westhamboy66

Bobby Ott, loved watching him ride, great style and showman, but for me that was spoiled pre meeting at kings lynn one night. Bobby sitting alongside his bike and Promoter Buster Chapman bought a little kid into the pits who was clearly a Bobby Ott fan. Armed with pen and programme ready for an autograph he was introduced by Buster. Bobby's response was to scream and that he didn't see anyone and get the kid away from him. The look on the face of the youngster was awful. Maybe that was Bobby Ott being himself or maybe he was caught at a bad time who knows but it left a sour taste for those looking on. Couldn't look at him in the same light again

Ben Morley seems to have been around for ages and it's easy to forget how young he is. Since he first came to Rye he seemed to be in a rut at Hoddesdon. Looks good at Rye but not so away from home,but watching him each week he came on leaps and bounds with the experience he gained at Kent. Seems more aggressive and less likely to be pushed off the racing line. His real aim should be to become a regular at PL level by the end of the season. Hope he makes it, could do well to gain some experience on a faster track than those he is currently connected with, Rye, Kent and Arena Essex

Jack Kingston. Very good debut at Kent and Jack was very good to watch. his move to Mildenhall should help him and i would expect tobe a stand out rider by the end of the season

As you say it's a group of MP's not an individual one, that is exactly what they are paid to do. If the group of MP's failed to take this up if requested to do so by the BSPA then i really fail to understand why there is any link at all

You say that neither party will want to divulge details of the contract but as a regular customer of the BSPA like many others i would be interested to see a ball park figure even if this is a percentage of the deal.This i think would be the right thing to do. Do the BSPA publish not have to accounts or are they not a Company as such? I honestly have no idea. In my former job as a Local Government Officer my wage was available for all and sundry to view and i have no problem with that. So it's not unusual especially within the sporting industry. As far as the Speedway Star is concerned you have one thing in this weeks edition to be very proud of and that is the Garry Stead article. Great work and a reminder of what could happen to all the riders who risk their lives for our entertainment. His position is very sad and we really do need reminders about the plight of these riders.

Two best cities Prague and Copenhagen (been to both eight times each and never tire of them) two days fine, the best track of the two for me is Copenhagen where i have always enjoyed the racing, prague definitely cheaper but if that isn't a concern i'd do Copenhagen. If you chose either and want some tips PM me will be glad to help

Nelson may have had the potential but there were very few signs that he would realise that potential. Yes he had some big meetings but he had quite a lot of really under par meetings, given the makeup of the team consistency is far more important. One who will realise his potential is Garrity as long as he can steer clear of injuries and if he does he will be pushing Edward by the season end. Tresarrieu is a more than decent rider who will be reliable week on week so i see little problem there. If i had any concerns about the side it would revolve around Jason Bunyan who has looked anything but the rider i had hoped for. The other worry is the obvious one of injuries. We have four riders whose recent seasons have seen so many curtailed riders, If only Bowen Lambert Garrity and Bunyan could have injury free seasons i still think we will be right up there and if we did manage a playoff place then with our return to a side with some home advantage we could be a tough side to beat over two legs

Watched a lot of Mathieu in his time at Ipswich, a rider i like and his addition won't make us any weaker i doubt. Sign of the times that we treat the Aussies so badly and yet allow sub standard EU riders in at the drop of a hat. Doubt we will go down the Nelson route again in the future

Apart from forums etc we have very little by the way of an independent voice. I have taken speedway star since 1961 as as a kid. Since the inception of the GP series i have often felt that the Star had become too close to Establishments that run British and World Speedway. Quite understandable i suppose as that is where they get there bread and butter information from but seem to offer little support to those who complain via the letters page. A nice editorial about all that is wrong would go down well occasionally. That said the two contributions from PHILLIPRISING seems to suggest he is a tad fed up with them at the moment.

Thanks Bert

Same as Vincent said. RIP Alf. A great loss

pathetically loud music being bashed out by massive speakers is as much of a turnoff as is deathly silence. Standing around in the freezing cold with ten minutes between races,poor medical cover for the riders which can mean severely delayed meetings, endless unsatisfactory starts resulting in all the riders returning to the pits for a spoonful of fuel and clutch cooling are all more of a turnoff for me. Silly things like a proper rider parade with riders on their bikes, rider interviews, dare i say better prepared tracks leading to better racing would make me think my sixteen quid is well spent. Completely irrelevant to me is the standard of the riders, i tend to enjoy lots of my NL meetings and most of mt PL meetings sadly i can't say the same about the EL. Lastly get rid of the rip off programmes £3 is unrealastic, i want a record of the meeting but a scorecard will do thus cutting down the drivel written and saving me over a hundred quid a season.

I agree with the vast majority you have written but PLEASE see beyond the tat's etc. Did Jason Crump's eyebrow piercing make him a bad person? It's 2014 not 1914 and surely he should be judged for how he performed on track and to a degree with his antics off track that include raising a pretty good amount for charity. Not only is he World Champion but our first since 2013 lets give him him all round support rather than highlight what some people seem to think is socially unacceptable but is revered as body art.

Would love him at Rye and with Nelsons visa difficulties who knows

Premier sports isn't a sky company for a start. They use the Sky platform to air their programmes, a massive difference.They charge £9.99 without a contract just 30 days notice required. So your season of EL racing would cost less than £70 or the equivalent of four live meetings. Personally as i am able to get to meetings i would do that rather than watch it on the telly. I understand others don't have that option and want to watch some speedway so i think it would be a fair deal. Lets face it given the lack of quality in meetings televised in recent years sky have a point in not wanting to sponsor it. Even more of a concern for them is this season they can rightfully argue that the quality is further reduced in 2014 especially when compared with Poland and Sweden. Very few quality EL riders on show, bolstered by loads of journeymen PL riders doubling up and a fair amount of NL riders too. i don't have a problem with that but many supporters on this forum are asking the question about EL clubs and their admission charges that are charging too much given the reduction in quality. For me the BSPA should have been negotiating elsewhere given that sky were not sending encouraging signals, perhaps they were and just made a hash of it. Who knows but we must remember just because we love the sport we mustn't forget it is buried deep with other minority sports as sky prefer to show sports like womens cricket, netball and now recently ping pong as it is now called.

Go when the Heathens are there pretend to be a Mildenhall supporter i give you five minutes

Do sponsors really matter as long as they put the cash in. Are people really daft enough to be influenced by the name in front of their favourite sports league. Did people really drink Carling because of Football or put all their money into Barclays? Anyway those who pay silly money to sky are idiots with no common sense. All the money saving sites point out the fact that you can get 50% off of your annual subscription. Sky are not the bad guys here. Some of the rubbish shown under the guise of Speedway was itself enough to make sky lose interest i rarely watched a meeting being broadcast to the finish as the racing was generally pathetic. Speedway had a chance to get into the big time again but those administering the sport and sadly some of the riders too were guilty of feathering their nests without a care in the world for the sport's fans

Shame for me as i'd rather go to Mildenhall than Rye House on a Sunday afternoon. I always thought a dusty bank holiday afternoon meeting at Hoddesdon was a fair price to pay if an increased crowd was expected due to the Bank Holiday. I see no point in reverting to sunday afternoons as opposed to sticking wit Saturday nights, where is the gain. Some really strange decisions from the Rye House Promotion of late, just another example of putting the Kent connection before Rye i'm afraid.

What sort of comment is that. If you have nothing constructive to say then better to stay quiet surely?I try and balance my views around my support of Rye House and my general love of Speedway. For me the real winner would be a larger NL which included a Rye House side. That's not to be and it's a shame. So i will do what i did last year and take in as many NL matches as i can from Mildenhall and Kent. The only problem with that for me is the number of sour comments coming from the Good people of Kent. If you insist on crass comments you will drive away the many Rye supporters i see every Monday and the Sport at Central Park will no longer be viable. Perhaps that't what you want? wI agree with your logic Malcolm and would love see a full season fixtures at Rye but i think Len will point to the miserable failure that was a team under The Hackney banner in the year it was tried. Perhaps a Wimbledon side may work, perhaps a few challenge matches to test the water may be an idea. Problem for me was that during the Hackney trial there was simply not enough of an interest from Ex Hackney fans and the Rye faithful were not lured to Hoddesdon on the Hackney dates in sufficient numbers. Perhaps that might be different with a Wimbledon side but i have my doubts . I believe the only way forward for a NL side at Hoddesdon would be a Rye House side that not only would have to challenge for honours but one that would also be a legitimate feeder club for the PL team much in the way that Bowen Boxall and Kennett came through the ranks.

Going back to what i think was probably the start of the three team tournaments in the seventies the meetings between Rye Peterborough and Mildenhall were one of the highlights of the season, six man teams over 18 Heats with three reserves races was alway great value and being at the season start were generally one of if not the best attended meetings of the season. A return of those meetings would be welcomed by me. That said its great to look forward to seeing the Rockets back at the EOE showground and memories of Mick Poole v Rasmussen are some of the best i have in speedway

As a Rye House supporter since the mid seventies i take a slightly different view of the 2013 situation regarding the link between Kent and Rye House. The new club gave me somewhere to watch regular Monday night Speedway something i have missed since the demise of Reading. I have to say how much i enjoyed what i saw at Kent. Ok so initially it was all new and a bit disjointed but as the track bedded in and the home riders improved i saw some decent stuff at Central Park. For the first year someone like Len Silver had to be employed to provide the experience of running Speedway. What i would have liked to see is it being a twelve month involvement to get Kent off the ground. I think the involvement of the Rye backroom staff on a greater level will turn a lot of people away as it can seem a bit like a very large clique. Someone as experienced as Mr Cearns would surely be able to take the reins for 2014 or is it simply that having seen what is involved he doesn't want the aggravation. As far as Rye House goes the Promotion of the club clearly suffered with Len's involvement at Kent. With no NL team at Rye for me a supporter our fixture list was bare and disjointed. I think Len took his eye off of things and as such Rye suffered a detrimental effect. I for one was pleased to see Len back at Rye, those who chose to re introduce the Rockets were clearly out of their depth. Yes they served their purpose but Len's expertise was needed. He did give the supporters two League Titles and yes his efforts should be appreciated and hopefully there will be more of the same in the future but as a Rye fan i don't see that happening unless he is totally focused at Hoddesdon. That said i am sure his input and expertise at Kent must have a fair bit to do with the initial success of a new club For Kent i hope they make their own way soon and become a successful club, Kent need them to be and so does Speedway in general. It's a great stadium which would grace the Elite let alone the PL. I hope they develop all sides of the club and go onto better things.

Signed for Coventry Storm ???

With all due respect it was made clear in the newspaper article that the Raiders future was reliant on sponsorship being in place for the return to be viable. If the application wasn't made then it surely would mean that sponsors were unlikely to become available. Was there really a need for a further press release? Anyone watching NL in recent years at Rye would be aware of the very poor attendance at these meetings, and lets face it running a club even at NL standard isn't cheap especially when the crowds have been poor for the senior side. From a personal point of view i would have loved to see the Raiders back as the PL no longer provides a full calendar. i'm sure if adequate sponsorship was found then a belated application would be gratefully received by the NL

Daft comment and an insult to one of the best and most exciting riders ever seen on a speedway track. Put more bums on seats than any other British rider.Most who know anything about speedway would agree and understand every point he makes. But then again you in your eyes he is just an old man who doesn't deserve to have an opinion. If i stood next to you at a track i'd give the Promoter seventeen quid not to let you in. Money well spent

It was frustrating watching Mellgren last year. He just didn't kick on and simply couldn't be relied on at home and no way wa he going to develop as a number one at Rye. I think he will do at Scunthorpe and we may well see him back one day. Edward on the other hand will be a massive plus at home and i don't see him being beaten at home too often. I see him averaging at around 9.50 or more which would be far better than a lot of our recent fake No 1's. With the inclusion od Boxall and Bowen we will be stronger at home which is a basis for a better season. The thing we really need is more consistency from Nelson and Bunyan especially Bunyan who i doubt would still be around if Len hadn't bought his contract.