Grachan

Absolutely. It wasn't a criticism of Ipswich Speedway. More to do with the policy itself.

No different to what we are expected to do in normal life these days. What I don't understand is, though, is why the need for a face covering if you are staying in your group of 6 and you are outdoors?

Is it not possible that, if the limits are set so exactly, you might find that all the riders are moving to a degree before the tapes go up?

That's the thing, isn't it! Woffinden - grows up in Australia, chooses to ride for Team GB, and people say he is Australian. Crump - grows up in England, choose to ride for Australia, and people say he is Australian. Anyone else notice a slight inconsistency there?

This is, as people have said many times, the biggest disruption to our lifestyle since World War II. During the Second World War, the British Championships were won 3 times by a Canadian.

Totally agree, but looking at a lot of the posts online I fear you are wasting your time. I say let those who want to watch enjoy it and the others can carry on mumbling into their coffee about how three British citizens aren't properly British and it should be National League riders. I see the Belle Vue meeting is also now for sale to watch online at a tenner. I hope this is successful and could be something worth considering next year. I'd certainly pay to watch a few Swindon matches online.

They are British. No problem here. In fact, if I do watch it the main reason will be to see Crump and Batch. What difference does it make that Schlein has ridden in it before? Batch only became a British citizen this week so he couldn't have before now. Under normal circumstances, with all the British riders available and a place at Cardiff at stake, maybe I might feel differently, but for this meeting it's great to have them in it. Let's face it, they are happy to ride and they are British citizens.

Bachelor and, I assume, Crump are both British citizens so if there are going to be replacements needed they seem like pretty good ones. How is Schlein different?

Which Aussies are riding? Schlein, Crump and Bachelor all have a claim to be British, so I guess they could be seen as more than guests. We should be grateful they are riding, with the likes of Wright and Cook declining to take part and with Ellis out injured. Does anyone have the full line-up? I am tempted to watch, but will probably decide nearer the time. Is twelve quid really that much? A Chinese takeaway costs more than that.

Good post. I think the best rider I ever saw was Michael Lee when he was on top form. I remember a Golden Helmet at Swindon - Phil Crump vs Michael Lee. Crump was almost unbeatable at Swindon. In the Golden Helmet races, Lee was pulling wheelies down the straights and still won by half a lap.

It was the 1971 World Pairs final. He scored 15 paid 18 - a paid maximum -to take the title along with Andrzej Wyglenda. That win included a Polish 5-1 over Mauger and Briggs - which would probably explain why Ivan said he saw Jerzy as a threat before the 1973 World final.

Tennis.

Well, you don't have to, but if they can't understand it then it might be helpful I guess. Heats are, technically, qualifiers by definition.

It's easy. Look up what the word "heats" means. When I was at school, heats were always qualifying races and at first, when taken to speedway as a kid, I couldn't work out why speedway races in matches were called "heats" as they weren't qualifying for anything. To check this wasn't just my own imagination, I googled the word "heat" : It means: "a preliminary round in a race or contest" So I looked up Preliminary and it means: "preceding or done in preparation for something fuller or more important". So there you go. If you need to explain it to a non-speedway fan tell them that.

The stadium looked less than half-full on Friday, which was the maximum capacity. Was the selling option, perhaps, one ticket for both nights and a lot of people bought a two-night ticket even though they were only going on Saturday?

I guess I'm just a three-quarters empty kind of guy.

I think the main problem with it was that it was in Amsterdam in a three-quarters empty stadium.

Didn't they once do just that. I remember Leigh Adams used to regularly refer to the final as the 'A' final in interviews long after they had changed it.

That had actually crossed my mind. Do 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I guess it might discourage the lower riders too much, though.

Fair play to Laguta. He had to fight for that one. The speed he has in that bike ridiculous though. It's like watching Muller in 83.

Laguta not so hot when he doesn't gate!

Just been said on tv that they had to pre-order all their tyres for this year's GP because of... da da daaaaa... Covid.

Homologated. The word of 2020.

Laguta and Janowski seemed to have so much extra speed in those heats. Can that really be down to a tyre?

I actually think the points are easier for non fans now. The heats are qualifiers. Simple. The same as heats in the olympic athletics. Qualifiers. The fastest athletes don't even extert themselves if they are safely through. Qualifiers. Semi finals. Final. Surely that is easier for the layman, who won't be filling out detailed scorecards and counting every point. I never follow the heat scores in detail in the GPs, so the final points were easier for me to follow.