Grachan

Watched from heat 12 on Eurosport player, which I already subscribe to. It was feed only with no commentary. Not sure what happened with Lambert as he was unbeaten when I started watching. Very impressed withBewley. He was unlucky as looked set to win the final before the race was stopped. Impressed with Mikkelsen. He has something of an aura about him.

Whoever it was it can't have been difficult to recognise him considering he had no helmet on.

Any idea who Lester Lion was?

Dave Steen was an electrician by trade. Every time there was an electrical problem at Reading (which seemed to happen quite often) he used to have to go up to the box and fix it.

Just seen that next week's meeting is postponed due to continued Covid restrictions.

I made a couple of trips to Exeter in the 1970s. Leaning over the fence on the home straight as Ivan Mauger came straight towards me is probably the best thing I ever experienced at Speedway.

Indeed. I remember the excitement at the end of season speeches if a rider said he would be back next year.

It's a shame they can't replicate the exact dimensions of the current track somewhere as a "training facility" that's ready to move into should the current place close. The thing is, I guess, that as long as they are being told that the current track is still a going concern, who will take the bull by the horns and do that? This has been going on for 13 years, so I don't understand why GI, if they really do want to close it down, couldn't have said so years ago and given Swindon plenty of opportunity to get a new place to race for when this one closes. What would they have to gain by not doing that? In fact, it would probably be to their benefit as, if Swindon did get a new place, it would free them up to get rid of this one. Because of that, I suspect that the "sports only" clause on the current site must be pretty strong. My guess is we'll be back racing next year in exactly the same state as before and the "new stadium" saga will continue.

Good suggestion seeing as they are on restricted numbers and aren't allowed to let anyone else in and can't even afford to run with the team they've got at the moment.

The restrictions was given as the main reason. Without those, I'm pretty sure the season would have gone ahead at Swindon just as it has since 2008 when it was all supposed to be getting built. I think they know as well as anyone that it's a long shot that there will be any stadium work this year.

If Swindon don't run in 2022 it will be presumably be stadium related, not because of their decision not to run this year because of Covid restrictions.

“The economics of the sport which relies so much on the paying spectator are not robust enough to take any downturn in revenue particularly after the cancelation of the 2020 season. Our government is not able to provide any indication of the timing or the steps of lifting the restrictions, which is not a criticism, just a fact. With this in front of us, it is impossible to plan and commit for racing at the Abbey in 2021." Swindon Robins Speedway Official Website: NO SPEEDWAY RACING AT SWINDON THIS YEAR (swindon-speedway.com)

Haven't Somerset closed down completely, so hardly looking ahead to 2022. If any team made the right call it could turn out to be Swindon - providing, of course, that they do run in 2022 as they say they will.

It's Eurosport. It was always going to be an inferior production to Sky or BT. To be fair, considering it IS Eurosport, they're not doing too bad - although they do need to ensure they get the score right as it is a pretty key part of the meeting.

They need to focus on getting the score right. First we had 7-61 when it was 7-5. Now we have 14-14 when it is 14-10.

Another great Second Division rider was Martin Yeates, who did pretty well in a British Final, which was unheard of for a second tier rider at the time.

That, presumably, would depend how it was done and who decided to do it. For example, if, say, Tommy Robinson decided to run a "Straight Pride" event, it would quite obviously be seen as provocative because it would be. If it was fully inclusive - as Gay Pride is - then it wouldn't be seen that way. I wouldn't mind betting, though, that if a "Straight Pride" event did take place it would be some form of far-right thing. Because nobody else really gives a toss.

You can't be considering getting rid of Crump, surely? How long is he out for? Crump is one of the few reasons for me to retain some form of interest in this year's league.

1 - So that's descrimination then. 2 - Where does it say that there's not allowed to be a straight pride?

Speedway could do with adopting any cause it possibly can, to be honest. Surely speedway needs to be trendy. People need to remember that it is only in my own lifetime that homosexuality has even become legal, so you must admit there is something of a legitimate cause here. The right for gay people to join the armed forces was only officially lifted as recently as 2016. Gay Pride may not be your sort of thing, but you have to acknowledge the reasoning behind it surely.

Totally agree. Points limits, averages, bonus points and so on are such a major part of the sport yet broadcasters brush it under the carpet as if it is some sort of embarassment. It was this aspect of the sport that attracted to me to it in the first place. Thinking it needs to be kept simple is a big mistake. Even if these things aren''t gone into in great detail they should at least get a mention.

I always found that at Coventry most fan interaction happened when riders went into the pits as they had to go along a stretch of the greyhound track. You'd see a lot of hand-slapping going on there between riders and fans and I was always a bit envious of that little stretch into the pits at Coventry.

Yeah. I was looking at today's forecast. Dur!

BBC is showing no rain at all after 2pm.

Out of interest, how many races were you expecting?