cityrebel

the forecast for monday is terrible, i'd be suprised if it's on.

on wednesday 26th october 1983 crayford raced newcastle in the last ever speedway meeting staged at the london road stadium. i was there that fateful night not knowing there would be no more racing at the smart kent venue. it was so long ago, but it seems like yesterday!

2nd leg Wednesday 30th on BSPA site

hi mike, i reckon the IOW were thinking the same thing, after three laps of heat fifteen of the 2nd leg of the first semi final!!!

so thursday 31st on the island then, weather permitting!

it could be a nightmare trying to get this run in the last few days of the season. with storms forecast on monday, that only leaves tuesday and thursday to stage both legs, with the heathens due at king's lynn on wednesday. unless something can be squeezed in this weekend, the weather gods will decide the outcome of this competition!

as this awful season draws to a close there are a few already a few tracks with uncertain futures. with falling crowds and the added cost of installing an air fence at some venues, will some clubs call it a day. let's hope they all survive to come to the tapes in 2014.

a bit injury prone, rye have had far too many riders sitting on the sidelines in recent seasons.

this tie should have been decided by a run off after the 2nd leg of the original staging. it's far too late in the season to be running replays. with the weather looking unsettled over the next few days, i can see some of this years fixtures not being completed.

derek, romford have benefited from the demise of all of the local competition, especially walthamstow. imagine if all those nearby venues like west ham, dagenham, harringay, hackney and clapton were still running, their crowds would be a lot lower. it's a bit like lakeside really, most of the hammers crowd is made up of fans of defunct london/south east clubs, me included!

dave was part of the promotion during the dons CL era. he is still going to speedway, i saw him on the isle of wight last week.

only if he keeps the tassels on his kevlars!

...and don't she know it!

for those of us already at work at this ungodly hour, how did tai do on his big break at the BBC!

i reckon it's two laps tom, joining up with his brother to form the ultimate 'dream team'!

how much are the blankets, i reckon i could do a roaring trade flogging those off at rye house next season!.

as a neutral i don't think last nights incident was a 'tactical lay down'. the track was greasy after the shower prior to the running of heat 15, and nielsen was still down a fair while after the race was stopped. no doubt still feeling the affects of the horrific heat 8 crash involving the unlucky brendan johnson. i reckon that both riders will have a few aches and pains this morning!.

simon bates spoke of tai's bravery to win the world championship on smooth radio this morning.

i reckon it's at an all time low at a lot of venues. it was like attending a wake at rye house last saturday!

can you see the BSPA coming up with the funds to install the track at cardiff at the end of the domestic season. i would be thinking of the NEC as a possible venue, it's just a pipedream anyway.

that's not a bad idea. the biggest problem would be finding a suitable 'indoor' venue.

there can't be much in the way of profits from these shared events. the attendances are small compared to those in the 1970's when the british final used to pull in crowds of over 15,000 at west ham and coventry for a midweek meeting. no wonder the promoters drove rolls royce's in those days!.

tomorrow evening at the launch pad sees redcar visit for the rockets final league fixture. the weather looks okay and i will be there!, will anyone else.

does anyone know the format of this coming sundays southern track riders 20th anniversary meeting at iwade.

i think watching the belle vue fiasco was one of my lowest points in 45 years of supporting speedway. the sport that miserable evening looked flawed and corrupt, and 'match fixing' is not too strong a word to describe it. i have found it very hard to keep on attending meetings in these last few weeks of the season, but watching the british youth championship at sittingbourne last sunday felt like a breath of fresh air in these dark times for the sport. the only downside is, that iwade is another track that might be consigned to the history books because of the need for a compulsory air fence.