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500cc

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Everything posted by 500cc

  1. The basis of the AFC plan has existed for over a year. The numbers may have altered a little and the community issues introduced, but this option has looked the fore runner for the last year. The Greyhound option has gandered some great publicity in recent months and improved its chances. Truth is the stadium is an eyesore, in fact so is the whole plot. It isn't a nice place to go into, and sticking everyone on the back (now front) straight makes it a poor overall spectacle. But whilst not their doing, as the main tennants the greyhounds will be linked to the decline. For years the old football ground was also an eyesore. In terms of the limitations of building so many flats, I think they've done an excellent job. If you ever are in the area walk into the middle, for someone who doesn't particularly enjoy that style of housing, I think it feels very relaxing and comfortable. In contrast the stadium really isn't good. Whilst its a real shame that housing must be included, either option will transform what is currently quite a rundown area. I'm in little doubt the the feel good factor is with the AFC but there is a BUT. When it comes to football there will be heavy objections. Whilst residential dwellings around the plot are virtually non-existent, almost immediately on exiting the plot you will residential areas. And supporters will head to multiple stations. Turn right out of the current main exit, upto the old football ground then you have left for Haydon's Road, straight on for Wimbledon and right for Wimbledon Park. Or left out of the exit, then left for a trek to Wandsworth Common (or shorter to Earlsfield) or right for another longish walk to Tooting Bec. In other words the hit on local residents is quite wide. Re-attendances with a modern 21st century ground I'd expect them to raise their numbers substantially. The original Wimbledon never had a ground of Football League standard, but despite the earlier claims their support was pretty good. More than doubled once they left Plough Lane and it was realised Selhurst Park was now home. Not sure getting a season's average to 18,000+ when never even reaching an 8,000 average during their football league career in Plough Lane is a failure. A big factor re their low current averages is the limitations of the current ground. It's just not conducive to giving a large number of supporters a good view. At least Plough Lane had a big terrace. Personally I'd love the sporting elements of the two projects to combine. The space exists to join two stadiums back to back. The greyhounds only want one real side of seating anyway. Dogs, Stockcars and Speedway in one. Football in the other. But financially it won't work without the housing. There needs to be a winner as letting the stadium fall into further disrepair is surely a non-option. I suspect football will win, because of the respect AFC have built up since 2002. They are a community club in action not words. Edit: Minor correction to say the plot is also an eyesore.
  2. It was actually a compliment to IOW. I doubt they were that clever (but you never know). However, they would have known that Adam could ride at reserve in all competitions until his 4th NL meeting so would have looked to delay that 4th meeting as much as possible whilst fitting in the other competitions. Whether the 4th meeting was any later than it would have been I don't know, but I'm sure it would have been in their thoughts; and nothing wrong with that.
  3. Until at least August. Currently will move to the main body for the Dudley home match on 6th August. Currently averages just shy of 11 due to a poor return of 15 and Mildenhall !!! Just one more match for his average to become effective, so almost certain to move to Number One. But still (rain-offs permitting) THREE more League matches at reserve. How clever have Isle of Wight been? Gets his new average after the away match with Kings Lynn (v Robert Lambert at reserve?), but before the seven day eligibility is up, a trip to Coventry and the home re-match with Kings Lynn.
  4. To be honest, British speedway has zero credibility. So Scott Nicholls gets effectively 'threatened' when asking to take part and now they allow Tai to participate. So to those in authority, any chance of publicly apologising for your treatment of Scott Nicholls? The BSPA are a total embarassment. Sadly, the worst thing that could happen is for Sky to continue to subsidise them. They would dance up and down celebrating extended funding without recognising that elite level sport in this country needs a fundamental overhaul. I'm one of those fans who attended weekly for years but now just watch on Sky (and now also Eurosport) for free.
  5. Swindon and Gomolski may just be sorting out the "withholding services" details before allowing Howarth to guest whilst Kennett completes his cover for Ashworth. All very easy these days.
  6. I'm dreadful at using bookmarks for sites I visit regularly. Normally I just start typing the name in my address bar and select it from the drop down as it appears. For the speedwaygb I've typically typed BSPA and grab the link that the google search engine displays.. But all of I sudden this week it doesn't work. In fact I'm strugglingto search on anything that will find me the site; even speewaygb. Only one I've got to work is "Official British Speedway GB" and even that picks obscure old articles. Only used Google. Is this just me, or is Google no longer finding the site?
  7. If Freddie is only out for a couple of weeks it may be worth Wolves postponing next Monday's match. The clashes between Lindgren, Woffinden, Holder and Ward is box office and I think everyone would like to see the match-up. It's not in Wolves interests to concede points to Poole, so it would make sense for them to increase their opportunities by delaying this match for a few weeks.
  8. I wondered the same. Assumed a mis-quote, but it is published on the BSPA site. Not heard of this before. Very strange. I'd be interested to know why too.
  9. Bit confused why because you haven't heard of him, you categorise him as a weak link. Why not include Niklas Klingberg from the year before. No Rickardsson in the top 3 that year either. Klingberg had one other top 3 (no Rickardsson again) but that's it. Danno has more than one GP final. The younger Klingberg none. Danno had a previous world final. Their British League averages were very comparable. Was Danno a superstar? No. A Duff no. He's won more Swedish titles than Karlsson/Max/Lindgren combined in the last 20 years. That suggests to me that the Swedish title isn't that easy to win. Would he be a duff if he'd won 3 times, like say Andy Smith at the British? 10/12 years is a career in speedway terms. If you've dropped out of speedway for that long then your obviously not going to know the details of many riders. You seem determined to categorise him as a duff despite being shown the quality of the field he beat in 2003 and a pretty good international career. Just look at the quality of the top 3 for the the 15 years before he won. It's virtually a who's/who of world class riders. He's not a duff because he didn't break that stranglehold. It's like calling Mark Loram a duff world champion.
  10. Can they let Pawlicki have a bit of beauty rest from his last heat as his doctor suggested !!!
  11. Your disguise is breached Steve. Your really Middlo aren't you!!! Middlo's named his GB squad of 10, and your top two groups contain 10 riders. You would have had a direct match if Nicholls hadn't withdrawn. Instead he is replaced by the most experienced of your Group 3 riders
  12. Re the training day that's an absolute must. Failure to do that should initiate an investigation into whether those responsible are fit to run speedway in this country. If the Danish team can arrange a pre-season mini-camp at KL, then so can our authorities. Don't know the regulations, but I hope they haven't left it too late due to a by-law preventing testing at a track x days before an official FIM Meeting (I assuming nothing like this exists).
  13. Well the date I was told (with confidence!!!) is Saturday 7th June. Would prefer Saturday 31st May myself.
  14. Speedway fights social media and that is its biggest downfall. Scott Nicholls excellent interview in Speedway Star emphasised this. Embrace it don't hide from it. Yes there is the nasty side of social media and Scotty recognised that, but unfortunately that's the world we live in.
  15. In most businesses those employed or contracted could be subject to disciplinary action for leaking information to the public domain. In this case an element is already public knowledge, but BSI are probably not happy with the images portrayed by the riders.
  16. Which is fine providing we have a raceable track for a 5pm start time later today. Anything else and BSI will have run out of excuses. Must say we were in stitches this afternoon. It was announced that practice was delayed until 6pm due to further track preparation. What happened was nothing; it was a variation on watching paint dry, except we were watching a track dry, not that it was puddle wet of course.
  17. Scott Campos American ? That's reasonable then !!!
  18. Was that the same October that BSI decided that Harris would no longer a permanent wild card? I love watching Harris, but there is no question that he has been the biggest benefactor of the commercial aspect of the Grand Prix series. If I remember rightly wasn't Nicholls a semi finalist last year if it weren't for a re-run? Personally I believe the decision to award Harris the wild card was a done decision last October, with the likelihood the nobody was going to be good enough to make this a seriously unfair decision. It worries me more what BSI's strategy going forward is. If you are going to hand pick a wild card, then for the sake of the future, priority must go to an up and coming youngster. I accept there is nobody who is probably ready yet. But there comes a point when a progressing youngster should get the chance even whilst Harris remains the better rider. Sadly I suspect commercial decisions will override that.
  19. In fairness to Tarnow, Swindon have only quoted part of the rule. It is correct that these protocol's exist. However, there is a subsequent regulation that as of 1st March all protocol's established by a federation can be superceded by a club. It is accepted that this may override any decision previously made by the federation, and any club effected has no right of appeal. Hopefully if Swindon replace Gomolski, they will still pay the loan fee to Peterborough, unless Gomolski signs for another EL team. Peterborough agreed to loan one of their assets to Swindon in good faith, and therefore had to refuse any other offers for him. Poole appeared to be interested and they have a good relationship with Polish clubs, probably helped by their Wednesday race night. In contrast, Swindon have a very poor recent record with Poles, so Peterborough deserve credit for allowing Swindon to handle one of their prize assets, particularly as teams will be wary of using this asset in the future as it looking like it will be a little tarnished as a result of the loan. It is not Peterborough's fault that Swindon have failed to resolve this with Tarnow.
  20. No Doyle (currently) can't. How complicated are you trying to make this ? !!!
  21. I still don't believe there is any issue over the declared team. Batchelor will ride whatever. The only issue left is whether Swindon are required to loan or purchase him. The 1st March date is only relevant if the BSPA haven't already dictated a purchase must be made. If they have then that will override any other rule. As I've stated before, this simply comes down to how the BSPA want to play it. Whether Swindon believe there is a 1st March rule is irrelevant, because NOTHING changed in February. If they were entitled to loan Batchelor on 1st March, then they were entitled to loan him in February. The fact that Swindon felt unable to take Batchelor on loan in February strongly suggests the BSPA had ruled that they would have to purchase him. All looks very simple to me. Just up to the BSPA what they want to do. I suspect the difficulty they have is that they have promised/ruled in Peterborough's favour. The BSPA would look very weak if they allowed Swindon to bully them. I suspect the outcome is dependant on Peterborough compromising. I suspect if they do, the BSPA will publicly criticise the Swindon promotion.
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