The Cheese

Read the piece with Richard Coleman in the Speedway Star yesterday and on paper at least, he talks sense. The problem is that whenever 'new blood' comes in, they generally pick up these issues straight away because they're so obvious but they get met with promotors sticking their fingers in their ears as they're happy to continue as it is. We can only hope that he has more success than those in the past. I agree with his view that there needs to be a greater gap between the top two divisions and I get the impression that with the Poland + 1 league rule next year, he rightly sees that as an opening rather than a threat. If you have riders in Poland with Britain as their 2nd league then surely that reduces the need for fixed race nights so I don't see why Poole and Glasgow for example couldn't step up and keep their current nights. With a bit of co-operation and planning you could avoid the majority of fixture clashes. A TV deal would obviously be a necessity for that but the opportunity is maybe there with TNT again. From May next year they'll be without Champions League, Europa League and Conference League football so there is a gap in their schedule and presumably budget to spend. Go to them and ask if there's anything that could be done to encourage them back on board. BSN do a good job but they're preaching to the converted and having TNT (or whoever) involved as well should open more sponsorship doors.

With a seemingly ever-increasing lack of riders I would suggest removing averages. Probably something that would actually assist the Championship more but if there's even one rider losing out because of it then that is one too many. I presume the reason Alfie Bowtell for example is missing this year is because his home form for Plymouth gave him a false average, similarly for Kyle Newman last season. Go back a few years and Matthew Wethers suffered the same fate when Newcastle closed and there went a solid Championship rider never to be seen again. Eddie Kennett has done okay since his comeback, there's no reason why he couldn't have done that sooner if he hadn't been stuck with his old average until now. And those unattached riders should be also be allowed and even encouraged to take guest bookings. They get the opportunity to put themselves in the shop window and it obviously doesn't look as bad as a rider helping a rival team.

I found it outrageous that they played this during half-time of extra-time in the World Cup Final. Don't they know that British Speedway has exclusivity on it?

His record speaks for itself. Good luck to him for the future.

He was. Ellis seems to have taken his place. Initial seedings were Bewley, Brennan, Harris, King, Flint, Wright, D Thompson and Cook. Rushen, Jenkins, Howarth, Cairns, Edwards, Barker, Ablitt, Pijper, Harrison, J Thompson, Newman, S Lambert, Rowe, Mountain, Killeen, Kemp was the original semi-final draw. Any mention of this or the updated semi-final line-up before it was postponed seems to have been deleted from the British Speedway website though.

I'm sure Northampton would love to find a top heat leader somewhere but even someone who can consistently chip in with 5 or 6 instead of Batchelor would turn some of these near misses into wins.

Gave up watching after the Holder/Doyle crash, good to see it finally got completed! Hope they both make a speedy recovery.

I see that Cooper Rushen has had to withdraw from the semi-final because he can't get back in time following Saturday's European U19 meeting. Great scheduling once again

A slow start but brilliant racing again once it got going, ending with a superb final. The last two nights have shown how great this sport can be. If only that could be replicated every week across the country.

It wasn't mentioned at all.

Excellent meeting, hopefully the rain stays clear for tonight and we get something similar!

Seems like a good effort from GB. Unlucky to miss out on a medal when the bookies had them finishing last. Cairns received some odd criticism when he was selected for the World Cup side, nice to see him finding strong form since then.

Zmarzlik £150 more

I just had a look and the highlights show is still available to watch.

First time I've seen Rushen and clearly an impressive talent but it's unbelievable he wasn't excluded from that incident. Obviously he wouldn't have been looking to cause a crash like that but it was a dangerous move. Hopefully Harrison and Scott have come away from that relatively well. On Northampton, early days but you would like them to be able to strengthen up somehow. Whilst the track is settling down it's perhaps understandable the racing won't be at its most entertaining so for any newbies you really need to have them winning at home. Without either it makes their task much more difficult.