SteelShoe

Cookie, Viv Muddle and latterly Vinnie practising this morning and into the afternoon. Craig looked very comfortable.

Why has the Border Trophy not been competed for in the last 2 seasons ? . I did hear it was because Berwick refused to participate but have not had that confirmed.

No not yet, but it won't be long now until he is ripping up the GT Tyres Arena.

Tate was Interviewed on BSN after the spill involving Kyle Howarth. He said he had changed bikes in that heat which was his 4th ride because his first bike was apparently too powerful and not driving forward off the line. Something certainly wasn't right because his starts were woeful. He got away much better in his 4th ride and was unlucky to be excluded when Kyle Howarth appeared to almost perform a right angle turn on the first corner to give him nowhere to go when he was a close second. He said he was looking for a better result in his final ride but didn't make a good start and then lost some control of the the bike going wide on turn 2 which appeared to finish his race really. After watching him underperform in the Aussie Champs on BSN I admit to being slightly concerned that we may once again not see the 2024 Tate in 2026. Hopefully we will and that will do his confidence a world of good for sure.

Barker, Brennan (who flew in from Poland and flies back out today) and Thompson spoke very passionately in interviews on BSN about the Ben Fund and what it means to them as riders regardless of the fact they will be insured.

Scunny team is a bit unbalanced at the minute in that they only have 1 strong heat leader at 1 and 5 and on last nights showing the important 3 and 4 pairing wasn't strong enough away from the EWR. After getting 10 heats in by 8:15pm we got an electrical delay and on a very cold evening should maybe have gone to green flag starts sooner. After not grading during the delay we got 2 heats in after the resumption of racing and then had a grading break. Scunny using a tac sub added to the overall meeting duration with Pickering having 3 rides on the trot in 11, 12 & 13 which may have prompted the grading break before 13. Think the meeting finished around 21:50 so the last 5 heats took about 95 minutes by which time I was pretty darn cold. Roy Clarke intimated rabbits may have been responsible for the electrical problem which prompted a picture in my mind of the Ware Rabbit running round the ECCO Arena.

Pulled a win out in his 3rd ride and looked neat and tidy. 3 lasts in his other rides, No2 is a tough position though.

It is long overdue that the old disused tank farms were demolished and adjacent land prepared for possible development if it means a possibility of jobs for the area. The council prospectus shows the available development land boundary along the southern edge of the Speedway if I remember rightly. There is no detail on Cumbria Crack re the actual extent of the security fence. I would think it somewhat beneficial if any security fence ran along the Speedway southern boundary in the east - west direction. There was talk a while back of possible interest from a company who make bio aviation fuel to build a production facility.

For certain clubs visiting fans help make the sport more financially viable, add to meeting atmosphere and help reinforce the feeling that the sport is actually worthy of travelling for to witness live. Travelling to the likes of Poole for Northern clubs fans on a Wednesday isn't so practical, this is were BSN is beneficial. However, if fans who would normally travel within a certain distance to support their team stopped doing so en block because they have a BSN package purchased at a very low price per meeting then this would be detrimental to the sport. Rumour mill was that because the TV money has currently been lost the BSPL are wanting a bigger slice of the BSN pie the result of which would be a lower payout for individual clubs at Championship level.

Don't wish your life away mate, the years pass all too quickly and appear to go faster with age.

I was actually rounding it up with you in mind 😃. You boys with super inflated pension pots will take no harm. As a former British Steel deferred pensioner I was seriously shocked at the size of the transfer value amounts some of you boys at TSP had . I have already tipped Andrew off to work on you as a possible Premium Sponsor 💰🤣

newer tech than that now 😃

See the BSN Package prices have been released. At around £5-70 a stream I struggle to see how these prices do the remaining Speedway clubs any favours. Championship 30 streams for £169-99.

not quite 😄

Hope you weren't getting stuck into the donuts 🍩. You must have been in there because Andrew don't run to Greggs he goes in the van 🤣