False dawn

Stan Mauger is listed on the Bees Website History as riding for Coventry in 1929 and 1931. He is also listed as an Englishman. I can't find anything about him and with such an unusual surname, I was wondering if he was related to Ivan.

Well I make no comment about your antipodean team member, but Scott will give of his best on track (and be pretty consistent), he'll look for his team mates (somewhat rare nowadays) and he'll work overtime for your team in the pits. There are those amongst us Coventry fans that regret the day he left our team.

Our boys aren't idiots. They didn't come home believing nothing was wrong. And they're not that bad either. This is what we're been saying about sending our best out there to learn their their trade. If others had better engines or better sponsorship or a hand from their older "friends", our boys will learn. It's not a level playing out there. Riding for Sheffield in the Championship one night and riding in a World Championship event a couple of nights later, is not the same thing. We'll go back better prepared next time and the time after that we'll be close to a win. That's how this works. We have the talent, now we need the experience.

Were you in my local yesterday? I was voicing almost the same idea. And if I said it, it can't be daft

Not sure how the nights work out, but what about 1 league, split north and south with unlimited doubling up. Only spoiler is that it would be nice to have the playoffs between the geographical areas. Could end up with the same 7 riders riding for each team in the final.

I'd have thought riding grasstrack would help with the bumps at Wimborne Road

I've no axe to grind. My real interest in King's Lynn this year began when I happened to be on holiday in the region in the 2nd week in July. I looked at the fixture list for Thursday 13th July and saw a rather juicy match in prospect and arranged to be there. What happened next is well documented. But before people begin to hang Buster for his "interest in speedway" I would point out the following. This was the league table on Wednesday 12th July 1 Belle Vue............14 34 (+16) 2 Wolverhampton..14 33 (+9) 3 King's Lynn.........12 25 (+7) 4 Poole..................13 24 (+3)

Lucky as in "Can we move up please?". The "please" is optional.

The fans are bonkers. You'll love it.

It's interesting isn't it? One half of the British Speedway World is pushing for a watered down league structure and the other half are telling the likes of Jason to bugger off. This is the first time ever that we're all (nearly) on the same hymn sheet. If you feel we should accommodate Jason's diary more fully (despite him probably not riding here next year anyway) feel free to comment.

Don't be misled. Jason does not want fixed nights because it's good for British Speedway. He wants fixed nights so he can, "Pencil in his nights racing into his diary" (I read that somewhere)

But think on any young riders who are breaking into the Polish scene. You'll be well paid but you will have to commit to riding in only one other league. On the down side, if your form does dip, they will drop you like a hot potato. It might be as well to maintain some kind of working relationship with other leagues and their fans.

So it's alright for riders to make ultimatums on their British bosses who don't operate on set nights for good reason, such as stadium availability? But when it comes to the Poles the riders bow down, despite being restricted in their ability to earn extra income in an arbitrary fashion? The Poles are sticking two fingers up to the rest of Europe with their increasingly restrictive practices and the riders say not a word. Except to say Britain has to change to make it possible for them to accommodate us. They must think we're mugs. Change British Speedway to make British Speedway better for our fans, for our promotions and for riders who want to ride here.

They don't have double ups. Simples

So Jason has sent a clear message with an implied, "Are you listening?" at the end. Are you listening Jason? Because from where I'm sitting you've burnt a lot of bridges. Not by what you said, but by the way you said it.

There is a certain challenge match to be organised.

For the record, there were 7 winners from gate 4 and 28 points scored. From gate 3 only 1 winner and a total of 16 points scored. Respectively the best and worst gates. The real mystery is why? I've gone to look at gates before now after a meeting and there is often no obvious difference. Could such disparages be eliminated or at least reduced by better grading / raking?

I can only comment on what was obviously a hard fought meeting, from the live updates. I wasn't there, okay? I am curious though, from the stats that I managed to glean, just how critical was the coin toss? For me, I would always defer my choice to heat 15 if I was team captain (I can dream) and I won the toss. My logic is that gate advantage varies from week-to-week at most tracks so choosing gates in heat 1 can be a lottery. By heat 15, you know if one pair of gates is significantly better.

Rye have been what the powers-that-be wanted our teams to look like this year. No GP super stars, strength in depth. They built a good side and came within a gnat's wotsit of making the playoffs. Well done Rye House. You can hold your head's up high.

So let me see if I've got this right...... We can't run on Wednesday because we'll clash with the Danes. We can't run on Sundays because all our riders will be in Poland (yeh, right). We can't run on Tuesdays because we'll clash with Sweden (have any of you watched the Swedish meetings on a Tuesday? Not many of those boys ride over here). We can't run on Fridays because of the GP practices (the practices that most riders rubbish in interview and are not compulsory). So what's left? Mondays and Thursdays? Yes. What else? Saturdays. Heavens no. The World will come crashing down around our heads. And none of those GP lads who earn their real living on a Sunday anyway will ride for us. We decided we didn't want them last winter. A very small number of clubs found a way to keep their GP riders despite the rules and the push to reduce costs. Come next March and the new Polish restrictions, the number of GP riders here might be even smaller. So let's stop kidding ourselves. Admit where our leagues are on a global scale and design a structure accordingly. Race nights have to be dictated, to a degree, by stadium availability. Doubling up is a fact of life. Try to avoid clashes by running the two leagues on different nights if you can, but don't get your knickers in a knot. There has to be some give and take on this or we could lose some clubs which has to be the worst of all outcomes. We'll also lose riders if we restrict their earnings. "Scrap doubling up and let them all get jobs to supplement their earnings" I hear you say. Are you kidding? We expect riders who conduct themselves professionally. Have good quality equipment, well turned out. Available to ride and not knackered from working the previous night. So okay, we need to pull our leagues apart, run the two leagues on different nights as far as possible and create a product our shrinking fan base will continue to support. And what a about the rest of the World? If it works for them, they're welcome. Otherwise it's a shame, but I ain't going to compromise my domestic sport to suit you.

As a neutral, I'd love to see a bunch of former Coventry riders make it into the playoffs ahead of Poole. Besides, if you think they would be, "more of a problem" that says to me they deserve it more. But who said life was fair, eh?

Nothing against Poole (well as a Bees fan, I do, but that aside) I hope they don't get the necessary 3 points tonight to be certain of 4th place. It will add extra spice to the remaining fixtures.

It's the "Thou shalt do as I say, or I won't play" attitude that get's people angry. It's not enough to be right, especially if you aspire to true greatness. And I know he is probably proud of his heritage and rightly so. But now might not be the best time for another Aussie to be throwing his weight around.

No. Because Poland won't let them remember?

Funny that no one asks why Jason was behind "This rider that shouldn't have been in the Grand Prix's". I think you missed the sarcasm smiley (btw it's invisible)