arnieg

Kyle 7.24Holder 7.13 No they didn't consider it, but the issue has been tested (Swindon v Belle Vue - where Max Fricke didn't get a rider replacement ride, as the rider above Ritchie Worrall was deemed to be reserve Steve Worrall)

An extra ride for Holder but not Ellis!!

Yes, Winkfield Row! Here's what I wrote about it in my book: The village of Winkfield lies three miles north-east of Bracknell, close to Ascot racecourse and Legoland. It seems like one of the last places that one might find speedway. The Wokingham Times headline “Speedway Racing at Winkfield – New Track Opened” challenges that perception. The report of a meeting on 17 September 1939 is contained in the following week's paper. A reference to the 'newly formed Winkfield Motor Club' in the August 25 edition of the Wokingham Times indicates that plans were under way to stage an event before the war broke out. The meeting featured many of the California regulars – Sid Lewington, Billy Newell, George Bason, Jack Adams and Herbert Deacon all appeared. With his National League experience it is no surprise to find that Jim Boyd dominated the meeting by winning six races. A further meeting planned for a fortnight later failed to materialise. A clearly annoyed reporter wrote in the Wokingham Times (6 October 1939) under the headline: 'Speedway Racing at Winkfield – A Protest at its Cancellation'. He described his experience: “... on arriving at the Winkfield track on Sunday there were no officials there at all and only one rider. However there were quite 100 people there at 2.30 p.m. including dozens of cars and other conveyances ...” The big question though is – was it really speedway? In the 1930s and 1940s a number of grasstrack events were promoted as speedways. Homes of British Speedway (Tempus), the excellent reference work by Robert Bamford and John Jarvis lists over a hundred of these. The meeting report identifies the location of the Winkfield track as Crouch Lane, a road dominated by farms and farm buildings. The track was described as of similar length to California (310 yards at the time) but with straights sloping uphill and downhill. It seems almost certain that this was essentially a grasstrack circuit set up in a field.

Strangely this is something I've actually thought about! My first choices would be 17 September 1939 to see the meeting that took place at Winkfield, and a trip to California (Berkshire). I'd like to visit some of the grand old tracks of the glory days - Norwich, New Cross, Southampton etc. - and maybe some of the more obscure venues, in particular Leicester Super. Then there are riders I would like to see Vic Duggan, Bluey Wilkinson, Igor Plechanov. I think Ivan Mauger riding in the Southern Area League in 1957 would have been interesting. And of course some particularly special meetings such as the 1964 GB v USSR test at Wembley, 1956 England v Sweden at Wimbledon or the 1951 World Final.

Which would appear to answer the question in the topic heading in the affirmative. 14% of meetings called off were due to track problems at Belle Vue.

Yes, I was looking at those figures yesterday, although I think we should probably remove six of the seven Belle Vue fixtures as they weren't really weather related.

Are you sure. The rulebook also says ARR is the only replacement for a no 4 or 5. But that isn't correct because they can of course also be replaced with the number 8, as Huckenbeck has regularly done for Jakobsen. I.e. It appears that the rule about no 8s replacing any of the top five overrides the other rules about replacements for riders.

I think that once again the rule has been poorly drafted, but my conclusion is that Huckenbeck will be allowed to ride at reserve. Otherwise it would mean that he can only replace any top 5 rider, and that includes Wilkinson. I think there would be a lot of objections if a foreign number 8 regularly replaced a British EDR rider.

The report makes interesting reading. During the latter part of last season noise complaints about the speedway were as likely to occur when there was no speedway!!!!

I think Starke is back at reserve now Auty has a 2016 average.

Can't we just accept that nobody's perfect. His talent is undeniable. Personally I'm pleased that he is doing this and impressed by his charity work. I'm not bothered by his equivocal attitude to his nationality, but I don't like his tattoos and am disappointed by his absence from the British Championship. Like most of us he's fallible - can people just accept he is neither a saint or the devil incarnate and admire his talent.

1) A very succinct description of how the rulebook evolves (and also applicable to the Income and Corporation Taxes Acts) 2) Months without Saturdays... maybe this is the BSPA secret plan to remove the malignant influence of BSI and the Grand Prix's.

There's no pleasing some people. For my money the best EL meeting I've seen at BP.

Certainly seems unfair on NBJ. It is easy to imagine a situation where he might make an attractive signing for another EL club who would actually use him. And he's at Peterborough tomorrow so I don't think Leicester tonite would add much to his travelling time!

There is a Danish under 21 meeting today but NBJ is not listed as a starter in that. However he is being replaced by Huckenbeck which is OK. And there is no doubting Schlein is injured so a facility is clearly available for him. I suspect it is a byproduct of the "squad" rules being added late in the day. The rules refer to missing numbers one to seven and the various permutations of riders missing without adding any additional provisions for number 8s. 17.6 which deals with this makes no mention of no 8s, and section 17.4.1 dealing with no 8s says they can be used, not must. So completely according to the rules. A long discussion is needed ( preferably well before the AGM) about how squads should work next year - but it's hard to draw many conclusions from the limited number of meetings we've had so far this year.

No it is a strictly accurate interpretation of the rules. Steve took one rider replacement ride as the rider immediately above Ritchie in the averages and two as a reserve replacement which he can always do. What I want to know is why didn't Steve bring Ritchie's kevlars and just change from one pair to the other between races, taking five rides as Steve and four as Ritchie?

Apparently any reserve without a proper average by May 1 can be given a 'new' average by the BSPA management ctte! Who knew!

No r/r ride allowed for Fricke

Bottom line is speedway is a lot better with a large enthusiastic crowd. And there is no denying that there were two passionate sets of supporters at Perry Barr last night.

Last meeting 18 September 2014 for Masarna at Gislaved (Lejonen)

Klindt stays in top 5, Starke at reserve.... Interesting!

Auty can't be in the top five until he's had his second away fixture, so he can't be in the top five yet. What we should infer from the officially published GSAs - well your guess is as good as mine!

And Wright gets to be a heat leader!

The only time a reserve will ride against a heat leader is if he takes an extra reserve ride (or rider replacement ride) or when a third heat leader takes a rider replacement ride for no 4 in the averages in a heat with reserves and second strings. Edit: I forgot the possibility that a reserve could get a heat 15 nomination. but 'heat leaders' - i.e. riders of heat leader ability (cf Freddie Lindgren) - can find themselves at no 4 in their team averages and thereby end up riding against reserves.

I'm with you on this. While it makes a change to do something out of the ordinary, having done it a couple of times I'm not in a rush to do it again. However what I can recommend is a spot in the referee's box. Great view and some interesting insights into how the meeting is run.