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Except the Lee Richardson collection was always scheduled for the PRACTICE. How many of the 2000 would have been there? Not 700 - 800 like there will be on Saturday! But hey, the promotion got through Saturday, despite everything the weather in particular threw at them, so it's lucky thre's something for The Little Welshman with green eyes to gnaw at. After all, the only thing that ties the current FIM - approved Berwick Speedway with the dump that it had become under the present regime is that, despite The Little Watchman knowing how to do everything, both promotions have chosen to ignore him at every opportunity.

Probably very happy with the conditions, as opposed to a Kent / Northumberland / Kent drive out & not being able to make a restaging. It the chance you're always going to take, I guess you'd prefer the promotion or, in this case the FIM, to take responsibility for the weather. The fact is that the field would have been decimated by Monday & the crowd would have similarly been pocket-sized. That'll be the weekend that Dakota North was riding in the same championship as David Bellego (& Alex Edberg). So now you expect the same magnificent effort to be made for a PL meeting? Get Real. There's simply no need for them to do so. I don't have any problem with the Ipswich rain off: it's relatively easy to reschedule and on a date when both teams will hopefully be at full strength. How man "money-grabbing" jibes would there have been if (assuming the track had indeed been saveable) they'd shoved through a rubbish meeting with riders missing on both sides?

According to the FIM, restaging dates are Sunday 17/6 &, if need be, Monday 18/6.

Berwick's got an FIM Licence, and could handle a crowd like that seen at some SGPs.

Hadn't thought of even passing by the BSPA "website", not being that taken with harking back to a place that time forgot, a bit like an online visit to Workington. It's a real multimedia experience, ain't it? Maybe the Speedway Star should sponsor it - when the regular spats about the value of the Star break out & its pointed out that everything is more immediate on t'Internet, the BSPA website could come to the defence of Caxton's Press! Still, Mr Russell's webmistress has certainly come up with a cracking tag line now: "biggest meeting in Berwick upon Tweed!" Phew! (Somebody tell them it's in Tweedmouth)

Yeah, but that'll be OUTWITH their control :-D

Because, despite commonsense, we have yet to construct a similar border to that between the USA & Mexico? If that's the best you've got left with which to run down the promotion, I hope for your sake you have another barrel on order. There's a big world out there: if you don't like the speedway at Berwick, you might ENJOY finding something you do LIKE. Or maybe it's engrained after years of Waite-run "entertainment"? Yeah, they were the days, eh? Instead of making the efforts they have maybe the promotion should take a leaf out of their visitors: rather than host all those pesky World U21 World Cup riders, they went with a NL double header packed with star names like James Cockle, Jerran Hart & Byron Bekker.

THAT is the point of the original post - a returnee from long term injury & a PL reserve become three PL Reserves & an NL "veteran". Now either that's a completly different agenda OR the concept of "a couple" in Scunthorpe is much more "liberal" & "cosmopolitan" as well as "exotic" than most would give them credit for....

That seems perfectly clear.

No need to "try again" - seek Special Dispensation. There would be a strong arguent that it would be "in the interests of British Speedway" that the few with actual potential would benefit from the granting of special dispensation from the current regulations regarding experinced riders in development league(s) on an individual basis than it would be for them to be half a lap or more in front of some old bloke having a second childhood. At least it would be a credible solution & help distinguish the league matches from the old guys with JAPs & ESOs who put on displays (now THAT would be worth a watch: Blast From The Past v Men In Black v Plodders v Chuggers - there y'go: Amateur racing at it's finest)

So what is "the real case" then? As to how to fill the hole left by excluding 40+ year old chuggers from a Junior / Development league, I'm not sure - if there arent the numbers, that's a fact of life. For the few number of meetings involved, with the number of ex-riders around any given pits on any given night, could they not be persuaded to have a blast & at the same time provide a bit of tuition? At least there would be a credible reason for them being out there. I wouldn't need to be the same guy in the same team for all meetings. There would be some purpose to that & it would be "real speedway" as opposed to old blokes with a bit of cash who bought a bike. I don't have any problem whatsoever with Amateur Meetings. If blokes want to have a go, good luck to them. But don't pass it off as anything other that what it is: pub football. Pub football is both fine and dandy - but it'll be Euro 2012 that'll be on tv. Speedway has always had " exceptional circumstances" ways & means to accommodate err exceptional circumstances, so that if some mid life crisis suddenly makes John Louis' debut at 29 look lite a whippersnapper he can be absorbed into the NJL on his way to NL, Pl, El & undoubted SGP glory.

I have a dream … where no one is discriminated against because of age, colour, creed & ability. A dream where sportsmen & sportswomen aren't judged merely by competence & results, but recognised as being special in their own right and so that they can all be accepted as winners in their own way. Perhaps all of which highlights why there's a lack of British talent - years of non-competitive education in schools.

If you could actually spend the time to read the post - maybe your mate Greg Hancock could read it to you after your finished your collaboration on your next Amazon best-seller - I said "that's what Amateur Meetings are for". Anyone can spend what they like on what they like - I don't recall typing anything to the contrary. But don't try to pass it off as "real speedway". The BSPA evidently don't agree with such tomfoolery, and neither do I. If 50+ chuggers want to aspire to be in a team, form one "Beer Belly Banditos", or "Hancock Stalkers" maybe. At least the BSPA have decided there should be some sort of criteria applied to those who appear during what is an event under their banner.

So "ridiculous" is now a geographic term? I'm fully aware of what goes on at Berwick, thanks. And Sike made appearances last year too - after it dawned just how far short of PL standard he was. Couldn't get a place in the NL because of nationality, so filled a space in the NJL. MacPhail has been around for years & flirted with a few NL reserve appearances & it seems that's his level. Anderson is one of a growing band of middle aged chuggers who thinks buying a bike & circumnavigating a track makes him a speedway rider. It doesn't. A place in the sport? Yes, if you insist. That's what amateur meetings are for - and that's fine. People enjoy playing football on a Sunday morning, and that's both fine and dandy - but it's not passed off as a form of "entertainment" for a paying public. "Berwick's #8!!!" Really??? Wow!!! Except in the real world the kid is little more than a mascot, through no fault of his own because he's nowhere near, within a country mile, of being even an NL reserve. That may well change in time, I believe he's having rides in the Midland Development League, which is a start. So that's the purpose of the NJL, is it? There aren't enough actual "riders", so make up the numbers with anyone that has a bike, irrespective of ability? It's to be hoped that John Anderson (or whoever, at other tracks with a similar policy) make sure any potential sponsors are dragged well out of sight before Rag, Tag & Bobtail take to the track (not exactly one for the teenagers that, but appropriate, given the age of the target audience) because (even though unpaid) if that's what's being passed off as part & parcel of a night out at a professional speedway meeting, they'd run a mile. Which is probably the reasonbehind the BSPA having said enough is enough. There's always more than enough hangers-on cluttering up the pits at the best of times without old blokes dealing with the onset of the male menopause by buying a bike, feeling the back end move a bit, buying a silly hat & strutting around like big Billy Bollocks "I'm a speedway rider, me". No you're not. The next thing will be buying a clapped out van & a set of vinyl letters "Billy Bollock - International Speedway Rider" 'cos they've been to Armadale & that counts as a different country. Years ago, Peter Waite tried charging the then genuine second halfers a tenner - he'd make a bloody fortune these days.

So what is it, then? Foot Injury or same hymn sheet? The basis of the original post is complaining that they're making all the leagues the same. So that's a good thing - in fact, "for goodness sake" to quote your post. Well, you've answered your own question before you've asked it. Ridiculous teams. On the assumption you're aware that Henning Loof learned to drive on the "wrong" side of the road, I'll give you Tamas Sike. There's also a difference between "experienced" and "ex-NL riders" and 40+, 50+ blokes who've bought a bike & think because the've been to a training school & an amateur meeting or two, they're "speedway riders". They're not. 15 year olds stood on the terraces shouldn't be thinking "when I'm bald & beer gutted I can force my way into somebody's old race suit & chug around a track".

Probably - I have no idea, I'll leave that for you to mull over. The fact that you seemed to be genuinely excited at the prospect of a Pole refereeing the meeting suggested that knowing his name (evidently beyond the coffin dodgers with microphones to pass along) would be of interest to you, if no one else. The listing of he other officials on the FIM website provided more information. The repeated churning out of the same information on every "media release" will simply result in anything new being buried and missed by those in the media too busy to plough through a Year 8 copy & pasted composition excercise.

http://www.fim-live.com/fileadmin/alfresco/Supplementary_Regulations_updated.pdf If the nationality of the referee constitutes an announcement, this'll suffice for a couple of weeks' worth of press releases...

The B SPA haven't "killed off" anything - if the clubs decide they don't want to meet the criteria for British Junior League racing, then that's up to them. Of the "experienced riders" who don't meet the criteria, how many were British (surely that's the point of the league) and how many were under 40 - there surely has to be SOME distiction between "junior racing" & "some mid-life crisis with a bike" amateur racing. As has just been posted AJL have used the same 3 man teams, 4 heats that the NJL used, so what's the problem?

Yes it is - Except the bloke's name is "Terro" rather than "Tear-o"... so that actually makes hime "Terro the Herro" This is what happens when old, befuddled people are taken out for the day from their care home & instead of feeding ducks in the park are given a microphone with which to entertain themsleves (God knows, no one else is entertained).

Always happy to assist the hard-of-thinking - even the abusive ones.

I can only apologise for being ill-prepared in referring to a quote in a magazine. I didn't realise that I needed to contact Mr Parker & ask him follow up questions to justify his initial comments. (can't help but notice the track preparation hasn't come under further scrutiny though). OK, you're one of the decresing number of locals who enjoy their speedway at Scunthorpe. Fine, get on with it. I wasn't aware that any other opinion wasn't to be tolerated. Seemingly that's an opinion shared by 80% of the locals who were there when I visited three years earlier, but there you go..... Enjoy your speedway, assuming it's on tonight - better hurry to beat the crowds flocking to The Best Race Track In The Country.

I'm pretty certain that I don't care about the finances of Scunthorpe and their promotion. You're the one that brought up financial outlay. Difficult to comment on the remainder of your post as it seems to suggest that English may not be your first language. I'm fully aware that it's a poll amongst referees, thanks, who aren't there to judge entertaiment. Kenni Larsen amongst others I've spoken to find it boring as its SO wide it ends up being ridden as a circle, and Shane Parker in the Speedway Star reckoned the material used leaves something to be desired as does the preparation. But they probably know nothing.

Oh wow, a poll. To be ranked alongside the poll in the Speedway Star Big Issue. Still worrying about the financial implications of Scunthorpe's remedial work necessary to be deemed acceptable to the FIM?

It doesn't make the slightest difference which match it was as, seemingly, in your opinion, the track is uniformily well prepared, but to calm you down a bit, Berwick were the visitors. As I recall, apart from one storming ride from Ashworth when he eventually got past his team mate & chased down both Scorpions, there wasn't a great deal to write home about. Because, in the last instance rather than address his own inaccuracies regarding finance - evidently more of a concern to him than the Scunthorpe promotion, as they didn't seem to think it was an issue - the poster lobbed out an infantile name-related insult. Look, if the good people of Scunthorpe (well, at least on the evidence of actually having been at the track, an increasingly small number of them anyway) think the racing is the best in the country, good luck to them. That's their opinion. I happen to think that it's going steadily downhill and has done for some considerable time. That's my opinion.

... so that will be another argument lost, so there's nothing left but to hurl pathetic infantile insults...