arnieg

Although it is a good job the Swedish team is not as strong as it could be: Jonas Davidsson Daniel Davidsson Freddie Lindgren Antonio Lindback

So when was the last ubnder21 final without a british rider?

I'll be there - anyone got tips for finding the stadium? (we'll be in a hire car heading from Verona)

So after five rides each it was: France 16 Italy 15 Slovenia 14 ...and Slovenia qualify

That makes me feel old - I remember MR junior riding up and down behind the main stand at Leicester on his tricycle before the meeting pretending to be Les Collins (or maybe it was Neil or Mark Courtney) - must have been about five

Best I've seen (in no particular order): Ronnie Moore Anders Michanek Ivan Mauger Hans Nielsen Tony Rickardsson Bruce Penhall Per Jonsson Ole Olsen (no 8) However none of these can compare with John Cook for entertainment value Best I've not seen: Vic Duggan Peter Craven Ove Fundin Vic Huxley Tommy Farndon Jack Parker Bluey Wilkinson Bjorn Knutsson (no 8)

Of all the stadiums in the UK I have visited it was my favourite. Even if my first visit was a 24 hour round trip for a rain-off! Great racing great atmosphere

I'm holidaying in Verona the first week of July. Co-incidence ... ..of course not Looking forward to seeing those Latvians

I find the suggestions that Tony Steele 'bottled it' laughable. Why? Because I remember him excluding Kryszaniek in the lastl heat decider of the 2001 World Team Cup @ Wroclaw (Kryszaniek's home track) - when he could have taken the easy option and gone for all four back. Equally laughable is the suggestion of bias towards Rickardsson. There is a view in many quarters that Steele's exclusion of Rickardsson cost TR the 2000 GP Championship. He called them the way he saw them, and I think his decisions were reasonable. I was suprised that the tapes weren't sorted out though

I can't resist mentioning: Krzysztof Wankowski (rode for Gniezno in the late 80's)

1) Gerald Short on top form, passing all comers 2) Rickard Hellsen defeating Jason Crump in the last race of the season to ensure Long Eaton grabbed runners-up spot from Swindon (1992?) 3) Leaving the Oxford Suite the night Tony Mole announced it was all over and going to the stadium, standing in the car park and wondering if there'd ever be a return. ...and I'm still waiting

Yes - I saw him ride at Auburn a few years back and he was described as 70 year old Bill Thomas" There are quite a few 'hobby riders' in the second/third division programmes who would rember JFK being shot (JFK not JR) I think there were three generations of Bast on the programme too.

Also: Sam Ermolenko in 1993 and Tony Rickardsson (after a run-off with Nielsen and Boyce in '94

I'd go for Ivor Brown too, on the basis of Peter Foster's Cradley history which details their antipathy.

Very difficult to get hold of. I got mine from a secondhand bookseller down under through: http://www.abebooks.com/

Add Charlie Monk - he'd be second in my top three: 1 Arne Pander 2 Charlie Monk 3 Bobby Schwartz

Sports Pages in London (Charing Cross Road) has a wide range of Speedway books. I think I counted 11 titles (including the Craven book and some by a member of this forum - you know who who are Norbold ) when I was in there last week. Five years ago that would have seemed like an impossible aspiration

I suspect that it would be a fairly limited audience - but it would certainly include me. I have the Polish Encyclopedia. I've not seen the other two books, but the stats are on the web at: http://www.republika.pl/rlach/index.htm I only discovered it a few days ago, and it contains an extraordinary amount of detail. For league averages from 1982 try (click the links in the "listy ksm" column): http://www.jsp.alpha.pl/speedway/strona1.php?kl=kr&g=stat1l PS The most beatiful speedway book I've ever seen is one called "rot, bla, vit, gul" which is a history of Swedish speedway. For swedish stats go to: http://www.speedway.org/history/index.htm PPS For more detail on Ice Speedway World Champs go to the Novosibirsk site: http://www.sibirspeedway.boom.ru/statistics.htm however it is in Russian (I knew my Russian 'O' level would eventually come in handy)

Looks like genetic engineering to me A cross between Martin smolenski (German Junior Champ) and Radik Smolik (Czech - finished 7th in National championship))

What's happened to the 2.5% discount for British riders? It will make no difference in most cases but it could make a huge difference if a rider goes from bottom of one grade to top of the one below because of the discount. And how are riders who doubled up last year being graded. riders like gjedde and shields could be in grade 3 based on their EL average, grade 5 if 50% of PL average is used or grade 4 if the two are combined. Anyone know?

Absolutely As a general principle any rule change should be accompanied by a statement as to what defect it is designed to remove, how it is going to improve the sport... .. and a list of how many pages of supplementary regulations will be needed to counteract all the unintended consequences

Overall it doesn't look too bad to me. I don't think there will be much distress over the loss of the British League Cup Doubling Down was ludicrous and had to go Restrictions on doubling up seem reasonable as does the addition of PL riders as 'squad members' Guests were completely out of hand last year and I think that a cut back was badly needed. But have they tightened up too much (it wouldn't be the first time the promoters have over-reacted). I see a flood of special dispensations being granted (which brings us back to the problem of the lack of an independent management body) Golden Doubles - don't like them, but on the grounds that we've already got them I don't mind the no change. But Golden Tac Subs - adds nothing - it just changes the basis on which tac subs are used. I doubt there is a shred of evidence that GTS made matches closer than traditional tac subs. One plus is that it does guarantee more rides for tail end riders because they won't get taken out Retention of points limit - good for the PL. Not clear what it has been set at for Elite League, but with two new teams it probably needs to be about 42 otherwise there won't be enough riders available to allow Arena & Swindon to build decent teams. As already pointed out imposing another condition via grading can only be a restriction in the room for manouvre so calling it more flexibility is positively orwellian. Removal of bonus points - about time too. It has been tried before (NL in the early eighties) and the big advantage is that it more closely reflects the one thing that is the truest marker of team strengths - how many points they score in a match. However the press release is not very clear and I fear that grading (based on averages) has replaced a points limit in the Elite League - if so ... BAD MOVE I'm sure that much of this will all look very different in a week's time as more detail emerges.

Indeed - Grahame Reeve was the last person to do a proper job for the SCB. ...if only they'd appointed me instead of David Hughes :x

This is: a) what Lord Shawcross said in 1964 pretty obvious to all intelligent fans (like Star Lady) c) the role the SCB should be playing. As far as I can see the Promoters Assn seems to have repatriated powers from the SCB and taken on more of the administration - with little regard for the need to be seen as impartial. :-( The tendency of promoters to demand rule changes at the drop of the hat doesn't help. Before rule changes are approved there should be an impact assessment: 1) What change is the new rule attempting to achieve, and why is it desirable? 2) Does it work? 3) What are the unintended consequences(usually to make everything more complicated!) and are they outweighed by the advantages of the proposed change I am aware that each February all the referees get together and try and get there heads round how new rules will work in practice. :? :? :? More than once a couple of months into the season I have had conversations with a referee about possible scenarios for which a new rule doesn't come up with a solution. (eg Doubling Down)

You want Alan Jonses' book: "Speedway in Leicester: the pre-war years" It details both Stadium and Super (the largest ever track in England) and is the most detailed book on pre-war speedway (with the possible exception of Jim Henry's EDinburgh - Marine Gardens, and the book about speedway in Manchester 1929-1945)) Vol 2 covering the Hunters era should be out next year. Contact the author @ 24Purbeck Ave,Shepshed,Loughborough LE12 9HD or speedwayinleicester@hotmail.com Read about attempts to get speedway at Grace Road (Leics County Cricket Club) and the apparition of Roy Reeves' ghost to his widow on the first bend at Blackbird Road Did you know : Stadium met Super 5 times and won them all... ...that Stadium rode against Denmark in 1930 .. that Super re-opened in 1936 for a handful of pirate meetings (a fact not recorded in Homes of British Speedway)