Posh Red

My wife had a BB for her illness so I am quite aware of the difficulties people can have, and agree that this is has been handled very badly by the Panthers. However, one thing that springs to mind on my (albeit infrequent) visits to the showground is just how many people parking inside the gates manage to literally run back to their cars to try & beat all the people walking back to the car park. Obviously these aren't people here that have genuine concerns and need to park inside the gates, but still manage to do so. To be fair, when we used BB parking it took us so long to get back to the car, pack away the walking aides/wheelchair & get settled that the crowds had long cleared. This gave me a bit of a thought, maybe the people leaving the BB parking could wait 10-15 mins until the crowds have cleared a bit and this would satisfy the concerns of the club. Maybe this is unworkable, but you would have thought the club would explore a few more options before a blanket ban.

At some point the BSPA will work out how the meetings are going to be run this year. After that, some teams will be good, some will be rubbish & one team will cheat I leave you all to work out which teams fit into which category

Before this season I wasn't convinced he could cut it in the GP series. He had already dispelled that before tonight with his performances this season. His performance in Gorzow proves without any doubt that he has the heart to compete at the very highest level. He should be very proud of that performance.

Sorry if this (or similar) has already been posted but, just to play devils advocate which brings the sport into the most disrepute. Belle Vue calling off a meeting because they can't field a team (due to no fault of the promotion), or fielding a side that would struggle to get 25 points as they would have been missing two of their best riders? The people I feel the most sorry for is the fans that travelled to the meeting. It would have been nice if they could have been compensated in some way for their costs.

That was a brilliant GP, the racing there is usually great but tonight seemed to be better than usual. The second semi-final was one of the best races I have seen for a long time. Fair play to Woffinden, I was one of those that didn't think he would make must impression on the GP's after his selection, but he was excellent tonight.

I know that the general feeling is that Pearson & Tatum aren't particularly good (which I have to say I agree with), but Wade Aunger did prove how hard a job it is, by consistently calling the wrong riders and coming out with some total BS. Apparently a bike length behind is tailed off (ala Greg Hancock in one ride). That said, I agree it was better staying at the track rather than having to go back to the studio to hear the same dull comments, from the same dull guests. All in all a decent start from Eurosport, it will be interesting to see whether they have anything new to add to the production once we get back to Europe.

At home, I think you are absolutely correct, the problem is Simon struggled to consistently score points away from home. That said, his performances in the final were one of the big reasons Swindon managed to win the title. I wish him all the best for the season (except against the Robins of course) and hope he has a safe & successful season.

Peterborough did something similar with local businesses a few years ago, I managed to get hold of a couple of tickets so the three of us went along. It meant that we only paid for our son to get in, but we did spend money on programmes, food & drink. Unfortunately it was one of those nights where the showground was like a ploughed field and we spent longer watching tractors go around the track than bikes. The clubs need to do something to try and get more people interested. Excalibur communications who sponsor Swindon (Football & Speedway), have just announced that they have bought 2013 tickets for one of the stands at Swindon, and will be giving the tickets away to local football clubs for the Good Friday game.

I heard Poole didn't like their copy so got it re-written at the expense of someone else

BREAKING NEWS: They (the BSPA) are going to let Troy ride for Swindon all season for nothing, but if they happen to finish higher than Poole they will have all of their results removed to ensure that Poole get the advantage of a free pass into the one legged Final at Wimborne Road. You heard it here first

But at the end of those years of making loan payments you have no asset to show for those payments, whereas the loaning club still do have an asset, so surely they are in the better position having the money and the asset, (especially if they have no plans to use that asset themselves). Unless of course you happen to agree that the asset system has run it's course and that assets are virtually worthless to their clubs, in which case I am sure you can see why a club (say Swindon) might not want to be forced into investing in a system that has no value

No, but if they prevented you from taking a job elsewhere you would have a pretty good case. I can't imagine that a single rider would do it, they would be bearing the brunt of all of the costs. A number of people have likened the asset situation to that of football & the Bosman case. The ironic thing from that case is that so many footballers have benefited from the ruling, however Bosman himself didn't as by the time he got his case to the courts and got the ruling his career was virtually over.

Maybe you sign riders on short term deals, and then look to sign these two after a couple of months.

I have to say I struggle to see how the asset system can work. In what other line of work can you have a scenario where your employer doesn't want you, isn't paying you, but can stop you from signing for another employer?

it is when the club you are dealing with isn't playing silly buggers. Had Newcastle said "No, buy him or go away" would it have been so easy? Swindon asked for permission to talk to the riders, and are still waiting for a reply. So in response Peterborough decide that they will offer them contracts (knowing that they don't really want them in their team), to try & force Swindon into buying them. After the Miedzinski saga last season I'm sure you can understand why Swindon don't see the need to buy both riders, having made an offer for Hans.