Little Thumper

"Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic team. The brand is now the trademark of the BOA. As speedway is not an Olympic sport (unlike beach volleyball), surely using the term Team GB in this instance is incorrect but also a breach of the BOA's trademark? I'm not sure that we feel the need to have a Team Sweden or a Team Australia or a Team anything else for that matter. Perhaps it is some kind of a Farcebook thing and is designed to appeal to Yoof Culture and clearly, if that is the case, then it would totally pass me by. Good luck to Great Britain's speedway team whoever might or might not be included. Just my opinion, obviously

Greetings Friends. I went to watch BV Colts take on IOW Warriors on Wednesday night and came away with very mixed emotions. FOR Excellent WOT racing surface and layout with plenty of passing opportunities. Free motorcycle parking. Audible PA system. Good spectator viewing without having to peer over a dog bowl. Decent pit facilities for the riders. Reasonable ticket price (NL) AGAINST Dreadful fight through motorway traffic to get to the place. Dogs not welcome. Food and drink regulations are draconian (particularly for vegetarians). Spectators nearly out-numbered by blokes in hi-viz coats, who were keen to search your belongings and tell you what you couldn't do. Penned into the main stand and no option to watch the action from alternative view points. Prohibition on horns and other noisy methods of showing excitement/appreciation/disgust. Not much attempt to generate much enthusiasm from the relatively small audience (Give me an "A", give me a...........perhaps not). I am sure that at a big event, the atmosphere is considerably better but at this National League meeting, there was an antiseptic feel to the whole thing. Whilst I might be a little biased (old), in no way does the atmosphere compare to for example, Hyde Road where there were people milling about all over the place, drinking, smoking, engaging in good-humoured heckling, eating their butties or consuming beefburgers and hot dogs which had the unique smell and taste of speedway about them and Soldier Boy or some other wag having a good shout at that Coventry bloke, Ole somebody or other. So, would I go back to the NSS again? I think not. I shall hang about instead at "old fashioned" National League venues with other "those were the days" supporters where the volumes of Health and Safety regulations and Stadium Prohibitions are kept on a dusty shelf in a locked cupboard in an abandoned store room. Just my opinion, obviously

Having watched IOW in action at Belle Vue on Wednesday night, I was pretty impressed with their performance. Stoneman and Cupitt proved themselves to be very, very promising and as always, if you have reserves who can chip in a decent haul of points then you are at least in with half a chance. Watching the IOW boys in the pits, they seemed to have some pretty good team spirit and they certainly made the home town heroes earn their money. Weather permitting, I shall go and watch the Warriors again on Sunday at Buxton and the Hitmen will have their work cut out to fend off the Southern invaders!