keepturningleft

No apology necessary. My dad who is nearly 93 and in a home, watches hardly anything else but this channel now. It seems to bring him some comfort reliving memories from the past.

Take the Michael if you like but these old classics have things like, plot, character development, strong acting and direction and screenplays written by people with talent etc unlike much of todays fare where spaceships endlessly fly through space, things blow up, dialogue is mumbled, editing is so flashy you can't tell what's happening, cars crash and brain numbing special effects overwhelm proceedings to such an extent that little is left to the imagination and every idea you may have is completely driven from your head... The Darkest Hour is good 'though...

The best channel there is...

Mind, most thought Belle Vue would never happen.

Wonder how effective the acoustic barrier at Belle Vue is?

I've put my money on Lunchhour at twelve to one.

Ivan Mauger has publicly rubbished the '81 final. No opinion on that, just thought I'd mention it.

Halifax had their own song 'Halifax Dukes Calypso', recorded by some local band way back in the mid sixties. Wouldn't mind betting I'm the only one who can still remember this.

Why is abbreviation such a long word?

Can only echo what other posters have said - the WC has developed into one of the best things in speedway in recent years with a near perfect formula, the joker being the only negative. The current formula is easy to understand for new or casual fans with the same riders from each country wearing the same helmet colour in every race etc. A pairs competition will be more confusing, but this is speedway, so let's fix the one thing that isn't broken and hasten speedway's decline even quicker. Polish domination wouldn't be as much of any issue if the competition was held every two years as people have suggested. I despair.

One big league has got to be the way. It was the salvation of speedway in 1965, maybe it could be again.

I'm not on about downloading or streaming speedway, only music - along with about 3 trillion other people.

Is there any evidence that riders who would have to pay, attend meetings anyway, such as the 'PC 100'? I have no guilt about downloading some selected music off Youtube and other places 'illegally' and for free because I wouldn't buy that music/album anyway so I am not depriving anyone of any revenue. Similar scenario here, if you see what I mean. If they don't go anyway, no promoter is losing money by their absence.

PC has always come across in interviews as a modest and amiable man. I can barely recognize the PC depicted in some of these posts. It's difficult to comprehend why he would (apparently) become excessively embittered over such an issue. .

If all this is true, then sadly I must revise the sentiments of my original post. Either way, it's a sad story all round. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxQdxKchhFQ Seems quite behind all things Belle Vue here...

There is an in depth feature on this very topic in this month's Backtrack.

The item on PC in this week's Speedway Star is quite literally the most depressing thing I have ever read in the magazine. My god, PC should be treated like royalty at BV as Bobby Charlton is at MU. How can such a negative situation ever have evolved? If PC is reading this, please know that the fans, the ones who should really matter, hold you and others like you in the highest possible esteem and we want to see you at BV. I run a theatre in a further education college. When former staff come back to watch a performance it wouldn't enter anyone's head to charge them to come in. These are people who have made an important contribution to the college - to people's lives - and we value them beyond any monetary value. It really is getting harder and harder to keep liking speedway.

British Speedway is the Theresa May of sport!

Probably the best post ever on this forum!

But why would foreign riders need the experience of small tracks? All tracks in Europe are proper, big wide tracks. There is nothing to be gained unless they are with a UK team.

Was only referring to this particular meeting which has completely lost the prestige it once had.

BLRC Belle Vue, Saturday Night 1967 - Attendance 20,000 50 years later... PLRC Belle Vue, Saturday Night 2017 - Attendance fewer than 2,000 Time to scrap this now meaningless meeting.

A wasted 60 mile round trip based on favourable weather predictions on the forum...

Wonder if there will be any ramifications from this incident as it very nearly was disastrous.

Szczakiel won fair and square on the day. No fluke involved so he was a deserving world champion.