Shale Searcher

So, are we saying it's the bikes? I suppose in a riders eyes, winning races is all that matters...... and if you have 4 guys all wanting to win races, you should get decent racing? But we don't, a lot of the time.. So, we won't ever regress to uprights, so what can be done with the modern laydown that could improve things, without costing fortunes?

Don't you think though because its supposed to be a "Professional" sport, more effort needs to be made to get meetings on! No wonder the sport and support for it is in rapid decline!! Supporters are now not committing to go, knowing it's going to be off with the slightest hint of the wet stuff... To add to your comments Vince, are you saying promoters are postponing meetings on the basis they are concerned about the size of the crowd turning up because of inclement weather, rather than an unfit track? Surely that's just going to keep spiralling down, oh it's gonna be cold tonight, well let's postpone, we'll say rains forecast.... Sounds daft? Perhaps it is, but how many meetings have been lost to weather forecasts when it's not actually rained? Ok, bit damp and cold, but I bet the tracks been fit come start time.....

Why does it seem that so many meetings are rained-off in the UK? Other European Countries seem to be able to get meetings on even in what appears to be far worse weather conditions than here..... Is it the riders? Is it the promoters? Is it the tracks themselves? Is it the referees? Also, what's happened to the Sky Meetings Covers? It also appears that meetings are called off far to early, I'm sure this is getting far more frequent than it used to be?

Surely it wasn't cancelled because of a rogue bale of hay lose on the track!!??!!

Sam Masters the better option in my opinion....

Speedway bike pi55ed it over 150 metres......!! Anyone know statistics? 0-60? Top speed hit etc....

Oh! Please can someone chew it up and pot it for me an a couple of sentences? If that's doable....!!

Has it rained at all in Swindon? I know the rain has been pretty wide spread today, but there have been some "City Size" rain free zones, its just nigh-on impossible to forecast where these dry atols are going to be..... Perhaps promoters are a little bit to quick these days to rain off fixtures, perhaps they ought to wait until mid afternoon, then make a call to the met office... The problem with the UK and its weather is because we are an Island,the weather can be terribly unpredictable, very localised and changeable...... I appreciate the costs involved in "Race Time" call-offs, but supporters and potential new supporters lose faith when meetings get called off ultra early, based on weather forecasts that can and frequently are wrong at worst, and changeable at best..

17:55 Looks like the rain will stop around 18:30-19:00 according to the Hi-Res Rainfall Radar, it may abate back to light rain/drizzle around 18:15ish If it's not been watered and its well tyre packed, you might be ok....

When did Slough have a track????

What was or is the shortest track in British Speedway?

There are other comparison websites as well..

Iinteresting that Sam Masters was wearing Peter Ljungs Lions race suit when he guested for us against Belle Vue....???? Surely they wash their own race suits? They don't hand them in after every meeting to be laundered... Do they????

I agree, I was only 5/6 yards away from his first visit to our fence at Leicester, high speed and body and bike entwined.... His second and third appointments with our fence were pretty awful as well, he didn't look right before the meeting either in my opinion. I think it's a combination of very hard impacts on his body, his bikes seem hard for him to ride this year and his head.... He needs a run of crash free meetings, getting his bikes running smoothly and the head will sort itself out.......... I just can't be good for your racing demeanour, whenever you get involved in a scrap for points you end up in a big crash.. not just little slide-offs, I mean BIG crashes....

At Leicester, Lynn and Peterborough and I think most tracks in the 70's, 80's and most tracks, were graded manually (rakers) from kickboards to the inside over the racing lines between every race, and the tractor was out grading the raked back dirt in between every race.... Now it seems takers only flick the dirt from the kickboards out a metre maximum and the track only gets tractored around evey 3/4 races..... Anyone know the reason for this reduction in track grading? I would like your thoughts on this and views/thoughts from any riders/promoters/curators out there on this forum............

Dirt? To Much/to Little, Right/wrong Shale, Water, To Much/to Little? The Curator? Have Your Say... Right, everyone's thoughts, solutions, Complaints...... Mod Note: Please note the 'topic title' area is for a title only, not the whole post!

Who'd be a referee! Perhaps it's time to bring technology to the sport, especially for race starts.. Transponders on bikes? That would also generate accurate race times.. Would it be easier to let everyone roll at the start rather than preventing one from rolling? Don't know the answer except it's easy to punish the "perfect start" as we've seen as well.... Don't forget, the "first bend bunching, all four back" rule doesn't actually exist!! That's just a situation that's been handled like it is now for years and is totally at the referees discretion, just how far round the first bend it covers is also discretionary....... The referee doesn't have to exclude anyone, at any point of a race, apparently, but they always do once the first bend bunching area has been negotiated...... The above issues seem to be the most talked about and frequently got wrong by the modern referee, so let's see some serious suggestions/ideas to help cut the times these desisions are incorrectly made....

Would Ljung have to have some sort of sicknote for us to be able to use a guest? Or is his word good enough.......?

Peter Ljung rode for Rzeszow on Sunday and scored 9+2, miracle cures over there then.....! Why didn't he just say he didn't want to ride anymore in the UK?

Well, 2 anyway, the third one, well the Swedish League has started, keep your eye on the team's and who's riding for them.......

Can anyone tell me If there's a thread for the upcoming FIM under 21's meeting this Saturday?? Looked everywhere, can't seem to find one........

Where can I find it? Doesn't come up on play store? Cheers Shale Searcher *******UPDATE******** Found it....... Spelt programme wrong, well predictive did!! SS

It's a motorsport..... But unusual as there's individual racing and team racing.....

So, what would you do to try and improve the consistency of refereeing? Everyone sees races/incidents from different positions and viewing angles, would it be better with 2 meeting referees? One in the usual place and one on the centre green? Or is it just inexperience or poor training to blame....?

So you saying a team manager wont do the following....... Hey, Bally, you've had an off night so far, Fein an injury and withdraw, we'll use Super Mac and Gold Win in your last 2,races, don't worry, we'll see you right!!!? You're not in the real world if you don't think it'll happen!!!