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Good point, well made.

I'm sure they'll go with the lineup as at the first meeting. In any case, Franc had another knock last week & missed last Thursday at Ipswich. I presume Mellgren will represent Rye House too Gjedde will undoubtedly be under going treatment for all the traumas he's had to deal with this season.

Well, if you're going to stir it, why not quote Machin's consideration about selling alongside his suggestion that, if they could, 95% of promoters would sell up?

For the love of God, what "repercussions" do you want for a bit of pantomime tomfoolery? So he kicked the pit gate - any reason it wasn't opened for him anyway? - and shoved a few folk out of the way - why was anyone from the home side getting involved anyway other than causing a bit of mischief, the Somerset management & riders were coping perfectly well - while having a bit of a strop. All of which was made funnier for anyone with a grasp of the rules (so, not many then) that once he had finished the strop, he was going to have to come back out & take his third ride . So what? It warmed up a cool evening and provided a bit of exercise for the knuckle-dragging obese element (so, quite a few then), dragging their carcases along the terracing to the pits fence to presumably pass on their tactical advice & condolences to Wright, having inadvertedly fallen foul of the official's ire. Maybe they should fine the ass off him as an example to others.Then it can be drummed into riders that emotion - even when it's comical - has no place in the sport. As much as any recently written rule, the lack of "character", "incidents" & "pantomime villany" is responsible for the acres of concrete on show whenever a speedway crowd gathers on a terracing. Incidently, whatever has gone wrong with Wright over the last few years, it almost saved the night for Newcastle - never one of his best tracks, but if the Wright of a few years ago had turned up & scored his then usual 5, 6, or 7 points it would have been a pretty miserable night for Newcastle.

The only thing in common between the Branneys and the Malletts is a**eholes. The Branneys each HAVE one, both of the Malletts ARE ones of the highest order. Hopefully something positive will come out of it. Apart from noting the ridiculously early naming of new prospective owners (I guess it gives Denham someone else to point at, if the inevitable happens) before they've even met & discussed money, I see the article states "Denham this week revealed he was pulling out of the club at the end of the season and was looking for somebody to take it over". Strange, as all the other articles this week and reports of his speech last Saturday were "get to the end of the season & see where we are".

Since when has football been fortnightly? Whether its European competition, FA Cup, League Cup, Johnstones Paint Tin, and whatever other competitions there might be, most teams play twice a week and half of those games will be at home. Again it doesn't make Soeedway "right" to run every week, but its not like football fans spend 13 days sat at home before going to a home game.

It's been a little damp during the course of the season, you may have noticed. The League Play Off cut off date has already been put back a week. If it hadn't been and / or the League Cup Semis had been pushed through, the league cut off would have been chaos. Would that have been better?

I wouldn't be surprised if, as part of the communication with the BSPA about immediate closure (evidently "bloody expensive" was the bottom line), the subject of losing this fixture between the cracks was discussed. If the Comets go all the way in the competitions they're involved in, it's going to be a hell of a squeeze to get them in. To void screwing up other finals, they'll have to keep the semis & playoffs moving along. A date is only likely to become free after their elimination from one or more competition. If they were to finish off their season with a "pointless" league match, the losses incurred would probably exceed whatever fine that old be imposed, so the answer is to pay the fine.

For what was to all intents & purposes a reserve game. Fair play to Arsenal - Man United charged on average £45 for the same thing. It was as much of a one-off as Lakeside's freebie a few years ago. All I was illustrating was "15 minutes of racing" / "90 minutes of football" isn'ta direct comparison. If you're going to include walking about, waiting for something to happen, then speedway would be about 45 minutes by adding the pre-race dicking around (sorry, I meant gardening) & post race winding down. It doesn't make it good value, it makes it a more accurate comparison.

So what's the answer if double headers isn't? Up to 7 matches, 5 weeks left of the season. The only alternative is to run until mid November. Apart from the Aussies having gone home in some cases, that isn't going to pack the crowds in. Looking on the bright side, eh? According to you elsewhere, playoffs are the invention of the devil, so the meeting wouldn't be of interest to you anyway! Make sure you wear your balaclava with the hole at the front.

90 minutes of football? So that'll include when the ball is out of play, for goal kicks, corners, free kicks & throw ins then. Usually the ball is in play for about 60 minutes. "90% of races aren't that exciting" - so does football cough up a discount for dour 0-0 draws? Thought not. Does all the time the ball is in play leave the crowd breathless and in awe of the ball juggling skills on show? Nope.

Twitter: @GazetteSpeedway not heat by heat but better than nothing

Its Latin, and means that you're the recipient of an excess of patronising cobblers.

No they don't. The Speedway Star have screwed up.

No they're not. Premier League takes priority over Elite League too. Will the appearance or otherwise of 3 - 4 point reserve Charles Wright make any difference whatsoever to the crowd at Shielfield on Saturday. I'll guess that it won't. Will the absence of 8 - 9 point #1 Charles WRight make a difference to the crowd supporting the fortunes of his NL team in the NLRC. I'll guess that it would or might. Much more likely to do so. When he got injured, Ricky Ashworth had just picked up a lower order place at Birmingham. What if he'd missed a Bandits meeting to ride for the Brummies? Lots of unhappy Berwick fans. If he was unavailable for Birmingham, I'm pretty sure the Brummies fans would have got over it. Sorry, this may have cancelled out an opportunity to moan about the rulebook.

No, but turning up at Berwick will book him a 28 day holiday.

As I've already said a number of times, the Sky EL 10 teams model is dead, not least of all because the EL teams are basically PL lineups with a couple of "star" guests bolstering the teams. If a handful of money bags promoters want to have star studded lineups, then let them start their own travelling circus of superstars. The PL has its own problems but, at least until recently could provide speedway at a reasonable level in keeping with crowd levels and, with one or two exceptions, in keeping with British talent. It's a second division country, accept and get on with it. The problem now is that the combined effects of recession and weather mean that clubs aren't losing a bit of money, they're falling off a cliff. The conference this year will probably see a large scale reorganisation. It would be incredible to think anyone would be applying to join the EL, and anything more than half a dozen will be a bonus and a surprise. Equally IF any of the fall out from the EL thinks the PL is worth joining and even if Dudley are permitted to move up, I'd be surprised if there are 13 teams in the PL by next March. At the other extreme, The NL will be a handful of little more than training tracks - which is pretty much what its supposed to be anyway. The only way for the PL to survive & prosper will be to cut wages and make it a take it or leave it situation. That might water down the PL slightly, but so be it. To counteract the new wage regime from a riders' point of view there needs to be a radical look at bike expenses - all through the recent years, one group we've never heard pleading poverty are the engine tuners. David Howe's simple suggestion regarding tyres is one that needs to be fully explored. The knock on benefits of a simple change seem many fold: less wear & tear on engines, slow up racing a little making it closer & safer being a few. Whatever the league(s) structure, the flannel needs to be cut away. One opening challenge match, straight into the league campaign, playoffs (Craven Shield / Challenge Trophy other post season competitions if teams want them rather than forced into them)..

If "Jade's coming home" it might be an idea to turn the lights off and be quiet so he thinks there's no one in, then he'll head off somewhere else. Good of Glasgow to sportingly turn up with one good guest though.

"Shouldn't be too hard"? Is that because its come from a member of the School for the Hard of Thinking? I thought the BSF was a fountain of all knowledge and all promoters had to do was "listen to the fans" and all would be well. Then to combat falling attendances, apparently brought about by continual watering down of the product, it's an "opportunity"to water it down so much that former EL and PL teams flood into the NL. Jesus, "listen to the fans" nod it could have all been laid to rest years ago. And no, not "any idea could be a good idea", not if its a bloody stupid one. Before you run down the PLCT too much, remember the qualification for h Young Shield that Workington got so excited about was for those not good enough to be in the play offs.

Probably a bloody sight more than cough up £14 or whatever at Scunthorpe, so don't let it worry you.

in the opinion of the latest guise of Snacky's little gimp mask wearing pet it might be interesting, but not to those who don't subscribe to breeding within the family.

I thought Pearson announced Harris retiring from SGP.... no hang on, that was retiring IN an SGP, and he usually does it two or three times in EACH SGP.

So booking a hotel room, that's okay but £4 for a programme........... no, you don't have to buy one. When has anyone, anywhere issued a free insert for a partly filled in programme from an abandoned meeting? Still, don't let unprecedented circumstances prevent starting another moan.

Nope, it isn't. It's not like anyone is going to go to one venue as opposed to the other, based on price comparison. There's a dozen reasons for them being structured differentlywhich makes comparison pointless rather than interesting.

Nothing at all. Crowds have got nothing whatsoever to do with Scunthorpe Speedway. I apologise for inferring there may have been any connection between the two.