Grachan

I think it's a good idea to market the opening of the stadium as a major event. Why not? To many it will be seen as Belle Vue Speedway re-opening. They may not get people in regularly for league racing, but if this is marketed as a major meeting with plenty of local advertising then I don't see why people won't pay that amount as a one off.

What happened there then? Did we forget to re-declare the team or something? How odd. It's been known for a while that PK was coming into the side.

It's ok. I found it out in the end anyway! With regards speedway scoring, a lot of people say it's just about the racing. But it's not just that for me. it's about so much more than that. There's averages, scoring, tactical moves etc, plus match scores. These are a very big part of the sport. Some people might like that it's 4 blokes with no brakes on an oval circuit, but to a lot of people who see it as that it is the reason it becomes boring. What really got me into speedway was the maths of it. Sure, I love the racing, but as a teenager it was all the nerdy stuff that went with it that really drew me in.

That may well be the case, but that's not my issue. I went to a rugby match recently and looked at the league table on the Aviva Premiership website. It showed no mention of bonus points. There was no relationship with the matches won drawn and lost and the match points. It was quite difficult to find out how it worked too.

To be fair, the scored a 5-1 in heat 13 and then led out the gate in heat 14, which did leave a brief moment of wonder of they could get a point. But who cares? It means nothing to hardly anyone in the stadium because the home team wouldn't lose one. The reasoning for dropping it is not a good one. There are some strange scorings about though. Rugby Union is very odd. If you look at the league table it bears no relation whatsover to the matches won, lost or drawn. That's because you get an extra pont if you score 4 or more tries plus and extra point for losing by 7 (I think) or less. And if you go to a match there's no announcements at all about it. It's just assumed that you know. So it's not just Speedway. But there used to be a symmetry to it, which has been lost.

Love the way Lambert is making a mug of his own team manager.

Wow. Robert Lambert!!!

Absolutely. Even when they get things right they still change it. Most fans are home fans who don't give a stuff if the away team get an extra point anyway so it means nothing.

Yeah. The FS1-E Challenge Cup would be a good one to start on.

I suggest you watch the 1984 British Final, when Morton in particular was very vocal about calling the meeting off. And it probably would have been had Kenny Carter not gone against everyone else and said he wanted to ride.

If Bomber and the other few had wanted to race they would have raced. As far as I can see, the only two rider who are innocent are Andreas Jonsson and Troy Bachelor - both of whom had withdrawn through injury. (Otherwise they'd have probably been guilty too!)

Really? You ever tried putting one on inside out?

The track at Wembley in 1975 was terrible. Some people even reckoned it cost Peter Collins a chance of winning. Oh, and guess who did end up winning!

Because it's Eurosport. Sky would have got someone down in the pits and covered what was going on.

What now? They all gone on strike???

Howarth and Lambert both had 6 rides. Both had 5 wins and 1 second place. How is Lambert any more deserving? Well done to both of them. Two bright British prospects from what we've seen so far this year.

Typical Poole. Cheating by increasing their averages.

That's interesting, then. I never realised we were so close to being able to fit him in.

I'm not able to check the averages from here. Can Ward be fitted in then?

Can't see Ward being able to be fitted in at Swindon.

So 20 from those 3, say about 20 from the heatleaders on a bad day, Then another 8 from the reserves. That's 48. Job done.

Actually I'm anything but 'all things speedway'. Maybe that's why I actually enjoy it when I go. Bet you go again. Bet you do.

Then again, I only go 3 or 4 times a year. So maybe not!

It doesn't offend. Just makes you look like a miserable old sod, that's all. We decided to go to this because it is school holidays and my son was badgering me to take him. I said it would probably be a low crowd and Swindon had loads of injured riders but he insisted. When I saw the crowd it wasn't massive, but it was better than I thought it would be. As was the atmosphere, although, in hindsight maybe we were just embarrasing ourselves leaping about and enjoying ourselves while everyone else in the stadium was stood around contemplating their own deaths. It didn't seem like that at the time though. There does seem to be a small number on here who go out of their way to undermine everything Swindon do. It just seems a bit odd really. Last night seemed fine to me, and it was nice to see Hans who always seems to enjoy his returns to Blunsdon. The party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative party was a bit odd though.

Ignore it, Red Robin. It's just typical PL fan bleating about how their league is better even though it's, like, lower and that. And why, if someone hasn't been to Blunsdon for 2 years, would they choose a match v Lakeside with 4 Swindon riders out injured and it being the second meeting of the week - the other being a crowd attracting Bank Holiday clash against our number one rival and league champions?