Grachan

The most stylish rider for me was Martin Ashby. His style was so neat and perfect. Every photo you see of him riding looks exactly the same.

I'm not saying that it's the be all and end all of it, but it certainly makes Hancock worth considering. Personally, I agree more with the opinion that he wasn't able to win a title when Rickardsson, Pedersen and Crump were at their peak, so they were probably better riders than him. The only other rider to win a title in that era was Loram. Hancock's longevity does, however, make him worthy. For me, Crump was better than Pedersen and Hancock. However, Hancock was winning World Titles at 46 years of age, which is about the same age that Jason Crump is now and Hancock was way above Jason at that age. Or are we just looking at riders at their peak regardless of how short it was? If that's the case, Michael Lee is also worth considering.

The general rule of thumb to becoming an all-time great is probably 4 world titles. With that in mind, Hancock has to be considered, although the gap between his first and second titles does make it possible that he won 3 of them in a weaker period.

Middlesborough.

There was a rider at Belle Vue a few yearrs back called Glenn Hornby who was black/mixed race. I remember reading a story in Speedway Star about him getting racial abuse from fans when he was in the pits during meetings.

To be honest, I think people trying to brush the use of said P word as no different to saying "Aussie" are just being deliberately obtuse. It's pretty clear to anyone with a modicum of sense that it's not just about a shortened version of the country where someone is from. It is also about context, and I think we all know that the context in which people are called such a thing is, in general, racist. That is why the term is seen as a racist term. Does that really need explaining? I'm not so sure it does to be honest. Saying it isn't is the same as saying it's not racist for people to throw bananas at black footballers because you wouldn't be offended if someone threw an apple at you.

They aren't weakening the product (for a change). No team will even be forced to release anyone. There are 3 teams above the limit and 3 teams below it. The three above are Peterborough (Pedersen retiring), Wolves (Schlein retiring) and Belle Vue (Bewley not riding in UK). For a change, nobody even has to let anyone go if they don't want to, which is always the worst part of having a successful team.

I would have thought Alan Grahame deserved a mention somewhere on there.

Having 39 for 6 riders is pretty much breaking even. Wolves and Peterborough have to weaken by a couple of points each. King's Lynn and Ipswich have nearly 5 points each that they can build up. Sheffield and Belle Vue are pretty much on 39 each. A six team league is poor though. It does seem time to join the two divisions, although a lack of riders might be the problem with that.

Are they going to be renovating the bar area? It was looking pretty derelict last time I saw a photo on here.

Good to see speedway back at Oxford. It will be a good opportunity to see some speedway next year. I'm surprised about Wednesdays though. I was expecting Fridays.

Belle Vue: Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk) Hunter's Lane must be the lane I remember walking down on my way to a meeting and seeing all the houses being demolished bit one solitary house still standing with somebody living in it. Belle Vue also used to be an athletics track: Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk)

Definitely. I've always thought that.

The original Swindon track was in a field behind the Dulke of Edinburgh pub in Gorse Hill, which would be roughly where the speedway track shaped housing estate is on the modern view. Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk)

I often look through maps online to try and work out where old stadiums were. Never found this site before, so very interesting for me. Bristol: Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk) New Cross: Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk) Reading: Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk)

It is quite remarkable how often it comes up.

It does count towards the average, but the rider average is the average per ride multiplied by 4.

Don't you mean 42?

Weren't fixed race nights brought in to prevent clashes with Sweden and Poland? Seeing as hardly anyone now rides in Sweden, Poland and the UK anyway, are they still actually needed?

They were only excluded if they broke the tapes or (I think) if both wheels went over the line.

So was Tom Brennan.

Does anyone know if this officially counts as another World title for Tai Woffinden? If Tom Brennan is now a World Champion (as they were saying on BT Sport) then Tai must surely now be a four times champion.

What losing one of the best riders in the world has to do with the final race is that GB still managed to get there, beating Denmark in the semis and then repeating their earlier defeat of Poland in the final. That in itself was quite an achievement. Luck didn't come into it. Magic messed up the corner after trying to copy Bewley's line from a previous race. That's a part of racing. Dan would probably have still beaten him anyway. He would have been the one rider in that race who saw what happened with Janowski so obviously made the decision to safely hold his place while the other two carved lumps out of each other.

Second and third place wins the final surely. Isn't that the whole point of the scoring system? Where are people getting the idea from that a heat win will win the final?

I make it 11.