False dawn

Good question. Knowing their averages would be interesting. However, knowing the RS averages is even more important than one of just interest. Did I not read that they are eligible to be promoted into the top 5 of their teams? Surely we fans should be able to see how these riders fit into their teams average wise. Or am I expecting too much?

Come off it. If you were on such a roll, wouldn't you still be in the competition. If you can't beat your own spread figures, well! You'll be accusing me of sour grapes next. Can't I have a dog's chance?

I have to say that Ty's comment to the extent that he was trying to do a full time job and ride for two clubs, a bit surprising. I know it depends a lot on the full time job, but just riding for two clubs alone must get hectic at times. I have rated Ty in the past but his all round performance for Leicester this season has been very disappointing. I left Brough Park on Sunday very angry indeed and was 99% certain then that we'd seen Ty's last race for Leicester (for now at least). I wish him the very best. He can be good enough to make a very positive contribution to any club. But right now, Leicester need a second string that can score a solid 5 or 6, especially when running RR for Josh Bates. The twins have really stepped up of late, especially Dan. But we have to remember they are still only 17 with limited experience. It's not fair to rely on them to compensate for two low scoring second strings. If the team sort out those 2 and 4 positions, they'll be a match for any team, home or away.

We made the trip and it didn't go down well with us either.

You'd think, after tonight's game, that a lot of folks would be looking for something else to do when England play their next match.

That is correct. For those of us who had already purchased tickets for this event, I received an email to say my money will be refund (?) and I should buy new ones. This is important news, because if you aren't watching your email inbox and you turn up on Sunday with the original tickets, I assume you won't get in.

You're right, of course. But many clubs are running close to edge. Any barrier, perceived or actual, to "going to the speedway" can be financially critical.

I deleted the reference to the Panthers..... The fear is that several clubs delay their fixtures by 4 weeks, we won't get the league completed.

I stand corrected. I was certain I saw the majority of fans paying at the window.

That was my assumption. But if a club like Newcastle (and they can't be the only one) is suffering simply because a proportion of it's customer base are put off from attending due to having to buy tickets online, surely it can be argued that if it's ok to pay at the gate in one area, it must be ok in another. Can a local authority can't be so job's worth as to threaten a local treasure simply by applying rules that are not applied in identical circumstances elsewhere?

This not being able to pay at the gate rule is confusing me. We were at Edinburgh last Friday and I'm sure most people were paying on the gate. Leicester say you must buy your tickets in advance. Scunthorpe only recommend it. I assume there may be national rules but it appears individual clubs in England are either making their own rules or they are dictated to by the local authority. Edit: P.S. We've already bought our tickets online for Sunday's match

Was considering paying for the Eurosport player. Still available for £19.99 for the year up to midnight on Saturday. However I cannot watch the meeting live on Saturday evening and there not does appear to be a repeat scheduled. Is there an easy way to record the transmission on the player? Or can I anticipate a repeat appearing on YouTube or where ever?

Come on, don't be silly. The solution is obvious. Pit stops after 2 laps.

Having the Thompsons as our two reserves was always going to be a bit of a gamble. But the long term aim is to help develop them into top class riders and the Leicester management have taken this brave decision on that basis. The team overall still has the potential to be in the top half of the table with three solid heat leaders and some sensible, not spectacular, scores from the the rest of the team. I would say that we can't afford to be running RR too often as this puts more pressure on the reserves. I reserve judgement on Ty Proctor. It can be a case of which Ty turns up. As for Josh Bates, he really isn't winning any fans just now. We need him to settle down to be a solid second string rather than going for broke all the time and ending up injured. Clearly he has the inside track with his family connection but my impression is that Stewart Dickson does not suffer fools gladly.

Timo Lahti £50 more Andzejs Lebedevs £50 more

It does seem a bit strange. "We" adopt a new tyre across the board to save money. Now "we" appear to think it is necessary to allow riders to use 2 (or is it multiple?) tyres per meeting. The logic appears to be that one tyre is not capable of completing a normal meeting (not to mention 7 rides). How will this save money? Surely two cheap tyres are more expensive than one more durable one? I've seen an unusual number of tyre failures / flat tyres already this season. Seeing some of the pictures and listening to several riders, I have to wonder if the new tyre rulings are wise.

Well Norwich has shut, but KL are looking for a No.1

This is tragic. I have enjoyed watching speedway there and racing there in my sidecar days. A great racetrack that is a real loss to the sport. Let's hope someone else can pick up the reins.

That's always assuming that clubs do have an online ticketing system. My first away meeting is at a club who is selling tickets over the phone. I do think that the sport's governing body should lay down global rules covering refunds etc. [Sorry, I went off to planet X there for a moment].

What a good idea. I know many take no interest in the whole idea of race times and track records. But some of us do. Nutz was running a thread trying to keep the current list up-to-date: Tracking the history of records is next to impossible. It's hard enough getting the current record for several tracks.

Thanks GC. And of course, the innocence of youth never let me think what an unfortunate surname that was We did used to call Valerie, Singlet on!

Ivan appeared with the gold bike as I recall. Can't remember who it was, but the presenter asked Ivan if the bike could, in theory, be fired up. He confirmed that it could, but he would not, of course, do so.

How sad. Did think this might mark a real sense that we were getting our lives back.

I'm impressed. Wouldn't it be great to think that might be possible again someday? Sadly I fear not. My own claim to fame was two meetings in a day. Not very impressive you might think, but this was as a sidecar passenger. I was just finishing competing a day on the grass at Ugley in Essex when I got the call from another driver to jump on with him at Brandon. Now, you should know that at this point in time (2003) I was fairly new as a competitor. I had, however, been following the Bees for over 30 years and I'd never had the chance to race there before. This was my "field of dreams". Suffice it say that I spent most of the journey back from Essex ringing all my family and friends to get them to come and see me. The sad end is that although I continued racing for another 6 years, I never had another opportunity to race on the hallowed shale at Brandon. I've long since retired and my "field of dreams" is rusting away. But hey, I crossed the fence. And for the first 48 years of my life, I never imagined that might happen. Not in my wildest dreams. P.S. To keep this on subject, there ain't many that can say they raced at Ryan Sullivan's testimonial, at the showground.

That's a real shame.