Grachan

Might be a good evening's entertaiment if Swindon put a proper Swindon side together. It would be good to see the 2019 side again, but Oxford would have no chance riding against them so maybe they will strengthen up with guests? Or will it just be a Swindon "select". Swindon team could, perhaps be: Doyle, Ellis, Musielak, Batchelor, Bellego, Nielsen, Rowe? Or could they even get Jensen over? The only problem is, with Oxford's limited capacity I'll have to decide in advance rather than wait and see what the weather is like!

So, is Wilbur Hancock Swedish?

Although half the crowd would leave after heat 13 (some even during it). As heat 13 approached there would always be a crowd gathering around stadium exits ready to run out and avoid traffic. I never really understood that myself. The best time to avoid queues was after 2 or 3 second half races.

Rule 011.1.11 "When a heat is stopped, the Referee shall disqualify the rider, who in their opinion is the primary cause of the stoppage." So surely this means someone has to be excluded. In the case of a genuine 50/50 that must mean the rider who came off as he is the cause of the stoppage.

No it doesn't. It says: "POINTS LIMIT: 39.00 for six riders, teams to also include one Rising Star."

Newbury Showground would be good for Reading and Swindon (and, indeed, Oxfrod) fans. Expecially those who live in Newbury. Like, er... me. It's within 45 minutes of all of them.

Heats 13 and 15 will kill 'em.

Just seen that they are going back to the aggregate bonus point. Speedway gives in to the grumpy old online whingers and does what it thinks that fans want. The 3-2-1-0-1-2-3-4 scoring did the job perfectly and was relevant in every match rather than just a second leg. Still, they'd already buggered that up, so I guess it doesn't really matter any more.

If I recall correctly, Ipswich had 2 rising stars in their team a couple of years ago but one of them - Anders Rowe - had to ride as a proper team member.

A great signing for the end of season dinner and dance.

I see Alun Rossiter and Lee Kilby are no longer listed on there as "advisors". I wonder if they asked to have their names removed?

It's actually pretty easy to find. Turn off the M4 and head down the M32 to Eastville. Look for IKEA on the right. It's just underneath there.

Teams didn't get an extra point for winning by more than 6. They lost a point for winning by less than 6. That's what was taken away. It was 3 for winning by more than 6. Now it's 3 for winning by any margin. It was a good system. They should have kept it.

Looking at the difference between the two teams tonight, I very much doubt that.

I have a question. Aside from the craziness of having this on a neutral track, what is the point of having a place called "The National Speedway Stadium" that provides brilliant racing and then - the first time it might actually be needed to be called into emergency use - having this meeting at King's Lynn?

Of course it shouldn't. If that was the case, any side who tops the table but loses heavily in the first leg away could just decide not to stage their own leg and be declared champions. If any side fails to stage their leg of the final, then the title should automatically go to the other team.

Atmosphere looked good on social media. What a shame Eurosport seem incapable of getting that across. Sheffield were unlucky with Adam's exclusion - which was a bizarre decision. Should have either been all four back or Brennan excluded. Tobi's exclusion was a bit more 50/50, but I also thought Sheffield were unlucky there as it looked like Kurtz leant onto his back wheel. Sheffield learned the same lesson as Swindon did in 2007. You can't just put together the best side and become league champions as a result. You need to suffer first. Makes it all the better when you finally do it, though.

It will be interesting to see how many Robert Lambert gets tonight. Undoubtedly the best rider on view, but his gating hasn't been great, and Sheffield doesn't have as many overtaking lines as Belle Vue offers.

They wouldn't have known the correct rule if they had.

Lambert wasn't even close to missing the 2 minutes in heat 15. As I learned myself yesterday, on this very thread, the rule is as follows: "Riders must, at the expiry of this time allowance, be on track, under power, proceeding without stopping towards the starting gate." So, he still had about 30 seconds left when he came onto the track.

Really? I'm sure they used to have to be ready to race at the end of the 2 minutes. That's a bit daft then, if they can still do that after the 2 minutes has expired.

Isn't that pretty much what happens anyway?

Clear space? There's only seven of them left.

I've only watched a couple of meetings on there, so I assumed they were a more regular pairing. Just looked and it was the Championship League Riders Championship - 24/8/22.

I've watched a couple of BSN matches, and I agree that they do a better job than Eurosport. Eurosport seem to base their presenters on how good they were as riders, but I think Adam Roynon is the best rider/presenter/commentator I've heard. He also works well with Dave Rowe as a kind of counter-balance to Dave's full-on delivery. We also don't get long, lingering shots of tractors going round or wide shots of quiet stadiums - of which we get too much of on Eurosport. I hate to say it, but Eurosport coverage often makes speedway look boring. They could learn a lot from BSN.