arnieg

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a press release bigging up the second leg!

It doesn't matter in the slightest what it is called (how about the Peter Craven stadium - a BRITISH world champion and a Belle Vue icon) What matters is that it gets built. Given the financials I have seen that can't be taken for granted. There is a difference between being sceptical and not wanting the stadium to be built - could we try and be a bit more positive instead of abusing those who remain to be convinced that the project will come to fruition.

So we are agreed he must have been born on or after 1 January 1993

Most websites give his date of birth as 5 June 1992. But he competed in both World and European under 21 championships this year. So what is his correct date of birth?

I think edmon is right about it being against the rules, but cyclone is right about there being precedents, and common sense suggests that it would be better to have results in both meetings. I seem to recall this being done at Oxford in the days of conference league double headers. best wishes to Millsy for a speedy recovery

Attractive opposition, good weather, no football ....and yet the 'crowd' is pitiful. The air of decay hangs heavy @ Hoddesdon

With regards Jessup, I never really saw him as World Champion material, but maybe that was because he rode for Reading. Touche, Graham

This is a minefield and should be left well alone. For example if a rider has been found to have taken performance debilitating drugs (e.g. Alchohol) should we add points to his team? If a rider has been taking a substance for a prolonged time should we rerun the previous season? What if removing rider A's points changes the average of another rider such that a subsequent team change becomes illegal? Precedent is strongly against doing this - e.g. Ed Kennett's points were not deducted from Coventry results earlier in the season.

My favourite quote: Belle Vue Aces who compete at a national level and will act as a catalyst for the success of the other sporting facilities created. Don't think they can have seen Belle Vue or the British 'Elite' League recently. Looks good to me, the objections are predictable, but small in number. From my experience (I've sat on planning cttes on and off for 25 years, two of which have dealt with major stadium applications.) Tactically the best thing to do is understand that the objectors concerns are reasonable and explain that that is why the report goes into great detail over noise mitigation and traffic management measures, and that appropriate conditions are attached to protect their interests. I'm sure spectators will be delighted to see that a 'dust minimisation plan' is required - what about rain minimisation?

Lawyers... Nuff said

Although the weather this season has been pretty average. The winter rain clearly did some damage to tracks at the start of the season, but the stats for the last 6 months show rainfall at just above the long term average. So how much more of a mess will there be if we have a wet summer!

No thread for KL v Cradley yet either... just saying...

Totally off topic, but they were the best programme notes ever written...and I think you were right about Mike Lee P.S. If anyone is interested in finding out what was so great about JC's articles keep an eye out on ebay for 'NL90' which contains many of his finest pieces.

There are now three or four threads discussing wildcards – time to consolidate the debate. First who won't need a wildcard? Hancock, Woffinden, Pedersen, Kasprzak, Zagar and Holder (in the case of the last two they aren't mathematically there yet, but let's assume they avoid injury and score at least averagely.) Of the remaining riders we know that Iversen is stuck on 87. If the other riders score at the rate they have been to date then we get: Lindgren … 92 Batchelor … 88 Smolinski … 87 Hampel … 84 Bjerre … 80 Jonsson … 79 Given that even Jonsson could still make the top 8 (scores of 17,8,7 would put him over 90), it looks very unlikely that Iversen will be in the top 8 come the end of the season. Lindgren probably will be and Batchelor is best placed to make eighth - but Hampel (if he returns to form) and Bjerre (double figures in the last two rounds) shouldn't be discounted. BSI have traditionally been quite generous towards the riders in 9th/10th and even 11th so the riders in those positions must be in with a good chance of a wildcard. Note Bjerre and Smolinski (assuming Zagar withdraws in good time) will be in the GP Challenge – if Smolinski declines Zagar's place Batchelor is next in line. The GP Challenge result is the biggest unknown. The field looks stronger than in previous years, so we may have a better chance of getting three good quality qualifiers. Note that there is still a wildcard to be chosen. Favourites: Kildemand (probably deserves a wild card, but if Bjerre joins Pedersen in the top 8 and NKI gets a wild card that would be four Danes – so he better qualify on merit) Doyle (might get a wild card pick if Ward is out in the cold, but with Batchelor also in contention he is in a similar position to Kildemand) Kolodziej (with Hampel a strong contender for a wild card, and other poles in contention then it looks like the Challenge is his best bet) Jonasson (if Lindgren fails to make top 8 he could come into consideration as a wild card to ensure Swedish representation, otherwise will need to do well in GP challenge as recent form doesn't really justify a second Swede) Janowski (as for Kolodziej) Bjerre (could come fouth in the Challenge, ninth in the GP and still miss out on a wildcard if other Danes come in the GP challenge top 3) Possibles Andersen (not a wild card contender) Przem Pawlicki (as for Kolodziej) Korneliussen (not a wild card contender) Smolinski (a strong finish in the GP series taking him to ninth and good ticket sales in Germany might just see him come into wildcard contention) Unlikely Harris (for his sake – just say no) Woodward (not a wild card contender) Sundstrom (generally disappointing year, not a wild card contender) Klindt (remember he's just five rides away from the GP series) Covatti (assuming he is home seed) Then other riders to consider: Ward – can't second guess the Tribunal decision, but commercial considerations will make him a candidate for a wild card if available Sayfutdinov – doesn't seem likely at the moment, but sports politics can be very fluid, and murky. Sure BSI would jump at his return if they could get him Jepsen Jensen – a very strong contender based on his GP performances to date Zmarzlik – too many Poles, and needs to show his abilities away from Gorzow, but a strong contender for 2016 Protasiewicz – on 2014 form, but age GP history and profusion of Poles mean he isn't worth considering Laguta's – probably out on account of politics, but Artem did compete in GP qualifiers withdrawing from his semi after one ride Vaculik – would be a decent pick, but there are just too many other riders in the frame. In BSI's fantasy land they'd pick: 1. Iversen 2. Ward 3. Sayfutdinov 4. Jepsen Jensen (if Poles do well in Challenge) or Hampel (if Danes do well in Challenge) I would like to see Kildemand, Doyle and Kolodziej get thru from the challenge, with Iversen, Sayfutdinov, Jepsen Jensen and Hampel as wild cards. (Assuming Lindgren is in the top 8). If Sayfutdinov is not in play then I'd go for Batchelor or Bjerre. I'd leave Ward out (unless he is found to be innocent), but consider giving him a wild card for 2016

I notice that aktuellspeedway.se is still advertising a trip to the Riga GP. http://www.aktuellspeedway.se/ads/riga.pdf And to make matters worse - if anyone did go on it - the boat for the return trip across the Baltic left Sunday 5.30pm!

Didn't see that one coming - let's hope it comes off My best wishes to all involved

Udine is a name I remember from speedway results of the distant past. Is Terenzano a 'rebranding' of the Udine track or a separate stadium?

True, but with the possible exception of the final I'd be quite happy with a delayed broadcast, and given the amount of airtime they have to fill that shouldn't be too difficult to accommodate.

Here's the reply I received: "Apologies for the inconvenience but, in the end, we were unfortunately unable to provide coverage of the quarter-finals as previously stated. We take our coverage of the Elitserien Swedish Speedway from Eurosport International (the pan-European channel) and due to a schedule clash with the US Open they were unable to broadcast any coverage of the quarter-finals. We will, however, have coverage of the semi-finals (delayed, 19 & 16 Sept) and the final (live, 30 Sept & 1 Oct). The broadcast times will be available closer to the time on tv.eurosport.co.uk" Given the the repeat of Latvian GP today and the clash with recorded American Football it does suggest that speedway is quite low on their list of priorities.

refering back to the original thread, you will see that 1983 is the really interesting year, one with no real consensus at all. Sanders, Lee, Carter, Muller, Sigalos and inevitably Nielsen all have their advocates

Mr P will be along soon to explain that Hans Nielsen would have won all ten! He's not far off too be honest, and it is a credible outcome but I'm sure one or two would have escaped him. 85 - 90 Nielsen every time but I am sure that Gundersen would have pipped him somewhere along the line. If everything went to form Gundo would have been second 4 years in a row (and would have been heading for 2nd in 89 ahead of Shawn Moran or Kelvin Tatum before his career ending accident). I think Moran would have been 2nd in 1990 (assuming he wasn't stripped of his position through over-indulgence in cough medicine) 91 Nielsen again with Jonsson second (Jonsson was second to Nielsen in Polish averages and topped Swedish averages with Nielsen second) 92 Per Jonsson in his prime had the tools to beat Nielsen 93 Sam Ermolenko had a fantastic year - he was just superb, as well as topping British averages by some distance he also topped Polish averages with Nielsen 2nd. 94 Would have been back to Nielsen, but Jonsson might have been leading before his accident (Per topped Polish and British averages that season)

This discussion appears to have restarted in the darcy ward thread! The meat of the thread starts at post 56 (lucifersam) and is concisely summarised at post 274 (waitheaces1)

Discussed at length here http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=50265&p=1594656

Masochist!

My word - even more complicated than I'd imagined. and having tried to reconstruct meetings from Rosebank videos on Youtube I can appreciate what a mighty effort that must have been. Much appreciated