uk_martin

I thought that was what the car headlights on the back straight embankment were for...

Yes, it's Victor Meldrew time again. Well can you believe it? First we have the Stoke debacle against Belle Vue last Saturday (Furbar's match report on page 3 of the appropriate thread explains all) that doesn't even warrant an investigation... ...and yet James Cockle gets an instant 28 day ban for the crime of bringing the sport into disrepute for speaking his mind on social media. Now, I'm not going to defend Cockle, nor do I even know what he said. Maybe the punishment is fair. But the point is, how come Stoke don't get a 28 day ban for the same crime? Then, can you then believe the stupidity of the SCB / BSPA when they show their determination to score a hat-trick of absurdities? GB has one sole representive in the SGP series. Training for the Warsaw SGP begins on Friday 11th, so what do the SCB / BSPA do? Instead of working around the fixture by entering Cook into the Leicester Semi-Final on the 15th, they enter him into the British Semi-final at Sheffield on Thursday 10th, ensuring that Cook misses his flights to Poland and will only get to take part in SGP training if he gets an O'Christ Hundred Hours flight from East Midlands or London, that will get him to the stadium with an hour or two to spare, IF all goes well, and all that on zero quality sleep. What a way to treat your prized asset. Now I'm no fan of Cook but this is just plain stupidity on the part of the SCB / BSPA and shows sheer spite for anyone who dares to better their lives outside of the hallowed realm of British Speedway. The SCB / BSPA are shooting the sport in the foot with a machine gun. And who knows, there's plenty of time yet. Craig Cook may have his dilema resolved with a 28 day ban for blarting out on social media as well.

Loony Road certainly stinks like a fish.

And be brave enough to close the place until it is safe again and a decent spectacle can be staged there. Stoke is a bad advert for the sport. Nobody who will have seen this as their first taste of Speedway will ever go to any other track ever again. This is one of those times when no Speedway is better than bad Speedway.

I guess it comes down to how high you set the bar of acceptability.

Just been chatting to friends on Facebook who made the trip from Birmingham last night. "Never again" was the summary of the polite things they said about their experiences.

Another nail in the coffin of the arguement that "any speedway is better than no speedway".

It's the British way..."Stiff upper lip", "always look on the bright side of life", "can't complain and all that", "Keep Calm and (insert punchline)"

What a cop-out Ever heard the term "ex-gratia"? Ever heard of treating exceptional circumstances on their individual merits? Buxton seem to be sour about this afternoon because there was probably a huge financial loss made. No wonder another few quid in the post is such an unpalletable prospect.

Lots of pointy finger posturing that does the sport no good whatsoever...assuming that there's still anyone around to take any notice.

It took only half a heat at the Swindon v Leicester meeting, which did go ahead in dodgy conditions, for two very experienced and skillful riders to be injured in a fall, one of of which was a very bad injury. Coming out with that last statement shows a callous disregard for the health and wellbeing of young riders far less experienced and far less skillful than those who already came a cropper in similar circumstances.

Meeting Abandoned. Lot's of very unhappy people on Facebook, expressing their views about the situation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/0/b42

You make that sound like a deliberate and dastardly deed. A "squad" of 8, then three get injured. What do you expect when everyone else is already signed up to ride for other teams? Could have been a lot worse if Walasek hadn't become available. Could also have been a lot better if the Swindon-Leicester meeting had been properly called off rather than risking life and limb on an unsafe track. All too late after the injuries were sustained though, innit?

What's on the telly in the hotel room? Let's hope that the weather forecast is wrong, eh?

It is what it is, but for us to cast judgement and say it's very badly advised may itself be badly advised. We only have our selfish opinions as fans. We aren't close enough to the guy or his family to know all the facts that went into making that decision. It might be unfortunate for the world of speedway, but there's a lot more to life than just speedway.

Interesting interpretation used by Wroclaw over this rule. Max Fricke seems to be their #8 and they have an "ineffective #2" allowing Fricke the flexibility of covering the #2 slot or anywhere else as the tactical situation requires. Tactically astute, or taking the mickey?

I think Gorzow's #8 is riding at #6. People forget that Stal have 3 injured riders not just two. Hubert Czerniawski, one of the original reserves is also out injured.

Of course I have. But you've hit the nail on the head...IF it's nurtured. And if they don't do a JPB and retire too early. There's a few youngsters who can grow up to do a decent day job at EL level. The big question will be, who has what it takes to eventually perform on the World stage, up there alongside Tai, and maybe Robert Lambert?

I was lucky enough to see Leon Flint at Gustrow, in Germany last year, riding really well amongst the local kids, in the 250cc junior class. So bearing in mind that Leon has only been riding 500cc bikes for 2 months, his progress has been as impressive as his potential promised last year. Here's the scary bit though. Great Britain needs the likes of Leon to make it big in this sport, as there were 6 or 7 young German kids, just as good as him, who could also have big futures ahead of them. In fact, the best that Leon did, from memory, last year was to come 2nd in his races. And that wasn't even on penalties. We don't want to be relegated even further in the international pecking order by Germany, now, do we?

I think that Leon Flint has earned himself a nice cold pint of Milk tonight. Heck, someone might even allow him a fizzy drink.

And how is the situation improved by deflecting the criticism onto the the person raising the issue? Would you do that in any other walk of life? Customer to waiter - "the soup's cold" Waiter to kitchen staff - "I bet the customer complaining about cold soup couldn't make a hot soup as he's too busy knocking anything made in these kitchens, blah blah..." Yeah, that's an attitude that improves the situation. Customer care. Who, even former promoters, gives a damn about that in this sport?

Juggle them around all you like before you publish the fixture list, but once the fixtures are published, stick to them. Don't advertise that an event will be at location A, and then when people have had a chance to book hotels, take time off work, and make other arrangements, then move the event to the other end of the country. That's just blatant pi$$ taking.

Not much sympathy for the travelling fans here is there? Anyone remember the travelling fan? Those fans who followed their favourite team or riders all over the country and who organised their lives around the fixture list? Speedway used to have some of those in the olden days, before promoters made being a travelling fan into a hellish experience. Yeah, that endangered species...Those who booked time off work to go to the original fixture, who may have booked a hotel if they didn't fancy the drive back afterwards, who then had their day off work wasted, and who had to cancel their hotel booking possibly losing their money in the process, not to mention needing to book more time off work, now that the fixture is on a Wednesday, possibly needing another hotel booking... Who cares about messing fans about? Not the BSPA / SCB, that's for sure, and not by the looks of it, those whose idea of "going to the speedway" means sitting at the computer "watching" the Speedway Updates site. No wonder the sport is losing it's fanbase. #speedwayshambles

You put your Birmingham in You take your Birmingham out In, out, in, out, You shake it all about.... That does it, the "Hokey Kokey" should be the walk-on tune next Wednesday, with the Benny Hill theme tune to accompany any other parades etc. You can't make this up can you? #speedwayshambles