IainB

Has he ever not returned before?

BSN were going to stream this one... but it sounds like they've bought Jason Garrity's van

You don't even have to have retired to receive a "farewell" meeting these days

I don't really know what the rules are tbh, just going by what I've read on here and it was an opportunity to have a little dig at Poole

Have you not heard? You can change the dimensions of the track mid meeting now

I thought they can only run benefit meetings in March or October? Oh... I was forgetting it's Poole

You don't realise what you've got until it's gone. I bet Poland take their team line-up's for granted. Do you remember a few years back when Sky were making a big deal about Darcy Ward (I think)... hard to imagine them making the same fuss about Ben Barker's return from suspension! I for one am very happy to see the return of these "star" riders and think there's a pretty good mix at the moment in the top league as long as clubs haven't over reached themselves financially of course

I think it's a British thing... you hear so many riders making snide (justified) comments about British tracks

What could have very nearly turned into a farce last night was fortunately saved by the Speedway with some cracking action served up especially by the big returning "stars", each one of them being in the thick of the action and even young Joe Thompson making a pass to grab a crucial third. It's good that I can start my 46th season watching the sport and still see something new with whitelinegate, Speedway truly is the sport that keeps on giving . British Speedway were so proud of it they post a video of a rider clearly with both wheels over the line and not excluded for it! What's the deal with Edwin Overland? Has he retired or not been asked back? Is he still doing Lynn? He's been a fixture at the Showground for as long as I can remember. Didn't seem the same without him. Finally, it looks like many people didn't get the memo about the change of team colours with all the signage around the place still being in Red & Black... and Mr & Mrs Panther need a trip to the pet pamper parlour for a purple rinse

It would of added a bit of spice to a local derby... gets the crowd going!

If I were Ippo I'd be putting a protest in, only time I've seen the track dimensions change were at Telford!

Whizzer is in the pits... probably waiting for him to catch up with his note taking!

So good, so good, so good

A lot of track kicking going on now but it's alright they've put sweet Caroline on the pa

Floodlight failure on home straight at the moment

Was Aces legend Robert Lambert otherwise engaged?

I was being very literal with my timings, obviously there's track grading and such that's needed, especially with the demise of the track raker... but it does make you wonder where the time goes? I do think/hope the timing of meetings is something Whizzer Morris will have a look at in his new role.

27 minutes... + 26 x 2 minutes = 1 hour 19 minutes, what happened to the other 1 and a half hours? I wasn't there, so I'm not particularly bothered specifically about the Ben Fund Bonanza but it is a problem for me generally throughout the sport. I often think that promoters think that if the fans have been sent home after an hour and 20 minutes they think that we think we've not had value for money... that's if they think of the fans at all of course!

1 point each and move on

and calling it off with fans queuing at the turnstiles is 100 times worse than that. I understand that Robbo wanted to get this meeting on after all of the failures of the past, but it's still an event that fans are expected to pay for at the end of the day.

I've missed all the weather chat... it's been so boring over the winter months. Back with a bang though, 2 in 2 days

Do BSN have a rain off policy? If it's cancelled after 6 heats have you done your money like in real Speedway?

You have to wonder why it wasn't canceled way before the fans were queuing up at the turnstiles, if there was no rain since yesterday afternoon!

I hope nobody travelled too far for it!

When did it last rain on the Redcar track?