job but then continental bookings rolled in and he changed his mind. Buckowski decided he would rather ride in a re-arranged Polish meeting than to ride for his British club, and do it goes on. So we are faced with a problem not of Pooles making , not of Lakeside's making but because certain riders feel it more important , for whatever reason to ride in Contintal meetings that only arose after this fixture was made. Nevertheless in some fans minds the riders are beyond criticism and its the fault of the clubs concerned. You ask how we have sunk so low as to have 5 riders short but that is the reason why. Does anybody seriously think Matt Ford deliberately set out to come with five riders missing or Jon Cook thought it would be a good idea if Lakeside lost half the expected gate money ? Unless and until there is some coordination in fixtures Europe wide or clubs make it clear that if riders want a GB job there yes must mean yes not maybe things don't change. BTW, BCD' s criticisms go beyond the way the sport is run. There are all kinds of snipes against certain riders, snipes against some promoters based on fiction rather than fact, and of course his endless vendetta against all things Lakeside, especially the track, which is what it is and nobody forces him to watch but plenty of other neutrals have spoken well of the racing there in recent years, but that doesn't stop him bleating on. BTW , I am not a Jon Cook sycophant. There is a lot of faults I could spell out but I don't see the point of doing it on here, and, unlike some, I do try to do my best to be fair .

Someone else who can tell the size of the crowd without even being there. I don't know how people do it. Nearly is good as Briggo managing to calculate the height of a dirt deflector from his TV screen. As a matter of interest how big was the crowd, and how big was the next biggest EL meeting.

I don't know the ins and outs of every possible alternative date but the TV broadcasts are down to Sky not the individual promotions. All things being equal switching to Monday would be a good way out but Sky seem to pick and choose as they wish. For example the last broadcast of Lakeside v Wolves was sceduled for a Friday in the fixture list but then pulled out by Sky. Lakeside have been on twice anyway which I suppose throws a bit of a spanner in the works. I am not suggesting for a moment that patched up sides are acceptable, but you have to look beyond that and consider the underlying problem that the sport is playing second fiddle to the GP season and Continental fixtures. There is money in the GP's for the TV companies but there are too many for the British season, and IMO too many GP's anyway.Six would be ideal.

Ah something posted on here that we don't know where it came from. Anyway assuming its accurate it doesn't say Cook thought it would be an easy three points so that bit is a figment of your imagination. It is not a dig at the supporters as a whole. He refers to the FEW online posters ( I presume you know what "few" means) who criticise the sport at every single opportunity . Now I cant think of many apart from bigcatdiary who criticise the sport at every single opportunity. Even mikebv has a good word to msay sometimes so clearly the number that Cook was referring to are very few, and frankly I don't have much time for people who NEVER have anything positive to say. FWIW Cook was asked about something like this at the fans forum in February. His answer was that his duty is to the fans who pay their £18 to come through the turnstiles. I think pretty much every business owner would say the same and I doubt whether any promoter would say different. With regard to the possible postponement this was dealt with in Cook's programme notes . He pointed out that there are still 8 home matches to be fitted in, at the fixture list has already been messed up by two Swindon rain offs and one meeting that had to be re-0scheduled because of a Sky broadcast. There are no more reserved dates in the fixture list. as said but before its all very well to criticise but nobody is prepared to come up with a workable solution. That is the reality of modern speedway in the British climate while playing second fiddle to the Continental season. Not saying I like it but that's the way it is. Obviously not great for Lakeside when the visiting team that pulls in one of the biggest crowds of the season turns up with a patched up side that brings in possibly half the expected Box Office. Do you not think Cook would not have gone for another date with a paying gate if he could ?

When did he say that? Have you got a link or is it something you have just made up ? The Lakeside website says they are taking nothing for granted and just have focus on there own performances. That clearly is not a dig at supporters and neither does it indicate they thought it would be an easy 3 points.

That much is not in dispute. Poole usually bring in a big gate of home fans as well as visitors, and it will undoubtedly result in a loss of income for Lakeside. It's not good for the sport as a whole either. But it needs grown up discussion accepting the reality of the fact that the number of GP's and the Continental season is wrecking the already fragile EL. It is getting worse because Polish TV now wants to broadcast speedway mid week and Denmark is going beyond the traditional Thursday only race night. It would be more helpful if people tried to look at realistic solutions instead of simply screaming farce as if that would change anything. A bit more maturity from Muddlo when he makes his pontifications in SS wouldn't go amiss but I doubt whether that man will ever change , given his stupid public comments of recent years. Discretion is the better part of valour.

Oh dear another moaner from the sidelines who ignores the reality of the situation. You say "a couple of people have the opinion to run at all costs" . Can you tell us who those two people are and let us have some facts to back up what you say ? No, thought not. Just a dig for a bit of attention. It would help if you read the report in the Bournemouth Echo before sounding off then you would have a few answers. It is not just the "opinion "of a couple of people. Let's look at the facts:- Bjarne Pedersen and Hans Andersen are reported to be riding in Denmark. Poole knew Pedersen was not available for this fixture when they signed him. In fact his preference to ride in Denmark on this date was one of the reasons Lakeside didn't sign him in the first place . Why Poole said they were available for the fixture when they must have known Andersen wouldn't be there I do not know. Maybe at that stage they thought they could go with R/r when they still had Dave Watt but either way it's no good Poole complaining about their absence when they should have seen that coming. Buckowski has a rearranged fixture in Poland and he said stuff Poole I am riding in that one. Not Lakeside's fault he is not coming. In any event, based on past form Poole are better off with Ricky Wells than Buckowski. Matt Ford is on record as saying in the Bournemouth Echo that every effort has been made to try to move the fixture and he publicly thanked Lakeside for their assistance. Lakeside tried to get other clubs to take the fixture in place of Poole but none of them would, mainly because most have fixtures of their own. Of course we still hand that big mouthed half wit Muddlo bleating on in Speedwáy Star about it being Lakeside's fault and the meeting shouldn't be run, apparently completely unaware that his boss had already said its not Lakeside's fault. One would think Speedwáy already has enough problems without that fool Muddlo trying to stir up more. The sooner he is out of the sport the better for all concerned,

What Mr Ford wants is a wish list at the moment, nothing more. He has canvassed the opinion of his customers and there it rests for,the moment. The key ingredients are firstly what format will the paying public support and how many meetings will top riders commit to. It's clear that the public these days don't really want to support challenge matches, test matches or KO cup type things. The legue only gets by because of Sky money. It's a tragedy that Birmingham, Peterborough and Eastbourne couldn't sustain EL racing. If those clubs had remained in the EL it wouldn't be a bad league assuming the riders would support it, but those clubs absence indicates the scale of the problem facing the EL Let's see what the AGM brings.

The problem is postponed to when ? There have already been two rained off Swindon fixtures to re-arrange due to rain offs and probably no other dates when all riders are available. The reality is that its bad enough with GP's , SWC, u/21's and GP qualifiers to fit round riders availibity, but now we have Polish TV meetings going on mid week and it all plays havoc with the domestic league when rain offs happen. Its all very well for people to pontificate about postponements, and I am sure Jon Cook would go for that option rather than a big wage bill and a small crowd but there is no easy answer other than in the BSF fantasy world. The month since the last meeting is itself due to a rain off. Having said that. I shall go myself, subject to weather, because with these gaps I am increasingly finding other things to do on a Friday and if I don't drag myself over there I might easily drop the habit completely.. When regulars like myself are getting out of the habit the alarm bells should be ringing at BSPA Towers.