Hamish McRaker

Life-sized replicas of Gary Lineker. It explains why he seems to be ubiquitous.

You read in each issue of Speedway Star about this and that rider who is earning income from a job and although in some cases it is stop-gap or at least planned to be, how many will want or be able to keep that going if the leagues re-start? How many riders are in a position to, or maybe choose to race with it in mind they won't make any overall income from speedway this year or even make a loss, because they have reasons to race which maybe supercede immediate financial ones? For example to keep up development as a rider (and may also have job income to help)? I think it will be an unknown gamble for clubs and therefore for riders as to how many will attend if it does try to start. In that case the riders will probably have no choice but to go into it without clear expectations about payment. Some may be prepared to do this, but some won't be.

More elephants than they have in Whipsnade Zoo, by the sounds of things

Whilst it's good to possibly welcome back past iconic venues like Odsal, Oxford, and who knows, eventually Coventry, isn't there a large elephant in the room? And I don't mean Corovavirus, either. I mean the supply of riders of a suitable standard, to create teams the public will be interested in coming along to see.

Or maybe both of them in?

Fear not - I hear the Monks down at Buckfast Abbey are still pushing out tankerloads of their elixir, and Iron Bru is in full production.

Exactly - if he'd said something like "well we've given it a right old go, came up a bit short, but no worries we'll have it cracked in a couple of days" it wouldn't have caused any problem I'm sure ......but sadly they're just programmed to talk official-ese.

I hear from contacts in the transport business that a large number of home testing kits were delivered to the home of a Mr M Hancock on Thursday afternoon......

Saw something on the news earlier, but I'm sure the reporter said the Scottish government had "advised" to not go ahead if 500+. Even if mandatory, with speedways well-known aversion to making attendance figures known, it will likely be the case that, remarkably, all fixtures will have an attendance figure of 499.

I think he often produces good, informed output. It's just the lapses into narky self-importance which spoils it, which is a shame.

As an octagenerian, it is good to see Peterborough giving two young, under-30 riders the chance to prove themselves and gain experience. I hope they both progress and draw benefit from being in this team and go on to be cornerstones of the team for many years.

He probably wants to hang out with Mark Webber

Has Gollob made a miraculous recovery?

Awful. What stunningly sad news. RIP

This sort of situation is where second halves used to be so good. They would give the likes of Bowtell and Hume that chance to take on the Aussie newcomers and lay claim to the team places (and vice versa). So would opening up the NDL to first-time Australians provide such an opportunity for the Brits to prove their mettle by beating them and prove they are worth putting into the CL teams at the expense of the incumbent Aussies?

Can Stef Nielsen still be considered to be "young" ?

If Wolves are keen to avoid upsetting, or developing Nicol, presumably as they see him figuring in future years, isn't there a bit of a snag with that? I'm presuming that Nicol is an "asset" of Sheffield, and so in future seasons he could be included in their team, regardless of any "investment" Wolves have made in developing him. Unless Wolves have or are about to pay a transfer fee to Sheffield?

I certainly wouldn't advocate signing the both of them!

Am I right in saying that Nathan Greaves and Danyon Hume are not yet announced by any Championship team?

He's brawny and certainly has more timber these days, compared to the flat-race jockeys like Tungate who can just hang off the bike. If he moved to the USA, Scott Nicholls could go on riding and winning for many a year!

Iversen? More likely to be 2021, after he finally gets the heave-ho from the Grand Prix. You don't want to have him this year anyways, would struggle to average over 7

Will Wolves make a pre-season change and replace Nicol with Nicholls?

Due to the strict time limit imposed on parking at Leicester, and to help meet anticipated demand levels, free parking will be available at both Peterborough and Sheffield speedway stadia, with free shuttle buses provided to and from Leicester.

Looking at those "ten years ago" pictures of various riders, on the SGB web page, the main changes seem to be addition of facial hair. From being smart and clean-cut looking, some of them now have more resemblance to bin-men on their days off. If you can grow a proper beard, like Nicolai Klindt, then by all means go for it. But too many of the others ought to buy a razor and use it.

What Wolves are doing is akin to a mother who gives birth to a child but buys a double baby buggy and uses it as a way of "incentivising" the child to behave itself.