Grachan

I missed this earlier. If this is the real Emil then I see no reason why anyone should be against him competing.

That's pretty much where I stand too Danil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are still playing in tennis tournaments. Both have spoken out against the war and Rublev, in particular, has been quite high profile about it. He wrote an anti-war message on a camera lens after a match last week and also played in a doubles match with a Ukranian partner. I don't see the positions of Laguta or Sayfudinov being any any different. They are riding as individuals, although some sort of comment on how they feel about the situation in Ukraine might not go amiss.

I would think that for a non-speedway fan it would be difficult to keep up with who was who in a race without commentary. I certainly wouldn't know half the time.

I remember listening to a tennis commentary on the radio. They try to describe the shot, and by the time they've half explained it the other person has returned so they have to cut themselves off and start describing the other shot. It's hilarious.

I think Jonathan Pierce started all the shouty commentary we get today. I remember, at one time, he was seen as something of a comedy value novelty with his excessive way, but now just blends in with all the others. You need commentary for speedway. I, for one, want to know who is who as I don't fill in a race card when it's on television. And on televised sport it adds something for me. Nigel and Kelvin do a reasonable job in my opinion. The best sport for "non-commentary" is probably tennis. You don't get it during the rallies really, but they then discuss things during the gaps.

If you go to the Discovery+ site on a web browser, click on your account and "Manage your account", then press "cancel". I have done this as I'm not sure what is happening next year. Also, if they are showing speedway next year then it is easy to re-subscribe. If they do another £29.99 deal (or similar) for the Australian Open again then it is probably easy to re-join on another email. I can get it on my main TV but not on other TVs as I have Now TV USB sticks which don't get Discovery+. I'm thinking of getting a Roku stick, although at the moment I do have a rather good excuse to say that I need to watch the big telly in the front room!

I was very dubious about Discovery+ but I'm quite impressed with it. I got it for the 29.99 annual deal and watched the Australian Open with it. I was able to select whichever match I wanted and watch either Live or from the beginning. Plus there is live Eurosport on there and some film and documentaries for good measure. It also has all last season's live Speedway from Eurosport on there to watch again. I'd definitely choose it over just having Eurosport.

I remember a Marathon (or possibly Mars) advert that was filmed at a meeting at Wimbledon. There was also a Durex advert which had a Speedway rider in a Durex race jacket and the words: "Crowd Stopper" emblazoned across it. I can't remember who the rider was though.

With Swindon not riding, and with Oxford in the Championship, this might be good for me. I would prefer it, however, if clubs did their own streaming on a pay-per-view basis so that it's easy to pick and choose matches with all revenue going directly to the clubs.

Mine too. I think Sandor was the only Heathen who seemed prepared to give it a go and ended up having about 5 rides before they pulled out.

I just signed up on the 29.99 option. Originally I was going to watch through Amazon as it makes it easier to watch on every tv for me, even though it costs a bit more. I signed up for a month for the Australian Open Tennis as a trial, but the match selection for the tennis is so poor that I've gone for the Discover App It still works out cheaper over a year as I've only wasted one month on Amazon.

Still a lot of stuff coming down and nothing going up, but hopefully this is a good sign.

Much as I loved Martin Ashby, I'm surprised to see him put above Simmons and Louis, who both made a World Final rostrum.

It depends which Batch turns up I guess. Last time Doyle and Bachelor were in a side together they were first and second in the Premiership averages and league title winners.

Don't underestimate the effect that riding with Doyle could have on Bachelor. You might be getting "Good Batch" next year.

A good solid team. A lot also depends on Nielsen, who always seems to look good and then get injured. If he can avoid injury he could do well. Great to see Toby back in the UK too.

I've had two Asian wives. Both have given birth. Neither died and both had the exact same care as anyone else. In fact, my first wife probably had more because she insisted on having a single room with a shower because that's what she would have had in her own country and she got exactly that. I also feel that there will never be racial equality as long as the term BAME is being bandied about, because it separates people from white people by it's very definition. I actually find the term BAME to be an (albeit unintentional) insult to anyone it refers to. Do you think that if a novice black kid turned up at, say, Belle Vue and went round the track like the new Michael Lee that nobody would want to sign him because of his skin colour? Personally, I reckon every team would want to snap him up straight away based on his ability .

My memory of Ken McKinlay was always as a Compo-type figure in a bobble hat riding for Scunthope. I remember being very surprised when I found out how good he had been earlier in his career.

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.