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SCB 2018 rule that “riders must remain astride their machine when ‘gardening’ at the start-line. As we saw/heard last night in the first meeting of the season at Belle Vue, 3 riders excluded having got off their bikes to prepare their start position. Riders/managers complaining of this rule. I believe rule possibly brought in to speed meetings up. But it doesn’t. Riders in my opinion should be able to prepare their start position, have a cup of tea or what ever within the 2 minutes allotted time. As in Poland a digital clock should be placed by the start, the referee starts the 2min. count down and if a rider not ready, then he is excluded. This system should be in place for all leagues in all countries. Same rule everywhere.

Especially the shorter ones?

Sad but true on all count JC. . .and I still have the Shell suits! :-) We may not have seen eye to eye on some occasions but there is no doubt that you were a forward thinker who had great ideas to move the sport into a new direction and bring it up to date. The atmosphere that we all generate in that amazing era was 2nd to none and one of the best times I can remember in speedway.

He has saved plenty by ensuring his team look will look like the Poundland Pirates

You’ve got to feel sorry for Tungate who has no chance of gardening astride his bike

You can be prepared as you like and just have absolutely no luck on any given night, it happens although fortunately not very often. Panning the poor chap is pretty harsh but not unexpected on this platform.....Belle Vue fans know what Tungate can do and won't be too concerned.

I feel sorry for any new promotion team at Lynn, as I think it is hard to meet the expectations of fans who supported the club during that era... and for good reason. The parade track rolling out to the intro of 'welcome to the jungle' always made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and everyone involved (from fans to riders) were emotionally immersed in the club. 9 titles in 4 years (from memory) is as good as it gets and shows what the club was all about back then. Unfortunately since then the club has lost yourself, Rob Lyon and me and personally I do not believe any have been appropriately replaced... although not through lack of trying as I did recently read a job advertisement for a centre green announcer who must like wearing illuminus shell suits

Didn't finish a race all night? That doesn't happen to the best riders, who are usually the best prepared.

Sounds like a typical first meeting some riders better than expected others no so good, mechanical gremlins that need ironing out overall a good night's entertainment. It isn't what happens on the first meeting that define your season.

Re the gardening - it serves no purpose to insist the rider remains on the bike. The 2 minutes is 2 minutes whether they are on the bike or doing a dance around it...

Jenga in talking sh*te shocker but its only banter isn't it. On another subject breaking news Jenga has found another brain cell to go with the one he already had , Joined up writing should now be achievable with lots of practice. Hopefully in years to come the dribbling will stop fully which should save a fortune in washing powder cleaning his bibs.

What a load of old tosh as usual, well happy with the performance from the Robins also for the Aces Bewley/Tungate had bike problems.Zach has just comeback from a serious back injury these meetings are there to blow away the cobwebs and get ready for the league programme.

I have to agree - I had written him off before a wheel had turned. One swallow does not make a summer but if he can keep it up - he may not be replaced early doors

I really cannot understand why anyone can not blame the riders for not knowing the rules. Imagine the uproar if a footballer didn't know the offside rule or a rugby player was ignorant of the high tackle rule. They are supposedly professionals. People in any walk of life should know the rules of their employment. Yes the team manager should make sure the riders know the rules. From tweets last night, the riders were told by their respective managers, which proved exactly how much notice they take of them As for the need for such a rule, that's beside the point. I assume they thought it would speed up meetings, which it won't. Anyway if we have to blame someone for the rule the blame lies purely at the feet (or should that be the shovel) of one Tai Woffinden

I just don't see what the purpose of this rule is. If riders are at the tapes and ready to race by the end of the 2 minutes, what is the issue?

The riders had been told of the new rule but as Fricke said "old habits die hard". Overall, there was much less gardening so maybe the new rule has achieved it's purpose although we probably need the evidence of more than one meeting before making a judgement.

The die hards found out that he only attended when it was deep and hounded him out, he became disillusioned with speedway and now lives a solitary life in a pigeon cree with only distant memories and a jason king framed photograph to keep him going. :-(

my subscription is still valid as i paid for a year none of the channels were working when i tried at the weekend, not even eleven sports or polsat

Too late after losing 3/4 home matches the damage will have already been done.

We don't know the circumstances of the desicion so nothing can be ruled out.

Newcastle, Redcar, Berwick. This Panthers side isn't as bad as it look on paper.

meetings @ Glasgow , riders will be allowed extra time because of the weed situation on the back straight . they will have to kick out at least 2 weeds before they are allowed to make their way to the start gate . ITS A JOKE GIRLS !

Doesn't give us long to find a 2 pointer. I expect we may use Ryan McDonald for the first meeting, although it will be tough against the strong Monarch reserves

The only time Sam was ever owed money it was only a small amount for a CL guest booking and I was told by everybody to just forget about it as it would cause him problems. Everybody except Tim Stone who said chase it up, I tried to contact the promoter several times with no luck so wrote to the SCB saying that it was a matter of principal and I would put it through the small claims court if I hadn't received the money in 30 days. Cheque in the post within the week! I do think riders don't chase money as they should because they fear that word will get around and they won't get rides in future. I would suggest the only promoters who wouldn't employ a rider because he asked for his due money wouldn't be worth riding for anyway. On the other hand you have riders who will sign for clubs who are known to pay late for extra points money over those who do pay on the nail, makes no sense to me but it happens. It is interesting that the promoters who are accused of being too tight with their money by the fans are often the ones who settle the wage bill.

Some great pictures and the Saturday night under flood lights is brilliant. Looked like good crowds on both days. Thank you for sharing these. Unfortunately I was unable to make it to Berlin on this occasion and really missed the action. For those who have never been it is worth giving it a go and if you can get to one on the European meetings you will not be disappointed. I would also like to thank Conkers and Iris for always providing updates, reports photo and video etc. and other valuable information, it is greatly appreciated and the best reporting you can get.