AndyM

Would that we could have a Shawcross for the 21st Century to kick speedway up the proverbial. But neither the ACU nor speedway itself could afford such an esteemed barrister!

I have vivid memories of going to the Belle Vue funfair with my dad, then queueing up to the Hyde Road track for the evening match in 1976 with Dancing Queen by Abba playing. Sometime before that, I remember In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry playing at BV. And Fanfare for the Common Man by ELP and Tokyo Melody, obviously. All of the above songs I always associate with great days at the best ever speedway track!

Always an entertaining and combative rider and nice guy, though my abiding memory of him is a match at Leicester against the Aces where he led an absolutely charmed life to score a paid 18 point maximum, thanks to PC suffering an engine failure in front of him, Mort and Wilkie having problems that let him through as I recall. But if any rider deserved that luck, John was that man!

Arguably 1976 or 77. PC was on fire, the Aces team were just brilliant to watch - fantastic entertainment every time a winner, particularly at Hyde Road. I really enjoyed my speedway in those days.

Just out of curiosity, we ought to do a bit of a what if analysis. Supposing one league went belly up - be it Poland or UK - what would the impact be on the other leagues, riders, fans, the GP circus, TV etc? Then, what would happen if two leagues shut down - Poland and EL. Finally, what about Poland, UK AND Sweden?!

Promoters may also feel they could never recoup their initial investment at the start of the season if they didn't ride sufficient matches to exceed the break-even point.

On the grounds that less is more? British fans would disagree with that too, I guess!

There are bound to be Swedish fans frustrated when their team is forced to sit out a night while the weather is fine, only to get a meeting rained off the following week. Don't think we Brits are unique in that respect, but there are advantages to avoiding a set race night

In fact why don't we just go back to the good old days of the one-off winner takes all world final while we're at it.

Not only that, the wooden stadium had to be rebuilt because of fire regulations. That regulation effectively put paid to Hyde Road because Stuart Bamforth could not afford to revamp the wooden stands.

Yes, true to say that many speedway fans are very fickle - they would sooner cheer a foreign rider who happens to ride for their team than a Brit who doesn't. Shame that as a nation we don't inspire the sort of loyal following we deserve to get our country back on track, but then we don't get the support from the BSPA either.

Yes, I'm old.... but not quite as old as you!

Indeed so - he was never quite the same after the shoulder injury, though he was always a joy to watch. At his best he was without equal, so it's a great shame that circumstances conspired to rob him of at least one more world title to add to Katowice 76. My teenage hero!

While noise is undoubtedly a major component of the attraction of speedway and the sport wouldn't be quite the same withouth it, there would be obvious benefits to having near-silent bikes, not least that it should be much easier to gain planning permission to open new tracks.

PC in 77 was if anything the greatest courage by a rider I've known - riding with a broken and gashed leg in torrential rain, but still coming second. He truly deserved that title. There was a hoodoo on WC runners up - PC didn't qualify in 78, and if you check back there were a whole series who didn't make it the year after.

Sure, the qualification process for the one-off final was truly dumb on occasions, and should have allowed the best riders an extra chance. That said, I still maintain the principle of a one-off final makes the world championship a real event and maximises the tension and excitement. The best the GP could do is to mimic other competitions, whereby a final GP with double points at stake keeps the excitement alive to the end of the series.

Fantastic ride by Crump when it mattered. Long may he continue to do so!

Think I'm right in saying there was a brilliant match between us and Sweden at Sheffield in that series, which included a brilliant race with PC and Eric Boocock against Tommy Jansson and someone else, where both Brits were buzzing around the Swedes for all four laps before making outside dives. It finished 4-2 and effectively won the match. Think PC and Michanek ended all square in that one, but would love to read the heat details if anyone has them to hand. BTW, PC was unquestionably dumped in that run-off. Not that I'm biased!!

Mr Bridger needs to prove his worth first. Tai looks good in any company, where Lewis often struggles.

Sorry, can't help you there - server seems to be down. Funnily enough, I went there for the first time this week. Surprisingly small but packed with fascinating stuff. Pete Sampson was there when I visited, too - happy to talk about old times, from what I could see. Thoroughly recommend a visit, along with a good day out to Paradise Park.

Yes, well done Denmark. But is it my imagination or was the track like riding on ice without spikes? It looked seriously dangerous out there. Had it been any other meeting, surely the whole thing would have been called off?

TRACK: Hyde Road, Manchester (of course) CAPTAIN: Alan Wilkinson OTHER RIDERS WHO HAD TO BE IN THE TEAM: Peter Collins, Chris Morton, Bobby Ott, Andy Smith, Peter Carr, Ivan Mauger, Shawn & Kelly Moran, Declan Eccles, Soren Sjosten (big team!) PROMOTER: Stuart Bamforth (before he cashed in) TEAM MANAGER: Eric Boocok ANNOUNCER: Ken Wrench & Dick Barrie RACE NIGHT: Saturday, 7pm (after a sunny day at Old Trafford watching test cricket) MARCH OUT MUSIC: Tokyo Melody

To answer the original question, what do I expect for Thursday? Well, I was right - as a team we flattered to deceive after a few encouraging moments when the effects of a boot up the @rse followed by a motivating pep talk wore off and the realisation dawned that other teams were better prepared and ultimately fought harder. Yes, there were some rough gems in there - I know Woffy is good, having the luxury of watching him at Rye House, but Richardson doesn't impress - he would not be riding if there were any decent British riders there to be counted. Time for the promoters to realise the importance of the national team and get money invested in developing more and better riders through to the highest echelons.

Ha! Trust you to notice a mixed metaphor. That'll teach me to dash off posts too quickly without reading them...

So what was it about the track that meant Danes and Swedes could fly around it and other riders, but our riders couldn't? That's a non-argument!