Fourentee

It would be interesting, should some brave soul with time on his or her hands be willing to take it on, to see what percentage of Starman's getting on for 16,000 posts are along the lines of 'you are clowns for posting on this thread'. Certainly excelled himself in the last few days.

Generous if anything (sorry Steve!).

I see what you did there!

You might have started him with an easy one.

True enough, but the tone of those posts (and I made one of them) would surely have been very different but for him being identified with you know who.

Just when you thought the thread was beyond irony...

I'm with you up to a point and appreciate the time factor to which you refer. But the home riders will still be a decent degree better off by the end of the regular season. And if there are that many good lines it should be harder for the visiting riders to find the optimum one quickly.

Up to a point, perhaps. I saw film of the NL meeting (the first of the season?) where that wily old bird Jon Armstrong weighed it up, plonked his back wheel on the dirt line, went round the home opposition and took off into the distance. But sheer familiarity with the surface and layout over the course of the regular season should bring some advantage, surely, even if it's as straightforward as which gearing for which conditions at which point in the meeting?

I would have thought he had enough on his plate without concerns about a small white heron.

He's broken cover! Yoicks, tally-ho and hark forrard!

As an aside, the Express & Star and its sister paper the Shropshire Star will be carrying a large feature piece interview with Nielsen tomorrow.

Thanks, Wembley certainly strikes a chord. Not sure about Briggs.

This is a vague memory from many years ago, but do I recall a PR stunt involving a rider going round a garage forecourt to promote indoor speedway? Ian Thomas involvement? I'm sure someone can help out here.

No search for first-person insights into riding with or against world champions in this wonderful sport can ever be thus described. The quest continues!

Pretty radical from Dame Vera considering the rationing at the time.

robert72, this post appears to cast doubt on the prospects of you responding to my repeated, politely phrased requests for details on the world champions you lined up against. I trust you are in a position to respond and confound the assorted doubters and nay sayers on the forum.

Fair play to Tai, you never saw him at Monmore with a ridiculous Mohawk. Eh, Steve? Steve?

Somewhat surprisingly, yes. I did think he might have blocked my account, thus not seeing the question posed, but then he'd surely see my posts when you quote them. Unless, of course, you too are blocked... Perhaps someone else could help out and draw his attention to what, after all, was a genuine inquiry politely phrased. I have by no means given up on this one.

OK, fine, thanks. Yes.

I retain full confidence in robert72, in so far as this matter is concerned. He has responded to jibes and abuse so will surely spare a few moments to share his insights in response to a genuine question asked politely and in good faith.

Really, in what way?

Some years ago I interviewed Billy Hamill after one underwhelming away performance, expressed sympathy at his lack of points and gently inquired if there was a technical explanation, receiving the prompt reply: "I rode like a d***head."

Of course. That's the freedom of the forum. But if someone had started a thread and said in the first post something along the lines of: 'The form of Harris is a bit of a worry with the SWC coming up. Should he perhaps be looking at X, Y and Z to improve matters' and made some constructive criticisms, this would probably be a 10-page thread with some positive contributions. As it is, it appears to have been launched simply to have a pop at the rider. Speaking as someone who watches Wolves when the chance arises, and thus partially through gritted teeth, it's never a hardship to see him in action. A standard Harris EL season is seven to eight points and a stack of memories. Wish we had more like him.

It's fair to say that we don't often find ourselves on the same side of a discussion. But I'm genuinely interested, which is why I posed the question in the first place. I phrased it politely and I remain confident that robert72 will respond in kind. He likes to encourage debate (we are on page 112 after all) and appears to post with sufficient frequency to suggest that constraints on his time would not be an issue.

A touch disappointing, to be honest, particularly given such an active poster. It's always interesting when current or former riders give us the benefit of their insight; The Dean Machine, to take just one example at random, is invariably interesting on riding topics (I much admire the comment he made on the current Harris thread) and David Howe, though not a frequent poster, was always worth reading. But there we are, I live in hope.