False dawn

It never occurred to me before, but what is the technical / speed considerations between leg trailing and leg forward? We must assume that leg forward proved faster. But was this accompanied by other technical changes in the bikes of the time? It might be interesting to see a rider try leg trailing now. Just imagine the effect if he started to do well? Looking at some of the photos above, if someone did start leg trailing, it could be that the authorities might change the rules to say riders have to wear dirt deflectors!

So who is "really" British? Jason Crump? Born in Bristol after all?

This is the first year I've taken part in this. It's good init? We're all bloody experts right? Well that's true till you have to put your money where your mouth is. And it ain't even my money. But you still agonise over those bets. I've been looking at results from recent league results, results from last year and even running analyses off the likely outcome. But it's all theory until Saturday night. I don't know if I'm glad they postponed the Bees meeting at Leicester. At least now I can watch every race from Warsaw with interest.

Take a deep breath...... Mr Zagar £200 more

You may be 100% in your analysis. Unfortunately, I believe Mr Sandhu owns the rights to stox just as Mick Horton owns the rights to speedway (bought for £200K?). If you want to see an agreement forged without Mr Sandhu, you need someone to buy his stox rights. That could be worth a pretty penny.

The worrying fact is that stox at Brandon make money, but speedway does not. Mr Sandhu ran speedway because he loved it, he ran stox because it made money. He ran both because together they made sense. He doesn't have the right to run speedway anymore (I assume he sold that to Mick Horton for £200K). We need everyone to come to the party.

Dangerous territory. PC was seen as a British racing icon in his day. No gating skills and the best overtaker of his day. Something of a racing hero.

Fd laughs out loud. Thank you for cheering up my day. But hang on. I live in Rugby, Maybe your post should be read as a hazard warning!

In the war...... That's a warning, I'm an old bloke who has sometimes been known to look back to the "old days". Back in the day, the British Final was a massive event. Held for the most part, on a Wednesday night at Brandon. Yes, it decided the British Championship but more importantly it was a step on the road to the World Final. And back then, we had Aussies and New Zealanders in the British rounds because they were part of the Commonwealth or Empire or whatever. And then the British Championship meant nothing on the World stage and it lost all it's prestige. Riders took part, if at all, with little enthusiasm. Then someone came up with the idea of sending the winner to Cardiff as the wildcard. A brilliant stroke, in my opinion. Now you could be British champion and take part in the British GP in front of 40,000 fans. Incentive indeed. Danny posted a good score at Cardiff last year and showed in one race that he certainly had the potential to compete on the World stage. And so to this year. We look at the field and start to pick our favourites and likely candidates. Hang on, who's this? Rory Schlein? He's an Aussie ain't he? Well yes, but the BSPA have rules about residency, length of stay, passport etc. And he qualifies to take part. Ah but, he has said he has no intention of riding for Team GB. Oh well, he can't be British Champion. And even if he can, he ain't going to Cardiff. So let's see. If you disqualify yourself from riding for Team GB you can't be British Champion or go to Cardiff? Better not tell you know who. You can't have your cake and eat it. Either Rory qualifies to be British Champion and the subsequent prize of going to Cardiff or he doesn't. Decide before the championships start.

It is increasingly clear that the key stumbling block to getting an agreement was the subletting of the stadium to run stox. Had Coventry Racing Club been a customer of Brandon Estates and not of a "third party", would any of this happened? We could have had stox coexisting with speedway (as we have had for many years) both customers of Brandon Estates. The prospect of civil action now (which was always going to be the case from day 1) is worrying in the extreme. It has taken half a year for the police to decide this is a civil matter. How long will this drag on through the courts? The only note of optimism is the attendance of Mr Sandhu at one of the Save Coventry Speedway committee meetings. This doesn't bring together Mr Sandhu with either of the other two key players but at least he is still talking. We await the promised statement from The Save Coventry Speedway group with interest.

I withdraw. I'm happy to admit I'm wrong

Well let me say straightaway, I would not wish to fall out with you. I am getting back into considered debate on here after a long lay off. My two guests "proposal" was a bit glib. Two guests seems sort of acceptable, three feels off the wall. But whatever the limit (and three is too many in my opinion) the team has to choose. Obviously they would the choose the highest average riders but for the rest they would have to use a junior replacement. I feel like I'm having to justify what is common sense to any (non Wolverhampton) fan. Sorry, but I don't care if the ruling body f**k up the fixtures to your disadvantage. Tas always been so. If we really want to fix that problem, tell the promoters to talk to each other. Fixture readjustment or trade offs of riders missing from both teams have been a feature of previous seasons, albeit a long time ago, Oh, I know, one fixture doesn't justify a major change. But I'll be back, arguing the case before very long. (Am I wrong?)

Hypothetical scenario...... Wolverhampton turn up at Somerset tonight and tell the home team, three of our riders are unavailable but we've got three blokes of about the same talent who are willing to ride for us. Is this allowed, say the home team? Well yes, the rules allow anything. So off we go. Wolverhampton win and all is good. If I was a Somerset fan I might be slightly aggrieved. Non hypothetical scenario..... As a Somerset fan (which I'm not) I would be well p***ed off

It seems that people are saying that because the rules are the way they are, it is justifiable to have a team turn out with three guests. And I have to justify my objection to this by answering the comment that to prevent Wolverhampton having three guests would somehow short change the Somerset fans. Well forgive me, but I find this a slightly circular argument. We're only here because the rules permit it. It's the rules I object to, not Wolverhampton taking advantage off them. You have to examine the rules in light of what they lead to. Wolverhampton winning tonight only focused the attention on a set of rules that makes no sense. The team they fielded made no sense, win or lose. I look forward to reading the team statistics on the Wolverhampton website! A telling phrase. Period (again)

There ain't many that I would take that from. But you are one. Wolverhampton 3 Somerset 0 Okay? (but I ain't happy)

Fixtures, rules, I don't care. Wolverhampton did not beat Somerset tonight. You cut it anyway you like. Tell me I'm wrong,

i do. You can have double ups all you like. But if the fixtures play against you, that's your hard luck. Don't tell me my team is "my team" when it contains three guests. It ain't acceptable. Period.

No, they were sold short.

There should be a rule that for whatever reason a team cannot have more than two guests. To have half (well nearly) your side represented by other people's riders ain't good for your own pride. For the home side, well what do they think? Beaten by a group of riders that no way represent the team on the programme. Did Wolverhampton beat Somerset tonight? You tell me.

Do you know, I didn't know that. Tell me in advance next time!

Maybe talk to a few folks that have been doing this for years. It ain't rocket science.

It's early days. The competitors with staying power are those that win through in the end. You know, I might book that trip to Oz and watch the decider!

There is still a good grasstrack opportunity for youngsters to learn their trade. Low cost racing. And most grasstracks I raced on were far from level. Youngsters who can race that, don't complain at the odd bump or rut when they get on the speedways.

The powers that be cannot avoid the responsibility for this one, be it language or any other excuse. They have built a World Championship circus with all the TV and publicity spotlight that goes with it. And with that comes the weight of providing the very best racing facilities. If it rained and there was a doubt about safety that's one thing. To get the news that the organisers had over watered the track and we end up with one of the worse GP meetings for a long time is quite another. Don't make excuses, understand what happened and put in place procedures to avoid it in the future.

Surely we are all unhappy and disappointed when our stand out No.1 rider is at odds with the ruling body to the extent he chooses not to ride for Team GB. Time for reconciliation? Certainly the sport in this country needs all the help it can get. Be it on the World stage or helping to develop young riders for the future. Maybe Tai isn't the easiest guy to work with but is that a reason to walk away (by either party). As a fan and English, I follow Tai's riding with interest. As to the rest, I don't know the full facts and therefore don't pass judgement