lucifer sam

Tsunami, I think everyone reached the semis yesterday. All the best Rob

ML, a few posters have tried to blow up a storm in a tea cup. Yes Fisher should have been excluded, but he just lost control - I certainly don't think there was any intent. There were another couple of riders who got into trouble after lifting on the second bend, Fisher just managed to do it whilst David Howe was outside him. If anything I'd be more concerned with what happened after the final race of the afternoon. Fisher beat Masters in the race for the chequered flag, but then pulled across the track on the first bend as he slowed. If left no room for Masters, who took quite a pearler into the air fence. Fortunatley I think Masters was largely OK. Again no malice, but a moment of lack of concentration from Fisher - a very nast accident could happen that way. All the best Rob

Zonkers, are you volunteering for a future Super7 event? All the best Rob

Acutally it wasn't quite as bad as Somerset - I reckon I lost half a stone in sweat that day (insert smelly smiley) All the best Rob

BobC, I'm confused... surely you also agreed with the ref? All the best Rob

Shhhh, it's supposed to be a secret. And the racing was a lot better than one or two on here have indicated. It was fine, and actually got better as the meeting progressed. There was enough dirt on the track to allow racing right up until the re-run of the 28th race, when Lyons changed lines to pass Fisher on the third bend. All the best Rob

Merlin, the racing in the final 12 races was very good. There seemed to be a battle between a Birmingham and a Edinburgh rider going on in every race. All the best Rob

Rico, that's what I thought as well. Fisher lost control and left Howe nowhere to go. All the best Rob

Good meeting today - with Birmingham worthy winners, they had the best balanced team. Reckon it was a good collection for the Ben Fund as well, so thanks to everyone who gave today. All the best Rob

Given that Gollob injured Sayfutdinov with a highly dangerous and reckless move tonight, should the referee been empowered to exclude the offending rider (in this case Gollob) from the rest of the meeting in such cases? Gollob rode like a nutcase tonight - he needs to calm down a bit, or else he won't make it to Bydgoszcz for the final GP. All the best Rob

I'm going to revert to having Gollob as my captain - thanks. All the best Rob

I remember Hackney once winning a meeting by a point with a final heat 5-0. I think it was in the days of Andy Galvin, although I'm sure Bryn will know for definite. Is there any more instances of this happening? All the best Rob

Tomcat, it was in 2001 and it helped cost Poole the league title that season. All the best Rob

Looking forward to reading the Ronnie Genz interview. His final year at Oxford was two years before I was born, so I never saw him in action. But he was one of top men at Oxford for almost two decades, spending 11 years at Cowley between 1954 & 1964, and then having a further spell at Oxford between 1968 & 1971 (although he missed either the whole of the 1969 or 1970 season through injury - can't remember off the top of my head which one it was). His 14 years riding for Oxford is a club record, no other rider rode for the Cheetahs for more seasons. For most of those years, Oxford didn't have much success, although Ronnie was part of the treble-winning side of 1964, and he also figured in an Oxford side that nearly upset the all-conquering Wimbledon Dons in 1960, when the Cheetahs led the league table for most of the season. It seems, these days, that it's very rare for a rider to stay to spend that amount of time at one club. All the best Rob

Ouch, just one point out. Well, I got those right. TNT, please can we have the final scores. All the best Rob

SS, I don't think it's Buxton. All the best Rob

Parsloes, come up on bank holiday Monday instead. You'll not only be able to enjoy my company, but you'll also be able to purchase Jeff Scott's latest excellent book. All the best Rob

To answer the original question on this thread: August 9, 1980 Halifax 38: Kenny Carter 9 (5) Tormod Langli R/R Ian Cartwright 5+2 (5) Mick McKeon 6+1 (4) Merv Janke 4 (4) Piotr Pysny 12+1 (5) Craig Pendlebury 2+1 (3) Hackney 39: Finn Thomsen 11 (5) Barry Thomas 0 (2) Bo Petersen 8+2 (5) Sean Wilmott 0 (2) Zenon Plech 14+1 (5) Roman Jankowsi 6+2 (5) Keith White 0 (2) Progressive scores 31-16 >>>> 35-36 > 38-39

The match in question was Halifax v Hackney in 1980. Score after Heat 8: 31-16. Four successive 5-1s to Hackney transformed the scoreline to 35-36 and then the final heat was shared, final score 38-39. There's a report in "Speedway's Classic Meetings" book. I'll post the scorers this evening if someone else hasn't beaten me to it. All the best Rob

Oxford beat the Wimbledon Wombles at Plough Lane in 1984. They needed 5-1s from the final three races and got them. And later in the same season, Oxford repeated that feat at King's Lynn, which caused Martin Rogers to throw his toys out of the pram and prevent the Cheetahs having a victory parade. But as far as I know, the biggest ever comeback was Arena Essex at Exeter who came from 18 (yes, EIGHTEEN) points behind to win at Exeter. I think it came during Arena's all conquering 1991 season. All the best Rob

Shazzy, just tell us the date and you'll double the Cov crowd. It'll be more interesting than the track action. All the best Rob

Great isn't it? Reckon Shazzy should come and stand near SCB at Cov when I next visit there (probably August 6) - it would hugely add to my entertainment for the night. All the best Rob

Sandie will box their ears. All the best Rob

I forgot the lovely Natalie Imbruglia as well, who would have rode about as well as Rory Schlein tonight. All the best Rob

Rolf Harris, Dame Edna, BFD, Madge Ramsey, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Scott & Charlene, Bouncer, Crocodile Dundee, Plain Jane The Superbrain, Holly Vallance, Elle MacPherson, your boys took one hell of a beating!!!!!!!!! All the best Rob