lucifer sam

As long as its got Oxford Cheetahs or Oxford Rebels or even Oxford Silver Machine on it, it doesn't matter. Late change: Niels-Kristian Iversen has been stolen by those pesky Poles in a re-arranged Ploish league meeting, so in a reshuffle, Scott Nicholls rides for Oxford. Hopefully Scott will score a maximum for Oxford, and leave the Swindon faithful furious. All the best Rob

REBELS RETURN TO HONOUR FORMER OXFORD SKIPPER KILBY OXFORD Rebels will make a rare return to action at Swindon’s Abbey Stadium tonight (Thursday, September 22nd) at 7.30pm. The occasion is the Bob Kilby Memorial Meeting. Former Oxford skipper Kilby died in 2009 at the age of 64. The meeting is a three team tournament featuring Swindon, Oxford and Exeter - the three clubs that Kilby rode for during a highly successful 20-year career between 1964 and 1983. Oxford were called the Rebels during the spell that Kilby rode for the club in 1973 and 1974, so Oxford will ride as the Rebels rather than the more traditional Cheetahs. With no permanent team, the Oxford side has been specially constructed for the evening. It consists of a quartet of former Oxford riders in Niels-Kristian Iversen, Charlie Gjedde, David Howe and Lubos Tomicek. Niels-Kristian Iversen is a two-time World Cup Winner with Denmark, and has ridden in 26 Grand Prix rounds during his career. He rode for Oxford between 2003 and 2005, helping the club to the Craven Shield at the conclusion of the 2005 season. Charlie Gjedde was the darling of the Oxford crowd in 2003. The Dane rode for the club in a doubling-up capacity that season, competing for Oxford in the Elite League and Swindon in the Premier League and ended the season with an average in excess of eight points for Oxford. David Howe rode for the Oxford Cheetahs in 2006, the club’s penultimate year of operation. He is now the No.1 for Premier League Scunthorpe. Lubos Tomicek made his debut for Oxford in 2003 as a 17-year-old in the short-lived British League Cup competition. He made appearances for Oxford between 2003 and 2007, and was making huge strides forward in 2007 only for the Elite League operation at Cowley to cease mid-season. Ex-Oxford rider & team manager Mick Bell will manage the side, Cheetahs’ fans are being encouraged to turn up at Blunsdon wearing the team colours.

Sandie, it's freezing cold at Buxton in July All the best Rob

Any dates for the play-off semi-finals yet? I hope last season's lessons have been learnt in messing about and not getting on with the play-offs. All the best Rob

Oh yes, it's in the little sub-heading bit. Don't remember Mark Robinson apart from the name, Scott Smith was more memorable as a Cradley junior because he was a dirty little bugger. All the best Rob

That's what I was wondering. No mention of a surname during this thread. Looks like the Heathens fans in talking in secret code and they're hard enough to understand at the best of times. All the best Rob

I assume so, although I would prefer it to be at Pardubice, which is 10 times a better racetrack than Prague. All the best Rob

Jaybea 42? I reckon he's lost count at some point and missed a few years off. Incidentally, has anyone explained to Rob Henry how to do a TR? All the best Rob

David Howe now also riding for Oxford: http://www.swindonrobins.co/news.php?extend.1505 Looking forward to this. All the best Rob

Hope John Oliver is OK. Nice to Lee Smethills showing a bit of form. A bit of anti-climax after a thrilling Scunthorpe v Edinburgh meeting in the first half. Mildenhall need a new team manager who understands how to make a tactical ride. All the best Rob

Midland Robin - sounds great. Heard a couple of rumours regarding this meeting, nice to see it confirmed. All the best Rob

Fantastic meeting at Malilla. Just got back yesterday from a 10-day Travel Plus tour, also incorporating the GP challenge and 5 other meetings. Wonderful relaxing time in Vastervik (although I ended up with a bit of a hangover after staying out until 3am the final night ) and the weather was kind, allowing us to get all 7 meetings in. All the best Rob

Kev, I see Merv at the Oxford Supporters Club BBQs - I will ask him next time I see him (currently in Sweden and also not about for the next GP, so it will be a few weeks. He is English. All the best Rob

Some of the comments on this thread are so harsh - nobody can help it raining. With 12 or more heats completed, the readmission policy is "no refunds", so to give a £5 discount despite there being 16 heats yesterday is a nice gesture. Earlier in the year, there was a GP abandoned after 16 races, do you honestly think BSI gave out discounts to those in attendance? Not on your nelly. As I said, nice gesture by the BSPA, shame that some still have a moan. All the best Rob

First visit to Leicester today... a very impressive new facility. Too early to judge the track yet, let's see what it's like next season. All the best Rob

Unfortunately, judging by his posts, those are Speedibee's good points. All the best Rob

Some people. I can't be boethered to make any further effort with you, to be honest. All the best Rob

I was making an observation about your posts Speedibee, so therefore I was remarking on the posts as opposed to the poster. There is a difference. On the other hand, you seem rather too quick to start attacking other people with personal remarks. I see you have yet to apologise to Tsunami. (When is it that the schools go back - can't come soon enough, and then young Speedibee will have other things to occupy his/her mind ) All the best Rob

Ever heard of not attacking the poster? Speedibee, sometimes other people may have an opinion which is different to your own. All the best Rob

Why is Speedibee so Leicester obsessed? The Bees haven't rode the Lions in proper competition since 1983 - that's a bit of a while to hold a grudge. Four years on since Oxford met Swindon and I'm already starting to go soft. I'm actually almost starting to feel sorry for the Robins this season. Only almost though, and then I start chuckling instead. All the best Rob

I've been reading this discussion with great amusement, as if there's one thing Jonsson is not, it's bland. Somewhat annoying in the way he can suddenly turn it on at times, and look next to useless at others, would be a fair criticism. I think "inconsistent" is the word that sums that up. But bland? No. Totally the wrong word. Ironically, if the word "bland" does fit against a top-class speedway rider, it's Bjarne Pedersen. All the best Rob

We need a snooze smiley for such cases. All the best Rob

Parsloes, I still can't quite see why it's Len Silver's fault if Hackney have failed at Lakeside but are still running at Rye House. Surely it is Uncle Len who is the one now keeping the team running? All the best Rob

Ok, time to distract the Newport fans to stop them whingeing. Oh look, there's a sheep over there... All the best Rob

I think the Hackney revival was very worthy, and an attempt to recreate the Cradley success. However, not all clubs maintain the same interest over years of inactivity. When I recently interviewed Dave Perks (available in Backtrack Issue 43), I think he hit the nail back on the head, saying how special speedway was to Cradley, since they didn't have a good football team or anything like that, so speedway is therefore the main sporting attraction. I wonder if Lakeside will continue National League speedway, but with the team branded as Rye House / Lakeside in a similar fashion to Scunthorpe / Sheffield. All the best Rob