1 valve

The officials are the only people who can call a match off. AKA pro football, the referee is the only person who can call off the match. Sky do not have the authority to call off a match although in the interest of the sport it would be good if televised fixtures could go ahead but as we have seen over the years sometimes meetings are called off before the scheduled start and also during teh meting itself. We speedway loving folk should treat Sky as our friends and not some dark murky bogeyman hellbent on ruining our sport.

Of the seven originaly declared riders 2 (both Danes) have "jacked it in" 2 are injured. In addition 1 (Bridger) did one meeting and retired (again) so I guess its more poor selection although I dont see that the promotion can be blamed for not having a chrystal ball.

Interesting although I see Harris had only 8 metings. Meanwhile from the stats it looks like Leicester have landed the best prospect in Wozniak who managed 8 points on Saturday in the ELRC as a late replacement not bad for a No. 4 rider. Could be heat leader material by end of year once he has seen all of the tracks?

No rain due...or do you live in hope that it does?

Brilliant...especially Digging the hole....I would love some promoter to ensure this gets played when the gardening starts...tension build up is one thing and should be encouraged but this kind of p#~s take would add some fun...no doubt BSPA would fine the club for bringing the game into disute and being dangerously close to adding entertainment. oh well we can dream.

Brilliant...bring it back....last heat decider and tape pushing, and give up on punishing flying starts with a restart, more often than not the riders reactions are just so much better than the refs eysight and being a tad older than the rider they cant believe he can be so quick getting out of the gate.

How about going back in time and allowing riders to nudge the tapes - even push them to breaking point....only for another rider to apply the final straw and be excluded for being "the cause"...it was great to watch though caused loads of arguments between riders and supporters, and Olsen & Mauger were the very best at it.....It wont happen...just saying it might be better/entertaining than the current methodology/rules of today and almost certainly would remove the vast majority of the so called false starts.

If true, Then he wil have served the ban by the time March comes around...In fact he wil be able to ride in australia as they will take into account "time served" since first being suspended.

He is indeed already serving a ban for somthing he has admitted to. Any subsequent ban (suspended or otherwise) would be in addition to that already served.

why couldn't the riders accept the contribution from BSI for the appropriate expenses and travel accomodation etc and then if the riders do stay on they do so at their own expense. after all some Aussie riders may decide to stay down there anyway and thsi means they get their return fare paid - even though in some circumstances as part of their work permit being approved they would have to have had the return porton in the first place.

It is more probable that the ban would be for two years suspended for one. meaning he gets to ride next year but any other offense being committed would immediately trip the two year ban plus any additional punishment for the new offense. Remember he has allready been punished / serving the current ban so this may be taken into consideration also. Frankly I think a one year ban suspended for two years is more suitable.

Doesn't matter about cost of living and average wages...promoters work on income from ticket sales and resultant outgoings 20,000 x £5 = £100,000 generated to pay costs including wages 2000 x £17 = £34,000 - -if we lucky to see 2000 at a Uk meeting = not so much cash coming in £100,000 / £17 = 5800 people - and if we cant attract 2000 not much chance of getting 5800 but if the right riders could be atracted would this bring in the crowds? Problem is...We do not have speedway stadiums in uk to attract the right level of crowds required (which circuits could comfortably accomodate 6000?) to compete with Poland or even Sweden. hence wages paid are lower. Chicken or egg anyone?

Agree that there should only be one FT - Also the points limit should be raised to accomodate a better quality of rider otherwise we will still have sub standard 6 & 7 in comparison to the top 5 main body riders.

Yes agreed, but as this is a "rules" thing is it down to the promoters or the referees to instigate...and do they (the refs) have such meetings to address isues liek this?

Ok, so it appaears Tai didn't break any rules and thus was not cheating although I am surprised no such rule covering excesive gardening exists. So like it or not the other riders could have done the same, but chose not too. However, If they had been on track, then the ref would have put them on two minutes which would have restricted the possibility of them and Tai continuing to garden. All Tai did was take advantage of the time delay between restarts to improve his chances. Not sure if now the world champ has shown the way, it will lead to riders rushing out with their bucket and spades betwen heats, but hopefully following an unsatisfactory start some will head straight to the start line instead of the pits which hopefully will speed things up. Well done Tai on keeping your head and knowing the rules - and no I am not a Wolves fan, but I do love Britain having a World Champion!

No trouble reading, just understanding whats being said - maybe due to jet lag! OK so this means an average pay of 5k per meeting (the total excluding reserves divided by 16) but truth is that the top riders are rarely out of the top 6 so their average pay is more liekly to be around 7k and a regulat top 3 finisher is up at around 9k per meeting...well thats not too bad for a couple of days work is it...engines,bikes travel in most cases sponsored. Not saying its the best, just that its not too bad.

Thanks for the clarification. so if I understand matters correctly the list is best descibed as appearance money that each rider recieves for each round rather than prize money. The total being around 80k if the rider avoids injury etc.

Are we sure we understand what is meant by "Prize Money"? is this the list of cash up for the winner, those on the podium or something else? I appreciate the 12000 is an initial payment that each rider recieves but I find it hard to believe that the final 1000 is all that is paid. What is paid to riders in terms of start and point money?

is it the rule? You are correct that SPGP rules state : "...Should a rider or riders who have qualified directly, either by being in the top 8 of the Final Overall Grand Prix Classification or in the top 3 of the FIM Grand Prix qualification system or who qualified through both systems, withdraw prior to the start of the Grand Prix season, the first rider or riders available on the Official Grand Prix Qualified Substitute list shall replace him or them" However, and this is what makes me not so sure about Harris being "in" is that Gollob's inclusion is not through direct qualification as covered by the above rule but by being nominated by BSI. So is there not the possibility that BSI will have the opportunity to nominate another rider? Last year BSI tried to replace Jason Crump with Andreas Jonsson when crump announced his retirement. In that matter the FIM said "no" as Crump was a qualifier and Dryml was awarded the spot as first reserve as per the rule..but as I say, Gollob is not a qualifier. I cant find a rule about replacing nominated riders - is there one?

wow - 9 pages in such a short time - shows Unlcle Len & his actions still create reactions after all these years!

you make good points. but to put mine into context. My team too is a Premier League club. I also visit Elite league meetings I also watch spedway on TV and when possible I attend live GP meetings over and above Cardiff. The main question I had for you was "why do you say Sky mucked up our sport"? The fact that they provided cash to the EL with little (nothing) to PL or NL does not constitue "mucking up" actually it would appear the PL have done Ok running the league with prudent management. However, we must appreciate that Sky wanted something for their money, which was "elite2 racing featuring the best riders. There is no question that over the (sky) years as far as the UK is concerned this has proven to be the case i.e. with all the best will & rose coloured glasses in the world - 99% of EL team would win home and away v PL. In a much smaller way than the Premiership, Sky have funded (or part funded) the cost of attracting the best riders (players) but regretably the promoters have failed to provide a show which has grown in attraction or entertainment. actually in my opinion in the past few years it has lessened - but clearly this is not the fault of Sky & if you were to look beyond just your own club you would realise that Speedway on TV should be a great advertisment for the sport and guess what - this would lead to new people visiting their local track to see the sport live - so why would any speedway supporter do anything to put Sky off from continuing with covering the sport?

Sky have mucked up our sport?? How can that be the case? we have had UK speedway & GP for years, which Sky provide cash to the UK promoters and GP rights holders - then the promoters spend it how the see fit. As I see it, the UK promoters have most probably not done the most with this opportunity - so I just cant see why Sky gets the blame - althoug clearly such comments will hardly help keep them interested in the sport will they?!!

I know its a bit late, but congratulations to Glyn and all involved in getting the Lions v Coventry fixture on. We all know that the weather plays a big part in determining the type of track and hence the racing that is possible and all considered it was a meeting so much better than could be expected under the prevailing conditions. Also like to add a well done to the riders who put on a good show all round which considering the fact that this was a "friendly" they didnt hold back anywhere near as some other riders have done as witnessed on sky when track conditions were much less challenging. Job well done to all concerned!