False dawn

I know it's the middle of summer, but you are skating on thin ice

We used to have all sorts of weird and wonderful equipment at Brandon to "put the shale back on the racing line". Funny thing was that none of them really worked. There has never been a proper substitute for men (or ladies) with rakes on the bends or at the start line. At the larger breaks, circular grading with the tractor, grader down on the inward run, grader up on the way out, is also very effective. These are not new ideas and there is a reason they were widely adopted.

It was Connor Bailey. And I thought Connor Mountain was well in front at the finish line.

Good news. A year end top 8 finish is out but dare I mention the word wildcard.

Ellis is always good value. One of those real triers for all 4 laps in every race. If people are right, in that Swindon might just win the play offs, it is just possible that Ellis will win three league championships this year. Oh I know that there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, but that would have to a be a record, surely.

Interesting thought. I was a bit bemused at the time why BV didn't field both reserves in heat 4 but your logic is good. And, gate 3 was a graveyard early on. There was but a single point scored from there in the first 8 heats. Generally speaking, I would always defer if I won the toss. The relative strength of each gate is too unpredictable at the start. Surely it is better to choose in heat 15 when you know if one pair of gates is statistically a better choice.

I think you're right. Ellis is the only three league rider currently. Which, for what it's worth, I don't agree with. Anyone who gets a Premiership spot, should automatically be excluded from riding in the National Development League (by definition).

Not to mention, Craig, Eddie and half the staff that work at Eastbourne speedway. Just my impression.

It seemed that my Leicester "friends" thought that Leicester made hard work of it. Like they were going to walk it. I agree with you. It was a good meeting with some close racing. I don't think a Leicester victory was ever in doubt but each race was quite unpredictable. Hard fought and fair. If only it was always so.

Only managed to glean the following from various sites: 2019 British Masters Sidecar 1st - British Masters Champions Gareth Winterburn/Liam Brown 2nd - Mark Cossar/Carl Blyth 3rd - Colin Blackbourn/Carl Pugh 4th - Rod Winterburn/Billy Winterburn 5th - Paul Whitelam/Alan Elliott 6th - Kieran Hicks/Kieron Ivy 500cc solos James Shanes

Perhaps doubling up is the real problem, not the ban. What do you think?

Hey I told you it might increase costs "a bit". I'm talking about the gold bar version. Rather appropriate as we're playing the Aussies for the ashes.

But a 29 second ban seems a little light in anyone's book. All riders using the infinite improbability drive might increase costs a bit eh?

Stewards are never told to physically get riders to do anything. They wave a flag and if the rider ignores the instruction, it's the rider that's at fault, not the steward.

You speak as though there is an accepted procedure at all tracks. You know that isn't the case. We've both seen everything from riders on a truck to riders being introduced onto track riding their bikes. However, I agree that whatever procedure is in place, it should be made clear. In this case it appears that some riders deliberately ignored the local standard and decided to sabotage the process.

Let's get real. There's been loads of debate about the conduct of riders, a member of staff, other riders and mechanics, but what sparked this whole incident? Glasgow/Craig Cook didn't like the track preparation. Several Glasgow riders decided to play silly buggers during a well understood rider presentation and the rest is history. So you decide. Did Eastbourne prepare a poor track or did some Glasgow riders decide to make a point? I don't know. But focusing on the resulting fight is rather missing the point.

It's a difficult one to which to apply consistent rules. As a former racer on the grass, I witnessed many confrontations between racers after a tough race. You know, handbags at dawn. The respective crews pulled them apart and two hours later everyone had a beer together. The sight of crews wading into the fight along with riders not directly involved is not one I find acceptable or equivalent to the situation I describe above. The former warrants a ticking off by the team manager, the latter, an intervention by the authorities as we see here. Due process. You take the law into your own hands (and someone will be recording it, that's for sure) and the authorities will throw the book at you. Never mind what the real reason for you being upset in the first place, violence won't be tolerated.

Hey, Shrimmy was 2 thirds right. Not bad for this forum.

Don't let that stop you. There's lots of postings on here that have nothing to do with the thread they're on. Oh bu**er, now I've added to the problem. I'll get my coat.

The sky is still blue, even if it's cloudy. Even at night the sky is blue somewhere. The sky can turn red occasionally, so "most of the time" is accurate.

Heaven knows why I've found myself giving a physics lesson on a speedway forum in a thread about a match between Eastbourne and Glasgow. It's a funny old world eh?

The sky is blue because blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth's atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colours because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time. (just saying )

So what about one big league i.e. a merger of the current Premiership and Championship plus a development league as per the current National League. I'm sure sensible rules around doubling up could be devised. The one big league, lets call it the British League could be comprised of teams of semi professional riders. Each club could draw a 6 man team (say) from a squad of 8 including riders from the NL. This would allow some riders to have a job as well as riding speedway and not have to commit to every fixture. Don't tell me there ain't enough riders based on the current numbers, this is a different model. Yes it is a lower standard, but we have to cut our coat according to our cloth. There are plenty of youngsters out there wanting to break into the sport and they will when the vacancies are there. And many of the barriers to the entry of those new youngsters would be lowered by this new model. Standard equipment reduces costs significantly. A modest income at the lower end would be offset by riders having a job. This is how the sport got started here and elsewhere. Pretending we can continue with a business model based on 1970's attendances and sponsorship is the "head in the sand" approach to management. Promoters are the ones taking the risk with their own money. We have to create an environment where they can provide us with a watchable product and make money. Yes, we have to acknowledge that these guys and galls can make a profit. It's not illegal or immoral.

If I read mikebv's comments properly, it goes well beyond losing the "top boys" to Poland and Sweden. The suggestion means rebuilding the sport in this country from the ground up. Standard machinery might be an example of the new British business model as well an agreed pay structure. We need to balance the books and increasing the entrance fee is clearly not going to work. We can develop our own version of the sport and make it a success.

So the referee passed the track as ready to race. So he should have come down hard on any further (unofficial) actions being taken by club or rider. He would have been aware of the ill feeling and should have advised the Glasgow management that he was not having any of it.