The Cheese

The meeting in Sweden is the U21 World Championship qualifier which is an FIM meeting so takes priority. Then again Adam Ellis is also in that meeting but is at Belle Vue for Swindon tonight..

If someone says they are going to run training schools and then doesn't then clearly they are going to get criticised for it, whether that happens to be Woffinden, an average rider or a terrible rider it makes no difference. I'm not a Tai hater, as a British rider I want him to do well in the GP's and whilst I don't agree with it I don't have a problem with him not riding in this country and missing the British Final and World Cup if that's his choice. But it's utterly ridiculous to then want to ride for GB in some tinpot World Games that nobody has ever heard of and will just be a Testimonial type meeting. To be fair the BSPA are also to blame for asking him in the first place and then saying he's not in the squad, but when he starts dictating about who he wants to be paired with him you can see why. What's the point in having Rossiter as manager if he wants to take over everything and do things his way? I'm guessing he doesn't think much of Rossiter given the thinly veiled dig at him in the kebab article a few months ago but lets not forget that one of the reasons he got the job over Phil Morris was because Tai recommended him..

I'd say that Worrall, Sedgemen, and 2 from Bewley/Smith against Grajczonek, Starke, Wright and Allen is pretty equal.

Agree with that. With Tungate and to a lesser extent Starke struggling and scoring less than expected it kind of justifies the team selected. Just a few more points each which you'd expect at home and you'd have a comfortable victory against Poole and wins against a fancied Kings Lynn and a Swindon side with 4 ex-Rebels and a track specialist in Bellego. Obviously you have to judge the team on results and not what ifs but I think they deserve another meeting or two to get things sorted.

Great news, especially after the dozens of riders that came through his training school last year. Oh wait...

With both sides missing a rider for the same reason wouldn't it be common sense to allow R/R instead of a Championship reserve?

If Tungate was dropped then possibly replace Graversen as well with someone like Hume on a 2.00 and then you'd have around 11.00 left if there's anyone available. For now I'd stick with the current team though, a shame that Tungate doesn't have the extra meetings for a Championship side to help but I'm sure he'll get going soon.

So Woffinden is happy to ride in a pointless meeting as a GB rider because it suits him on this occasion? If he's included in this meeting then he makes himself available for the World Cup, simple as that. Hopefully we can see two GB riders who actually want to race for their country included

Interesting article on GI and Torquay United - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/16/torquay-fans-fear-relegation-losing-home-96-years-plainmoor Torquay have released a statement in response on their website which includes the quote "we would refer him to the interview given by owner Clarke Osborne to the club website, which contains a cast-iron guarantee of the intention to build a new stadium before anything happens to Plainmoor, as well as an explanation of the reasoning behind the plan to negotiate the freehold of the ground." All sounds a little similar..

Great to see the brief footage of the Clay Country Moto Parc as well, wonderful place to watch the sport from and superb racing as well. Hope all goes well tonight

http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2017/speedway-easter-preview-11-04-17.php At the bottom of that page, the stuff about the Poole meeting is exactly the same as on the Somerset website so I assume it's accurate.

Klindt guesting for Starke in the 2nd leg. Thought Starke was an asset so should get priority over Peterborough?

To be fair, if it's a dull meeting his commentary adds some comedy value

If Riss was riding then I'd fancy Leicester to win this tbh but Lasse Bjerre replacing him weakens them a little, Somerset to win by 2

Nothing wrong with a bit of a 'disagreement', happens all of the time in all sports, both are big enough to forget about it and move on although obviously frustrating if it did cause the injury.

Given what Matt Ford has been saying recently about the Polish rules and refusing to sign the statement giving Torun priority on Holder. I'm sure they'll be looking to get back at him in some way and KK being 'required' more often back in Poland is a good start.

Was parking £1.50 last year or is that a new increase?

1. Belle Vue 2. Rye House 3. Wolves 4. Poole 5. Swindon 6. Kings Lynn 7. Somerset 8. Leicester

Your right, I'm a week or 2 behind in reading It was definitely mentioned in the issue with Leicester's team announcement

I'm sure I read in the Speedway Star this week that Lebedevs was coming in on a 7.00

“I told them what I wanted to be enforced to take the next step as a team,” Unless either he or the BSPA explain what these ideas he wanted enforced were then it's difficult to attach blame to either side. On the points he's made in this article, firstly it's hardly a crime to be smiling on the podium in the WC final. Look at the pictures of the GP podium and Woffinden is smiling with his silver medal there so he can't complain that others did in the World Cup. None of the riders turning up to a fitness test he organised obviously sounds pretty bad. The question is did he contact the riders before to make sure they were available etc on that day? Eating in a pizza/kebab shop I can understand being frustrating if you're trying to be a professional but then I assume that the BSPA aren't responsible for eating arrangements. Maybe as captain it's something he should have discussed before with the rest of the management and said 'look, we should be eating a decent meal as a team - lets go to .... '

Whilst it clearly leads to problems I don't see it as an issue for people not taking the sport seriously. It doesn't happen often I admit but in cricket you can have players loaned to other counties for one format of the game whilst still playing for their county in another. The problem is obviously the fixture clashes leading to missing riders not the actual riding for more than one team.

Both were at Somerset in 2015 and Grajczonek averaged over 2 points more at home than Worrall who struggled at the OTA all year. Average wise they might be similar but from a Somerset point of view who I assume primarily want a side to win home meetings there is no comparison. Add to that the fact that Grajczonek is captain and very popular, it would probably mean losing supporters! In this case I'm sure Richie would have a place if he'd been told by Belle Vue earlier he wasn't in their plans. For obvious reasons that couldn't happen and it's clearly not great for him but it would also be wrong to just dump a rider for no valid reason a month before the season starts.

Agreed.. Lawson also has the same average as Kenneth Bjerre but again there is no comparison between them. If they were at the same level then it would be a fair question to ask why it was the foreign rider who was preferred but in this case it's obvious and the right thing to do. Is it a shame for the likes of him and Richie Worrall that they don't have Premiership places? Of course, but at the same time they do still have places in the Championship and are likely gain a Premiership spot not too long into the season. The one to feel sorry for, assuming he's not at Belle Vue, is Stefan Nielsen who looks set to miss out in all 3 leagues and I would say that is wrong.

I understand why the apparent lack of progress with the stadium is worrying, but I don't see what would be gained from the Swindon management staying positive and optimistic if nothing actually was happening. If that was the case then surely they would be putting pressure on through the media, council etc to get things moving?