Fortythirtyeight

Redcar fans will remember the Brian Havelock signing of Finnish rider Keskinen. He had purple hair and only ever beat one opposition rider and became a legend for it, he beat Derek Sneddon for a third place and had a song written about it.

Think Jonie Keskinen would be a more popular choice than him.

Outside of those stated, JBA , Ostergaard, Berge, not a lot of choice at heat leader level. New rules on averages rule out any possible contenders from the Premiership really ( Bellego, ) so it's a very limited field to chose from and no doubt other clubs thinking of making changes are thinking the same thing......who's out there???

Jonas B. Andersen to return?

What's confusing? Redcar have released ( sacked ) him for ' personal reasons' which obviously have impacted on the club or they wouldn't have released him. The whole speedway world knows of his previous history and its standard these days when releasing a rider to state ' we hope he gets a ride elsewhere' . Barker is one hell of a talented rider who wastes his talent because of ' personal issues '. If he put the money and effort into his speedway he would still be a heat leader in the premiership and an England regular but it's not going to happen and we wait and see which club is prepared to take him on next, will there be one?

What's going to change?.....either nothing or the end of speedway as we currently know it. The 'One league format' was agreed in the winter , with a number of tracks refusing to join it but then a member of the board , who didn't like that decision led a revolt and had it overturned. Then when it was stalemate as not enough teams to continue with a Premiership and Championship his adversary buys two more clubs to keep the Premiership going. Rules were ignored and individuals requirements came first. They who had the most money and loudest voices got what they required. Nothing new to speedway. This will only change when there's a revolution or a total collapse of the sport. There has to be new leadership, unattached to any club, to try to save the sport we all love ( well most of us on this forum !) will it ever happen?

South Bank residential houses are less than 1/4 mile away , they were closer till a recent ' development ' knocked the estate down. Dependant on the wind direction the noise from the Motorsports Park carries considerable distance and can be heard over a mile away.

"I, along with a few others left after heat 9 so you are wrong in your assumption that all the crowd stayed back for the presentations." wow!, so a small number or people left after the second medical incident after heat 9? This was around 9:15 pm. If this is worth commenting on no wonder the likes of ' Waco ' puts so much into this forum with his constant negative remarks. Your ' local ' so why leave at 9:15? ....you don't need to answer that. The curfew at Redcar is 10pm , always has been since 2006 and it is written in the lease as ' Racing SHOULD be completed by 10pm'. The curfew has been breached on only 3 occasions in 13 years and after consultation with senior members of the management it was agreed to run passed it again last night for the good of the fans. Let's applaud Redcar Promotion for that decision!

Nice idea of a design just a pity certain riders names appear over and over again, some even repeated next to each other three and four times.

What a brilliant comment from someone who has no idea how a speedway meeting is run. 90% of tracks have a curfew and tonight Redcar deliberately ran over it to complete the meeting so no problem whatsoever. The club paid the BSPA to run this meeting and extra medical staff and vehicles are very expensive to hire so why double your bills, just in case? Despite the medical emergencys , which no one could have foretold, it was a decent meeting and it was completed , none of the healthy crowd that were present, ( and you weren't there ) complained and all stayed back to watch the presentations so no 'shambles' occurred.

Who's replaced who then?

Simple.....Newcastle never spoke to him. Good luck to Jacob Bukhave, another former Bear at Newcastle!

Whilst Bukhave was impressive in his first four rides on Friday he faded badly against the ' big boys'. Could have been fitness but having seen his race times for the amateur meeting he was still some 4 seconds off race win times for Friday. The lad could do a job somewhere but his 4 point average will put others off and his equipment always looks under par. Peterborough were said to be signing him half way through last season but it never went ahead Fridays meeting was a great initiative and good for the fans who got to be team managers ,very well matched teams and fantastic racing throughout. Amateur meetings are where professionals are made and Redcar and Scunthorpe should be applauded for their efforts.

Too many Friday night tracks as it is although I know what you're getting at. If you're not putting on a ' show ' what's to attract new fans? The locals said the change of night is not going down well and wondered why the club did away with concessions putting many off attending. They suggested a bus service from the town would bring people in as the stadium is not easily reached without transport but that would cost someone a few quid I expect. Somerset promotion are always moaning about costs but you have to cater for the fans you have and hope to attract new ones by good presentation but this doesn't appear to be the case here. Small things like having to walk half way around the stadium to go to the toilet or get a drink , if you're on the back straight, does not help attract people. The size of the crowd would not cover the wages of your top three so hope the club have very good sponsors.

Good match on a very pleasant evening. Some real ding dong racing going on from both sides with Harris and Wright spectacular particularly considering Wright wrote his no.1 bike off early on. Rebels simply not strong enough in depth with poor returns lower down and Kurtz his usual inconsistent self. Bears solid throughout, although Palm-Toft didn't get a no.1's score his heat win from the back was spectacular. Bacon, Stewart and Greaves were very good considering their lack of laps around the place. Heat 15 was a race to be remembered. crowd looked very sparse and the general look of the place was very neglected. Large Weeds at the turnstiles to greet you, nettles growing through the seating areas on the back straight and the tannoy was inaudible . whilst there was very little atmosphere around the place met some very pleasant and knowledgable Rebels fans who's main gripe was the fact that the ' concession ' price had been done away with so they had to pay more than last season when they were in the Premiership. strange but true!

.club hotline works fine and is up to date, I've checked!

Entertaining meeting on a racers track , although possibly not in it's best condition last night , the bump/hole in turn 3/4 causing issues to several riders and causing Auty to fall (?). Lack of track work a tactical ploy? Scorpions deserved the win with Garrity in his usual early season top form with Allen impressive and Ayres will get better.A solid enough performance throughout for a tight win. Bears always in it but lacked the race winners with Palm- Toft poor and Barker not that impressive. Thought the Bears reserves did well especially young Smith who nothing was expected of. Think the ref was poor and did a disservice to Greaves excluding him on two minutes when he was on the track. Starts were not well controlled and Auty's clearing out of Smith was certainly not first bend bunching. Not a fan of Godfreys comments on the mic, trying to influence the ref as always hardly professional for the Vice Chairman of the B.S.P.A. Still a good meeting but don't think either side will go the distance and be in the play- offs.

Send me an email address and I'll send you photos of ones I have.

Might help if you actually read a fixture list or even a club website.

Answer to question 1. Money, the promotion have changed track men at both their tracks recently. Answer to question 2. Your expecting a big crowd? Sheffield is not the track it once was, poor standard of racing these days. Fans on the home straight complaining of restricted views now because of two large ' dog advert ' signs obstructing view of start line and bend 4. nice to see the bar open on bend 3 though.

Wow! Get rid of Barker after just three rides in which he scored in each? More synical than Newcastle and Glasgow promotion! First match for new riders on a different track, give them chance!

The Bears did have some luck with decisions but the Bjerre call was spot on. No contact going into the corner , Bjerre bailed out and his bike hit Barker hence he surged forward and eventually fell. Clegg didn't touch the tapes and Greaves was clearing the track when the race was stopped. Bears took their chances and visited at just the right time when the home team are just settling in. Diamonds will be fine, at home, on a much improved race surface. Spoke to the ref afterwards who admitted he pressed the wrong button in ht 15 but he's still learning and when is a ref going to get everything right? The Bears fans in attendance appeared to be the regulars who attend Newcastle and the attendance wasn't great for a local derby and first match of the season but that is the same everywhere in speedway now.

As a first time visitor to Leicester I will say it was one of the worst presented meetings I have been too in many a year. The ' Racing ' was none existent, who ever came out of the second turn infront won except for the Bates ' overtake' on the line. Track preparation was awful hence the tractor spending more time on the track than the riders, ( a rider did post a video of the track condition before the meeting showing the problem hours before the meeting) and led to two riders crashing. Control of the starts was terrible, why did the ref call the riders back from the start line when they were ready to race to do a twenty minute track grade? One overtake all night, speakers on back straight were poor ( terrible echo) and the centre green needs cutting. No second half racing? Yes, the opposition were poor but that was not a good advert for speedway on a cold night and there were many comments from home supporters on the way out who were not impressed.