Grachan

Did you even know he was supposed to be in it until today?

I was kind of thinking the same thing, but it would be useful to hear from all sides involved here rather than just one before being able to form a proper opinion on it.

What threat?

I think the point being made is what is the reasoning behind this? At the moment all we have is a half-explanation from one side and mass hysteria is taking hold.

Was he ever supposed to be riding?

Ivan had 3 world titles in 1970. He doesn't appear in the top 3 of the New Zealand Championship in 1970, 1971, 1972 or 1973 - or indeed in any before that. I'm sure he would have at least once had ridden. Maybe he was based in another country?

West Ham & New Cross - two old classics that closed down before I started going Reading (Tilehurst) & Swindon Autodrome - the original versions of two that I regularly attended. Bristol (Knowle) - with my mum. In the forties.

I thought he opposite actually. I thought the way Zmarzlik turned it all round was great and I saw that as a positive. I think I prefer the old scoring system, but I did like the turnaround in tonight's meeting.

I saw someone talking about the Hundred on tv the other day and they said it was brilliant having the teams known by their nicknames - yet Speedway has been doing this for nearly a century. Speedway is a team sport. It needs to come across as a team sport and not just four blokes riding bikes round a track To many people that is all it is. There's not a lot wrong with the actual product, it just needs consistent teams (something that has been wrecked by Doubling up and low points limits) and to be presented in a way that makes you feel that you are watching a team sport. Instead, we just get "...and the winner in heat one, in red, in a time of blah blah blah..." while everyone fills in a programme. I know people don't all agree with me, but have a big scoreboard above the pits with the score on constant display. And show replays on it. It can't be that hard. Swindon used to show regular replays on televisions around the stadium a few years back. Then they had the great idea of stopping it. Make it feel like you are watching a sport between two teams. And encourage riders to have a bit of a barny, rather than banning them if they do. On a side note, I was speaking to a work colleague on Monday and mentioned that I'd watched the Speedway GP over the weekend. "I didn't think they had speedway any more" was his response. So clearly some marketing is needed too! Every cost cutting move they make takes more people off the gate. It has been doing so for years. Yet they keep doing it. We now have a top league of 6 teams with the same riders as in the lower tier. Mental.

They might attract a few remaining hardcore supporters, but I can't see many people coming from far afield the way speedway is at the moment. They might get a few if they go into the top league, but to say they would be sitting pretty is a bit optimistic. Having said that, I'd probably go a few times, but then I live as near to Oxford as I do Swindon and only went to Swindon a few times a year in recent seasons so it wouldn't be a regular thing.

I felt they should have done that years ago. The one thing Swindon has in its favour, I feel, is a proactive promotion who will probably do that if they cannot re-open, but it would have been better to have it all ready to go now. Maybe there is the possibility of making a speedway track by Foxhill Motocross track? Is it financially viable to build speedway stadium these days though? I do wonder how many people will go to Oxford, too, if they re-open.

I don't particularly remember Per Jonsson being a team rider at Reading, but one way I would never describe him is "gate and go". My best memories of Per Jonsson are watching him stalk a race leader for three and a half laps and then going past them on the final bend. He even did this to Jimmy Nilsen in a World Final. Dave Mullet's big partnership at Reading, from memory, was with Jeremy Doncaster. Those two became something of a 5-1 pairing for the racers - at Smallmead at least. John Davis was a brilliant team man at Swindon, but maybe he was amore mature then than he was at Reading.

Martin Dugard won a GP as a wildcard once.

Muller and Szczakiel are not valid examples though, as had the final been held in another country then in both cases they would not have been riding there regularly. With the GP all the riders ride in Poland and, in most cases, are probably based there too, just as people like Mauger, Olsen and Penhall were based in the UK when they won here in order to ride in the league here.

It was PC, and I reckon he would have gone through those rounds even if they'd been in Poland, and that's without being a regular in the country. He did, after all, win the final so there's no reason why he shouldn't. Speedway was much more a global sport in those days though. At the moment it's a Polish one, with Sweden and Britain as bit players. (Possibly Russia too? Not sure how popular it is there.)

Whilst it is strange to have all these meetings in Poland, it is worth remembering that Poland is probably the only country in the World these days where speedway actually means anything. Also, all the top riders ride there. So I don't think having so many rounds in Poland devalues it in terms of whether or not the rider who wins is a legitimate champion. I think all the riders in the GP ride in Poland. I went to 5 world finals in England - 3 were won by a Dane, one by an American and one by a Swede. None of them English, but all rode for English teams at the time. The one time I saw an English rider win a World Final was in Poland.

Seriously? You think World of Sport highlights a week after the actually meeting is better than being able to watch a live Grand Prix from Poland on a Saturday night? You can't please everyone I guess!

I remember a track like that many times at Reading, although Oxford and Swindon were also prone to the odd dustbowl too. You'd need a shower when you got home!

I always enjoyed watching those but I have absolutely no memory of who won any of them. They were a nice Easter weekend of entertainment though, although, at that time, I regularly went to all 3 tracks so had an interest in all the teams.

I was thinking the same thing, although maybe not 25 points as that would be too much in my opinion. I'd say 20 points for winning the meeting - which couldn't be bettered but could be equalled - and then use individual points for the others.

Pretty sure Troy is now a British citizen. I'm sure remember seeing a picture of him displaying his British passport.

Speaking of Love Island, a certain Rasmus Jensen took part in the Danish version of the show. Probably fully booked up already, but would be a good signing.

Found it now. You need to select "other sports" to get Eurosport 1 or 2.

Ok. I'll have a look if I get to log on again. I have it on my tv and couldn't see any toggle or anything but, then again, I wasn't looking for one.

I noticed that. I use Eurosport player and Eurosport 2 wasn't listed and neither was the match shown on the menu - which was all olympics. I found it by searching "speedway". Eurosport has always been a bit amateurish. Speedway actually does pretty well out of them in that they are actually doing their own broadcast. Normally they just stick on a feed of something. This was always a downgrade from BT Sport.