lucifer sam

No he didn't. But obviously you know far better than those of us who attended the meeting. All the best Rob

Paulco, a secret Edinburgh fan? And only after a couple of weeks after ML revealed that she was only a kitten (i.e. a Tigers fan). It's all too much... All the best Rob

In which sport? EDIT: I can see Ryan Fisher being a Pie-Eating World Champ in the future - still trying to work out the other two. All the best Rob

But what does Crumpie know compared to some of the, er..., "experts" on here? All the best Rob

Rob, apologies for my facetiousness, it's just my manner, please don't take it the wrong way. I'm certainly not 100% decided, but based on the evidence presented so far (largely Norbold's article in last week's Star), I angle towards the ACU-approved "Dirt track" meeting at Droylsden as the first meeting (Camberley sounds just a little too different). Bikes and riding styles evolve, so I can accept them being a little different and it still being speedway. All the best Rob

Hi Rob, I agree that it's not "black & white", but at the same time I'm not one to do a "Kelvin" and sit on the fence. There has been some fascinating some on this thread. What would be very interesting if anyoNe can pinpoint at which point in Australia did they start broadsiding? EDIT: Meanwhile, I've found this: http://www.historicspeedway.co.nz/Start%20...y%20(world).htm All the best Rob

Cyclone, I guess speedway has evolved a lot over our lifetimes. At one time, had people been discussing the criteria for speedway, it would have included "putting the foot down" as well as broadsiding. But these days not all riders do put their foot down. And of course, this harks back to the leg-trailing trail-blazers of the 1920s. So, in this example, speedway has changed back to being more like its original form. All the best Rob

Cinders are important They were speedway's original surface - so the first meeting worldwide and in Britain should really be ones that took place on cinders. So does anyone know if they were broadsiding at the Thebarton Oval? All the best Rob

Cityrebel, I really enjoyed Brighton. I guess one qualification that no-one has mentioned so far is the size of track. Is a speedway meeting still a speedway meeting if it takes place on a 150m track or a 800m track? It would say it was, especially in the days before Longtrack was "invented". Norbold, I realise your enlightening piece in the "Star" plays the probabilities with regards as to what is the first British speedway meeting. Actually, what exactly qualifies West Maitland as the first-ever speedway meeting? What did it have that the previous motorcycle oval events didn't have? Were they broadsiding at West Maitland? Or is this being the first meeting merely an invention by the wily Mr. Hoskins? All the best Rob

Rob, he did indeed, but then nailed his own colours to the mast of the Easter meetings at High Beech in 1928. Whereas I choose Droylsden in 1927. It's all a matter of opinion - what's yours? All the best Rob

Well I doubt very much that it was just sand, and didn't have a good amount of shale mixed in. All the best Rob

No, what I saw at the weekend at Assen was Ice Racing not speedway. And Telford isn't either - it's an abonimation. Speedway takes place on: 1. Cinders 2. Shale Nowt else. All the best Rob

Norbold, you're right - the direction isn't vitally important. The track is though. Wasn't Camberley on sand? Speedway takes place on either cinders or shale. Which means Droylsden is still Meeting No. 1. All the best Rob

Cyclone, we went there during a Northern Tour. I was very impressed. But are brakes (or rather the lack of them) any more a part of a speedway meeting than, say, a stationary start. It's still bikes going around an oval track on cinders/shale - and the riders winning the races are not going to be using the brakes in any case. Cyclone, so what do you reckon was the first meeting? All the best Rob

Norbold, personally I think you're being a little too narrow in your definition. After all, you could also say a stationary start and starting tapes are essential ingredigrents to a speedway race, in which case you can shift the first meeting back to around 1933. Or you could say the bikes should have four values, in which case the first meeting is circa 1975. Speedway has evolved over the years, and therefore a meeting taking place in 1927 would have different circumstances to one in 2010 or 1970 or even 1928. And if you're discounting meetings with a lack of dirt, then I haven't been to that many meetings over the last few years. If the track is oval, the track surface is either cinders or shale, and the motorbikes are travelling in an anti-clockwise direction, then, in my book, that is speedway. And therefore Droylsden is the first speedway meeting in this country. But I agree with you said about it all being down to personal intrepretation. All the best Rob

Fascinating and well-written piece by Norbold. Of course, as stated in the opening paragraphs, it's all up to individual intrepretation as to what is the first speedway meeting in Britian. To me, it's the meeting at Droylsden, which was staged on June 25, 1927. The racing was anti-clockwise on cinders on an oval track. That sounds like speedway to me. I can't see any good reason why Droylsden should be discounted. All the best Rob

Hi Conkers, if the stats in the Assen programme are correct, I think Bauer has 72 points and "Kamikaze" Kaminsky has 60 points. BTW I love Kaminsky, he's a complete looney. All the best Rob

Great weekend of action. Probably the best Friday meeting I've seen, with Andrej Gavrilkin certainly a name to watch in the future. He can't gate for toffee and once he gets going, he's got so much speed. He went from 3rd to 1st on the final lap of his semi-final, and last to first on the opening laps of the final. Some good action on the Saturday, but it was yesterday's meeting which was the real highlight of the weekend. Outstanding moments included Zorn barging Dmitri Khomitsevich out of the way only for Daniil Ivanov to then repeat the move on Zorn a couple of laps later, and the B-Final, which saw Svensson go from 2nd to 4th to 2nd, and get away with dumping Vitali Khomitsevich on the floor on the final bend. Khomitsevich crashed right in front of us and the impact into the bales covered my programme in straw, just as Holstein's crash had also done so in his final programmed outing. We had it all happening right in front of us on the Sunday!!! Krasnikov ended with winning both A Finals, but he was made to fight for it this weekend. He had to pick up a few points from behind, especially in yesterday's meeting. Daniil Ivanov kept him on his toes the whole weekend and perhaps should have won on the Saturday, only to make an awful start in the A-Final. And Igor Kononov gates like a rocket (he led both A Finals for a couple of corners before Krasnikov took control) and could be a champion in future years. Highly enjoyable tour with Eurorider, with Full Throttle also on the tour, and nice to share a few pints with Conkers at the hotel. All the best Rob

Hi Sandie, nope I didn't supply details of what happened in the case of riders finishing on the same points - I think in a meeting like this, a bit of fluidity and common sense is the better solution. Putting Crump & Kasprzak both into the final seems like a fair solution. As for not having collection buckets, everybody attending yesterday was already contributing to the Ben Fund. Therefore it would have something of a cheek to also have a collection at the same meeting. Don't worry, we will be bugging you with a bucket later in the season (notes are easier, they are less heavy) All the best Rob

Hi Bob, I was over in Assen over the weekend for the Ice Racing, so unfortunately I was double-booked. To begin with, I felt a bit guilty to being with that I was going to miss the Ben Fund meeting, so when I found out that Paul Ackroyd was after a format for a 20-man line-up, I worked one out for him. It looks like the heat format worked quite well (it was designed to get off to a flyer in the opening race and then have some big races later on), it was a bonus that Eddie Kennett stayed unbeaten to give the Pedersen/Crump showdown in Heat 17 even more edge. Glad to hear Rye was packed out yesterday to swell the coffers of the fund, and it sounds like there was some really good racing as well - there was certainly plenty of passing according to the updates. All the best Rob

You're having a laugh surely... the line-up is superb. All the best Rob

Parsloes, as you recall, I joined you in a rant about this in the past, at the end of which I requested if the "Shared Event" bit could be added to the end of the title of this section and the mod in question kindly obliged. These days, it's pretty clear where such a thread should be - it should be here. Time for you to stop moaning at the poor mods, I think. All the best Rob

Tocha - yes, but that was still Heats 9 & 10, which is practically halfway through the meeting. A week on Sunday, there will be big names in Heat 1 onwards. Also, you have to remember that the riders at Ben Fund meeting have offered their services for free - so it's not really fair for a few of them to only have two outings or to use a rather "cut-throat" knock-out heat format. Absolutely. Well said. All the best Rob

Each of the 20 riders has 4 qualifying heats, one off each gate. Each rider will meet 12 of his fellow riders in the heats - no riders meet each other more than once in the heats. Don't worry, Jason Crump and Nicki Pedersen WILL meet, just as they will both meet Leigh Adams and Freddie Lindgren during the course of the heats. The top two from the qualifying heats go directly to the final, the next four to the semi-final (same as PLRC & ELRC). EDIT: Tocha, the problem with the GP KO system is that you don't get to see the top riders until halfway though the meeting. All the best Rob

Glad the news about the 20 riders is out. I've known for a couple of weeks, since I worked out a 20-rider, 20-heat format on behalf of Paul Ackroyd. For the last week, when people have been saying there's only two names to go, I've been wanting to say "well, actually you're in for a pleasant surprise...", but the news is now out officially. All the best Rob