Little Thumper

0 is a nice round number! Commonwealth friends being the exception, obviously.

Does anyone happen to know who owns Stoke's stadium at Loomer Road? It is sandwiched between industrial units and refurbished slag heaps and I have always been a little surprised that someone hasn't plonked a big warehouse on it.

I've never quite understood why when somebody needs a football manager, they have to hire some foreign guy. There are 65 million people of this country and hopefully, quite a lot of these will still be British. Surely, if we need a football manager bod or great speedway riders, we are capable of producing a few of our own without having to go cap in hand to our foreign friends? Britain was once GREAT in many areas, including speedway. Make it so. :party: :party:

I'll drink to that!

Hooray! Another positive from the magnificent referendum result. British and Commonwealth riders for British teams...sounds good to me. :party: :party: :party:

Well, hopefully I shall try the place out again tonight but if it is as dismal as when I went a few weeks ago, then this will be my last visit for the foreseeable future. Sadly, my dog, Sgt Bash can't make it tonight so I shall be all on my own and I shall be supporting the Isle of Wight Warriors as I like the cut of their jib. I bet Chris Widman is hoping to bang in a few points! Be seeing you.

Well,it's not getting a lot better for Buxton! This weekend's double header against the Isle of Wight and Kings Lynn would be challenging enough at the best of times but this is the Buxton team line up:- 1. Tom Woolley (Guest) 2. Rider Replacement for Ryan Blacklock who has got something else on 3. Shelby Rutherford 4. Ryan Burton (if his toe is better) 5. Lee Dicken (if his back isn't hurting) 6. Lee Geary 7. Joe Lawlor (Guest) 8. William O'Keefe So if Lee Dicken and Ryan Burton don't pitch up, I'm not entirely sure how they will go on. It's not so long ago that the manager was suggesting that Rutherford and Geary weren't up to the job and should go walkabouts for a bit - now they seem to be the mainstays of the team! Not quite sure how this is going to pan out.

So, in Jason Pipe's latest monologue he says that Ryan Burton " will have a ride out to see how he feels this Saturday in our MDL final at Coventry". Is that not a little insulting to the other riders in the competition and indeed to the competition itself to use the occasion as an opportunity to give one of the senior team riders a "ride out"? How would one of the youngsters who has been plugging away all year feel when they are denied an opportunity to race on the big night because one of the big boys wants to see if his toe hurts? This makes a mockery of the whole thing and it is sad that there is always some wise guy who is quite happy to ruin it for everyone else. Just my opinion, obviously.

:rofl: :rofl:

It is now the day before this meeting but there is no meeting preview on the Stoke website. This kind of tardiness hardly whips up the enthusiasm amongst us expectant plebs. I do sometimes wonder if some speedway clubs don't want to encourage people to come along and so work on a need to know basis. And obviously, Joe Public doesn't need to know. At the Brooklands circuit before the war, their motto was, "The Right Crowd and No Crowding". I think some speedway outfits have adopted this policy and taken it to new heights. Come on Stoke, get your act together! At least tell us who is riding. It can't be that difficult, surely.

Oh, do try and keep up! The cat is out of the bag....Jason Pipe has signed a team of Indians for next year. The Buxton Hitmen will henceforth be known as the Buxton Biryanis. They probably won't score too many points but at least the venue catering might get a bit more cosmopolitan. Jason Pipe will be expected to wear a turban at all times and there will be belly dancing in the interval (not by Jason Pipe, I hasten to add). Now if only Buxton did season tickets, I'd be reaching for my cheque book. Be careful out there, it's a dangerous world.

The people at the top of speedway in this country must carry some responsibility for allowing speedway to have drifted into the wilderness. With good leadership and vision, speedway in this country should be flourishing and schooling the next bunch of top level riders. I hope that Laura and her people can people can find a way through this as we cannot afford to lose Workington or indeed, any of the other clubs who are pondering their ever-diminishing list of options. Good luck, Workington.

Jayne and Richard you are stars! A lot of people want Buxton to succeed and they realize what a struggle Buxton have had this year. Clubs like Buxton are essential to whatever future speedway might have in this country and if the sport had a governing and promoting body that realized that if you don't feed the roots then the flower will die, then the Buxtons of this world would be financially and spiritually encouraged to be the breeding grounds for future British talent. Sadly, those at the top of the sport lack the vision to see beyond the end of their bank statement and it is left to the small promoters to do the best they can with ever-dwindling resources. I am sure Jayne and her team at Buxton are seriously wondering whether it is worth putting all the hard effort in for yet another year and if they did decide to throw in the towel, then nobody could blame them. But when the small clubs disappear, the chances of the being re-born are slim. So Jayne, thank you for having the fortitude to come on here and share your thoughts and I am sure that there are many people like myself who wish Buxton a long and successful future. Make it so.

Yes, this is a very valid point and it has always baffled me why riders disappear without trace after relatively short periods in the team. Two examples that spring to mind are Steve Jones who hurt his knee but then disappeared without trace and David Speight who was cleaning up at a grasstrack meeting a few weeks ago. You wouldn't mind so much these riders departing if they were being replaced with someone you had even heard of. I noticed at a recent grass meeting in Cheshire, a big knob from the BV Colts was keeping an eye on things. Surely, there must be some way of getting some of the talented youngsters to take to the shale, at Buxton or wherever? One way would be regular try out days for riders to dip their toe in the water and see if speedway is the way to go. Do any clubs run these type of trial days? I sometimes go the 3 Sisters circuit near Wigan and there is at least one meeting a month where sprogs are trying out motor sport and possibly progressing further up the competition ladder. Whether it is Buxton or any other club, what I don't much care for is constant rider replacement and an unending stream of hired hands. So, Sings4Kings, hopefully Buxton have a cunning plan and this time next year, you and I will be on here discussing their magnificent revival.

Adonis, my friend, I am sorry that we have disappointed you! Clearly, Jason Pipe isn't going to spill the beans on how Buxton have come to be in the position in which they now found themselves. But you don't have to be the Brain of Britain to realize that trying to run any kind of speedway team on a very small budget is going to be immensely challenging. All you can hope is that you take on a couple or three riders who drastically outperform expectations and you hover about in the middle regions of the league table. This moderate success brings in a few more punters and you can perhaps then spend a few quid on more riders. Clearly, if your gamble doesn't pay off, the riders that you have dug up don't perform, other riders get injured or give it up as a bad job, then you will end up propping up the table and reliant on amazing good luck or benevolent rivals to score any points at all. What is more important is where you go from here. Obviously, a team cannot keep adopting this strategy because the supporters will disappear. Adonis, I don't know the answer but I hope somebody does. And while Jason Pipe might be a bit of a spin doctor, I don't think he is in the same league as Yogi Blair and Soupy Campbell!

When Ole Olsen had a bad ride at Hyde Road, you would hear Soldier Boy bellowing, "Where's Ole Olsen!" and waving his arms at him. Ole Olsen would just laugh. When somebody had a go at Peter Collins for something, he would shrug his shoulders and give them a wave. The only person that seemed to get a bit rattled with the crowd having a go at him, as I remember was Kenny Carter who seemed a bit lacking on the sense of humour front! For me, the banter and the crowd involvement are part and parcel of speedway. And riders having a bit of a set-to after the race can be quite entertaining, as long as their mates don't feel they have to join in. I think some riders need to climb down from their high horses, lighten up a bit and not take themselves quite so seriously. Congratulations to both teams for making it a great event and congratulations to the Belle Vue management and staff for making it a great night. Make it so.

Wise words, my friend.

I would never tar everyone with the same brush and I am sure that most teams use a development league correctly. But when managers start bringing in riders who seem to have little or no connection with the competition, I think that they are extracting the urine! I am particularly disappointed that a team that I have done my best to support over the past few seasons thinks that this is some kind of smart move. We need to be getting genuine, keen youngsters into this kind of racing not looking on it as a way to win cardboard trophies. Disappointed.

Thanks for that helpful suggestion. Will you be having much grass at the new state of the art Swindon Stadium? Or will it just be the tumble weeds blowing across the set of a Spaghetti Western? Have a good one.

Thanks for that but probably not going to put too big a dent in the attendance figures.

Mr Ore, you are clearly the font of knowledge when it comes to speedway catering matters. I hear your spirited recommendation of the brown sauce but do you have an opinion on the tomato ketchup? Having considered your advice, I think I will adopt my usual policy of shoving my butties down my trousers and give the gastronomic delights offered at the venue a miss on this occasion. Be careful out there, it's a dangerous world.

Well, what a load of cods wallop! Riding for Buxton in the 1st leg were Rothery, Isherwood, Wright and Dicken Jr. So how come 4 totally differnt bods are lining up for the 2nd leg? This is just a farce. Ryan Burton was meant to be riding at No. 4 for the Hitmen last weekend but apparently broke his toe so couldn't start. So how on earth can he now be calling himself a Junior Hitman. Surely, if you have ridden on a regular basis for the senior team, you should be ineligible? This kind of stunt just makes a mockery of what started out as a genuine competition and it's no wonder people look at speedway and laugh.

The aces will lose tonight by 14 and be crowned chumps.

I would suggest that you read Para 16 of the Terms and Conditions for Stadium Entry:- http://www.bellevueaces.co/terms.aspx So you might need to eat your butties before the bag search. Have a good one.

I would hope that young Lawlor will be having an early night on Saturday and conserving his strength for the 14 heats that he could be doing on Sunday!