Grachan

Oh well. That's the Premier league down The Swanee then.

Out of interest, which 40 British riders would you like to see in the Elite League?

It was Rob Fortune at Swindon. They had to loan their 2 pointer from Peterborough because they couldn't find one of their own - and there were a lot more British riders around then! John Surnam at Oxford. I think they signed De'Ath from Long Eaton? He wasn't their 2 pointer.

I remember the compulsory 2 point British rider that every side had to have back in1986. None of them, as far as I remember, went on to be anything but a poor reserve. I may be wrong though. Can anyone name all the 2 pointers from that year.

Terry Russell was involved in Speedway way before Sky TV came along, so I don't think that's the case at all.

Is Terry Russell still around to negotiate a Sky contract? I guess he's not as he's not so involved with speedway any more. If that's the case, then people can make as many snide comments about him as they like, but at least he got the job done and got the sport on TV. Is it just coincidence that when Terry Russell takes a back seat in speedway then the sport looks likely to get dropped by Sky? Or is he still involved with negotiating a new contract with the tv station?

Well, some people ain't going to like it, but Chris Harris looks set to be first reserve for next year's Grand Prix and also has a legitimate argument to be given a wild card in 2014. Well done to Chris for grasping the opportunity. If other British riders turned down the slim chance Chris had of being in this meeting then that's their own fault.

You're right. It was heat 11. Anyway, changing it from heat 11 to heat 12 makes it maybe 44-46, bearing in mind Bachelor had an ef in heat 11 so Fisher would have got at least a point.

Interesting to see the discussion about the Swindon v Peterborough match and how the TR or TS would have affected the scoring. I reckon that using the old TS rule Peterborough would have gained little advantage and it could have been a draw. Suppose Peterborough use Bjerre for Fisher in heat 8 and Bjerre wins. That makes it 26-22 to Swindon. Going into heat 12 it's 36-30 to Swindon. Hougards can't come in to heat 12 for Fisher, becauyse Fisher was replaced in heat 8. So that would probably be a 3-3 to Swindon, making it 39-33. Peterborough then gain another 6 points over the final 3 heats, making it 45-45. The big question, though, is would Hougard have come in elsewhere for an extra ride. Heat 10 for Buckowski maybe? So that could have had a further effect on the result and maybe given Peterborough a win still. Then again, he might have touched the tapes or fallen off. You never know! Or got beat and finished at the back. Or maybe that would have happend to Bjerre in heat 8 and Swindon would have won. Or maybe my auntie is my uncle. But the general gist is that in a straight swap of the 2 rules it's a draw.

The thing is "Bryn", a lot of people use these names on here including some promoters so why knock it. I even remember talking with a promoter of Oxford Speedway who said he posted on here in disguise and deliberately wrote badly so nobody would suspect it was him! So why do you constantly knock it. There are promoters on here reading this stuff, and some of them are joining in the fun! I posted on forums using my real name in the past, but changed when I realised nobody else was doing it. I thought it made me look like I was trying to look self important. But each to their own. I know there are a lot of nonsense posting on here (promoters in disguise perhaps??), but when genuine points are made why should they not be taken into account. Surely it's the quality of the post, not the name of the person who made it, that matters. Fan forums at the stadium for face to face discussion are a good idea though. But clubs tend to get all huffy if anyone criticises them at these and then don't do it again.

Another thing we need is phones by the starting line so riders have to march across the center green and call the ref in full view of the baying crowd. That was great.

I remember a pre-season phone-in on Witlshire Radio. Guest on it was Matt Ford, who, when questioned about the TR said that Ipswich wanted it introduced and said they would drop down a league if it wasn't. So it was introduced. And where are Ipswich now?

The thing with it was the whole "double points" thing, rather than the fairness. People just couldn't, and still can't, get heir heads round that. You win the race and get 6 points instead of 3 - it was too much for many people.

I don't agree with that. There was a notable amount of people extremely fed up with the doublepoints. that well used phrse "mickey Mouse" came into play quite a lot. It was definitely one in a long line of things that served to annoy many people, and people don't pay to go somewhere that annoys them.

I bet those who think Eurosport do a better presentation than Sky also think that those one camera DVDs of club meetings with an enthusiastic local doing the commentry are also better than Sky.

He's issued it. http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/speedway/10514016.I_m_not_in_the_wrong___Hans/ Down to the March 1 issue and fixture clashes apparently.

No.

And that was what caused the crash. So the ref was correct.

I think the ref was correct, but I do think that if a ref can't make a decision then he might decide in favour of a home rider. Although, with Woffinden injured, it would have possibly been the easier choice to exclude him.

Which is completely irrelevant. Decisions are based on what happened on the track, not what someone said in a previous interview or, as in your case, whether or not they are English.

Lindgren's fault totally. He rode into Woffinden's leg and caused the accident. So he was the cause of the stoppage. Take Lindgren out of the equation there and you get no crash. Nothing to do with anyone being anybody's sweetheart. That's just what happened.

I haven't seen much of the GPs lately, but I've watched bits on Youtube. The race between Penhall and Olsen in 1981 has gone down as a classic. In terms of racing, the Pedersen v Woffinden semi-final was just as good. That may well be remembered as a good race, but not in the same way as Penhall v Olsen is. Why? I guess the significnce of the 1981 race was so much greater with everything going down to what happened on the night and someone walking away as World Champion. In both cases the winner of that particular race ended up winning the meeting, but the difference is that Penhall winning that race helped him come away at the end of the night being crowned world champ. I think, in general, the standard of racing in the Grands Prix is much higher than it ever was in world finals, but becaues the whole thing is spaced out over a season the indovidual meetings themselves are not as memorable, even if the standard of the racing itself is higher. So, in conclusion, which is better? individual or Grand Prix? I'm going for... neither!! It's down to individual preference. (Edit - nothing to do with Eurosport. Sorry. Just realised I'm completely off topic. It was much better in the 1970s. Nobody went off topic then.)

Sure, people like that are close to walking away from the sport all the time. It just takes one more stupid decision for people to say they've had enough of such nonsense and stop going. I geniunely think the TR was one of the things that broke a lot of straws on a lot of camels' backs.

Yeah, and the other side lost 2 points. So a swing of 4. In the same situation with a TR you would get, maybe, 6-3 at best if you were going to get a 3-3. That's a swing of 3 points. Plus a TS could be used at 6 points down and as many times as you wanted to use it. The TS did a lot more to producing unfair results. Despite that, though, I did prefer it as it was more tactical.

THis is apparently Belle Vue in 1927 - with what looks like a speedway track already at Hyde Road. So, either there was a speedway track at Belle Vue in 1927 or they year is wrong. http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw017762?search=speedway&ref=3