Grachan

Jason Doyle's comments were interesting bearing in mind people have criticised top riders for not riding in this meeting recently. He says he's always wanted to ride in this meeting in the past but has never been asked.

Are you sure? I don't recall full plans for Reading ever being submitted. Something called 'outline planning permission' was apparently granted for Swindon Stadium in 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-21744357 Before now we'd just seen artists impressions rather than proper drawn up plans, which is all I recall ever seeing of the Racino. So it does seem that we have gone a stage further.

It makes a clearer definition betwen the standard. The way to look at it is to round the rider up or down to the nearest point and add the word "man" afterwards. Take, for example, Neils Kristian Iversen (8.98), Matej Zagar (7.83) and Craig Cook (7.29). Iversen is a nine point man. Zagar is an eight point man. Cook is a seven point man. Do it as average per race and you get 2.25, 1.96 and 1.82. Suddenly all 3 become 2 point men. It's better as it is.

Am I right in assuming that, with the publication of these plans, we have gone further down the line than Reading and Milton Keynes did?

Is the points limit too high? I thought it seemed high when they announced it, but I'm not so sure it is now. King's Lynn could sign Greg Zengota, taking them to 39.68. That would leave Leicester with a space to fill. I'm not sure what they have remaining as the their average aren't shown on here - but the problems they have are as much a problem with Leicester as they are with the points limit. It's not the points limit thats wrong. It's the squiffy averages we have now. Greg Zengota is a good rider, but he's not a number one.

I think it's better having it as it is. It spaces the averages out more and makes the difference more easy to see. On average per race everything would be in differences of decimal places. If one rider averages 11.8 and one rider averages 8.2, you see a clear difference there. Change that to 2.95 and 2.05? Meh. What's the diff? As Arnie says, it's presentational.

Intersting to see Bobby Schwartz in the top 20 despite never reaching a World final. Which begs the question - is it better not to be in the World Final than to qualify and have a bad meeting?

Very interesting. I'd be interested to know hoe you did the weighting? Am I right in thinking that a World Final would be used 10 times? Ie counting as 50 rides? Or making it 10 times the points from 5 rides? How did you get the average? Particularly as Dave Jessup averaged 12.00. It would be interesting to see how the 1 to 10 meetings were ranked. Really interesting stuff.

Stadium plans now online.http://pa1.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=O0L5L7PTG2I00

I thought it was quite funny myself.

I agree. I think it would have made for a great logo and fitted better with the nickname.

Naive? Or just not so anal?

Don't understand all the fuss about the farewell meeting to be honest. I think people need to lighten up.

I don't think it's poor at all. They can only communicate what they know, and have always updated whenever there are any actual real developments. Plus Rosco is very available and open on Facebook and is a member of the Swindon Speedway group on there. I'm not really sure what people expect from them when developments are pretty much out of their hands.

Well Newbury Racecourse seems to be doing ok. Personally, I can't believe that supporters are so disdainful about getting local residents onside.

I'm on the racecourse estate, off Westwood Road. I've never actually taken up one of the offers, but it does make you feel respected. It's all very well people having a "stuff the local residents, if they don't like it then tough" attitude, but it's exactly that sort of attitude that could get tracks closed down.

As mentioned earlier, Somerset Speedway is close to the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor, part of the Monmouth Rebellion. This is from Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sedgemoor "Lord Grey of Warke led the rebel cavalry forward and they were engaged by the King's Regiment of Horse which alerted the rest of the royalist forces. The superior training of the regular army and their horses routed the rebel forces by outflanking them." So the Rebels nickname is very appropriate, even if the Confederate flag isn't historically relevant.. Because of this, using a Dragon is a very strange change for me. There must be something appropriate relating to this they could use. Perhaps a silouhette of this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_Rebellion#/media/File:%27The_Morning_of_Sedgemoor%27_by_Edgar_Bundy,_Tate_Britain.JPG

It's all very well having that sort of attitude, but surely it's better to try and make it something local people are actually interested in.

Exactly. And they might enjoy it.

I live near Newbury racecourse and they sometimes put concerts on. Every time they do, local residents get a voucher for cheap admission to a race meeting. It's a gesture that is appreciated.

Why not offer everyone who lives on the estate 5 quid entry. Might attract a few more fans, and even if not it shows up as a gesture of good will. Better to have these people onside.

I couldn't give a stuff when it gets built, as long as it does.

It may be. They were billing it as a January special deal, so it seemed a good time to switch. I got BT Infinity for £12.50 a month, plus all BT sport channels and BT TV "starter" (whatever that is!!) for free. Plus a pre-paid mastercard loaded with £100 thrown in for good measure. It's a 12 month contract, so I guess the price will go up after a year.

Why can you not get BT Sport 2? I just switched to BT and get all the sport channels included.

That house my not be where the riders are during the meeting, but looks pretty much bang on the spot where I once got Ivan Mauger's autograph while he was in conversation with Melvin Soffe.