RobMcCaffery

It's interesting that they seem to see outside city funding as a right, not a benefit. Are the Ekstraliga clubs also getting these subsidies?

I was in Scotland in May for a non-speedway event and would have loved to see Ashfield again but the 3 pm start time clashed with the event I was attending. Thankfully I was able to get to Armadale on the Friday. There's always too many things going on on Sundays for me, and I suspect for quite a few others. I haven't seen Ashfield since the portakabin fire but thought it a good, basic stadium, certainly by comparison with the Blantyres. Shawfield was an impressive venue and clearly on the right side of the city if there is a Lanarkshire bias in the Tigers' support. It's a heck of a gamble though given they're struggling to even make Ashfield pay and this isn't really a good time to take risks in the sport, no matter how great the potential win might be. Is there the money to take that risk, especially if significant cost were needed to get back in there? I wish the answer was yes because speedway and Shawfield seemed an ideal fit when I visited it.

They're good on mythology at Rye House.

We have reports of a new race jacket design for Poole.

Superb post - if only more thought that way! Not every one can win, but everyone can enjoy the racing. Sadly too many can't enjoy a meeting unless their team's won. When the wins run out, so do they.

Excellent news. Many thanks.

Quest is wide open - showing a complete run of 'Salvage Hunters' all day. That could just be a 'fix' for UK viewers since I'm unsure if Quest is carried in other European nations.

Eurosport have two live events tomorrow afternoon so TV coverage might have to wait for the evening slot allocated to highlights of the event plus last week's SEC. The Polish version of the ELRC is also scheduled for tomorrow so that's going to be affected.

Tell me how Cradley weren't riding when the result reads: Birmingham 34 (Ben Barker 10) Wolverhampton 28 (Ricky Wells 9) Cradley 27 (Stuart Robson 10) Oxford 10 (Nicolai Klindt 6) Yes, don't let facts get in the way of the rush to seem the most cynical. Congratulations, you win, we'll send you the medal later. The suggestion regarding the Cradley aspect was secondary anyway and I'm suggesting that it may have been for that reason, not that it should have been. There is a subtle difference between explaining and justifying something. And don't try playing the "it wasn't this year's Cradley team" card. I used to be a regular at Dudley Wood and know how it's the club, not just the riders that matter. Put a team out in Cradley colours and they'll loyally support it. Anyway, you must always have the last word so here's some space for you. I'd start with an apology but I know it's unlikely in your case. .

I'd suggest this was a test meeting to see if speedway really is a £10 product - at a PL standard and without the distortion of like Sky coverage. It could also have been a test to see whether Cradley could survive at PL level at Monmore Wood. Probably not but worth at least considering.

Always a great guy to interview. A fine rider gone far too soon.

Or maybe Ron was trying to reverse the ruin that Silver lefyt behind then? Ron's only fault was to keep trying. A decent genuine guy who really does not deserve what he gets on here. I've known plenty of reptiles and idiots in the sport and he certainly wasn't one.

Karl's departure at the beginning of 1981 was a true shock and mystery to us all at Rye House and it meant he never took the chance to find out if he could have made it in the top league. Bear in mind he only rode five full seasons. He stayed in Britain though and is now a successful businessman. In the past few years he's rediscovered speedway as I'm sure Facebook users will be very aware.

Please please please can people keep their politics to themselves in a sports forum!

Wonderful to get away from the stresses of the EL desperately trying to find a way to survive and to see riders for whom riding for their teams mattered rather than it being just a way to make some extra cash or putting in a few 'skids' before heading abroad for the real money, to use their best bikes and put in some real effort. Some like names, I like speedway and that was an excellent example of speedway as it should be with only the exceptional circumstance of Simon Stead being blocked from riding by the SWC preventing both teams turning-up in full. No compromises, no contrived formula seeding or protecting riders out of their depth, just team speedway as it should be and something that those fools who think only the top riders are worth turning up for are denying themselves from seeing. It's their loss and if they think people respect them or are in awe of them for that silly stance they're deluded. As for the fool trying to insult the PL by wittering on about empty terraces closed due to the death of 96 people just up the road, sometimes words just cannot convey enough contempt. Relieved to hear both riders aren't as badly hurt as was feared.

Looking forward to my second meeting at the EWR, if only to listen-in on Rob Godfrey's conversation with the referee ;-) "If Jim says it's am unsatisfactory start, it's an unsatisfactory start...." No shorts - I can be cruel but never inhumane.

I suspect that the sale to Phillips was welcomed as long as Luty's business and capital was behind it. Once that left I doubt whether an accountancy business was able to generate enough capital on its own Tony Mole's comments showed that it is expected that promoters have cash in reserve to cope with temporary cash flow shortages and can inject money to keep things going. It seems clear in this case such cover wasn't there and I expect this had the BSPA concerned. Once the sale to Mole fell through in November then the departure of Drury there wasn't going to be much sympathy when Phillips ran into trouble. I just pray that a re-start canbe made in the sanity of the PL next year. It's a lovely speedway with great fans who deserved better than criticism, bullying and eventual closure. I'll add that I saw this bullying first hand when I dared to criticise the promotion for their lunatic decision to ban BBC WM from Perry Barr. Some people just deserve to fail.

The racing is part of the event - a vital part but the purpose of hiring a presenter is to enhance the event. If they don't add a few to the gate, just a few then you might as well have some idiot off the terraces with no clue of how to speak in public. So you hired two bad professional presenters. You've hired a few awful riders, does that mean you give up? Perhaps you should choose more carefully? It's called 'added value'. By your argument there's no pint in having presenters, but then given the state of many clueless fans they are often talking to themselves.....

Quite frankly, such is the state of vegetative minds that dominate this discredited forum it's actually water off a duck's back to get the garbage that has been hurled at me since my posting. As usual people have been asked to think and have failed dismally. My comment was that the referee had discretion whether or not to exclude. That doesn't come from uninformed terrace bull but experience of standing alongside countless refs over the years and watching what they did. No matter what you want to be the truth he could have restarted the race with a\ll four riders and given a satisfactory sporting conclusion to the event. And those idiots who think that they've never seen a 'show' at speedway or other sports they really are naiive. I kept out of debates here in disgust at the content and the ineptitude of the mods. Thank you all for reminding me that I should have stayed away. I try to give an insight based on over forty years of involvement in the sport. You really aren't worth bothering keyboard time on.

People complain about the quality of presentation then expect the presenters to work for nothing. If a professional presenter can't earn his fee by pulling people through the gate he shouldn't be there. As it is, too often, not always though we get willing amateurs - and accordingly amateur presentation. If able people choose to do it for nothing then that's a huge bonus for a track, but it shouldn't be expected. You don't expect riding talent to do it for nothing.

It was the Premier League Pairs, not the Grand Prix. Sometimes the need to put on a show outranks the result. There is a chance riders might abuse it but it's one worth taking. In any case, it was perfectly within the rules to call an unsatisfactory start.

One of the key reasons why speedway is struggling to survive is that at league level, it's largely forgotten how to put on a show. The referee had a choice to call a rerun with all four and give a large crowd a proper climax to the meeting or to disqualify, p[rove a point and destroy the meeting. Having seen the clip many referees would have gone for the first option. Sadly, for the sport as a whole he didn't. Sometimes, sometimes you HAVE to look at the bigger picture. Why kill the final unless you absolutely are forced to?

It will always be Rayleigh, not the finest track, not the finest stadium, but it was home and still badly missed 40 years on.

A business whose partners are "Mr Alan Phillips" and "Mr Charles Phillips".

http://phillips-associates.org.uk/about-our-company/partners/ Tax experts apparently - could be useful...... </irony> Mr Alan is a Chartered Management Accountant, presumably meaning CIMA.