E I Addio

Let's look at the chronology. Lewis Blackbird must have signed the forms they all have to sign before going on the EDR list. He must have at least been keeping his options open. He was announced as Lakeside's reserve soon after the AGM together with Rob Mear. The Lakeside announcement said it was subject to him deciding to ride and they were hopeful he would ride. They also said they had a back up plan if he decided not to ride. Its inconceivable that he would have been announced or that Lakeside would say they were hopeful he would ride if he had said he was definitely not riding, or if he had withdrawn his name from the EDR list. If he had said he was definatey not riding the back up plan, Plan B would have been plan A We don't know what the back up plan was or whether it involved Lewis Kerr but Lakeside side moved to sign Kerr as soon as he withdrew from KL. We will never know all the details but clearly nBlackbird was not formally retired when the list was produced and it beggars belief that Lakeside would have signed him and let Adam Ellis go as a consequence, if they knew he wasn't going to ride.

A bit late to start doing the picks again I think. Kevlars in club colours will have been ordered at £800 a go, sponsorship deals set up with local sponsors and the fixture list is well on the way, amongst other things It would cause too much disruption to do the picks again (although worth it if Kyle Newman somehow finished up at Leicester instead of Poole!)

Is there any factual reason to think Barker is in the frame or is this all rumour at the moment?

Whatever one chooses to believe or not believe about the reasons for the track changes, the good news has to be that this investment wouldn't be made unless the promotion and sponsors were confident of a long term future for the track. Despite the clouds of doom hanging over the sport there is money invested at Leicester , a new stadium at Belle Vue , progress (apparently) at Swindon, big money going in from the new promotion at Glasgow, a new promotion taking over at Rye House, a well funded private team sponsoring Lewis Kerr, are just a few signs the some believe there is life in the old sport yet and are prepared to put their money where there mouth is. That doesn't mean the future is rosy, far from in fact, but it does suggest the sport is not yet on its death rattle, as the doom and gloom merchants who pollute the forum would have us believe.

Very difficult to disagree with any of that.

A lovely nostalgic post. I think your upbringing was not a lot different to mine. From the earliest age I can remember it was motorbikes. Even the bedtime stories my Dad told me as a toddler seemed to involve Speedwáy and Speedwáy riders. I think you are right about th e occasion, and I do belive seeing top riders every few weeks on TV in the GP's since Sky came along has taken away some of the awe that surrounded them. When you only saw top stars maybe once or twice a year it gave them an extra charisma. Not the same when they are on TV all the time. I still enjoy the racing though. It's not better, not worse, just different now. I

Whilst that is a valid point I think it has to be said that the overall standard of the lower order riders is much better these days. Briggo was the first rider to realise the importance of fitness. He was the first to realise that there was more to it than time on the bike. Ivan Mauger wasn't the first to realise the importance of being methodical and professional but he took it to a new level. Those were the qualities that years ago set riders like Briggs and Mauger apart from the rest, but they set the standard for others to copy. These days most reasonable middle order riders are far fitter and far better prepared than they used to be and I think that closes the gap between the heatleaders and second strings/ reserves. My memory tells me you are right but memories are not reliable and nostalgia ain't what it used to be. Like most things in life we only remember the highlights and forget the dull bits. If we had a time machine and went back we might be disappointed. Having said that I would give anything to go back just once to experience those halcyon days at West Ham and Hackney . You don't know what you've got till its gone !

Spot on with regard to the material. The received wisdom seems to be that the material used at KL is the type to favour stock cars these days, because that's where the bulk of the income comes from. Do any locals have first hand knowledge of this ? I also think your first paragraph is spot on. Good meetings usually have to do with the occasion, the weather, and compatibility of the teams, rather than the shape of the track. The trouble is that Speedwáy is run on such tight financial margins these days that it's not always possible to spend the sort of money that provides a perfect race track.

The first post on this thread suggested that we all try to be nice to each other until the season starts again. Instead of being suspicious and talking about new input why don't you just try to be nice to Captain Pugwash ? It won't hurt you. The thread was ambling along quite nicely until you and Ray Stadia came on trying to stir things up. If you can't say something nice about the Cap'n say nothing. Make yourself a nice cup of tea, settle down , and move on. There's a good chap.

I read somewhere ( I think it was in Classic Speedwáy) that in Ivan Maugers farewell meeting at Belle Vue which was run in November the rode with full length mudguards over the rear wheel and had no visibility problems with spray. Can anyone gem ember or comment on that ?

AJ Holder Hans Ellis Mear Freddie

The article covered half a page of SS. Your précis of it consisted of just three lines, omiting completely the fact that it was in answer to criticisms and mentioned nothing about the inconsistencies that had been thrown up in various methods of calculation, amongst other details then after summarising the whole thing in just three lines you quoted Cooks remarks verbatim. That, I modestly submit was not a fair and accurate depiction of the salient facts. Baba' s comment above suggests it was a bit of a misrepresentation, and I tend to share that view. More important is Baba's comment about what we could all learn from the unfortunate and I'll-tempered episode. Some will take his comments on board, others sadly will not.

No it wasn't. SCB later admitted that at the time he started the thread with a deliberately provocative title he hadn't even bothered to read the article in question. The very first reply to the original post was from someone who said they were no fan of Jon Cook but that in that posters view SCB should be banned so the thread was clearly controversial from the start. There was aready a heatleader list thread where the article could and should have been discussed maturely without a second thread which very quickly degenerated into name calling and abuse and when the mods amended the title yet another thread was started with an even more offensive title. Babas post was spot on IMO The full picture, or at least as much as we are ever likely to get , only emerged with Gordon Pairmans post.

That pretty much sums it up IMO. I tend to think that hurling abuse says more about the abuser than the abused. As Stevebrum said earlier, two wrongs don't make a right.

Yes

Lot of bickering and getting hot under the collar on here recently, lot of demanding of oppologiz and refusals to. New year , new season, ahead , shall we all drop hands and try to be nice for a few months till it all starts again, ? I even feel quite benevolent to Starman at the mo.

Apart from No1 they all had at least one ride against the opposing reserves. I don't see why you think the No 2 had it any easier than No 4, but even the numbers 3 and 5 had theoretically easier races against opposing reserves, but averages are only ever an approximate guide because they depend on so many variable factors. I actually quite like the present race format.

So what exactly has the abuse achieved apart from one member getting himself suspended and a handful of others indentifying themselves as being too inarticulate to engage in grown up debate ? I and a number of others have never understood how abuse is a substitute for adult discussion, or improves the forum so since you appear to support abuse perhaps you can enlighten us on that point

Gordon, I won't copy the whole of your post to save bandwidth, but speaking as someone who has been critical of you in the past I think on this occasion, to be fair, you have put out an informative and helpful post. I think you make a fair point in saying that whatever format you take to compile the list there will always be anomalies and borderline cases, but coming back to Skidder 1's post of a couple of weeks ago, when one stands back from the situation it doesn't seem that anyone has been disadvantaged by the list. It is a pity that an explanation like that was not given some time ago by your fellow promoters but having got the explanation I woukd say it certainly clears the air.

The ACU probably don't add anything in practical terms, it's just that they are the governing body of the sport in this country, affiliated to the FIM and to that extent give some authority to licensing of riders and sorting out really serious disputes. It's sensible that the running of Speedwáy is delegated to the SCB because Speedwáy is not only unique in its team/league structure but also unique in the way it is promoted. It's probably sensible that the day to day running is delegated to the BSPA because they are (in theory at least ) the ones with "hands on " involvement with riders and fans. The whole thing seems to break down when it comes to compliance with and enforcement of the rules. Personally I don't think there is a lot wrong with the rules themselves, it's more the lack of enforcement and sometimes changing on a whim that causes problems. The point I was trying to get from bigcatdiary was why Graham Reeve thinks the problem is because the BSPA control the ELand PL rules. In other words if Reeve and the SCB had total control what would does Reeve think they would be doing that is not being done by the BSPA? It makes one wonder why Reeve stays in the job if the BSPA are doing things he doesn't approve of, unless there is more to it than meets the eye. A lot of the problem is the appalling lack of clear statements from the BSPA . I am not one of those that jumps to criticise and fault-find at every opportunity but I do think it's dreadful when the BSPA can't even issue a post-AGM statement in clear, plain English without it being contradictory and ambiguous. Issuing a simple statement is not a difficult thing to get right. In the context of the heatleader list, its very poor PR to put forward a promoter to explain it in a SS interview . If an announcement is to be made it should be issued by the BSPA chairman and checked for accuracy before being put on website not in a magazine . It is daft to simply put the list out in one place and the explanation somewhere else. This in my view is a major problem with the sport. It's not so much what is done but the way it is poorly explained. The infamous Poole v Lakeside postponement for example The BSPA give a public directive to run with a certain team, Ford doesn't do it, it gets referred to the SCB then we hear nothing, and apparently no action is taken. Since the BSPA had given a public directive then surely it needs a public statement explaining what action was taken as a result, or if none why not. As it is the whole thing goes quiet and the keyboard warriors come up with their own explanations. This sort of thing does a lot of damage to the sport and if is a frequent occurrence. Things could be so much better if there was some joined up thinking between the BSPA and the SCB on PR It wouldn't cost much apart from a bit of care and effort and would make a massive difference to the public perception of what is basically still a great sport.

Auty's move taking Rob Mear off in the British Final wasn't much better. I don't know if Auty is an intentionally dirty rider though, he just rides like a nutter and is as much danger to himself as anybody else.

Can you clarify what you mean by the BSPA having "control " of the relevant sections of the rule book? Do you simply mean they have control of the interpretation of the rules (i.e. the MC ) or is there more to it than that ? It certainly suggests the tail is wagging the dog but it would be interesting to know to what extent.

Your point about the SCB is more than a viable option, it is to my mind by far the most sensible option, and indeed the only sensible and workable option. Speedwáy, comes under the general authority of the ACU . The ACU delegate management of the sport to the SCB who in turn delegate the day to day running to the BSPA. To add another body with a say in how the sport is run is adding another level of management to a sport that already has more lavels of management than any other discipline of motor cycle sport in this country. It would be a recipe for disaster, as things invariably are when there are too many fingers in the pie. The whole problem stems from weakness at the SCB as you point out. There should be a "Chinese wall" between the SCB and the BSPA and that would avoid a whole lot of problems.

It is the team that supported Danny King and Lewis Kerr. Not sure if Danny will be back with them in 2016 but Lewis Kerr is and it appears that Lewis Bridger will be. They are by all accounts a serious professional outfit so who better to sponsor than a serious professional rider like LBR ? EDIT Revolution Speedway to be pedantic over names.

Hmmm... So you reckon Starmans a bit old for it but say nothing about Jaques being a bit old for riding on the back of a Lambretta in a mini-skirt ? I'm not sure what to make of that. We'll see what she says when she comes on here. She's a bit quiet at the moment, must be either in the kitchen doing the dishes or maybe just recovering from the shock of seeing the wooden spooners that Horton and Havelock have cobbled together !