The Pedaler

I gather that Diedenbergen have joined to make the Bundesliga a 5-team league. Are there any links to any Bundesliga official web sites, and when are the fixtures normally announced?

Good luck to the Brummies revival

Who appoints and pays for the "independent person" and what's that bit about paying pipers and calling tunes?

They'll need those for their "Fast Track Reserve" team places. Dear oh dear. Bettaware will be making a fortune selling buckets to speedway fans up and down the country whose hearts will be bleeding for Poole now.

Let's hope that in 2015 the BSPA's master plan of developing fast track riders in the EL will mean that "Junior GB" can take part and show the rest of the world how great Britain IS in world speedway.... ...and then I woke up.

Poole's line-up will reflect what a joke British Speedway has become. ha ha, "Young up and coming talent" Benji Compton in an official FIM "Champions League" event. What a laughing stock. Should be well worth watching Matt Ford and Neil Middleditch being put in their place for once. Seriously though, how cast iron is Poole's contract for this event? I can see them withdrawing if there are no serious consequences from them doing so. The BSPA may even be persuaded to fund any compensation.

Following the events of this weekend, I cannot see anything on the BSI / SGP web site about what is being done in respect of Ward's continuation in the series. What is happening? Is Ward going to help the FIM with their enquiries? Will there be a disciplinary hearing or not? Neither is there anything on either the BSPA or Poole's web sites, to say what the UK authorities are going to do about the rider who plies his trade in this country. And if his conduct causes him to suffer disciplinary punishment by the authorities, how will the UK Borders Agency consider his next application for a visa to work in the UK? Isn't there some kind of "fit and proper persons" criteria that he has to pass?

Basically what it boils down to is whether he was using Steroids in order to help with physical side of the fitness regime that riders have...and let's face it, he's not naturally muscular so to handle the bike he needs to build his muscles up...OR was he smoking cannabis or snorting cocaine, or was he using amphetamines in order to "sharpen his mind" (and gating)? All prohibited substances. All questions in need of answers. OR, to use most caught-out athletes excuse, was he just "using the wrong cough medicine"? lol

Does Britain have a drug testing regime like they do in Poland? Be interesting to find out more about this. Can't trust either Google or Bing to make proper translations of subject matter like this, so we don't know if they were testing for "performance enhancing" or "recreational" drugs. If he is found guilty and gets a ban, it will make Falubaz's chances in the play-offs look less certain, ironically against Gorzow, where he was tested for drugs.

1. How do you fit 300 speedway fans onto a jet with a capacity of 189 (or 187 with someone the size of BoJo on board)? Apart from that little tittle tattle, how about now.. 2. Why not now marry up the wind fall of BoJo's "discovery" of speedway with the need to have someone to champion the cause for change in the sport in the UK. The BSPA won't do it from within, but with a "champion of the cause" like BoJo to knock some heads together, working on behalf of the fans of the sport, maybe some change can be made. This is a guy who governs attention. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him, and with him on side, you have a powerful ally. It would need of course for it to be politically worthwhile to BoJo and it will need the effort of fans all over the country to make a start by writing / tweeting / e-mailing / facebooking their appreciation for BoJo, the promise of a few rounds of drinks, and maybe someone offering him a night out at a local track to him (god help us, Lakeside?) Get the guy on board, sell to him what's left that's good about the sport, get him to champion the cause in changing what's bad. It's an opportunity. Grasp it.

That tells me nothing. Before my time and I don't care. I wasn't asking him, nor do I intend tracking him down, and nor I suspect will anyone else on BSF. That's not a helpful answer to those people contributing from Kings Lynn, Swindon, Glasgow, or anywhere else beyond the Birmingham horizon. Correct - boring, and I don't think I had asked about that anyway. Just a Joe Soap in the stands who's paid his money to see the sport decline.

You talk as though you are the founding father of speedway in Birmingham. I always thought that it was Tony Mole that got the Brummies to the start line in 2007, but you seem to think that it was you that made "something from nothing" to use your words. Why not illuminate the ladies and gentlemen with a potted history of who you are and what you've done to bring speedway back into Birmingham, so that the people on BSF can get to know you a bit better? Then maybe they can understand better, your posts.

Let's congratulate him when we see the colour of the money and it is handed over...until then it is is nothing but forum flannel.

There are a lot of Birmingham supporters prepared to believe in anything that will offer them hope. I hope you are not preying on them. Bear in mind your previous promise, and I quote from you... If you raised £4000 in one day, where is it? It certainly didn't jump-start the fighting fund which grew gradually from zero and took a while to get beyond your first day's efforts. Basically, don't promise what you can't deliver. The fans don't deserve to be taken for a ride in this fashion.

Simple cure