Bojangles

No chance for Laguta and Sayfutdinov getting wildcards according to Jorge Viegas, FIM president. An interview with him today on Sportowe Fakty translates as thus: "And is the war over? There is no reason for us to change our previous decisions. We excluded the Russian federation and all its athletes from international competitions for war reasons. People are still dying in Ukraine, thousands are suffering because of the war, and many athletes are unable to compete. Excluding Russians and Belarusians is the only thing we can do to put pressure on the authorities of these countries. If the situation returns to normal, I assure you that we will want the Russians back. But only in this case." When asked if anything had changed due to them having a Polish passport, he responded thus: Thanks to their Polish citizenship, they can race in the Polish league. In the international arena, nothing changes in this case.

Well, he arguably got better this year. It was his highest ever finishing position, so it's a bit harsh to say he's on a 'downward curve of his career'. Just because Lindgren can't be Zmarzlik across a season, it doesn't mean he's starting to regress. A lot of people are looking for riders to beat Zmarzlik, but the fact is there aren't any. Dominance happens in many sports, just have to accept it....one day someone will come along and end the reign, and it can come from anywhere. I remember Miguel Indurain dominating the Tour de France, he was so much better than everyone else and looked unbeatable for many years - then suddenly out of nowhere Bjarne Riis arrived in 1996.

Did you say Lindgren?

I'm not arguing that fact, it's a great run club and the speedway world would be much poorer without them. The 'banter' with them on the forum is what makes it fun most of the time. It would just be nice if some of them recognised the fact the sport wasn't invented in 1999.

So just focus on the last 24 years and forget about the previous 70? Haha. I know you're just looking for an argument like normal, but Skidder is just focusing on the most recent period to suit the narrative that Poole have 'always' been financially stable (and successful).

Fine by me. But perhaps some Poole some fans should also learn some humility and accept that the life of a Poole supporter hasn't always been perfect.

Why? What's that got to do with this thread? You might want to edit your post then, as 'always' doesn't exactly mean 'since 1999' does it?

Literally went into liquidation in 1984. Poole fans have such short memories.

So, one change then? The same as Oxford and Glasgow!

Not really. If Oxford can say no two days before the deadline, I’m pretty sure Redcar could have done a full week before it.

Maybe there were, maybe there weren’t. We’ll likely never know, so no point in hearsay.

And while I totally agree with what you're saying, isn't it on Redcar to say 'no' if they felt they couldn't compete? Based on Oxford saying 'no', they clearly could have done as well. You can't blame Oxford for that.

Absolutely, I was thoroughly looking forward to this match after the previous visit. It's superbly poised, everything to race for and may the best team win.

...and Edinburgh fans, in case you didn't realise!

Redcar could have said 'no', as has been proven by Oxford saying no. Works both ways. And were Redcar really 'severely weakened'? Leon Flint was a decent enough guest for Erik Riss (probably scored more points than Erik would have done), so they were just missing Connor Bailey - for which they had rider replacement. Anything else I'm missing? Charles Wright is out for the rest of the season and Luke Harrison has been a regular guest.

Perhaps Redcar were willing to ride, which seems more likely.

Exactly. Unless it ended up being staged on Saturday (which it's now not), it wasn't in Glasgow's best interests to call it off is it, so why would there be an ulterior motive?

I thought it might be Edinburgh, but they seem pretty confident on the other thread.

Who forced Redcar? Maybe they agreed. Flint wasn’t a bad guest for Riss, so was just Bailey that was the issue, no?

I’m 95% sure that’s exactly what will happen!

The weather looks pretty miserable in Redcar on Wednesday as well, so that throws another spanner in the works. If it’s called off, who gets priority re-staging their home meeting first - if say Saturday is the only feasible day for both meetings?

Looks that way. No real winner here - Glasgow forefit the match (joke), Oxford race without Masters and Nicholls (joke).

Thinking about this, Glasgow must have a back up plan surely? To call it off early due to a bad forecast, and potentially lose any chance of making the final in the process is a bold call. You'd think they would have tried everything to get it on if it's their only chance. I'm convinced Glasgow must know either that there is a re-staging date in place before the cut off, or they know the cut off has been extended (I suspect the latter).

Ah OK, no worries. All good.

Swindon have won the league?