RobMcCaffery

Turning to the current scene, sadly my planned trips back to Rye House have been scuppered so far by health so my chance to comment on actual sightings hasn't happened. But I've watched TV and video clips, read carefully the reports of others and yes, I'm worried. Knowing a little about losing money at Rye House (thankfully as an onlooker only) I suspect it's haemmorrhaging again. Like it or not, Rye House's history lies in weekend racing and has since Dicky Case ran it as Wembley's training track prewar. It grieves me to think of the place dead at weekends just so the promoters can run in the 'big time', or at least as 'big' as Britain can get these days. It was ambitious of BMR to take the Rockets up. It might have been more sensible to mix the ambition with knowledge and experience. I suspect it might have been cheaper. I've heard of last years figures and they were frightening enough without running without the TV money this year. Have there been demoralising pay cuts? Something's wrong. I will not speculate on reliability of payment - I have no evidence and that would be wrong. I want to see a stable Rye House running at weekends and whatever league it takes to achieve that then go for it. Steve Ribbons evokes the days of the Infradex team. Is what we've got now really better than a thrilling team of home-developed talent who were always free for a chat after racing? No it's not about 'rosy glasses', it's knowing what does or doesn't work at Rye House.

(EDIT: Since I posted the above rather fractured comments I have been hospitalised with a massive chest infection and a sky-high temperature. Looking back at things I was up to immediately before it was just in time too! Apologies for the more than usually confused gibberish - the following is what I really wanted to post. A world without Mudlark? No thanks. Kelvin was the first rider apart from opening 1974 number one Brian Foote to show a genuine desire and commitment to the Rockets. We'd lost Rayleigh in early 1974, struggled into our new home with a scratch team then saw most of the old Rayleigh Rockets turning out for Crayford when they reopened in 1975. These were dark times for the loyal teeth-kicked Rayleigh fans. Then this kid turned up from King's Lynn. He couldn't sign for us straight away due to a typical spat between Cyril Crane and Len Silver but there on the back of his helmet it was for all to see. It read simply "Rye House Rockets". At last somebody cared! Kelvin's signing was the beginning of the golden years. As 1975 progressed so Karl Fiala came through, then Bob Garrad to join Kelvin as heatleaders. What a side!. It was easy to lose Mudlark in that sea of stars. Well, we didn't - nobody else had a Kelvin Mullarkey! We had been so proud of our Rayleigh Rockets, now we could say with equal pride "We are the Rye House Rockets"

A world without Mudlark? No thanks. The first rider to show a desire and commitment to the Rockets, apart from Brian Foote. What an inspiration! This kid turned up from Lynn and the back of his helmet long before Silver and Crane had resolved their latest spat "Rye House Rockets

For an event that was to supply and celebrate team riding there were a heck of a lot of 4-2s. Look at the points charts and you'll see a continuous thread. Rider number one scores high double figures, rider 2 about half a dozen at best. Okay there were exceptions but only Russia and Poland had two top GP riders. The balance of the rest of the pairings was much more lopsided and away from the hype many races were far more ordinary than people's short term memories suggest. Yes there were some great races. Yes Britain almost did and certainly deserved to win. Ironically the best team racing over the four meetings came from the British pair. Woffinden's rewards for probably his most impressive and mature display to date? Top scorer. Team top scorers. Winner of the grand final. No gold medal. Superb reward eh? We never had this pious "we must celebrate and encourage team racing" waffle in the days of the World Pairs, perhaps because it was so commonplace in the leagues. The Pairs was just another FIM event with two riders per 'team'. I suppose that's why it died. The worshipping on the altar of team riding came with the NL Pairs and the 4-3-2-0 scoring. It was all a case of trying to come up with a pairs meeting that people would actually pay to watch. It was about money, not high principles. Bear in mind I did have a certain involvement with the NL in the mid-80s.... Had it not been for Woffinden I suggest most would be rightly calling for a (jokerless) SWC return. Tai saved the event but I doubt whether the all-important Poles share that view. In life there is right and wrong. In sport they are both overruled by winning ;-) I think countries like Slovenia are much more impressed with Matej Zagar's performances in the SGP than this. The SWC is NOT always the same teams. Latvia proved that. There are six top nations chasing four places annually. That makes it competitive No Poland don't win every year. I do wonder if the SON or the next version of it (son of SON?) is a nice cheap event, using plenty of cheap riders in the qualifiers, supporting the GP stars, sorry nobly empowering the minor nations.? Over the weekend I was accused of all kinds of rubbish over my views on this event. To be honest it comes with the territory. I don't see speedway in the same limited ways as many here. I may be right and often know I'm wrong afterwards. But I try, for the best reasons, my sport not my ego. I had my brief brush with minor fame years back. Believe me it's not what it's cracked up to be. In later years I was asked by a magazine editor to contribute. "You'll get your name in print! I've been chuckling over that one for years now. "Oh he's just being nasty" No I'm not, I'm offering my own version of insight and trying to make people think, which is a petty thankless job in this forum. Anyway over to the usual snipers. Go ahead. I'll be elsewhere doing something far more worthwhile and it'll stop you spitting your venom at those who care. EDIT and the prize for the most predicted first response goes to nw42. Glad to give your life a sense of meaning on a Monday morning. He/she/it's on block so I'll be worrying all day over what he/she/it said. .... Right, I'm over it ;-) . Fifteen seconds! I'm getting slow :-( Must book myself into SCB's Swiss clinic. Have fun boys and girls, be excellent to each other and party on dudes and please keep banging the rocks together.

I'm perfectly calm despite having to deal with idiots spouting stupid cliches. I don't wonder about stick nor do I care given the monumental stupidity of most who post here. Yes it was great racing. Yes we get great racing in the SGP and SWC. With the exception of the joker they both have superb formats. Yes we get people who clearly can't see the bigger picture making silly comments. The day I get worried about what the vast majority of BSF members 'think' isn't going to happen. I on;y care about the opinions of those I respect. You are certainly not one of them. As for flouncing off I do occasionally despair about how idiotic so many people are in the BSF and need to take a break before I REALLY lose my temper and patience. That's a cheap shot. Sadly it's about your pathetic standard. I've had to deal with you before. It's best if I don't have to again before you really get me angry. Now go play with the "My team's better than your team" morons. I think there's still room in the sandpit but it is getting full.

As I said earlier the tie-breaker should be qualifying scores. That way the Russians would have had to actually defeat us in the final to win. It just gives a slight reward for the team scoring the most points in the qualifiers. Anyway, I have an explanation for anyone to use. "Yes we scored the most points and one of our team won thew final, but we believe in the higher ideal of the pair finishing in consecutive positions to win." Utter round objects.

We finished first and had victory stolen by a crap format. Sometimes you have to look further than the end of your nose.

I 've worked my backside off in the past to help speedway. I'm disabled now so think I've earned the rest. I hadn't realised that disqualified me from giving the only help I can now - trying to make people think. You're normally so right but I think you've blinded by some great racing and missing the point about the stupid format this time.

Yes, the tie-breaker in a race-off 3-3 should be points scored in the qualifying races. That's too obvious for speedway and its triumphal "Second and third takes all" mentality.

Yes the Daily Mirror World Speedway League in 1973 was a corker...

A friend of mine had a conversation last year with her then track's new manager. She mentioned team riding. The guy hadn't got a clue what it was. One of the races of the night was Lambert getting the 4-2 against Poland. Excellent to watch but nothing to do with team riding. Outside league racing I do find the concept of team riding overstated at international level. It's great when it happens but it's NOT worth fouling up the format in a naiive hope to generate it. Some great racing despite the format. Now back to the credible, serious stuff - the SGPs and the leagues.

We've been there before in 4TTs, if not necessarily the WTC itself. It didn't work. Maybe it would now. It would be foolish to dismiss it on thatr basis. Anyway, I l;ove team racing, which is why I love team matches

As I said it's all implied. If you'd seen previous anti-BSI/Phil Morris stories on SF you woudln't be quite so naiive.

That was the heart of my argument against this wretched format, Lead for most of 42 heats then lose to the team finishing second and third in the final. Pearson's just said "That's the nature of the sport". Yes brave, entertaining racers working for idiots. Monday morning in a national daily sports desk. "Hey, I see the Brit won the final of the Speedway of Nations, whatever that means". "Sorry, we didn't win. Second and third take all" "What kind of joke sport is that." Thanks to the guys for taking it the last race, which should have been Heat 42 ;-) On the other hand two wonderful speedway riders won a first World Championship for their country. That does rather soften the blow. Yes some great racing, despite the format not because of it. SWC next year please! Bet the Poles aren't interested in this dog's breakfast now.

Here's another piece from SF. More or less in the middle of the competition, nc + reporter Łukasz Benz during the broadcast said that he was a witness to an interesting conversation between the leader of proud sons Albion and the director of the competition Phil Morris . Woffinden praised Morris for preparing the surface. - Speaking of the track, that's how I will get my word out - said Piotr Świderski, a station expert at the end of the broadcast, sitting in the studio nc +. - Tai praises Phil Morris in the break for preparing the surface and tells him that he is the best this year. Something smells bad for me - he laughed half-seriously. - Such optimism in the English ranks was not from Brexit's announcement - the co-commenters, along with Tomasz Dryła, burned Krzysztof Cegielski . In all of this, nothing would be strange if it were not for the fact that both men - Woffinden and Morris - are countrymen. Case? The classic would say "I do not think" and of course we are far from the conspiracy theories, but if Maciej Janowski, who was almost born on this track and did not manage, it is worth sharing these insights as a curiosity". More insinuation. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/759457/woffinden-chwalil-rodaka-za-przygotowanie-toru-swietny-wystep-brytyjczykow-nie-b

Well they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Posted two hours before yours. "It seems that we finished first because Morris fixed the track to favour GB. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/759465/marek-cieslak-nie-chce-sie-tlumaczyc-torem-wszyscy-mieli-taki-sam Lovely people. It can't be easy being constantly pushed around by all the other speedway countries

Cieslak begins the article by trying to say that he didn't want to blame the track. However if you read on to the second and third paragraph The surface of the Wrocław track for the first final tournament of the Speedway of Nations was prepared by Phil Morris . It was quite wet and differed from the one on which the Polish riders were training at the beginning of the week. As a result, the Biało-Czerwoni were deprived of the strength of their own track. This translated into a poor result. After the first day of competition, Poland ranks last but one with 15 points on the account. We lose 10 points to the British leaders. - I will not talk about the track. They all had the same and rode better on him than we did. We are facing the second final tournament and we will do everything to make it better - said Marek Cieślak after the competition ." No it doesn't directly blame Morris but the implication is obvious ---- unless you don't want it to be for some unfathomable reason. I'm a constant reader of Sportowe Fakty and the message is quite clear "Poland is under attack by the British through BSI". Yes iot's sensationalist but revealing, especially some of the comment sections.

Wales is actually part of Britain.

Gricer!

For every race like Woffinden's there were too many when the difference in ability showed. Take the SGP. or SWC. If there's a (relatively) poor rider in the race then the other two or three can still have a great race. In the pairs it's so easy to see a race where one pair just steams off into the distance. In SGP/SWC there's a four-way battle per race. In Pairs it's just a two-way battle, but as we saw last night it still can be thrilling. Unlike the raceoffs. Speedway's all about getting the right mix of riders in the race. At least last night Smolinski saved the six German races from being a bore. Tai's riding last night was simply stunning and it was wonderful to see his team riding. Now in 67 heats of speedway this week just how many other examples have we had? I remember how the pairs went stale in the 90 and we ended up with the appalling six rider race concept as the FIM desperately tried to prop up a dying format. Yes, it's fresher again after 20 years but for me it's a bit of fun at Somerset the night before Cardiff, not a serious World Championship, even if we win it. Relieved to see the SWC back next year. It's one of my highlights of the year. This blow of this poor replacement might at least be softened by a British win. That'll get the Poles really whinging!

After wiping out his partner for the night after being too reliant on cutting the corner, but yes, a very good performance by him. He seems able to ride mid track now, not just on the white line.

Sorry. Put the website address into Google Translate. https://translate.google.co.uk/ Better still if you use a browser like Chrome add Google translate to your broweser extensions. There are apps for phones too.

It seems that we finished first because Morris fixed the track to favour GB. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/759465/marek-cieslak-nie-chce-sie-tlumaczyc-torem-wszyscy-mieli-taki-sam Lovely people. It can't be easy being constantly pushed around by all the other speedway countries

Excellent analysis. Now we've had the meeting I've just got to say thank you to the three GB riders (yes three!) for their part in making me proud of a British speedway team for the first time in years. Thank you, bless you and please finish off the job tomorrow. Was the meeting title set in English or another language such as French which the FIM seems to use a lot? Is it a case of it not translating well, or just FIM/BSI dimwittedness?. I don't oppose change because I can't cope with it. I fight change when it's clearly wrong. To do anything else is intellectual bankruptcy. I love the SWC/WTC and want it back - NEXT YEAR, So, I don't like the format but that didn't stop it being a very good meeting with a delightful result. Worrying that the Poles don't look interested. At least one thing was missing - that farcical joker. Anyway, the tournament was supposed to help the minor nations, and there we are, first P.S. Now we've got a sponsor for the team perhaps it's a little catastrophically foolish for some one here to call the team "England" given that the sponsors are Scottish. Ah yes, finding sponsors then insulting them. Just like the 80s all over again

Long-winded? I'm trying to HELP you. Okay, here's an alternative: Poor, amateur effort with many errors but I've seen worse. Other are already doing it better. Don't see the point. There, is that better? You know best. Exactly how does this promote speedway?