False dawn

Did I miss an announcement? Is Greg Hancock not riding in the SWC at all?

Or Rory and make us all look stupid!

I read the title and thought, "There is only one for me, but I bet no one else votes for him". Now I find several people have already voted for him. Peter Craven, of course. Those pictures you see of him are quite outstanding and show a quite unique (almost) riding style.

Jason Garrity missing is a big loss to Leicester. He rides Wolverhampton as well as anyone.

Attention Briggo. Following your double action flicker and the Briggo dirt deflector, surely you can come with the Briggo track cover?

The price of success is high I guess. Bloody daft.

One thing Annie told me that I do now remember. He was on tour in Oz with the British Lions. I forget the year or who he was rooming with (might have been Nigel Boocock) but he did get fed up. Being away from home, not earning a fortune etc. Anyway he announced he was going home. The Aussie promoters threw their hands up in horror. Offered him bega bucks to stay and so he did. Hire cars, the best accommodation and much improved money. Oh, those were the days.

I knew Arnie for a while in the mid 90's. I was working away from home in Morley, near Leeds. One lunchtime I was talking to the landlord of a pub about speedway when this chap came up to me. He said, "If you want to know about speedway you should speak to that bloke there". I didn't recognise "that bloke" but his mate introduced me. It was Arnie. By coincidence I had seen Arnie a few weeks before at Sheffield speedway. A couple of the current team had persuaded him to do a few laps after the meeting. Not the "Golden Greats" performance you might have expected and he was embarrassed when I said I had witnessed his performance. But we swapped stories and became firm friends. He didn't drive and when I offered to take him to Sheffield with me the next Thursday, he jumped at the chance. Actually he was very beholding to me for taking him which was no imposition at all. I welcomed his company on my usual trip to Owlerton. Anyway we travelled together and much to my surprise he got me in for free as a VIP guest. What that meant was that Annie went to the bar and held court while I went to the terraces and watched the racing. No problem, we both went home happy. This continued for several weeks. Circumstances changed, and we lost touch. The next time I looked him up I found he had died and I was sad. A racer from back in the day. Contemporary with the likes of Nigel Boocock who was an early hero of mine and a character who knew the sport from the inside. I'm glad I knew him, even if it was for a short while.

I'm a neutral. Two teams separated by 8 points after 9 races with 6 to go. You can't declare a result in any circumstances. A result in the list of 24-32 is laughable, undefendable and frankly, a source of some embarrassment. And if you want to talk about value for money for the paying public I don't know where anyone can start with any credibility. And to top it all? A 4 point win. Come on, you're having a laugh.

Round 2 of the championship is at Somerset, this Friday 7.30 p.m. Entrance is just £10 I'm biased. I even changed my holiday plans to go to this one. However, I did speak to a fan who went to the Leicester round who knew nothing about sidecars. Her words, "That was the best £10 I've spent on entrance fees for a long time". Somerset has long been known as a venue for sidecar meetings. Racing is exciting, there is plenty of overtaking and for you petrol heads, the sound of those 1000 cc engines is unforgettable. For the regular Somerset speedway fans. You've got a whole week off from your normal Friday night fix. Risk a tenner and come and see something a bit different.

The key questions are... 1. Was the track safe at 2.00 p.m.? [Lots of folk around me thought so. In fact they were looking forward to Bomber giving large out in the dirt] 2. If yes, who brought about the track rebuild? [Lots of folk around me saw the riders healing the track and assume it was them that ruled the day] 3. If it wasn't the ref, why didn't he exert his authority? [believable? Well lots of folks around me thought so] 4. Did anyone look at the forecast? [No] 5. Are Leicester a little bit regretful about what happened given that they might have won heat 15 and maybe the meeting overall? [Lots of home fans went home flat, disgruntled and soaking wet] I'm just a homeless Coventry fan. I don't have any rights here. But I did talk to other fans, Leicester fans and they were asking all of the above. It's them you need to be careful of. A few hundred fans either way can make or break a speedway business in this country just now. We went from a track that would have been a bit heavy to over an hour later, a track that was bereft of shale. There was a dry line after heat 1.

I think we got at cross purposes. The track at 2.00 looked adequate. No more, just adequate. If there had been plenty of time, weather forecast wise and no one cared about the fans, spending an hour on further preparation might have been justified. Rain, heavy rain, was forecast sometime during the afternoon. The track the rider's raced on was as good as it could be. To get within a half a second of the track record proves that. Assuming you want to see that sort of track? The issue with heat 15 is that if the promotion / ref had told the riders to get on with it at 2.00, the rain would not have been an issue. My argument is with the riders in the first instance. The track was heavy at 1.45, but not unsafe. It was well prepared, even and would have dried out with a few races. The riders thought otherwise and the rest is history. An extra bit of grading is okay. Take the top 3 inches off the track, starting ten minutes before the advertised start time is not acceptable unless the track is sodden. Which is wasn't. The track staff did a great job. Just twice, unfortunately.

Now you've got me on a roll..... I remember Soldier Boy at Leicester. I remember the trumpet player from Ipswich. I remember the Tetley's at Halifax. I remember the big dipper overlooking the track at Hyde Road. I remember 90,000 people at Wembley when the most gifted speedway rider ever won the World Final. [yes you can disagree]. I remember Ole Olsen's helmet colour coming off and jamming his rear wheel at White City. I remember Bruce Penhall at White City..... (maybe I shouldn't finish that one?). I remember Nigel Boocock offering the no.1 race jacket to Ole Olsen. I remember Ole turning it down. I remember Alan Molyneux scoring at least 2 points a meeting more because he rode with Ole Olsen. I remember Les Owen's multiple waves following a race win. I remember Les Owen. I remember Peter Collins at Brandon on his new 4 valve Weslake. I remember Ole Olsen beating him on his 2 valve Jawa. I remember Sam Ermolenko and Simon Wigg on their laydowns at Hull when they were banned in Britain. I remember Telford (many times). Bring that one back. I remember going to Coatbridge for a challenge match in a car for over 6 hours, with 4 other guys. Arriving 30 seconds before heat 1 and then getting thrashed 50-28 (or there abounces). Circa 1973. I remember Danny King at Cardiff. Jason Garrity's 100% exclusion record in the GPs (so far). I remember Tony Rickardsson's wall of death at Cardiff. I remember Tony Rickardsson riding most of a GP at Hackney with a broken collar bone to secure a podium place for the overall championship. I remember Britain (England?) and Sweden, at Wembley, ending on a 39 point draw in the Daily Mirror World Team thingy at Wembley (okay so the memory is a bit sketchy). But I do remember Anders Michanek fetching off Peter Collins, after the meeting ended 39-39, in a run off and getting excluded giving us the win. We raced home and saw the TV coverage (replay). I remember Barry Brigg's analysis. I remember meeting Barry Briggs and Anders Michanek at the European Championship in Regensburg, 1973. Anders had won the meeting.

I remember Exeter...... Bob Kilby and Nigel Boocock giving it large and up high on the banked corners. I remember going there in 1971 (I think). We just happened to be on holiday in Devon when the Bees were there, so we went, as new fans of the sport. And we came away with a 40-38 win. Happiness or what? And then, much later, as a sidecar passenger, I was privileged to race there in the year before it closed. A thrill indeed, let me tell you. A fast track, of course. But to race in those famous tyre tracks was special. Sometimes you add together your life experiences and realise you have been given something special. The people watching you get ready to race in the pits from their bedroom windows was kind of interesting too!

Big mystery. He didn't look interested in his first ride which I put down to the conditions. Not a happy conclusion but kind of acceptable. Then he surprised me in his second ride. And then nothing. I saw him several times early season and he was impressive. What's happened?

Were you there? We waited for over an hour, with impeding rain, to go from a difficult track to a first class surface. I'm interested if you think that's justified? Especially considering heat 15 and the eventual result??? An interesting comment over the tannoy (spelling?) at about 14.00, "If you'd seen the track two hours ago, you wouldn't have thought there would be a meeting today. Well when we arrived 20 minutes before that, nothing was happening on track. So what had been done in those 2 hours? Either they had fixed the problems and had stopped work or what happened next was the truth i.e. the riders dictated what needed to be done, which could have been done two hours before. Sorry Leicester. You made mistakes which could have been avoided without a crystal ball. You prepared a tack that riders refused to ride on and then used up a significant chunk of the time before the rain came such that heat 15 cost you a chance of winning the meeting.

Unless you poke holes in the baffles. I'll get my coat.

Hey, I like the idea of a second (or even third) GP in England (that includes Scotland [just kidding]). But if F1 can have a European Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, why can't we have a US Speedway Grand Prix in Scunthorpe?

As a neutral... The track at 1.45 p.m. was rideable. As a former competitor and a fan of nearly 50 years I reckon I can judge what's safe. And trust me, there were many fans that felt the same. The sight of riders digging their heels into the surface only means one thing in my experience and that's trouble. The ref and the clerk walked the track and then gave in. Timid in the extreme. But hey, we all had plenty of time. Well no, the forecast was bad and rain was due anytime. In fact it was already spotting. Still we waited and a brand new surface was prepared. Well done track staff. Still the riders insisted on another inspection. If a refund had been available, a significant percentage of the crowd would have already gone home. But hey, we finally got on with this meeting. And what a meeting. Not too much overtaking, but a tight contest. A dry line after one race but hey, we needed the track rebuild didn't we. I was expecting a blue line and one Lions fan voiced (loudly) we might expect track watering. But all is well. Well nearly. Heat 15 decided the result and I'm sorry, but your earlier decisions, Leicester, came home to roust. The late downpour, after heat 14, meant that the probably draw, or even a home win didn't happen. The sight of Danny King at the back, pulling off his goggles in lap 3 dismayed me in the extreme. I wanted Leicester to win, but do what we do as fans. Look at the weather forecast, tell your riders to get on with it and stand your ground. You had the capacity to win this meeting but you went home empty handed. P.S. Heat 3 was 0.50 off the track record

I love it. Anyone could be World Champion. Freddie looked an early prospect (as good as ever there has been) and could easily come back from his "injury". But a track advantage or the odd crash could change the course of the championship. That aside, and I for one want to see a worthy champion, whoever wins this year will surely deserve the crown. The GP system is a marketing device. It's designed for television. But as one who comes from the one off final days, when there was no TV, I might be expected to take a different view. Well no, World Class Speedway is as high profile as it as ever has been. I know British Speedway is in the doldrums, but we are wrong to resent the profile of the top riders. It's not their fault they can earn more money elsewhere. We still have a great 3 tier league system in this country. Get your heads in gear. Do you want to see the best riders in the World or is it that you want to see good racing? At the moment, you can't have both. I want us to produce riders that can compete on the World stage. You don't do that by paying riders beyond your means, you do it by investing all you can in our youth. I don't know what it's like today, but when I was in the system, riders were competing in the Conference League for £5 a point and half their travel money. And there were lads (and girls please) that would ride their heart's out for that. We have an infrastructure to bring youngsters through to professional rating. The goods one will go on. To make it happen, we need your help.

Up to our ears in c**p with builders making our lives "fun" at the moment. Very sorry not to there to support our friends tonight. Given that we are in Rugby, it's nuts that we will be at the next round at Somerset (certain). Can someone post the results from Leicester please? We would like to know the whole line up if possible please. We do care, and would love have been there tonight.

Form can disappear. Class does not.

Speedway rule: The worse it looks, the more likely everyone walks away. No joke intended. The opposite is so often the truth. So glad to see everyone walk away. Somewhat beaten up no doubt.

Lol. Actually it's triplets. They're saving the really good brother for the finals.

Just a touch of water makes all the difference, eh? You're joking. I'll send my man to fix their electrics. How can you warn riders when they ain't sure the tapes are really going up?