Mr Ore

Thanks.

Nothing said at the time but what was the second half race between Ben Morley and Tyson Nelson about? Certainly Nelson's bike with the huge handlebars looked a bit unusual or maybe he had just put them on a regular machine which, without the covers either; made it look different from the norm. .

Surely the Somerset fans singing happy birthday would have taken his mind off the lack of fish. Made me think of egg sandwiches and trfle. It's all relative but the sausages looked much longer today and only £1.70 a throw but they aren't really fish. Talking of fish I thought Nick Morris was worth more than his final total and why Jason Garrity wasn't allowed to ride just showed us yet again what a farce the rules are. We are told that it is important that all teams are equal and yet we had the weaker team today unable to use their own rider. Hardly equal and yet more proof that points limits should be consigned to history.The most important cup final in British speedway ruined by a team being unable to use their best rider. What a prima donna Jez Pestell is. Fell with nobody near him yet appeals to get Shaun Tedman excluded. Lucky the referee wasn't impressed. Disappointed not to see more from Milton Keynes but made the trip home easier. Couldn't see an Ivan Mauger T shirt but assume you may have been the guy with the comb over and body warmer. Would have said hello but thought you might have eaten me.

A good balanced post. For years the question regarding why a team can declare R/R before a match starts yet lose a top rider as soon as the tapes have gone up in heat 1 and not have any facility has never been addressed. Ignoring the fact that he was a guest, another wrong with the sport, and already using r/r Sheffield's faint hopes at Ipswich were totally lost with Ollie Allan's heat 1 fall with only reserves able to cover his remaining rides. As a result, with Simon Lambert's injury too, they also could only track 1 rider in several heats and do nothing about it. Although needing to be six behind at least with the old rule Ricky Wells, for example, could have an extra TS ride in addition to r/r yet with the present double points borax watched his team being only able to track one rider in the knowledge they were going to fall further behind. Two birds killed therefore in keeping the the match competitive and also ensuring more liklihood of 4 rider heats by going back to the old rule. Regarding the rubbish about poor reserves having to face heat leaders in heat 8 you can learn much more racing a top guy than you can beating a poorer rider easily. Also with various rules stopping people actually being able to earn a living owing to having an average 0.01 too high and being unable to get a team place, it is crocodile tears to use alleged sympathy for the plight of a second string in maybe not getting an easy win but at least having the opportunity to do so. How much better too when a second string lead a number 1 in heat 8; creating a good atmopshere as the (usually) home fans got behind the alleged lesser rider? Plus even if a home rider wins heat 8 under existing double points he could still be beaten points wise by a rider he has just left in his wake. Finally with the 6 point TS and need to have 3 rides a team manager actually had to think ahead as did most of the crowd who would discuss whom to bring in and when between heats. If you replaced a reserve in two of his races you had to ensure he came in for someone else to get his obigatory third ride. It is funny how a team manager with bu**er all to do now is called a great tactician. Under the old rule you at least needed some skills.

I think you may have leapt before looking here. If you check my posts throughout the one category of person I have never been rude about are the riders: quite the opposite I have defended their safety and worth against others who have said they are overpaid, greedy and pampered and moan about the price of admission, number of chips you used to get in the good old days and how much we could save if the riders paid fans to attend. I referred to Al Sparrey's (someone I have never heard of I must admit) days as the era and did not say he was a thug at all; just that he rode in seemingly thuggish times, based on linking elements of your posts.. As well as revering said Al you had defended the behaviour of someone (dare I say whom I would assume is in your age group) on this thread who several posters on here saw being a total nob on Saturday night; with one expanding to say this is his usual behaviour. I don’t see how when you do not witness something you can defend it on the basis of the person being a “fan” of longstanding. Clearly we had someone who will have been around during Mr Sparrey’s era being given licence to be a thug in more civilised times, which I feel is totally out of order. More out of order is that he is defended by someone who had not witnessed his excesses. If one of the many teenagers at Rye had behaved in this manner they would have no doubt been pilloried by those of more advanced years so to defend someone on the basis of being an old boy really sucks. As a side I do comedy workshops at various venues; only £500 per day plus VAT, plus a percentage of any bookings taken as a direct consequence of my tutoring. I am sure this would assist you in extracting the irony from some elements in my posts but, other than thinking with a name like Sparrey he must have had a nickname the 50s, my insults are not aimed towards Super Al but at someone who would have been around to see him ride and the social values of the time, as perceived by me based upon reading this forum.. Still as my old grandma used to say, “Keep well clear of the boy scouts who wear long trousers”. That's the one. Must admit with his terminal speed I thought Lykke had done enough at the line but Ulrich had led all the way until then. I wasn't as close as you guys no doubt were though but still had a great view of the antics.

Now I know he is not Thrillpool (or Shadders) of this parish I can honestly say he was a total embarrassment and maybe cost Rye House a couple of race points. With Ulrich Ostergaard and Tyson Nelson excluded for exactly the same offence his reactions were diametrically opposed with Mick Poss going from hero to zero for making the same correct calls. I can't remember the riders concerned but thought that the Rye rider had taken the points on the line. Mr "Every Week" instead of cheering his man on stormed towards the referee’s box pointing in a threatening way, which is always indicative of what you are claiming has happened being incorrect. I couldn't tell but thought Rye had it but the ref gave it to Redcar. The response from the fence was like a cross between Jack Sugden and Basil Fawlty and had the terraces laughing. Such thuggery may have been acceptable in Al Sparrey's days but we shouldn't revere people for being total assholes in these more enlightened times. In his defence though the start marshall was also being a t**t in respect of the Nelson incident so perhaps they are related. A few less pies would do the start marshall the world of good and may help improve his eyesight. Anyway back to trumpet practice.

Were you the fat bloke in the corduroy top near the starting tapes? Looked nothing like in your photo mind. One of the better if longer nights at fortress Rye. Although they put up the price by 25% the crowd looked far bigger than against Ipswich the other week. Clearly proof that the way to get more fans in is to increase cots of admission. Surely the way forward. Sadly could not locate the announcer's rectum to stick that ******** trumpet stuff at the start of each heat up it. Hardly Rocket Man in terms of entertainment value. Home for 2.15a.m. in time to see Torquay's goalless draw with the Monkey Hangers.

. Shane Porker?

Don't you just love the front covers of Speedway Star at the end of the season showing the victorious league championship and/or cup winning teams? It is a total embarrassment to see guests for the night wearing winner’s medals and waving their fists in victory celebrations. Been the same for far too many years but it still happens. Nothing against the guy as he needs to ride to pay his bills, but it seemed Jason Bunyan was in every winning team photo a couple of years ago. There is no way guests can be justified but at least when it comes to photos common sense could be used by just having contracted riders of the actual team; including injured riders who somehow seem to be left out of such things, and not someone who has been a ringer for the night. Maybe Zielona Gora could take over a British team as the Mickey Mouse race jackets would look more in place here. On a lighter note the fish at Rye House last Saturday was much improved from earlier in the season and cooked from fresh too. My compliments to all concerned.

Moobs squared. But I don't think you should be apologising. Maybe a challenge against Barking would have met with less resistance and be more apt!!!

That should be fun. With all the mosns about costs on this forum however I can't see anybody putting their hand in their pocket to buy a round.

I'm thinking of going to Lakeside on Friday. Any Brummie fans going fancy a fight? Should be a real laugh

Cheers Kev. It does seem to contradict fixture priority as per 16.1 though.

Front cover only took 2 seconds to read. Would have filled in for the delays in the 4s.

The Sheffield programme is exactly the same size as Scunny (Both need an A3 sheet of paper to produce each copy) but is free. Incredibly people still moan about it on here. Hoddesdon Town FC, the nearest senior football club to Rye House produced a 116 page programme last year for £1.50. £1 for 8 pages is hardly VFM in comparison, or 16 for £2 a la Uncle Len whose club is on the doorstep. As we seem to be doing self praise here, I'm drop dead gorgeous you know.

You are no doubt correct but how was it that Craig Cook raced for Edinburgh 10 days ago when he was also programmed for Belle Vue at Lakeside? Not meant to be a sarcastic query but not he first time I've seen this with R/R used by the Elite League side whilst the programmed rider was in a PL match at the same time. In terms of the 220 things which need sorting in British Speedway that has to be number 1.

Bit of a long shot but has anybody found a pair of spectacles and a hearing aid?

I think there are two issues here. I have been to this meeting several times and to be honest have never known who was racing in advance. This year's line up is slightly different but as we were usually seeing a different batch of riders to usual with minimal experience I can't in all honesty see how knowing their names is going to attract more than would attend in any case. Had we been talking about a meeting advertised as including loads of GP stars at £30 admission names are important but as it was never likely to include Robert Lambert or Adam Ellis, with reverence to the rest whether it is A.N.Other or T.Riallist racing would not entice any more through he gate. Many moan about the admission price in any case so would not be enticed by names they have not heard of. All in all just another opportunity to moan by some. Having said that the Sheffield publicity machine which was about the best historically is, in the elegantly spoken words used by Dave Speight, about a rival in the recent past, total dog sh*t at present. Instead of setting the standard others aspire too they have plunged beneath many and don't even go through the motions anymore. With the best race track and, after Kent, the second best stadium in the country they don't need to try very hard at all but choose cliched comments instead. 2/10 must try harder.

Although I'm only in my mid twenties I also find Google and Yahoo quite alien. A girl at the school where my partner teaches said her mum had a large chest of drawers for sale and ironically we are looking for one for the spare room. They had posted a photo of it on one of the photo sites so I thought we would have a look before committing, but I couldn't remember the name. I simply opened Google and put in “male 25 seeks young girl with large chest, willing to pay £50 and................................yes officer I’m coming but I am still writing about this misunderstanding on a forum I participate in.

Seems the presenters are as tight as the fans and won't pay the going rate for a current CD!!! One was heard to say that if HMV had more CDs from talentless British bands and charged only a fiver, more people would buy them. You don't need top bands with their fancy floor shows and state of the art instruments. If everyone played the comb and toilet paper the costs of buying an instrument would be much reduced and real talent would come to the fore. Savings could be passed to the fans. Every musician would have the same number of teeth in the comb and clubs could use one brand of toilet paper ensuring costs are kept to a minimum. Could call it the Izal League. You can keep your Bruce Springsteen rubbish what British speedway fans want is cheap rubbish. You would have to make rules though to ensure that richer musicians don't cheat by using a kazoo. In the meantime 250,000 fans who lost out on buying Rhiannon tickets at £250 a go were told they couldn't use this as an argument that she is a top performer as we are not allowed to compare different genres to disprove the tight arsed ones who prefer to listen to the old wino playing the jaw's harp outside the HSBC cash point in Gornal. At least that's free. Sheffield Stars cycle speedway team seem to have no problems in playing the latest downloads at their matches. They also play current or real power tracks from the past at foreign speedway matches so why can't we have more up to date stuff at British speedway tracks? Maybe however the music actually reflects the British fans who don't deserve more. Young people however want sexy not cheap. Don't reduce costs make the sport sexy. Ironically though music is relatively cheap in any case but when you get a majority of fans tapping their feet to Perry Como you know you are in trouble. Still it was good to see the BSF band on Britain's got Talent the other week with their remix of Clive Dunn's classic, Grandad. Anyway your sister seems quite a girl SCB. Do you reckon she fancies coming over to mine? We could watch some speedway DVDs and listen to my Mrs Mills collection. Well I am a British speedway fan.

Neil Machin.

I have (not) read somewhere Lewis Kerr's cousin on his father's brother's side, (who he know's nothing about), is called Juan. He could be one of those Spanish Juan Kerrs. (As I am one eighth Spanish I can insult my maternal roots with a clear conscience.)

Sadly I can't go through years of reports as I have a full time job which takes up all my working week. I assure you however (and I do have links with Ipswich) that this came about when they were talking of making them compulsory in the Elite League. That will be the time to check your newspaper cuttings. I said to my Ipswich connections then, what about Brett? As I was trying to imply with my comments regarding witnessing a death in front of me, I don't believe the issue should be finding excuses to prove that other things are equally or more dangerous to discourage actions from being taken. You may want to watch Steve Coogan's excellent swimming pool sketch on "The Day Today" where he lists the years he has been the attendant at the pool with no drownings. Sheer comedy genius but he picked that up from life observations and having heard similar comments it is so British speedway in mentality. My feeling is that one tragedy is 2 too many so do whatever you can to minimise risks. Hearing what Shadders said regarding Luke Bowen it seems that was a similar spot to where Gary Stead received his injury. Whilst an air fence on the bends would not have helped either I don't believe that we should wait for a similar incident on an uncovered bend (obviously not Somerset) before taking action. With my Ipswich links I often have a cheeky dig at all things Norfolk yet am pleased to see young Trees from that county adopt the same stance as me in saying fans can assist in riders’ safety for peanuts. For all the moaning that the fans do on here it seems that we could group and resolve this safety issue by pulling in the same direction for once. I seriously hope that you don't witness what I have before thinking "We should have taken some steps already to stop that. "

I bow to your superior knowledge regarding Rye with my 2-3 visits a year being insignificant alongside. However Ii can easily recall injuries to riders hitting the fence during my few visits so am sure you would have at least seen those too. The portly Yorkshire version of Scott Smith's injury is still in the memory. If you want an easily proved recent case why not ask Jason Garrity if he would have rather hit an air fence at Sheffield or almost lose his eye with the extremely safe mesh alternative?I know that riders are not he best judges of their own safety but why not humour him and ask? My point about the Foxhall fence was that it was alleged there had been no serious injuries there. I mentioned Brett Saunders as one example that the claim was rubbish. There are too many sweeping comments made which are crap and you don't or shouldn't mess with rider safety. Having seen my favourite rider die a few feet in front of me owing to the safety fence you may appreciate why I find the blaze attitude of many posters on here so offensive. Again I have heard loads of complaints about other dangers around the tracks, which seem to have passed you by, and agree that they have been given a deaf ear on occasions. It doesn't mean that you do nothing: you deal with it and for £20 a fan most issues could be sorted. The fact that two things need sorting out doesn't mean you ignore both. Sadly a riders life to Briish fans is not worth such a small contribution. Finally I think you should have put a smiley face with your joke as I am sure the humour went above people's heads. To say you shouldn't have an air safety fence as it would obstruct the view of those on the bends at Rye is comedy genius. Who in their right mind would prefer a rider to be injured than have some minor inconvenience to their sightline?

If Norwich ever come back it can definitely be branded as a sport for the whole family.