cinderfella

I've long been of the opinion that the GP series is part responsible for the decline of British Speedway with riders missing meetings to attend practice etc and it certainly had a major effect on Eastbourne's decision to drop down. I am still of the opinion we should go to two leagues (the lower being the same standard as the current NL) with NO GP riders. If a rider wants to concentrate on personal glory then let him do the GP/European series etc. British speedway which is team based relies on the fans' money so time fans were shown a bit of loyalty. Equally perhaps the GP series should be increased to 20 rounds or so like F1 so the elite riders can still make their living.

Pole vault surely?

Being an FIM Final the rider have probably been told to keep the following day clear should there be a rain off on the Sat. I wonder what the Poles would do? When you consider the GB v Oz match was FIm approved yet the Poles pulled Tungate out for a practice session you can but wonder who actually runs speedway?

Aye that could be said for quite a few riders in this meeting

Would have thought Glasgow would have been better going with r/r for Cookie allowing anyone an extra ride and a guest for Greaves if he's not fit. But then again nothing should surprise us with Glasgow's managers tactics (or lack of them)

Chris Harris has now also withdrawn as he is now riding in the GB team at the World Long Track Team Final.

Indeed various riders chose not to ride in it last year (probably not helped by the fact it was held in Glasgow he suggests with tongue firmly in cheek) Too many of our so called top meetings are devalued by riders picking and choosing what meetings they do. Time the ruling body (and I use that term very much with tongue in cheek) stamped down on that and made these meeting the prestigious meeting they once were.

Mainly because those averages are based on last years figures. Cookie has ridden twice for Glasgow. (BTW I am a Glasgow fan) AS you said previously maybe they should go for the top 16 riders regardless and then someone like Richie Worrall whose average is almost 2.5 pts higher than some of selected rider would be included. Over the past 10 years or so the major championships have all become diluted by stupid qualification/selection processes and they don't, like british Speedway in general, have the reputation they once had.

Yeah I think most fans have been wanting an independent ruling body for the last few years. Promoters will always be looking for what's best for their own team to the detriment of others as we have seen with the fixture fiasco this year. From what I hear there could be one or two clubs struggling to exist by next season.

It's 50 years next month since I saw my first meeting (Coatbridge v Glasgow) and when I think back over the years how much speedway has declined due to the mismanagement by BSP/SCB it's little wonder crowds, with the exception of Glasgow, seem to be falling away. Deep breath taken and will relax now at least until Friday lol

Why should being a Glasgow rider rider make any difference? ISheffield had been successful in getting Woofy would he have been handed a place having ridden maybe once for them because of the average he would have come in on? The fact Cookie has only ridden twice yet gets handed a place in the meeting is beyond a joke. Other riders work hard all season long in the quest of getting their averages high enough to qualify. Look at Richie Worrall as an example. been working hard all season, his average is higher than most handed a place. If you are going to put riders in on averages then put the highest 16 in regardless of who they ride for or if it is a rider from each team then they must have ridden in at least half of their teams fixtures before the selection date I'd suggest. My gripe is the BSPA are constantly messing Speedway up with inconsistent rulings and changes.

Well the 16 riders have just been named and straight away I've got to ask why the hell is Craig Cook in it bearing in mind he has only ridden twice for Glasgow. He is obviously in on last years average (as in all honesty is Steve Worrall). Surely a minimum number of meetings must be undertaken before a rider is eligible as was the case in the Fours a few years back? Another cock up by BSPA

Don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable with a speedway meeting as I do with this one. Call me cynical but this surely has to be about 'buying a meeting' rather than a real Test Match? The Glasgow Promotion is owned by Allied Vehicles who sponsored Team GB in the recent Speedway of Nations so surely this has got to be some sort of payback along with the fact that 5 out of the 12 riders involved ride for BV and the other major sponsor for this meeting just happens to be BV's major sponsor or 'partner'. As a SPEEDWAY fan based in Scotland I was looking forward to a meeting with big names but even now 5 of the 6 GB riders double down in the CL anyway but the fact this is so commercialised has put me off going especially with the fact there is a booking fee for advanced tickets. Speedway fails yet again.

Quote from Buxton team manager after the meeting " James (Cockle) struggled early on and got caught out by the track a couple of times, but as the meeting went on a gained in confidence and showed what he can do but after three months off the bike completely it was always going to be a hard afternoon for him!" So just what the hell did they expect from Gary Flint after being off a bike for 11 years? Poor show Buxton and not in the spirit of the sport when someone offers to come out of retirement to ensure a team has 7 riders and fans aren't short changed

Well just to keep this post going I've just noticed that every Glasgow rider is now doubling up or, in the case of Jack Thomas, down. I don't care what anyone, rider, fitness expert or psychologist says but no one can give 100% to two or more jobs especially with the amount of travel involved in speedway. Fans are yet again being short changed while the sport is being diluted by stupid rules.

They probably will then as they do what they consider best for speedway and the fans unlike him!

So Chris Holder has been handed a 9 month ban and fined £3k after the Kings Lynn v Poole fiasco. I take it the BSPA are trying to kill the sport afterall? I just wonder if Robert Lambert & Kai Huckenback will also receive bans as they declined to race by missing the 2 min and then declined to go off 15m. In my book that is refusing to race twice and deserves punishment. But of course they are KL rider's and Mr Chapman is hardly going to see his own riders punished. British speedway is declining into a farce.

Could it be he is actually trying to deflect some of the attention away from KL and the way they treated Chris Holder & Troy Batchelor? I've a feeling there is more to come about that and even more after KL put out an embarrassing team against Leicester with only two of their own riders.

Is there any reason why the present 350 Jawa isn't used more widely for u15s etc. ? It is obviously popular on the grass track scene so perhaps if there were events on shale for that size of engine some grassers may be tempted to have a go.

Having just taken my 11 year old son to Belle Vue for the Craven Shield semi-final he commented that because of the team suits he found it hard to distinguish many of the riders and also pointed out that with all the lower part of the suits being black to conform to Sky's demands, it made it even harder when the riders were at the opposite end of the track. Just shows that while many think the teams suits add some some sort of conformity(or uniformity if you excuse the pun) they have negative points too and my son said he prefered the PL as he could tell the riders apart more easily. (Although he saw 5 World Champions on show he also commented that EL speedway should be renamed 'Make the Gate' as there was very little passing!)

Althoughj it wasn't a Jawa, Weslake or recognised brand of speedway engine, Brian Andersen tested a 250cc bike back in the early 90's. Yamaha The above link is worth a read and the whole site is one of the best speedway sites around IMHO! I appreciate that having to re-kit riders with new engines and spares would initially be expensive but in the longrun surely things would level out after a few years.

Why just the young lads? Maybe a smaller engine could cut down costs in general.

Just in case my old mate Howling Gorgon can't identify the riders in Gem's picture, it's Ray Wilson (Leicester) LEADING Nigel Boocock (Coventry). No don't thank me, it's a pleasure. Where is HG anyway? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Er can you tell me who the rider in yellow&black is and who belongs to the right foot?

If you enforce rules from the start youngsters are going to get to know them. Let them off to begin with and they will continue trying to bend the rules either deliberately or because they haven't bothered to learn them. If a rider goes out and doesn't fit his dirt deflector his opponents are not going to like it if they are filled in with dirt and the ref lets the offender off. Start as you mean to go on. Parents must also take some responsibility too. I must say though imposing a fine at CL or U15 level is silly and another punishment such as 15 yard (or is it metres these days?)handicap or exclusion would be more appropriate and perhaps teach a lesson. As regards the helmet colours, as a former employee of Sky, I was aware that they were behind and suggested the change of helmet colours. Their intention was (and could still be) to have all riders wearing helmet cams and using the four coloured interactive buttons on the remote control the viewer could select which of the fours riders they 'viewed' from as well as possibilities for Skybet.

Was there not a year when there were several sisters and girlfriends of riders rode at Telford?