Reviresco

Is it the Loch Ness monster? Only appears now and again. Some people believe it doesn't exist, others disagree. Some even refuse to go out on the surface of the loch, whereas other, less experienced, people seem to have no problem with it. Been a mystery for ages that nobody can get to the bottom of. Hopefully, the equally mysterious situation at the NSS won't take as long to solve.

Charlie Benham, who was my first speedway hero at Romford in 1969, was a builder by trade and then, I believe, ran a garage in his home town of Oxford. Charlie was the only rider to represent the Bombers in all three of their guises - Rochester, Romford & West Ham.

I wasn't around then Terry, but believe that speedway meetings were held at Stamford Bridge between 1928 & 1932 and that the team that rode there, the Pensioners of course, were champions of the inaugural Southern League in 1929.

I remember going along to watch a British F1 GP at Brands Hatch back in the 70's (showing my age now) and seeing touring cars - or whatever they were called those days (saloon cars?) for the first time and there was a big, ordinary looking, guy called Gerry Marshall who drove a Vauxhall Firenza which they called 'Baby Bertha'. It was a big muscle car and was taken on by a little VW Golf and I couldn't understand how this little Golf was keeping pace with the Firenza, not realising at the time that there was a thing called a Golf GTi which went like stink. Even though the F1 racing was, in my opinion, far better then, it was the saloon car racing that grabbed my attention and I followed that around for a bit. Then I got into bike racing, Sheene, Roberts, Mamola, Rainey, Gardner, Doohan, then transferred my allegiance to Superbikes and loved the clashes between Fogarty and Aaron Slight, Haga and the Kawasaki green meanies. Still follow the Moto GPs and watch the touring cars on telly, but only when I remember they're on ITV 4, or wherever they lurk these days. Saloon/Touring car racing led to the purchase of the two best cars I owned, a 'W' reg VW Golf GTi (the only brand new car I ever bought) and a Seat Leon Sri, both great fun to drive and I had the Sri up to 134mph once - on a track day of course. With your interest in touring cars, Mr Louis will have to come up with something good to stop you being tempted away down to Braintree and along the A120 to watch the Team BMR Rye House Rocket & Raiders, especially now they have two former Witches and Robbo racing there. Used to love the snooker and was hooked during the Steve Davis era. Romford, Romford, Romford and all that, but have lost interest now - too slow and not many characters about, apart from Ronnie. And loved watching the darts since the Bristow, Lowe, Wlson era. There was a great game between Wade and Lewis last week with Lewis hitting a 9 darter. I think I remember that the mayor of Ipswich declared at the start of the 80's that he wanted Ipswich to have half a dozen sports world champions, and the only one they achieved was Keith Deller in the darts in '83. Billy Sanders got pretty close in '83 too of course. Not many sports I don't enjoy (love my jumps racing) and even went and saw a wrestling match between Big Daddy and Kendo Nagasaki in Kent back in the 70's. Now female tennis.... Maybe that should wait for another day... (I did get tickets to the beach volleyball at the London Olympics, but again that's another story).

I don't know, but I notice that the No. 8's that have been announced do not appear on the BSPA PL Declarations and Greensheets, unlike the No. 8's declared by EL teams, whose names do appear on the Greensheets. It probably hinges on the interpretation of Article 18.10.2 of the Regulations: '18.10.2 Where a Team uses the RR Facility, they may nominate an additional rider (AR), who is eligible to take any rides that could have normally been taken by the Absent rider during the Meeting, provided that the nominated rider is another contracted Rider, but not included in a Premier League Team's currently declared 1-7 and whose MA does not exceed PL 3.00.' My guess would be that if Keiron Douglas is contracted to Berwick then his ride as a No. 8 (AR) yesterday at Glasgow, would count as an official PL appearance, but I am happy to be countered by someone who knows better than me.

Almost as good as Suzi Perry looked in BT Sports promotional advert for the upcoming SGPs. Now why didn't you lot let us know that they were shooting this at Arlington? I would have been down there in a flash... https://twitter.com/suziperry/status/717037526637232133

OK boss, no football - it pleased the flying Scotsman though and its always good to keep visitors from Inveresk content. Braveheart and all that, you know. And don't forget, Ipswich have to enter a 5-a-side soccer team for the 4TT weekend. Thought you'd be up for manager... I still reckon they are going to ask you to do the track for the next home meeting as part of Louis' all embracing, singing and tap dancing, fan fantastic, totally inclusive, entertainment package. Either that, or he's hoping we've all forgotten about it and it will just disappear into the mists of time and we will wonder if we had just imagined it. No, its got to be tipper truck racing or similar. tru7.com and all that. EDIT: PS, are you into car racing as well as bikes and if so did you watch any of the Chinese F1 GP today? Just that I thought it was half decent for a change and for the first time thought that the idea of starting the quicker cars from the back, might actually work and improve the entertainment level a notch or two - there you go, not football.

Brilliant. It's probably best not to ask why your auto-correct chose 'tosser' to replace 'to see'. Hope Christian had a super day. Cracking little Aussie battler.

Errrr, Darryl Ritchings scored 9+2 from three completed rides at Buxton today. Fell in his other heat when in second place. Danyon Hume got three 3rd places from his four heats. Did Peterborough's win at Rye House yesterday make Ipswich's performance look even worse than was originally thought? Should Louis have kept Ashley Morris from last season? Is Nico getting dis-enchanted with the Foxhall track? Glasgow and Workington look like they will both have good teams this season. Errr, The Scotsman and BluPanther will be pleased with the result at Hampden today. Errr, Jason Dozzell's son emulating his dad by scoring on his debut aged 16, yesterday was a bit surreal. Oh, JPB at 15 looks a really good prospect, finishing 4th in the U21 Final on Thursday and scoring 12 points from his first four rides at Buxton today. Errr, would it have been a better plan for Louis to bring in BWD this season, even on an assessed 5.00 MA - he's started this season quite well? Should Louis have let Tungate and Heeps go at the same time, rather than retaining one of them. Sorry, Baldy, run out of things now... Oh, when can we expect the interactive fan involvement that Louis promised?

I caught BT Sport's promo advert for their speedway coverage yesterday, during the half-time break in the Norwich v Sunderland football match. Featured Suzi Perry getting it sideways at Arlington with the tag line: "Things are going to get dirty on BT Sport". Can't find a link to it but Suzi tweeted about her visit to Arlington here: https://twitter.com/suziperry/status/717037526637232133 And posted an image on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BDyQb0VLW4J/

Natalie Quirk was announced as fronting BT Sport's SGP and SWC coverage, alongside Scott Nicholls if that was the person you were thinking of Skidder: https://twitter.com/TheQuirkmeister/status/714859706007871488 Picture of Suzi at Arlington during her BT Sport speedway promo here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BDyQb0VLW4J/

Mitchell Davey rode at Christian Henry's Testimonial at Newcastle this afternoon, scoring Nil Points from three completed rides and being replaced in his last programmed ride by Adam Roynon. Davey replaced Belle Vue Colts and Redcar's Lee Payne from the original line-up.

I have never believed a poster who 'Likes' his own post, so I wouldn't be holding much credence to 'ballinger's' post. Apart from televising the allotted number of matches, Sky have not, in my experience, proved to be an excellent partner to speedway. They have had opportunities to promote the sport - for example, a highlights package of the U21 Final would've been ideal, but have failed to deliver. I am not a great fan of BT Sport so far, but from viewing their trailer for the coverage of their first SGP, featuring Suzi Perry on a speedway bike at Arlington, I can envisage BT doing a far better job in this than Sky have.

1975 wasn't too bad.

if they do, then not many I would estimate. In my speedway 'heydays', 1975 - 87, I regularly attended over 80 meetings a season and 100+ a couple of years. My 'home' meetings were a round trip of 130 miles each Thursday (200 mile round trips every Saturday to King's Lynn in 1982 and to Boston in 1986) and I wouldn't think twice about travelling to away meetings, which were sometimes closer than my 'home' fixtures. Then, of course, there was a lot more 'top flight' speedway staged on a Saturday in those days, so that made away trips easier. Less traffic and cheaper petrol. Used to go and watch the junior and attached riders in their meetings too, taking in BL1 and BL2 matches all over the country. I'm sure we all have them, but my list of defunct tracks that I have visited is a lot longer than my list of current tracks. There appear to be some speedway aficionados on here, whose posts indicate they they do travel the country taking in meetings at different venues, but they would be a dying breed these days. Would I do it all over again? Yes. Would I do it now? No. (Would I have travelled to a match on a pedal bike like Iris? Again, No.)

Well reasoned post, Skidder, but personally I can see another 20+ points difference here. Could depend on the relative performances of the No. 1's, rather than the Reserves this time. (Like the FoD misquote, by the way.) Mentioning what there is to spend your money on in Poole, I noticed that Poole Town had a crowd of over 1,000 yesterday for their home match v Dunstable. Good reasons for that of course, but it is interesting to see how their home crowds at Tatnam do fluctuate depending on the opposition, ranging from 129 for a cup match, that they lost, to yesterday's high. Maybe it's the speedway fans who also go the football picking and choosing which Poole Town matches to watch? If so, it's a nice situation for Matt Ford to have. (All the rest of the Poole residents would be spending money on their expensive yachts of course.)

Better to work like Trojans than working like dogs, probably? from what I know, my dog has never done a days work in his life, then it is a dog's life I suppose. On the subject of Trojans, maybe ask Troy Batchelor or Watford's Troy Deeney, as they must know how Trojans work.

You sure that was a Thai hotel Blu?

Ricky Villa was an ok footballer.

Great story Dave. #7 must be West Row

Great stuff. No lycra riding suit and crash hat in those days I guess. Different times. Must have clocked up a few miles. KIds with ordinary pedal bikes - a thing of the past? And as for having stuff nicked and broken into, you could never trust those tricky East Enders. Though I always felt safer there than some other parts of the country. Maybe just because it was closer to my home patch. There's always the story of parking your van up somewhere and the local lad asking for a couple of quid to look after it (There's an attack dog in the back of the van - Can it put out fires?, etc,) Talking of cars, just thought of Station Road, Long Eaton and parking my car on a hill overlooking the track. Or is my memory playing tricks again...

Where is 'Fred Flange' when you need him to get involved in an intellectual debate with starman?

Good to hear you enjoyed your trips to Foxhall, Steve. Despite it being the place I have seen most of my speedway, it was certainly not the place I enjoyed watching my speedway the most. Funny that I don't feel the rivalry with the Cheetah as much as you. Agreed about the fenceless Arena Essex (never Lakeside for me) but think the current circuit is a good little track and provides some decent racing. Smaller tracks can offer up some great speedway - Rye house and Mildenhall are another couple of my favourites. Pleasure Sid. Love your random memories of days and riders of yore. Bill was ok with the track - apart from that day in '82, just never had the greatest reception there and remember the Abbey faithful giving him a rough ride (down to his rivalry with Crumpie senior of course. Oddly enough, Billy had picked me up on the way down to Swindon in '82 and I was in the pits with him that day the track was, lets say, difficult. The journey back was an interesting one. Of course Arlington and as you say, the days of Gordon Kennett, Colin Richardson (lovely bloke), Steve Weatherley and co. For some reason, remember seeing Arthur Browning riding there. His legs seemed to reach from the white line to the fence. A push bike? Wow. Must be some stories there. Steve, see that you mentioned 'Least Favourite' tracks - I will offer: New Hammond Beck Road, Boston and Kingsmead Stadium, Canterbury as mine. And don't start on 2nd Halves being more entertaining than some main meetings...

Yes, Sid, always enjoyed the County Ground, Blackbird Road and Plough Lane too. Just that they didn't seem to have the same 'edge' there as the other venues I mentioned. Never really fell in love with Cowley (sorry Steve) for some reason, or Blunsdon (sorry Sid) - though there was definitely an 'edge' at The Abbey when Billy road there. Good to have you back contributing on the Forum fella. Maybe, just count to 10 now and again before you hit the keyboard when replying to certain posters, eh. I know I have to bite my lip sometimes with certain 'contributors' on here - probably the same ones as you.

'Liked' in what way Lisa ?