Big Al

More a case of the whole of the current Premier league will "drop down" I think. Statement from Damien Bates stressing the separation between Sheffield and Leicester, so I very much doubt that Steady would have carried on. Hopefully at last the Lions have someone with the right set of skills to steer the club. If only he could build a replacement track...

The Freesport commentator seems a bit stuck when it comes to Pawel Prezpelski. "Former Leicester Lion" he says whenever said rider comes to the tapes. Well, yes, if you count taking part in three heats. The latter one entailing him ballsing up bend three, flying through the air and ending up buried under the airfence with a broken leg. Surely he can get hold of some more interesting information? Like he is a fully qualified painter & decorator, and helps out with his family business renovating old properties during the off-season. Where's Motty when you need him?

The Prime Minister of Swidden resigned yesterday, which probably put a dampener on things. Apparently he is a big Dackarna fan, and often gives riders, officials and supporters free massages at home matches. But probably not yesterday.

It amazes me how often and for how long Hans Andersen has been getting away with it

BT Sport could always produce their own rival programme. But would Woffinden & Speedway get much of a chance? More than with Auntie, but they would just kowtow to those sports they pay the highest fees to! It's all a pointless irrelevance

Building the new track shouldn't be a problem I guess, sounds like a makeover job. But the rest of it??? Those permissions need to come in pretty quick because it sounds a bit tight, if they don't. Wrecking balls would need to start work on Friday, wouldn't they??

So, by next March there will be a new speedway track with a racy pacy shape. The pits will have been moved (hopefully). That's the good news. But, going by the brief statement, it will probably be surrounded by cleared ground at best. No mention of spectator facilities, parking!!

Oooh, you bitch!!!!

Wouldn't that mean even smaller difference between PL and CL especially if some current riders don't, for whatever reasons, return for the 2019 PL? Also I know IOW is highly regarded but would they be wise to leave their current level? Maybe it's Plymouth and/or Mildenhall more likely to make the jump.

Depends which institution he's in. Just a lottery. That's post-crash UK for you. The places should have more bankers in them, paying large board and lodgings fees.

That sort of forensic, computer-like brain mixed with a certain level of obsessiveness and certainty of being "correct" in any argument, is sadly susceptible to taking a short but out of control walk over to the dark side. ScB could have been put to very good use by the BSPA but it turns out it was as well they didn't. I can only say that a couple of times I asked him to explain the background to contentious issues in the sport which I was lacking understanding of, and he provided full and detailed answers. Mental health problems are no trivial matter with someone who does what he has.

The restrained comment by Woffinden "It is what it is".....so what was "it"? Probably something he would get into trouble for, had he said it. In which case the missing word is probably "bent".

I bet that Hans' final average will be under 8. Very useful indeed if the "only one over 8" is applied again, for him and whoever employs him!

I wonder what Hans Andersen's final average for the season will be? Hands up those who say 8 or more Hands up those who say 7.99 or less.

A good asset for Leicester, along with the Thompsons looking to the future. Leicester has a lot of catching up to do in this area, and I'd like to seem NBJ added - is he "owned" by the BSPA now? Also Hans should be available now on a free transfer (lol).

And he came very close to being binned by Leicester about a month ago!

It's gone absolutely still in LE4, with darkish hazy clouds settled in and around. Wouldn't be surprised if there's a thunderclap or two. Hope that Hans "Michael Fish" Andersen wins the coin toss just in case it doesn't get past heat 10

So have I

William Hills reporting big money being laid on Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen today as the rider being signed.

TSo Leicester missed the target by failing to sign NBJ earlier when they had chance? And in spite of word going round at start of season that Erik Riss didn't want to double up this year, his words on TV yesterday stated the opposite! Everyone's an expert with hindsight of course, but just about every in-season signing made has seen their average go down, and in many cases not just by a small margin! Wells, to me, has been especially disappointing after that very good start. I wonder if Simon Stead needs to work on his skills at giving riders good old bollockings for poor performance. Maybe he's just too nice

Ok thanks folks - so BSPA intervened , the reasons behind that are "debatable".

Bit puzzled as to why Worky has only done 5 home league matches so far. I'm sure the answers are within this thread somewhere but are there reasons? Sorry for ignorance - main attentions been on other matters so this has escaped me!

Yes you're probably right there

Wasn't there a situation a few years ago, when Leicester was "ordered" by the BSPA to ride a match at KL on a particular date after attempts by the two clubs to agree had failed? I think it was Leicester who were the "refusers" on that occasion but had to comply otherwise presumably cop a heavy fine? If so, I suppose the BSPA can do the same this time and order KL to fulfil the fixture on one of the dates proposed by Somerset?

Can remember when T20 cricket was first announced as a new competition. And I was one of many who said "bloody hell, that's ridiculous". But I went to all the home games, some away ones, three finals days. However that was probably mostly down to my team's success in the competition, because I'm now back to preferring the old format. MAybe not stopping the race for falls is taking it a bit far, but we shouldn't stop throwing seemingly mad ideas into the pot because sometimes it generates the creative thinking which subsequently produces a winning one. Handicap racing used to be hugely popular in the 1920's and 1930's didn't it? I think that having a mixture of different phases within a meeting/match is worth trying, although I'd have some concerns over the ability of many referees to handle it!