Grachan

Was this re-arranged before Cook signed for Glasgow? If it was he should be riding for Belle Vue. If not he should be riding for Glasgow. Presumably this is what is being followed?

OK. 32 dates for 13 home meetings then. I don't know how it is at King's Lynn, but at Swindon there seem to be plenty of dates where there has been no speedway when there could have been. So much so that fans get frustrated by it.

The fixtures last from the beginning of April until the end of August. With Mondays and Wednesdays, that's 22 weeks to fit in 14 (say 13 with Rye House now out) home fixtures. Two days a week in which to do it. That's 44 dates. 44 dates to fit in 13 home matches. Why can't all the teams manage that? I'm not defending Swindon's scheduling either. It was appallingly bad last year.

There was a bit of a Martin Dugard / Brian Karger thing going on for a while.

I think the point was that fixed nights hasn't had an effect on whether or not a team completes their fixtures, and I don't see how it has. It's really not hard to get all the fixtures in. I remember at Swindon last year there were frustratingly many weeks with no matches - yet they still got their fixtures in before the cut-off despite this. With so few team in the league there really is no excuse.

Maybe, but they said at the start of the year that they were going to make less restarts, so maybe she's the one who is doing it right.

Good for her. Pulling races back all the time is driving people away from the sport. Wasn't there an objective to not pull races back this year? Anyway, Harris didn't jump the start. He just gated well.

I think it's more a case of Penhall going slow to make it an interesting race, knowing full well that Stancl won't pass him. Lanning's commentary is interesting in that race, though, talking of Penhall "playing to the gallery".

The league cup was a decent season opener, and was probably brought in due to the number of clubs in the top flight reducing. I remember one year they went as far as effectively having two league campaigns - with all the clubs meeting each other in the league cup and then again in the league - and then having a final for the league cup at the end of the year. This was taking things too far really. I don't see how increasing from 13 to 15 heats is a negative, although when they first did it they added a second reserve race. The format now is better, although the protected heats format was the worst. The nominated riders heats at the end is a good addition. Bonus points in the KO Cup? I don't remember that. Terrible idea. As was the TR and the Golden Double. The TR was the most stupid introduction of all. They should never have got rid of the old tac subs really, as this was a major tactical discussion point throughout the meeting. When they did that, they effectively changed the entire sport and what it's all about. But, if they brought it back now, people would probably be outraged at how unfair it is to the winning side.

I don't think the Sunday People had any bearing at all on the problems of speedway today. If any fans were lost because of it, that would have been in 1984, and crowds then were very healthy compared to now. The idea of Bruce Penhall winning the 1981 World Final because Jiri Stancl let him beat him was, as you say, pretty laughable anyway, and any speedway fan would have known that. The sport was still doing fine after that.

According to the National League averages he is. I know averages aren't everything, but he's more than a point lower than Jack Smith.

Who with? And according to your name and profile, you're not a Swindon fan.

It's all very well taking back your comments on Bellego, but you would have already replaced him and he be coming back for someone else and doing a "Per Sorensen" on us by now. Once you've made changes for the sake of it you can't just take them back again. Changes just for the sake of it don't work. Look at Leicester.

Probably on a par with what he would get for failing one, so seems about right.

Poole are no more mercenary than Leicester. They're just better at it. Oh wait. Swindon thread. Off topic.

We have a better home record than Belle Vue and a better away record than Wolves, so no reason why we can't qualify if we keep winning at home. Very tight though.

It wouldn't have been 47-43 because there would have been no Belle Vue tac sub. If the heat results were as you say, heat 11 would probably have been 3-3 instead of a Belle Vue 5-1. The final score would still have been 49-41.

Nice posts, Sidney. Thanks for those. Good to see someone actually making some comments on last night's meeting instead of all the other crap.

I went to a couple of those meetings a few years back. They are an all day affair, with people coming in and leaving during the day - lunch time being the busiest as people come in during the lunch hour. If you think of horse racing and the gaps between the races it's basically the same as that.

How about having the KO Cup at the end of the year. Draw based on league position. Top v Bottom, Second v Second from bottom and so on. And rename it "The Play Offs". Winners of the league are League Champions. Play off winners are "British Champions". Then you have League Champs. You have Play Off/British Champs. Everyone is happy. Because Play Offs/British Champions sound important. KO Cup doesn't. Nobody will notice it's the same thing.

I wouldn't say it even needs a programme type scoreboard. Just a scoreboard. Home and away and how many points they have. This would make so much difference in making it look like a team sport. I think they shy away from this as they think they will lose programme sales, but I think it is essential to have this permanently on display. Having the 2 minute countdown on there is a nice idea though.

So if you fall in the middle of the track, the race isn't stopped. What happens next time the riders come round? Massive pile-ups to get the crowd in? Why have a one minute warning instead of a 2 minute warning? Why not just put the 2 minute warning on 1 minute earlier? Races are already pretty short. I see no reason to have 3 lap races. The only meeting I've seen with 3 lap races was a Golden Greats one, with a bunch of old fogeys that were nearly as old as Greg Hancock.

So, basically, forcing the top teams from the CL into the top league as they won't do it themselves, and then having a proper second division instead of "top league lite". Sounds good to me.

Rugby Union has play-offs to decide the champions.

Ice Hockey has play-offs, but they don't decide the league champions. The league champions are the team who finish top of the league table, and the winners of the play-offs are the Play Off Champions. For example: 2016-17: Cardiff were League Champions and Sheffield were Play-Off Champions. Last year Cardiff won both.