Grachan

Yeah. nice touch that, and she was quite good. It's a great idea putting entertainment like that on in the interval. It makes it so much more of an evening than just everything stopping for 15 minutes while a tractor goes round, so well done Swindon. And well done for putting her on the greyhound track in front of the Grandstand too, rather than just sticking her out of sight on the centre green. This is something their clubs should follow suit on if they don't already. I'm sure every track has local performers who would be glad of the opportunity to play in front of a speedway crowd.

Yeah. Heat 15 was a good race. Well done Rosco putting out Gustafsson and Morris rather than Kildemand and Bachelor. It may have stopped is getting 60 but meant a closely matched finale.

I went. Had a nice evening. Sat under the night sky, watched some racing. My son was buzzing because Troy Bachelor waved at him. Crowd wasn't great, although I've seen worse. Enjoyed it though. Sorry.

Anyone who goes tonight can get in for a tenner on Monday. https://twitter.com/SwindonSpeedway/status/507504929783971840

How can they have r/r for Pawlicki if they sacked him? Cheating Wolves.

As already said, Poole wanted the match off. It continued, so Poole said that it was Lakeside's call. Lakeside were 9 up after heat 10. That guaranteed them 3 points if the match was abandoned. The riders were at the tapes for heat 11. The track was improving. A Poole 5-1 would rob Lakeside of a point. Lakeside were quite clearly vociferous in the pits to stop the meeting immediately to get themselves maximum points. They already knew that Poole had said it was their call. Lord knows how they managed it, but the match was abandoned in improving conditions. You might not think that's cheating but I do. The paying public were cheated. Eastbourne and Swindon were cheated. If Lakeside qualify for the play offs by one point then surely that is unfair considering this match could have been concluded and Poole were still in it.

Actually, in the good old days, it was 6 heats and we then had matches being forced through to 6 and then abandoned in order to avoid giving a refund.

Poole should have said they would continue, and gone out on their own. Bet Lakeside would have been quick to continue then.

On the face of it it maybe seemed a good idea. Once a match gets to heat 10, the result can be called if the meeting is cancelled. Unfortunately it seems this has caused no end of problems. Last night's match at Lakeside was a classic case. There was also controversy over Belle Vue v Poole last year, and Swindon have also had some matches where the significance of heat 10 has played it's part. And I'm sure there are plenty of other cases too. The problem is, people are playing for it. If last night's track was too dangerous after heat 10, then it must have been too dangerous before that too. Which would mean that either riders lives were put at risk prior to heat 10 or the track was suitable to continue to the end. A rain-off should be a rain-off at the exact point the track becomes unfit. Heat 10 should have nothing to do with it. The only was to do this is for a result to only be called if it has already been mathematically won. And only a referee should be able to call a match off once it has started. Surely?

At the end of the day, each individual team is going to try and get themselves a result. The question is how can an individual promotion or management be so influential in getting a meeting called off. This HAS to be the judgement of the referee and nobody else. It seemed to me that it was purely down to the side that had a vested interest in the score at that time that last night's meeting was called off. Had they run heat 11 and Poole had scored a 5-1 the Lakeside would have lost a point. The riders were there and ready to go. It looked like it was the decision of Davy Watt to call that match off (probably at the behest of his team manager/promoter). How can that be allowed?

What do Poole care? They'll be in the play offs regardless. You lot are so bloody obsessed with Poole that you can't see Lakeside trying to cheat themselves into the play offs ahead of Eastbourne and my own club Swindon.

Yeah? Oh well, enjoy your speedway when you're the only one left watching in that case.

Are you for real? It was quite clearly Lakeside who were on the fiddle here. How then they call it off like that just because they have 3 points? No wonder Lakeside get crowds of about 200 if this is how they treat them. I don't often get wound up by the sheer idiocy of how speedway is run but this was outrageous. The sport was brought into disrepute and nothing will be done about it.

What bullrubbish that was. If that was unfit to ride then it shouldn't have been restarted. Clearly Lakeside decided they wanted it off once the dreaded 10 heats had been reached and they had maximum points. It's time that rule was scrapped. Disgusting display. They should not have been allowed to call it off at that stage.

Was thinking the same myself. Far too much gets made of that. If this was ok to continue then it's ok to finish.

That's not what was announced. It was announced that he was excluded for not racing. I watched on Bet365, and all they ever show is the guy leading the race so can't comment on what actually happened. But that was the announcement.

It's not just about averages. It's about the impression they make. The 'wow' factor, if you like. I haven't seen much of Lambert, but in the matches I have seen I've barely noticed him. But I'm talking in terms of future World Champions here, which is a bit drastic for any 16 year old. But with a few riders that appear, you just know it. But the lad is doing very well.

I remember seeing Tai Woffinden at 16. He was dynamite. Really looked fast and good. I also remember seeing Michael Lee and Darcy Ward at that age and you just knew they were heading for the top. Jason Crump was another. Robert Lambert is doing very well for a kid his age, although you don't get quite the same feeling that you instantly had with those 4 for example. Of course there's more to it than how good you are at 16. Ivan Mauger is a good example of that. Lambert clearly has a good future ahead of him though because he is still better than your average 16 year old.

Because they aren't touching the tapes.

Depends on the system. Using the ko system Gundersen would havewon a few by sneaking into the finals many times via the eliminators, then doing Nielsen in the final. Using the current format Nielsen would probably won them all and gone down as the undisputed greatest rider of all time that he should have.

Every time people make drastic changes, some people don't like the changes and give up going. The Danish league format is not good for me. Teams are reduced from 7 to 5? That means less riders. so it's less appealing to some people. Plus, we have 5 riders per team now, plus 2 fast track riders. That, for me, would be a perfectly good system providing people weren't missing all the time. When I saw in the past that the Danish League only had 5 riders per team it just, for me, made it look like a lower standard of league. Whether or not it is is irrelevant that's how it looked. And if people want gradings in all positions, just imagine how fed up everyone is going to be on here when Poole get all the top riders from each grade. Certain posters will be at the vet giving birth to a litter of kittens. All people want is for the sport to be run professionally. All this buggering about costs supporters every time it happen and a lot of them don't come back. A league with teams of 5 per side would mean crowds of about 500 at most stadiums in the EL. It looks lower.

I know this is what we supposedly call "banter" here, but to get all serious for a second, I think it's best for Swindon to forget about Coventry as they look a cert for the play-offs anyway. What Swindon (and, indeed, Coventry) really want is for everyone to turn over Lakeside and Eastbourne, neither of whom look particularly good sides anyway. After last night I'd be more concerned about Eastbourne taking points from King's Lynn.

If you agree he's innocent until proven guilty, why would you want him banned now when he's still innocent?

Haven't you got some Poole riders or management to go and have a bitch about?