arnieg

So this brilliant idea of job sharing means that any rider still considering the Elite League will be of interest to half a dozen clubs, not just Leicester and Lynn - potentially making it even more difficult for them to complete their teams.

My programme tallies with that

Then watch out for Glasgow responding by signing Greg and Tomasz.

Summary of Polish Calendar here: http://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/573811/znamy-kalendarz-sportu-zuzlowego-2016

So that would be something like: Poole - Adam Ellis Wolves - Max Clegg or Josh Bates Leicester - Bates or Clegg Lakeside - James Shanes Coventry - Ollie Greenwood Belle Vue - Liam Carr Swindon - Zach Wajtknecht King's Lynn - Connor Mountain or Danny Phillips

Gilmore already has a world title (250cc), Lidsey looks good to me; I'm less convinced about Declyn Adams, but it's early days. Also add Jack Norman and Brody Eves to the list.

Rawicz don't have any fans! Their average attendance in 2015 was 275 (compared with 5000+ for Daugavpils)

You seem to have missed the point here. It is the BSPA that dictates that an ACU licence is required I also find it remarkably anglo-centric that you impute blame on the Poles. Let's be quite clear when we had the best league set up in the world we didn't give a flying **** for other nations leagues so why should they defer to the UK now the boot is on the other foot. You can have as many Poles as you like in your team providing they take out ACU licences (and you pay them enough to compensate for the loss of income as a result of not riding in Poland.)

Unicorn racing?

Well he has the experience, he was number 7 in the PL before... ...for Reading Racers... ...in 2004!!!

The first speedway book I bought contained an article bemoaning the lack of characters in the sport, unlike 'the old days' - and that was in 1970.

I once went to a speedway meeting at Champion, New York, where there was a rock concert (a heavy metal festival!) within the curtilage of the speedway stadium. There were no programmes, and because of the 'music' the announcements couldn't be heard so I had no idea what was happening.

I thought Rachalle Kerr looked quite a tidy rider, her brother was of course Chris.

Is this based on actual intelligence or has the journo just read this thread and summarised every rider suggested?

I think we all know from experience what the answer to that one will be

Yes try Football. First Premiership match Aug 8, fixtures published 17 June. That is less than two months. There are other complications you've overlooked: I) two tracks have changed race day II) Polish League One fixtures are still to be announced (they only decided on the composition of the league last week - at least the PL lineup has been known for two months) III) There is Euro16 footy and the olympics, which clubs will want to work round. Question when were the fixtures for July 1964 released?

The NL is much better for their presence. Many have quite respectable careers and provide plenty of entertainment along the way. And remove all those riders and I suspect the lowering of standards would have an adverse impact on attendances. There are still several team places available for three pointers and not a long list of NL ready riders to fill them.

Yes but Britain has 27 tracks staging at least ten meetings per season. Australia probably has a handful of tracks (probably no more than four or five) that stage more than half a dozen meetings a year.

I found huge discrepancies between the Speedway Star and Reading Evening Post descriptions of Geoff Curtis's final meeting. I went to Ross Garrigan and got a third version almost entirely at odds with the other two. I took Ross's account for three reasons: 1) he's a well regarded speedway historian 2) generated contemporaneously; and 3) located physically close to the event. I'd also endorse norbold's comments about the recollections of the central protagonists not being the most reliable.

Polish Extraliga averages in 2015 show that he had a better average than: Chris Holder Matej Zagar Peter Kildemand Neils-Kristian Iversen Jason Doyle I think that conclusively confirms your view.

So are we basically saying that Rawicz and Opole can't afford to field competitive teams so they are being allowed to compete because PZM need the teams but aren't allowed to ride away because they would be thrashed and be bad box office for the other tracks.

Three times last season - although the other two were just one heat short Just one heat lost in 2014 (v Cradley) Just once in 2013 - 2 heats lost v Scunthorpe That's 7 heats lost in total due to curfew over 3 seasons

Well done - in 2011. Although it wasn't his finest hour. They ran the first 15 heats in 45 minutes! and RA was one of several riders who was caught by suprise and missed his first ride. In his third and final heat the evil ref (one Josh Larsen) excluded him for tape touching so in the end he completed just four laps.

I've just found an old bit of paper (21 years old) on which I worked out who wpuld be World Champion if you took the last 3 years world final scores and added them up. (i think Amsterdam has been halved to make it comparable with other years. 1948-51 Jack Parker 1952 Freddie Williams 1953-4 Jack Young 1955-56 Ronnie Moore 1957-63 Ove Fundin 1964-67 Barry Briggs 1968-79 Ivan Mauger 1980-81 Michael Lee 1982 Bruce Penhall 1983 Kenny Carter 1984 Hans Nielsen !985 Erik Gundersen 1986-91 Hans Nielsen 1992 Per Jonsson 1993 Sam Ermolenko there were 4 ties (highest position in that year's final was the tiebreaker) 1959 Briggs tied with Fundin In 1973/77/79 Mauger tied with Olsen, Peter Collins and Olsen again Collins was runner-up three years in a row (76-78) Plechanov, Michanek, Jessup and Tatum all had two seasons in a row as number 2 without ever being number one.

You may be right about Kelsey, but not the one I was thinking of