Reviresco

Was there a WC on each table due to the age of some of the attendees and the fear of incontinence?

Damn and blast

Not confident in making the play-off's then Phil Really hope it all gets sorted properly soon. Unlike that Tower in Pisa which still has a lean to it...

Probably, my favourite 'away' trip in speedway, though had some good times at Smallmead, Hyde Road, The Shay and Saddlebow Road too, but under the lights on a Friday, making it 'a date at 8', Len's banter and showmanship and a pie and a pint after. Nothing quite matched it for me. Luckily, I did not have to suffer the joys of the North Circular (what a road that was), as I only had to travel in a few miles along the Eastern Avenue, then dive in through Leyton and Carpenters Road. Don't know why they didn't become my 'home' club after Romford and West Ham's closure, but I'd been entranced by the skills of John Louis and Tony Davey by then and, as soon as I could drive, I was up the A12 in the opposite direction on a Thursday to Foxhall Heath, a totally different venue. Maybe it would have been too much of a good thing to frequent the Wick more regularly than I did. (Who would've thought back then that the Olympics would be hosted there a few decades later?)

Totally unlike this situation then?

i didn't as you well know. Re-read my post.

Hadn't realised that, Thanks for pointing it out. I see there is no backdated liability, so applications before 06 April this year are exempt.

Shanes would add to the entertainment factor at Foxhall. Surprised he didn't turn up as a PL 3 pointer this season. Just turned 19, so younger than Ritchings - and Hume for that matter.

Australia and the UK have reciprocal healthcare agreements, included in which is free treatment at public hospitals.

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Just seen, during the HT interval in the Budgies v Black Cats match, the BT Sport trailer for the start of their speedway coverage with Suzi Perry in a race-suit at Arlington - "Things are about to get dirty on BT Sport."

Don't see as gloating. More that people are quite rightly asking questions and searching for honest, truthful and accurate explanations. At the moment, unfortunately, this episode has not been good for the Aces or British speedway. Some say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but maybe not in this case. And how many of the 5000+ people who attended are members of the BSF? More these days post their comments on other forms of social media. So, no, not amazing. What, disappeared up your own hind quarters again? Looks as if you are doing exactly what you accuse others of, and that you are now tying yourself up in knots. A 'difficult' track is different from a dangerous one. Makes you wonder what would have happened if the World Champion, and others, had not spoken up on the night and a scenario of a rider injury or worse had occurred, only for the extent of the track issue to surface later on with, as has been suggested, negligence and other claims forthcoming.

I couldn't see a Thread open for this year's championship and thought I would start this seeing as GB's representatives have been announced now. Calendar: 3 x Semi-Finals: Friday 20 May - Semi-Final 1: Pardubice, Czech Republic Saturday 21 May - Semi-Final 2: Pocking, Germany and Semi-Final 3: Belle Vue, Manchester 3 x Final Series Rounds: Saturday 18 June - Final Series 1: King's Lynn, Norfolk Friday 16 September - Final Series 2: Pardubice, Czech Republic Sunday 02 October - Final Series 3: Gdansk, Poland GB Semi-Final Representatives: Friday 20 May - Pardubice, Czech Republic: Adam Ellis Saturday 21 May - Pocking, Germany: Josh Bates Saturday 21 May - Belle Vue, Manchester: Robert Lambert & Max Clegg (Meeting Reserves: Nathan Greaves & Jack Smith) (Jack Parkinson-Blackburn is ineligible to compete due to his age (under 16 years old) and Zach Wajtknecht & James Shanes are committed already to international meetings on the semi-final weekend.)

Following on from the British U21 at Sheffield on Thursday, GB's representatives for the World U21 qualifiers (semi-finals) have been announced: Friday 20 May - Pardubice, Czech Republic: Adam Ellis Saturday 21 May - Pocking, Germany: Josh Bates Saturday 21 May - Belle Vue, Manchester: Robert Lambert & Max Clegg (Meeting Reserves: Nathan Greaves & Jack Smith) Jack Parkinson-Blackburn is ineligible to compete due to his age and Zach Wajtknecht & James Shanes are committed already to international meetings on the semi-final weekend. http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.30299

The 'Agony Awks' versus the 'Twitches', one of the great rivalries in speedway, fuelled by the verbal sparring between Messrs Silver and Berry that bubbled up from Len's Rayleigh involvement to almost boiling over into something nasty. Gee, they were good times. Ipswich nearly always seemed to ride well at Waterden Road and had a better than 50% win ratio there. A great race-track, but possibly a dangerous race-circuit with the lamp-standards and solid wooden fence poles. Would H&S allow it these days? I'm sure that the track and the club's history have been discussed on other threads, and this one was created to discuss the 1988 team, but what a great place it was to enjoy everything about speedway 'back then' and, as I said in my previous post, when Hackney closed it seemed to knock the stuffing out of speedway and it lost a little bit of its soul when the lights went out there - that's at the Hackney Wick Stadium and not the London Stadium, or whatever it was then named. And what a great rider Bo Petersen was, very stylish and smooth despite seeming tall for a speedway rider. The last rider to race against Billy Sanders. Hackney's best rider? What a debate that would be and what a large number of 'characters' the Hawks had, most seeming to do it for the pure enjoyment it gave them. When I watch a broadcast from the BT Sports studios, I always feel a pang on nostalgia creeping on and thoughts of what used to be there.

24 April 1979, Tony Davey broke his thigh at Blackbird Road. They reckon there was a part of the kick board jutting out onto the track which he hit, coincidentally when riding outside his partner Mike Lanham, and it threw him off his bike and that he broke his thigh on the handlebars. 'Shrimp' hated being in hospital and went for the 'quick fix' of having a plate inserted rather than staying in traction. The procedure was botched though and would probably have brought about the end of his speedway career but of course the next season, three days before his Testimonial, he had a crash with Peter Carr and his thigh was broken again. That happened right in front of me and the photos of him laying on the track with his leg folded in two are imprinted on my mind forever. Tony of course had suffered that terrible incident in Ipswich's first top flight home meeting in 1972, when he damaged his left hand so badly when it got trapped between Roger Wright's chain and rear sprocket, that they had to remove the little finger down to the wrist, along with a large portion of the palm, with his ring finger remaining but useless. Brilliant that you went to visit Shrimp when he was in Leicester Royal Infirmary. Not a lucky track for the Ipswich boys as, as you recall, Mike Lanham had his career ending accident there too, in 1983, leaving him with only one usable arm for the rest of his life.

Would agree with that, and am unsure what supporters' clubs can do to get kids involved other than take them to meetings and encourage them to become supporters. As you said previously, supporters are the ones with the clubs' interests most at heart and it must be up to the clubs themselves to show how important the fans are to them. Do riders have fan clubs these days, or are these things of the last century and people simply follow them on Facebook and Twitter and buy their merchandise from there?

If that is the case, can we expect new track records to be set by the greyhounds immediately after the takeover? (Puts large sweeping generalisation brush away for future use/misuse).

Interesting that 'Bob' has edited his post now. A shame you didn't 'quote' it Baldy. Totally agree, but maybe this is the first sign of CL's promise of closer fan involvement and participation this year, and you will get a chance to do the track next week?

Agree with you Danny, as I'd give Belle Vue a chance of finishing 3rd. The other two teams look ridiculously strong.

Or at least the ones Steve got right so we can piece together (guess) the others.

The way things are with speedway these days, and if the Plymouth model is a success, maybe the only way for speedway clubs to survive in the future will to become supporter backed, community funded? Not a great comparison, but German football seems to be thriving on this model where, I think, 51% has to be owned by supporters. And I wouldn't expect beer and hot dogs to be delivers to me via a mini-train, or by a waiter/waitress at a speedway match. So maybe supporters clubs will inherit the sport one day. Clubs seem to have distanced themselves from supporters these days and that, along with the drop in crowds and the advent of social media and forums, seems to have lessened the membership, scope and impact of supporters clubs, but there should still be a place for social events, fund raisers, coaches (maybe mini-buses these days), meet-the-rider evenings, etc. Then if you can't get people to attend speedway matches, I guess it would be even more difficult to get many to supporters club functions - although most of these would be indoors and not susceptible to postponement.

Downloaded & Viewed here too.

Sounds as if Gino has decided to do his National Championship Qualifier despite the nasty injury he recently sustained: https://twitter.com/Gino_Manzares/status/720657702028910592 Good luck to the lad.

https://twitter.com/RorySchlein3/status/720939683568619521