Fourentee

Many thanks. I've attended a fair few meetings there down the years (including some in my long-gone student days, the late seventies) but never actually seen one under lights and didn't recognise it.

Good stuff. Hope no-one came to grief in the wet. What track, anyone?

This isn't a dig at you or the rider, but I do smile ruefully at posts that include such phrases as "in a weaker league", "with a reduced level", "with the cut in averages" etc etc. They are precisely the circumstances where you really do want to include a hot prospect because there's more chance of him cleaning up and the team reaping the benefit.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that there will be a second reserves race in a revamped race card.

I wasn't aware that the People's Republic of Scunthorpe had seceded from the UK.

You may well have missed it in a long thread, but Brian Buck's post #672 sets out the background and will be of assistance.

What's "Bloody school kid"? A term of endearment?

Now that, with respect, is just silly. No-one pulled out of a trip that was perhaps 99 per cent certain to result in Elite League title celebrations? Well, there's dedication.

Congratulations to Poole, again underlining that they are the dominant force in British speedway today. Clearly the class of the field over the course of the play-offs. Commiserations to Birmingham, who nevertheless have done themselves proud throughout the campaign. I had hoped dearly that they would triumph in the final, partly for the boost it would give to the sport in the West Midlands and, frankly, because of my underlying concerns about the manner in which the Wimborne Road promotion conducts itself at times. However, one must acknowledge the professionalism and commitment of the Pirates operation. Repeated success in a sport with an artificial constraint (the points limit) cannot happen by coincidence. There remains much, if not all, to admire about the way Poole go about their business. I trust the few Pirates supporters with whom I am acquainted celebrate long and hard; they deserve to enjoy their success. The rest of us must pick up the cudgels next year and have another go.

A court hearing? Really? Or would tribunal/disciplinary hearing be nearer the mark?

Much amusement at work over the interview mention of the second collarbone break in which, according to the presenter, Woffinden "fell over" as if the little scamp had tripped and scabbed his knee.

I'm sure that, as a fair-minded observer of the speedway scene, you'll be the first to congratulate him should he sign to ride here next year.

True, but that was a 16-point margin and Swindon had won the previous month's home league match between the clubs by 12. Plenty of Robins fans would have felt they were still in the tie; I think you will struggle to find many Birmingham supporters of the same persuasion. But I hope (and believe) their fans will turn up in numbers; the team have done them proud this season. Where I think attendance will suffer is among Wolves fans who might have gone along as neutrals for the spectacle had the outcome been in more doubt.

Interesting analogy...

I did and it does, but he refers to the Sparta deal being completed before the "And I will be racing here next year just got to sign contract in the next few weeks" comment. But it could be the same issue and merely indicate that agreement in principle on a Polish deal has been reached and contracts will be signed relatively soon. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I think your interpretation is correct. We'll see.

Clearly. We should find some and ask their opinion.

Tai has now tweeted about completing a deal with Sparta, adding: "And I will be racing here next year just got to sign contract in the next few weeks!" which I take to refer to the UK.

For the record, I made the same point on another topic a while ago and was (rightly) taken to task for not being up to date with recent case law: The High Court has ruled that defamation on internet bulletin boards is akin to slander rather than libel. Mr Justice Eady hearing a case regarding posts on an investors bulletin board (or forum) has said that such comments are not to be taken in the same context as a formal newspaper (etc) article and are more like slander due to the casual or conversational nature of them. Mr Justice Eady stated that posts on bulletin boards "are rather like contributions to a casual conversation (the analogy sometimes being drawn with people chatting in a bar) which people simply note before moving on; they are often uninhibited, casual and ill thought out...Those who participate know this and expect a certain amount of repartee or 'give and take'." As such "When considered in the context of defamation law, therefore, communications of this kind are much more akin to slanders (this cause of action being nowadays relatively rare) than to the usual, more permanent kind of communications found in libel actions...People do not often take a 'thread' and go through it as a whole like a newspaper article. They tend to read the remarks, make their own contributions if they feel inclined, and think no more about it." Full article [Reading Room].

Tuesday is normally tattoo day. Perhaps he's run out of skin!.

Congratulations to Birmingham. And heartfelt best wishes for the final.

Um, Wolves against Swindon in the 2009 final?

Alternatives?

And fair play to you for saying so. Precisely.

Yes, it does!

You've been at the Moto-Craze Speedway card game on the flight over, haven't you?!