M.D

From Ben Barker Firstly, I want to make it absolutely clear that I have no problem with the Speedway Control Bureau and Auto Cycle Union. They have done nothing untoward. In the close season, the riders were told they had to pay an extra £28 for their ACU licence. That was, we were told, to cover for an extra insurance policy. From the research I have done, this is what I believe has happened. When that was suggested by the ACU, BSPL chairman Rob Godfrey decided the riders don’t need to be insured by the clubs. Therefore it saved the clubs a load of money per season. I’m not sure of the exact amount, but around £4,000 per club. When this issue was first raised by me at Poole on Good Friday, Mr Godfrey stated in Speedway Star on April 11 that “Ben Barker has caused a panic for nothing. The insurance policy has not been withdrawn, it has been replaced”. Subsequently, it’s been clear that ACU insurance was inferior to the old Race Insurance. This had led to the clubs covering their own riders to quell any fears, Ipswich and Redcar have announced this publicly, while a couple of other clubs have done so privately. Just over a week ago, the BSPL issued a new insurance policy which is inferior to the previous Race Insurance we had with the BSPL. The old cover for an injured rider was £225 a week, 14-day excess period and up to 52 weeks of payments. The new cover is now £150 a week, 14-day excess period and only up to 26 weeks of payments. It is nowhere near good enough to what we had previously. But it was a clear admission of wrongdoing by the BSPL that they had to re-issue a new insurance despite claiming I had caused “panic for nothing”. That wasn’t true. There has been no apology or explanation to how the season was started with riders not having appropriate insurance. Four riders were injured during that period; Niels-Kristian Iversen, Charles Wright, Tobias Thomsen and Vinnie Foord. That is clear negligence from the BSPL. That needs to be explained and who made those decisions which have cost the injured riders dearly. We need transparency about the people who made the decisions and whether we need changes in the people running the BSPL. Someone has to take responsibility for the mistakes that have been made. This is such a serious issue. The riders’ welfare has been overlooked in a terrible way. There are even more serious issues regarding this insurance issue. I will go into them at a later point. If it get 1000 likes 500 shares ill give a £50 voucher of the winners choice

Having a lazy Sunday so got the stream lined up.

Great to see Derek Harrison as start Marshall, good rider in his day, rode for half a season at Eastbourne after his accident.

Fair point, as one of Vinnie's sponsors I already have but not through his go fund.. I will say no more. I only asked if the club was doing a collection, nothing more.

I really shouldn't reply to you but, no more than any other rider, especially a 19 year old learning his trade. Richard Lawson, what, 39 has wrecked a bike this season, he got a collection from the club and a go fund page, is Richard any more reckless than any other rider?

I will leave that there.

Nothing done by the club then?

Speaking of commitment to the comets, will they be doing a collection for Vinnie to help with his costs to rebuild the damaged bike?

He shouldn't have done that and accepts that and so does Stef. But, walked back with a broken pelvis that kept him out for the rest of the season, his head went.

He was in his last ride

I had to reset my password to get it on my phone and then managed to get it from that to my TV. Working perfectly now.

Thank you

How do you create a new account on that, all I've got is sign in?

Thoughts with Connor and his family

I ment the stream on his tablet

Now its running, have you tried clicking on the icon that is a tv with a small arrow at the bottom, see if it gives you a list of devices available?

My smart tv doesn't support the new website so I'm casting from my phone, think it depends how old you tv is, mine is 4 years old.

Except the ref's official score card gave the point to Rushen.

Living in Brighton, not really a track near me now. I went to Kent a few times last season and sponsor Vinnie Foord so when he gets back on a bike I will go and watch/help him out.

Vinnie Foord will not recieve a single penny either.

Fixed that for you.

I bet he's absolutely salavating at the prospect.

The initial diagnoses was worse than the MRI scan picked up, so some good news.

There is an update on Facebook from both Workington and Vinnie to say there is a potential injury to the knee but needs further assessment.

Was it Lukas Dryml that had a bad accident when the fence bellowed out and caught him in a GP?