lucifer sam

Is that still about for riders who have competed in the NL within the last two years? If it does still exist, it would place JB on a 2.00 rather than 2.05. Not that it really makes any difference to Scunny's starting line-up. All the best Rob

Sorry mate, I'm not biting. All the best Rob

I think that happened twice in the 1980s. All the best Rob EDIT: Just checked the years. There were four Collins brothers on display in both the '83 and '85 British Finals.

It's bizarre logic to add together the titles, even when most of the family hasn't won a bean! Otherwise, adding together World titles, the most successful family is the Nielsen family (22 FIM Gold Medals), even though brother Jens Henry never won anything, and as far as I know, the other two brothers never sat on a speedway bike! Steve Roberts has it right. It the Collins brothers. Four of them were international riders, three were World Finalists (including a World No 1 and a World No 2), and several with very long and distinguished league careers. I think Neil has the record for most British appearances (well over a thousand), and Les is second. PS Unfortunately the Longtrack title is nowhere as worthy as it used to be. The growth in the Polish league saw all the top riders pull out of the longtrack. There's no top riders in it these days. All the best Rob

Dunno where you've got 3.68 from. Fritz's real average last season was 3.83. Due to the new minimum on foreign riders, that is marked up to 4.00 rather than 5.00. Likewise the new minimum on British riders is 2.00. So Josh Bailey keeps his real average of 2.05 from last season. I think you're confusing the 2016 Green Sheet averages (which take into account 2016 regulations), rather than the averages for team building for 2017, which would use the 2017 regulations. Scorpions' averages are listed here: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=6514 Adds up to 39.32. All the best Rob

How is 1st and 3rd better than 1st and 2nd? And PC has 10 FIM Gold Medals, compared to JC's 6. All the best Rob

Even if you throw in Venus and Serena, the Collins brothers still have the edge. (Seriously through, one brother as World No 1 and another brother as World No 2 is the clincher ) All the best Rob

Yes, that's my understanding. All the best Rob

Those were the final Green Sheet averages for 2016, where the minimum was 5.00. For 2017 team building, the minimum is 4.00, so any Green Sheet averages are updated accordingly. So, yes, those other riders will be 4.00 as well. Likewise any foreign rider between 4.00 and 5.00 will have their true average, instead of being marked up to 5.00. All the best Rob

2017 team news here: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=6514 All the best Rob

Not necessarily in this order, but I'd go for: Fundin, Mauger, Nielsen, Duggan, Penhall, Gundersen, Rickardsson, Moore, Craven and Briggs. On a different day, I might include Young, Crump, Milne or Wilkinson. PS Norbold, I agree regarding Lionel Van Praag - a much better rider than he's given credit for! All the best Rob

Not that at all. It's to inform people to check the press on Thursday. All the best Rob

The current stadium is known as the Abbey Stadium. Not sure what the new stadium is due to be called. All the best Rob

Rosco talking about the World Under-21 round taking place next JULY.... at the ABBEY. All the best Rob

Sid, but you can say the same about any era. To play devil's advocate for a second, what about Briggo? Did he get a bit lucky? Ronnie Moore was the class rider for a few years, topping the National League averages, winning the World title in 1954, and finishing second in '55/'56. He retired in 1957 to try his hand in stock cars, only returning in mid-1958. Briggo won his first two World titles in these years. By the time that Briggo won his third title in 1964, Moore had retired again and Peter Craven was dead. Fundin was more-or-less in semi-retirement after the closure of Norwich in 1964. And Ove was suspended from the 1966 final, where Briggo won title No 4. Was Briggo actually the fourth best of the 'big five' and lucky to win more titles than Moore and Craven? Just to point out again that I'm playing devil's advocate and Briggo was obviously a great rider. Less sure about Parker, but Duggan has to be in the top ten, if not top five. All the best Rob PS Norbold, while researching the New Cross moments for the forthcoming Classic Speedway (including reading a rather good book called Out Of The Frying Pan), I've decided Jack Milne was the best of the pre-war speedway riders. Showed consistency in '37 and '38 that no other rider matched pre-war. I think I'd place Mr Farndon in third behind Mr Milne and Mr Wilkinson. But even across a relatively short period, it's so hard to judge, because e.g. Farndon and Milne's careers did not coincide.

All to be revealed on Thursday. All the best Rob

Mr Godfrey is also keen to do that! Check the Speedway Star / Scunthorpe Telegraph / Scunthorpe website on Thursday All the best Rob

What's happened to Crawley - are they no longer running in 2017? All the best Rob

The averages that people were quoting did not take into account the away match at Newcastle, which took place after the cut-off for the October Green Sheet averages. The BSPA website now has the final averages. All the best Rob

I had John Louis in my meeting in place of Neil Evitts. The Sunday People are investigating. All the best Rob

Maybe you're right. I didn't see the best of Carter. But I doubt if those other riders would have lost a run-off for the title to Steve Bastable, especially after gating first. Carter could put in indifferent performances - I remember the single point he scored in a test match at Oxford in 1985. Ironically he was fully fit on that occasion; unlike his heroics at Cowley with a broken leg in 1984. The bloke certainly had guts. He wasn't a PC (either one) or a Mike Lee. It is all down to opinions, and only two of us have been brave enough to put up our top ten so far All the best Rob

Mediocre will do me My record as assistant TM was far better than TM. And yes the Conference set up was cracking. The riders; their dads; Bryn and Waggy; the whole lot was fantastic. Rambo didn't need a gap - he created them. How exciting were Rambo and Cocker as a pairing at the end of '85? All the best Rob

Away at Belle Vue in 2005. We lost 43-52, but they were top, we were bottom, and we'd lost by 25 and 35 on our two previous visits there that year, so I'm claiming a moral victory That was amazing - managing a team with Greg, Billy, NKI and Travis in it!! Also away at Scunny in 2007 - quite a big loss that one (35-58). But Rob Godfrey came over at the end, shook me by the hand, and said we'd put up the best fight there that year and the lads were battling to the end of Heat 15, when Jordan Frampton ruined Josh Auty's maximum (no-one could stop Woffy's!). That Scunny team was the strongest team the third tier has ever seen, no shame in getting turned over by them! Plus our first race win was the TR (for Jordan), which suggests I was awake and doing my job!! I did it twice, and I was only allowed to be team manager away at the league leaders when we were on a hiding to nothing To be honest, though, even better than either of those was helping out Bryn in the away meetings in 2005 as assistant TM, when the OSMA lads won the league. Ben getting hurt at Stoke was a big low, as was getting stuffed at Newport with two-thirds of the team missing. But the lows makes the highs all the better. The 46-44 win at Rye House - which we did with three missing riders - was one of the best experiences of my life. We nailed that one and it made all the difference come the end of the season. I only told Millsy how crucial the win was in context to our season after he completed his paid 18 point maximum! All the best Rob

Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, wasn't it? All the best Rob

Don't rub it in - we know our team manager was a chocolate teapot that day. As soon as Heat 1 took place, we are puzzled how the supplementary reserve was replacing a non-injured reserve. To compound the error, having taken a 45-39 lead, our riders conceded the 5-1 in Heat 15 thinking it was all over, only for the appeal to then go in and the score-line be adjusted to 45-45. All the best Rob