Shale Searcher

Forecast lookin ok now for rest of the day, just an outside chance of a rogue shower early afternoon......

Has this been called off to save paying riders air fares, and not for the benefit of fans? The riders are here tomorrow as well for Lions v Cov, so there's no real air fare saving.... Ridiculous decision so early in the day, especially as the weather forecast is not set in stone this evening.... Rain between 5 and 6pm, then clear....?

They still get played at some tracks, so old is the music!!!!!!

In the olden days, I am talking 1970 to 1980, tracks were graded after every race, not after 4, 7, 11 and 14 like today, yet the main meetings were always done and dusted by 9pm, 9:15 latest, and the gates were opened after heat 10 and anybody could walk in and watch the last couple of races and second half for nowt!!!! Wonder if that would work now......

Perhaps the "rain/waterlogged track" message was the only message they had saved for short notice use and they displayed that just to stop fans travelling until someone could access the system to add the "dangerous conditions etc" message... We are always overly suspicious when it comes to info regarding cancellations, perhaps we ought to cut them a little slack regarding this one.......? Or are the conditions today, no worse than the meeting was ran in the other week when Sky were in town, making the cancellation stick in the throat a touch with consistency issues?

Please, please, please think before you post, Josh Auty has been a superstar all season! and has really impressed me with his "never give up" style.... And his gating has improved 100 fold!!!

Fond memories for me too from Long Eaton, initially to see the Leicester Lions remix side, Les with his beard!! Got really into speeedway again through those meetings, became a LE regular, was the Long Eaton Supporters Club vice president for a season, produced a A5 magazine briefly, we called it the Supporters Shout!! Anyone out there got a copy of the 2, or maybe 3 of the issues produced...? It was on salmon, white and blue copy paper, typed and photo copied, with a page dedicated to Lions fans who had taken Long Eaton to heart. I reckon there was at least 150/200 who regularly made the trip to home meetings; the page was called "Down the M1" if I remember correctly!! Also, organsided and drove hired mini busses for the away trips, especially enjoyed the "FOURS" trips to the Showground..... Happy Days, and undoubtedly some fantastic speedway, and great new speedway friends!!!

As a ball park figure, how many 4 valve 500cc Speedway engines are in use if ALL were used at the same time, using the table below: Professional Shale Speedway Amateur Speedway Long Track Grass Track Other Speedway Variants Total

I've just dug my Long Eaton Invaders white, blue and red shell suit top out!!!!!

Might have been just into the 90's, just....

And don't forget Nigel D'eath!! I sponsored him with a tyre for the reward of a go in the mechanics race, I wore Nigels leathers, but Nigels bike developed a problem so I went out on Mark Blackbirds bike instead, ohhh the memories, top notch!!

Yep!! Think Ray Wilson, John Boulger, Dave Jessup, Malcolm Shakespeare, Frank Auffret Norman Storer and Malc Brown were still screaming round Blackbird Road!!!!!!!

Wasn't there also a meeting held at Sheffield? Sealed engines handed out in the pits? Lots of EF'S occured? Do you think that if speedway bikes or at least bikes that were street legal were made by manufacturers of speedway bikes, that speedway would attract a larger "biker" audience? get what I mean? (Exception Jawa)

Well, an early start on this one.... Will the Lions face a Kings Lynn backlash after their lacklustre performance at Belle Vue last night..

Why so negative?

Thanks for the info, hope it becomes a success on the shale as well, GM needs a competitor if only to keep the prices in check, hardly anyone on Jawas now in Elite League, Kim Nillson of Lakeside rides a Jawa, don't know if either of the Bjerres are Jawa riders still......? Are there any pictures anywhere of this new Godden? Had a search on Google, didn't seem to find much about it at all, let alone a photo!!

That rule never made it to the final version!!!! Stipulation is rider can dismount, as long as machine pointing the right way, he never lets go of the machine and his cut out is fitted. He can then garden to his hearts consent... The rule was modified because it is hard for short riders to do any meaningful gate prep without getting off machine!!!!!!

That's the problem when rain is in the forecast.... Track prepped with little if any water, and no dirt to speak of.... A little bit of rain and you get a wet, rock hard base, with a little wet shale on top, turns into a skating rink.. the little bit of rain sits on top of the bone hard base because it's had no water on it to speak of, so the rain cannot get into the surface, it just gets so slippery, should have been watered properly during day.. it would if handled the rain shower much better..

It was generally better, still a work in progress, a couple of very good rides from our reserves Mssrs Auty and Lambert, encouraging I would say....

It is forecast, but in the form of showers, I've ran a couple of the lesser models, Manchester could be ok.... At least between 7pm and 9pm...

Read in February that Godden were going to make a new speedway engine?? Anyone know anything about this project? Is one out there being tested/used perhaps in lower leagues....? Or?

Apart from the Rugby Team, Leicester clubs in any and all sports have always been well down the pecking order on tv time....... Always treated poorly, even the cricket team, when we were top notch back in the day!

Any more news on Simon Stead? All gone a bit quiet.... how well did his ops go? Cheers SS

Yes Tina, it was...... even during the downpour, the track was kept traceable, the tractor put in a lot of laps, and trackstaff stayed out on troublesome areas, kept the shale moving, the surface scarified to stop it turning into an ice rink, the riders didn't even have to have a look when the rain stopped, they could see with the work being done... And it can be done with right attitude.......

Lions off the bottom Weatherwatcher........ :-)