False dawn

But if it rains, will Poole take the safe option? You hate me, don't you?

Thank you for your kind words. If my enthusiasm diminishes, I'll no longer be around. 51 years, man and boy and counting...... I too have a contact in the Met Office. He told me it's going to be sunny on the 19th. Weather permitting.

To move the conversation on. Do you not think that meetings like tonight's (and no, I wasn't there) are more a product of the perennial poor fixture planning than poor track preparation? There is a complacency every year during the early months of the season and then late on we're almost forced to run meetings that no one in the right mind would run.

Sorry to say Steve, but you could have been quoting me after the Poole Leicester match

I did spot this change. You have to be eagle eyed these days to make sure that clubs are not making fixture changes without any kind of official announcement. We had already planned to go to this restaging. Yes, we mustn't forget that some of us went to Scotland for the original fixture that was rained off (after we'd crossed the border) on the strength of a forecast. Having paid for a hotel, we carried on and actually saw the match at Edinburgh (30 miles from Glasgow) without weather problems. But hey, that goes with the territory for the travelling fan, eh? We decided to head north again on the 19th but for all sorts of reasons we have to make the round trip on the day. A tough trip in a van but an afternoon start just about made it feasible. And then Glasgow pushed the start time back to 18:00. Well there can good reasons for such a change, I suppose, so I wrote an impassioned plea to the Glasgow management 3 days ago. I'll let you know when I get even an acknowledgement.......

I did wonder about that myself. I believe the twins will be at Redcar. Should Leicester release them (or have to?), Dan can be replaced by a rider up to his average (5.40) I believe, as he is not included in the team as a rising star, Joe is.

To think we once had both the World Pairs and the World Team Cup. That's a sad thought now I write it down.

Thanks R&R. Most of us pass judgement with half the facts (actually probably less than half). That prize money certainly puts the whole competition into a whole different light. I guess the only positive you can draw from those figures is that at least the teams have a bit more each now that its a pairs competition rather than the proper team competition it's supposed to be.

Would the FIM not have something to say about any nation not fielding it's best "team"? I realise Russia (or whatever we are supposed to call them while they are banned from competing under that name) can send (invite) whoever they want. But surely the governing body want the SON to be a showcase for speedway. Having the commentators on the day constantly referring to the absence of the reigning champions best riders, doesn't do the sport any good whatsoever.

Is there a published reason why Emil and Artem have withdrawn. I agree with the sentiment that this devalues the final and I can understand the anger from those who have bought tickets, booked hotels etc. I too am upset that we may not see the best from all of the competing nations. I have tickets and the prospect of seeing Tai, Bartosz, Emil, Artem etc. live, was something I was really looking forward to.

Funny how things happen sometimes, isn't it? Leicester had some new shale on track tonight. From Edinburgh (a quarry, I assume, not the speedway). Apparently it's larger stones and has less clay in it. Whatever it is, the racing was pretty good. Word is that 60 tons of it are heading down south. Hmmm.

There were a few people saying before the start of tonight's meeting that we'd picked the wrong guest. They weren't saying that at the end. 4 rides, 4 wins and the 4 fastest times of the night. Thank you Steve, you did us proud. And we'll have no more of that in the KO Cup semi final, thank you very much.

Not wishing to be argumentative, but the track looked quite wet when we arrived at 6:45. From a recent match report from the Scunthorpe website, we were told the home riders don't like it when it's too wet. Also, I don't think Connor Mountain would agree with your comment regarding the lack of an outside line. He pulled off a decent overtake around the outside as I recall. I do agree, though, that the chasing pack has suddenly looked a lot more menacing. Especially with the set of recent signings that have taken place. Keep plugging away though. We'd quite like you in the playoffs

After a very unhappy visit to Poole in August I've had an idea. You know those old black and white POW films where the inmates are trying to get rid of the soil taken from a tunnel? They put the soil in bags inside their trousers with a draw string attached. Then they wandered onto the exercise area, pulled the draw string and released the unwanted soil onto the ground. Perhaps visiting riders could adopt a similar technique with bags of shale when they are doing their track walk at Wimborne Road?

I laughed as well. When you say we'll meet in play-offs, do you mean we're signing Mr Nielsen then? Oh, you mean Scunthorpe. To be honest after three visits there last year and two, already, this season, visits to the EWR are starting to feel like a home meeting now.

I've watched speedway for a decade or five but along the way had eight years buried in the grasstrack world. During that time I did form the view that grasstracking might well be a very good and inexpensive route to a speedway career for young riders (even girls - just teasing, honest). Seriously, there are lads and lassies out there plying their trade on the lawns of England that could well make it into a shale career. And they wouldn't complain about a few bumps on track when they got there either.

Well I've been generally quiet on the forum for a while (apart from the "odd" thread) and was not up-to-speed with the discussion around the lack of speedway on Eurosport. I went to the schedules this morning to see which of tonight's two matches was being shown. Well you know what I found. I even went to the player thinking Eurosport had done the dirty on us again. Well they haven't done the dirty, they have taken the piss (pardon my language). When I found a complete absence of speedway on tonight I did think there would be match on Thursday. For those who haven't looked, I'll give you one guess. Surely Peterborough Wolverhampton is an attractive proposition? Or am I missing something? Link to discussion mentioned by R&R And in case anyone is thinking I'm armchair fan, I went to Glasgow on Friday to do some more missionary work () supporting my adopted team Leicester (rained off). I was heading back on Saturday to see the return match (rained off). And finally went to Mildenhall yesterday (rained off). I thought that was a well planned weekend. How ironic that the only completed meeting I saw was Edinburgh vs Kent! At least I was able to support Scotty as a Coventry/Leicester graduate .

WOW. You've solved a 20 year mystery. Well done

As long as you're really good and can walk on water eh? Seriously, even 12 matches is better than none. But a regular 2nd half regime might also develop some local talent. But I'll be called old fashioned if I keep talking this way.

NSS (boring choice but valid none-the-less) Gillman - Adelaide (I'm not showing off. This place has a very special place in my heart/memory as some will attest to). Bydgoszcz - Not too many arguments I suspect. Sheffield - Thank you Neil Collins Cradley Heath - RIP

You know, it occurs to me that when we finally get a world team competition as opposed to a pairs competition, we have half a chance of fielding a competitive side again. Wow, I've lived long enough to see us in the ascendancy again, like when Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs rode for Britain

I get what you're saying and I have some sympathy for that point of view. But isn't that the route to fortress Britain and us having no future presence on the world stage? Just now, I'm guessing, like me, if Tai (or Robert) won the world championship, you'd be up there shouting your head off and singing the National Anthem?

Sorry to say but that makes the condition of the track last Wednesday even more unacceptable. I've said elsewhere that I went to support my adopted team Leicester and that I was seriously considering going back this week to support the promotion in it's time of need. But what I've read here in the past few pages does not inspire me at all.

And here's what you could have won.......

Agreed 100%. But I think Kyle Howarth deserves a mention too. He also represented (quite well I thought) your good selves and my temporary team in Leicester