PotteringAround

I have Facebook, but I can't see this alleged posting of Kent's proposals for the 2020 season on the club's facebook page. The last posting was at 22:20 on Monday night and was just the scorers from the play-off final. Nothing new on the official website either. And nothing on the official twitter feed @kent_kings All I can see is an unofficial twitter account saying " BREAKING NEWS!!!! Len Silver has announced that The King's have applied to ride in the Championship next season with a WEDNESDAY racenite!! (sic) " A link to the alleged official posting would be good...

I've also heard rumours that the new stadium owners are interested in bringing back speedway at NL level. Hadn't heard who they were thinking of putting in as promoters, but Pete Sampson and Martin Hagon could make sense.

With the Glasgow v Leicester Championship Play-off final postponed tonight, what's the chances that it will be re-arranged for Sunday? And if so, what does that mean for the NLRC in respect of Ellis Perks, Joe Lawlor and Kyle Bickley?

According to Plymouth Tom Young is representing them in the NLRC. No Wallinger.

Apart from very, very basic editing, I have no idea how Wikipedia works. Maybe Norbold is more clued up?

Seeme to be one person calling himself "michig" on Wikipedia who keeps deleting stuff every time someone adds the news of Split Waterman's death. I see Norbold and others have updated the news several times. Each time it's the same idiot who undoes it.

Do tell

Yes. The track at the car circuit wasn't ideal for speedway by any stretch of the imagination. But it was a catalyst to get things going, and led the great Ken Moss to building the Buxton speedway track. Of course Buxton speedway itself wasn't perfect, but it's been a brilliant place for a huge number of riders to learn their craft, and a more than valuable part of the 3rd division for many many years. It needs to be back in the NL for 2020. The authorities should be working with the Buxton promoters to ensure that Buxton doesn't stand idle next year.

Dead right. Firstly if a rider is severely traumatised just for being (possibly wrongly) disqualified as the cause of the stoppage of a race, then he is definitely in the wrong sport. If you're going to have a career, you're going to have to get used to be wrongly disqualified more than once in the future. But it's normal that young kids can and do get upset after racing incidents. They're young. It's natural. That's why it's essential to have responsible adults in the pits to put an arm round them, give them words of sympathy and explain how real life works. However that person is very rarely a referee, (who has to remain a neutral authority figure). The best person to console an upset rider is a team manager/coach/parent or better still an older more experienced rider. (and to a young 125cc rider, that experienced older rider may even be a 17/18 year old). The team manager in such a situation should be there in the pits consoling and reassuring his rider. If he was insistent that the referee should talk to the rider (not a good idea) then he could have approached him after the meeting in the bar/car park (wherever) after things had cooled down. It's clear that this story of being concerned for a rider's mental well-being is bull****. The only reason someone went instantly storming up to the referee's box with so-called "video evidence" was because the match had been lost and he wanted the result changing there and then. What a terrible example of bad sportsmanship to show to young riders. It's a fundamental rule of any sport that referees/umpires/judges must be treated with respect. Speedway is no different. Without this you just have anarchy. Regulation 3.2.8 is a serious one, covering acts of "a violent, threatening or abusive nature". The referee in question is not a hothead. He's pretty laid back. Things must have been very heated for him to make a report. Good on the S.C.B. for making a stand and showing that abuse of officials will not be tolerated. A £100 fine is probably getting off light, but at least the S.C.B. didn't sweep it under the carpet and turn a blind eye. Well done S.C.B.

Definitely not. I'm pointing out that claiming a rider was mentally scarred for being disqualified as the cause of the stoppage of a race seems to be far-fetched and just an excuse made up later to defend his actions. I strongly suspect the person in question lost the plot because his team had been beaten. In a meaningless junior match that's very sad, and a bad example to kids. Control Bureau seem to be spot on with their fine.

To put things into context it was the last heat of an NJL match with the scores level at 15-15 going into the race. Cayden Martin came down, with Callum Gill being disqualified as the cause of the stoppage. That meant that Glasgow won 19-17. Had the decision gone the other way it would likely have finished with Redcar getting a draw. I would suggest that the guy who lost the plot and stormed the referees box was actually more angry about Redcar being denied a draw, rather than being concerned about a rider being mentally scarred by being disqualified as the cause of the stoppage of a comparatively meaningless race.

Postponed. Rearranged 20 October

Because theyve still got 2 or 3 meetings to fit in. A Cup final, a play-off semi-final, and possibly a play-off final? As your team is Sheffield, can you list all the meetings Sheffield have put on since 11 September?

With Leicester in the play-offs for the Championship, and also in the play-offs for the NL, and still in the NL KO Cup, (and star man Ellis Perks also in the Premiership play-offs) I would think it's going to be hard to find a restaging date at Beaumont Park. But surely the answer is simple? Switch the NLRC to Belle Vue. Yes Belle Vue are in the NL play-offs and cup final, but they're not in the Premiership play-offs. The only meeting which has to be staged at BV in October is the NL Cup final. And they may have to stage the play-off final if they get past Kent in the semi. So plenty of dates should be available at Belle Vue in October, and even if we get to the back end of October, that track can take any weather. Wouldn't that be the best venue for the NLRC? If we've got a National Stadium, why shouldn't the National League use it?

Exactly. Woffinden's story is an interesting one, going on to be Britain's most successful world champion after the death of his father and mentor. And being co-written by Peter Oakes should make it a decent read. At £8.99 it's very reasonably priced. Only question for me is, should I buy it now, or wait a couple of months and hint about it for a christmas present.

Danno Verge and Tyler Govier were the first changes after Cupitt and Webster fell away. Other changes followed. Sam Chapman for Govier. Michael Neale for Sanderson. Sanderson back. Of the changes, only Verge is still going, although Chapman showed brief promise.

Not sure what planet you're on with that one. Estimates I've seen ranged wildly from 800 to 2,000. But no one as confused as you with your figure. I'd say 1,000 is about right. One thing did disappoint me though. That is that skipper Tom Perry didn't bother to put in an appearance to say farewell. I know he couldn't ride due to some mystery non-speedway injury, and we had Jack Smith as a guest, but there was nothing stopping Tom popping along to support his teammates in the pits and say farewell to the fans on the mic. Doesn't he live quite close to Stoke?

Yet none of them did develop into anything. Of the 7, only Ryan McDonald is still going, and he's still only an NL reserve. Steve Jones, Layne Cupitt, Scooter Webster, Arron Mogridge, Liam Sanderson and Reece Downes all fell by the wayside.

Can understand your frustration in that position with the mis-selling It just read like you were saying you were cancelling BT Sport because Eurosport was crap.

When is Plymouth v Mildenhall scheduled for? Without this fixture Mildenhall are already sunk. Seems to come down to if Cradley can hold on to win at home to Kent. If Cradley win, they go to the play-offs. If Kent win, then it will be IOW. Kent have a slight bit of incentive to win at Cradley, because if Cradley make the play-offs, it will be a very easy semi-final win for Leicester, who will then be fresh for the final, while Belle Vue and Kent have to slug out the other one. If IOW make the play-offs, it will be a tougher long journey for Leicester, so not quite as fresh for the final.

I can understand the frustration at Eurosport missing heats, and even starting one match at heat 17, but I don't understand how the poor performance of Eurosport (owned by the American company Discovery inc.) would lead to someone cancelling their BT Sport subscription, since BT Sports are nothing to do with Discovery, and never miss heats Yes. We have all the G.P.s and the British Premiership live, as well as the Speedway of Nations, the British Final, The SEC, the World U-21, Polish matches, Swedish matches etc etc It's not even comparable to your heydey of the 30s and 40s where you never got to see a single heat of speedway broadcast live, and probably never dreamed such a level of coverage would be possible in the future!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg-jtYXvI7M

Exactly. Nothing wrong with R/R for a genuine injury or a genuine missing rider. Better than loads of guests.... ...but how can it be legal to use R/R for a rider who had a 9 day concussion suspension, which ended 3 months ago? If Ruddick is withholding his services, they should have had a facility for 28 days to allow them to make a new signing. It smells as if Leicester are purposely not letting Ruddick ride because they can get more points from using a facility. Anyone seen the supposed NL coordinator recently?

No problem with the Ryan MacDonald situation. They were only covering with unattached MDL riders as per the rules, and they have recently redeclared with Josh Embleton in his place. The real dodgy one that Leicester seem to be pulling is Luke Ruddick. He was ruled out on 24 May with a 9 day concussion suspension due to complaining of a headache after a fall. He still hasn't reappeared, yet Leicester are being allowed to continue to run R/R for him (which scores good points) even though the 9 day suspension has long passed.

You might not realise that Tac Subs can be used from heat 5 up to and including heat 14 (except protected heat 8)..... but the rules are available to all online, and most fans know this. But team managers, clerks of the course & machine examiners all go on a couse pre-season to have a refresher of the rules, so they would have all known. So it still begs the question why the TS wasn't used.