Grachan

I was hopping through some satellite TV channels last night when I came upon this. Has anyone seen it before? It's remarkably similar to speedway, though it looked to me like they were using trial type bikes - but I'm no bike expert so I may be wrong on that. Also, although they were sliding on the bends, it wasn't a smooth, controlled slide but more a case of leaning, with the back wheel slipping out now and again. I only saw a bit, but it looked like it was America v Italy. Six riders in a race, from a standing start. According to the commentry, Kenny Roberts started his bike racing career on short track. It was so similar to Speedway I don't know why they bother having both! Very interesting though.

Yummy yummy yummy, I've got love in my tummy. I remember that. For some reason it reminds me of being round my Gran's house, so it was probably played on the little transistor radio she had in the dining room. I also remember a song something like: Judy in Disguise with glasses, which came to mind along with my Gran's transistor radio. I didn't go to Speedway then though. I was more interested in playing Pinky and Perky records at the wrong speed to make them sound like normal people. Did that at my Gran's too.

Cough cough... tactical rides..... cough... Premier League KO Cup.. cough cough. Bilahora, I agree with you on the earlier post regarding the Play-offs. I think the team that wins the league table should be league champ. End of story. One thing I will say about them, though, is that they now have Play-offs in football, rugby and no doubt plenty of other sports too, so at least they are something that is occuring in sport in general rather than being another of Speedway's unique daft little ideas.

I think the way to make the sport attractive is to have quality racing on good tracks and the way to have that is to have good promoters and team managers who get 100% effort from their riders. Giving out points is just another extension of the tactical ride rule, where points are dished out for no extra effort. I know my Mum doesn't do bonus points because, in my younger anoraky days, I told her her programme was wrong because she didn't put in the bonus points and she told me she couldn't be bothered with all that! She just wanted to see good racing and to see Swindon win and do well in the league. The points allocation would effect where the team finishes in the league so she would have to take notice of it. Bonus points can easily be ignored without it affecting one's own interest in the match.

Tape touching is one of the few changes brought in that had a reason and has worked well. Bonus points serve a purpose in that they are there to encourage team riding. Sure, team riding is something of a lost art these days for some reason, but how many of the marvellous displays of this skill would we have missed out on over the years without them, and the fact is they are not something that newcomers have to worry about anyway as they are not a major factor in the match. My mum's been going to speedway for about 55 years and I don't think she's ever bothered with them. Guest riders and tactical rides - I agree. Ridiculous. These are the kind of things that are introduced that would cause speedway to be a laughing stock if people actually knew the sport still existed. Complicated scoring systems like those proposed in this thread would, in my opinion, fall into the catagory of one of the daft ideas constantly being invented by this crazy sport of ours like those mentioned in the second paragraph. Speedway should be kept simple because the four laps of racing is where its appeal lies rather than the elaborate scoring systems that go with that. Adding to that just causes confusion.

Totally agree with SCB here. Speedway has enough ridiculous complications without adding to them in this way. I can imagine the baffled looks on any newcomers' faces if such a system was brought in. I've got an idea. Two points for a win. One point for a draw. One point for winning on aggregate. What on Earth is wrong with that? It means you can already pick up a point without winning the match. I think it's a ridiculous idea, to be honest, and I also think that making comments on people's spelling just because they disagree with you is a rather low level of having a discussion.

. 1. Who finished 2nd in the 1990 Odsal World Championship Final? Nobody - it was declared void after Shawn Moran failed a drugs test. (Although he did, I suppose, finish second on the day so that could be the correct answer) 12. Who was the Guest Rider in a British League match in the mid-1970's who guested in place of himself? John Davis, for Oxford. 11 - 1981 World Final

Great issue this month. Three of my favourite riders in there - Phil Crump, Dag Lovaas and Jason Crump. I think it was a very telling quote by Phil Crump that summed up his lack of World Championship success when he said that in 1982 he was enjoying the Carter/Penhall clash rather than concentrate on his own racing. Both Phil and Dag both clearly lacked the 'killer' instinct that Jason has to take them up that one extra level. Very interesting issue.

Falcace, He was found dead - in his home I think - roughly a couple of months ago. On that subject, was it ever announced how he actually died? He was only about 38 years old, after all.

Rob123, Mine too!! I forgot to change my post, but I've over written the file. I have a few Andrew Silver races on video though. If you want I can go through them and put them onto either a tape or a DVD for you. E-mail me your address if you like.

I went to the 1983 World final in Germany, and when we arrived we had no hotel and had to stay in some people's houses. I wasn't too bothered about it, but some people were so annoyed that they refused to get off the coach and even spent the night on it and wouldn't leave until they found us a hotel, which they eventually did. Also, when I went to the 1976 World Final in Poland the coach broke down and everyone had to get off and push. Everyone except me, that is, because I slept through the whole thing. My mum took a picture of everyone pushing with me in the back seat, head against the window, in noddy land.

Brian Leonard is currently residing in the Reading/Newbury telephone directory. He is. I looked. He's still there in Thatcham, even if his shop isn't.

Two that come to mind: 1) Newport coming to Swindon and Phil and Neil Street sompletely dominating on the 4 valves. Absolutely unbelievable. The match was then followed by hundreds of Newport fans marching round the greyhound track celebrating their victory. 2) Swindon v Cradley 1983. Cradley that year were possibly the best ever side and they came to Swindon and won 29-49. Crump scored a mximum though and was absolutely superb. On the Cradley lap of honour it was the Swindon fans that were on the greyhound track, chanting his name to a bemused looking Heathens side. It would be interesting to know if he feels he could/should have achieved more in the World Championships as he generally under achieved. Also, what was his opinion on the famous Carter/Penhall clash in 1982, seeing as he was the man with probably the best view in the stadium. Another thing that would be interesting to hear about is the time he refused to join Reading and stating that he would stay in Australia unless he could join Swindon. What were his reasons for that? Finally, does he feel like he has finally won the World Final now that Jason has done it!

Personally I don't have a problem with that throughout the meeting as it is at present. With 2 people either risking elimination or being knocked out it is still very cut & thrust and being second isn't neccesarily safe until the race finishes. If the points are added up through the meeting as in the Long Track final, you are going to get riding for a safe second (or even third) in the actual final if it's enough to take the GP title.

I agree. Maybe 1-8 points for the bottom 8, with GP points from, say, 10 to 25 for the top 8. I think that might keep the meeting interesting enough. Remember the mad scraps for points in the old World Championships qualifying rounds.

I would change the format of the knockout races, so that higher placed riders get a second chance if they miss out in their first race. For example... Heat 21: 5th to 8th placed riders (3rd and 4th eliminated) Heat 22: 1st to 4th placed riders Heat 23: 3rd and 4th in Heat 22, 1st and 2nd in Heat 21 (3rd and 4th eliminated) Heat 24: 1st and 2nd Heat 22, 1st and 2nd Heat 23 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's not a bad idea Kevin. It certainly gets rid of the problem I've stated. How would you work out the points. Would you have it that the winner of the final wins the meeting?

It's not bad, but can be a bit stop/start from time to time if it gets busy, which it inevitably does. I reckon it's got a dodgy transformer... again and again.

I don't have Sky either, and if I watch the GP it is on an internet feed in Danish. The way the system works at the moment I can follow it easily and without much effort. I think they are complicating things unneccesarily. (By the way Iris123 - I love your signature. I was just wondering what your opinion is on the nauseating bashfulness of early Diana.)

I was thinking that too. I'm not sure about it myself. I prefer the winner of the final being the winner of the meeting, and I've always found that a good thing with the GP. Also, you can follow the current format relatively easy on in that if someone is riding then they are still in with a chance of winning the meeting. Simple. On top of that, I don't like it when a rider can score a 15 point maximum in his programmed rides, then be KOd in the semi by an ef and finish 8th, so whichever way it's done is, in my opinion, not as good as the way it is done now, which I think works very well over a series of meetings. The 'new' system will need a lot of score-keeping in order to know how it is going - fine for the standard speedway fan, but maybe not so much for the newcomers, who must be taken into account if the GP is to grow. Having said that, though, if you are going to keep a scorecard, then the new system will certainly involve less writing.

Having looked at that site and seen the address Target Road, Tipnor meant I could look it up on Streetmap.co.uk. That's definitely the stadium I saw.

No doubt about it, Leigh Adams is a quality rider and has been the best in the EL this year. He's shown he can do it at GP level too, with some GP wins under his belt. There just seems to be something missing when it comes to making the final step to becoming World Champion. For the last few years there has been a feeling that Jason Crump was a World Champion in waiting, but I just don't get that with Leigh. There is no doubt that he is good enough to be World Champion, but I don't think it would be a major shock if he never made it.

BASINGSTOKE!!????

So, will Robin Askwith be starring in the movie version following his trial run in Eastenders?

Is that the best speedway book ever?