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Been raining in Paisley for a couple of hours now , but i'm not worried as its a nice bit of natural watering , as long as it stops soon . A few of us meeting in the Horseshoe at half 12 to raise a glass or two in memory of Falkirkbandit ( wee Marty ) . Rest in peace wee man , we had some great times on speedway trips

Entertainment to my mind is where ever race is not over by the first bend and if it is your track staff are directed to sort it out. I remember a number of years ago being at Workington when the Bandits were taking a comfortable lead after four heats out came Messers Stonehewer and Thomas with the track staff and that track was completely changed allowing a easy win for the Comets. It was clear our guys were being out gated but there was nothing for them to work with once they left the gate. If you ain’t got home advantage after the first four heats make dam sure you do after heat five. I rest my case!!!

Win on Tuesday & hope that when the rules are made up we go through

Wonder if we will take a leaf out the Monarchs book and ride under protest, now that would be ironic double standards yet again but only when it suits.

Agree it's not acceptable he's missing this. No matter if it was pre arranged or not the maximum facility allowed should be NL guest. Can understand riding in your own country but this is Poland today I believe. Stronger monarchs team without him but reckon still a Glasgow win. We have won in the past when not expected so you never know. Good to have Glasgow on a Sunday afternoon just seems right.

Definitely Yes!!! My son and his best mate - both late 30/early 40 and regular fans over several years - attended their first meeting of the season on Wednesday. When the parade began and the music started, they both looked at each other and burst out laughing - and that was before we got tonked on track!! Personally although of pension age myself, what happened 70 years ago means very little to me and I really hope that after the Birthday meeting on Thursday, we can move forward. MF has mentioned 'changes to the presentation' a couple of times and I sincerely hope there are to be things of a more modern era in the pipeline.

Having no team suits is crap. Having that ancient marching music is an embarrassment and totally cringworthy.

Dejavu again, no fault of the promotion though. Why is it, we always seem to be playing catch up, some clubs will actually have had 3 league meetings (weather permitting) before our first league meeting. Should be all clubs start their league fixtures in the same week, not a month in advance of other clubs.

Aldershot, Ballymena, Barrow, Belle Vue Hyde Road, Birmingham Perry Barr, Bristol Eastville, Coatbridge, Coventry, Cradley Heath, Eastbourne, Edinburgh Old Meadowbank, Exeter, Glasgow White City, Glasgow Hampden Park, Glasgow Blantyre Stadium, Hackney, Halifax, Hull, Ipswich, King’s Lynn, Leicester, Liverpool, Long Eaton, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, New Cross, Newport, Norwich, Oxford, Poole, Rayleigh, Reading Tilehurst, Reading Smallmead, Rye House 1 (1957 track), St Austell, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke Hanley, Sunderland, Swindon, Wembley, West Ham, Weymouth, White City, Wimbledon, Wolverhampton, Workington 47 tracks listed, can anyone add to these?

Exactly.Huge opportunity to build on what was a happy,entertained crowd after a great meeting last week blown big time.

If the opportunity presented itself, it would be criminal not to make a move to slot him in. Kildemand was asked this at the press conference by Piratebleedsblue and dodged the question. He could easily have said that he is on his way once CH returns. He didn’t.

Very few people taking their places at Shielfield last night would have predicted what was about to happen, but take nothing away from Newcastle they thoroughly deserved their win and had Berwick not finally got into some kind of form in the later races Newcastle`s win might've been all the more convincing. Gating was vital last night and the away team were far better in virtually every race and with track conditions ultra slick passing was always going to be difficult. Hopefully for Berwick this performance was a one off, and it might be a blessing that it was in a non league match that saw such a poor night for normally reliable riders. I guess we will get some answers next week against a handy looking Lakeside team. Thank you and well done to Dick Barrie on a perfect tribute to the late Ivan Mauger and letting us remember Berwick supporter Martin Hastings.

It's no doubt more a case of let's see who of the three second placers is our preferred option before we devise a formula to meet that objective, rather than taking a chance on a pre-agreed formula that could throw up a totally random outcome

Nobody can ever convince me that a 'team' of riders all in different colour kevlars look as good as seven matching team suits. For the top division of a 'professional' sport it's not acceptable, in fact I'd say it should be compulsory for every team in our top two divisions.

Judging by his UK form probably paid him to go to Poland today.!!!!!!!

Captain Pugwash theme would be good

In the same vein we should be working towards going back to EDI asap for the Scottish Cup rain off whether its r/r for Harris or not. Pointless to drag it out. Similarly Worky home and away, this has been a problematic fixture over recent seasons. Get them agreed and out the way before the proper league business begins.

That's shocking , not like its a rearranged fixture , he should be at Ashfield . I remember Peter Waite sacking a rider for doing the same thing a few years back , and he was actually Polish . Makes it a better meeting cause r/r will score about half a dozen points more than Andersson would have , but its still a nonsense .

Does he? I'd of thought he'd have got rid of that to save a few bob.

I see that Dan scored 11 points out of 12 in Sweden riding for Vargarna in the Vetlanda Cup. augurs well for the future

Don't panic, it's all in the plan Only one rider practicing after meeting, do they not care? Don't they want to improve?

No good to us though is it. Needs to be riding like that when wearing a Poole race bib.

That was an absolute privilege watching The Brummies at Loomer Rd this evening.I even bumped into the legendary Potters supporter,Vog!

Highly speculative that he would be a prolific scorer, seems on the downward slide unlike Stevie who improves year on year. I would have thought Somerset would have suited him too. Worrall seemed really up for it this season as his scores, at home at least certainly bear some evidence of this. With a high home average and a moderate away one he would probably have climbed to about 8 this year. Don't think Hougaard has ever achieved that.

Redcar "Cubs" v Newcastle "Gems" scorecard. A good competitive first meeting of the season for both clubs. Kyran Lyden replaced Cubs regular Alex Goldsbrough who was ill on the day. Two special maximum men in Gavin Parr in the 500's and Archie Freeman in the 125/150 class. Pity that the machine problems of the Gems No 1 Josh probably cost the Gems a possible away victory. Good advert for the NJL.

Hougaard for Worrall is laughable Steve had started the season flying and on a low average that he looked like improving he will be nigh on impossible to replace. Nobody is saying he is a world champion just on an average that he looked like improving on and to replace that with someone else who could improve isnt easy and it certainly wouldnt be Hougaard!! As an example Howarth at Wolves looks on a low average , same for Ellis at Swindon. If either of those got injured i would say they would be more difficult to replace than either Thorsell or Morris for example.

I agree about the scoring system, it was one of British speedway's best ever ideas which worked really well, then they went and spoilt it by giving the home team three points for any win. Hopefully one day they'll put it back to how it was.

Agree but they probably don’t get paid for that and god forbid that they do something for nothing in order to improve their performance. It just seems that they don’t give a damn about the fans nor do they realise what a poor state the sport is in. They turn up do the four or five rides and leave. It is what it is, but they don’t realise that fans of the sport have options including more speedway on TV. If the riders cannot be bothered why should the supporters part with cash. Let’s hope the riders take a good look at what they have, because when it’s gone that will be it and they will only have themselves to blame.

I reckon: Last races on a UK track: His match-races at the Golden Greats at Coventry in 1988. Last appearance on a UK track: The very last four laps of Exeter in 2005.

Matts doing it with all the best intentions. His record in the last 19 years speaks for itself , and i have told him, nobody can take that away from him. Ablely assisted by Neil. Matt was a sponsor and fan before becoming a promoter. And i have the greatest respect for him as a person, and a promoter. Along with many many fans not just poole, he and his lovely wife, were great to me while i was in hospital, his words rang in my ears he calls a spade a spade. and im always happy to help him and Neil where i can.

While I understand the criticism of the new logo, in the 70th year of the club seems appropriate to me to pay homage to the club's heritage. I'd also add, while it's his main business, I've always had the impression Matt Ford sees himself as a custodian of the team. He was a fan before an owner and reinventing the club's image in an important year in its history might feel like overstepping his remit?

Ivan beat Jim McMillan 3-0 at Berwick on the night of the Bordernapolis meeting, 12th July 1975, before a crowd of 4,600. He beat Peter Collins 2-1 at Ellesmere Port on 15th July 1975, when the attendance was double the normal figure. Ivan's appearance at Canterbury was on 22nd June 1974, the night of the meeting against Bradford.

Worrall was pretty slow all afternoon, couldnt make a gate and almost got reeled in by Pickering in one heat. Track was totally different to what it would be on a Friday night but im not excusing him. Wells was actually ok, just a difficult ht13. Couple of decent races, ht14 being the pick as Vissing went from last to first to take it on the line from Riss M. Ht4 was from an 0131 perspective as Pickering passed Harris then Sarjeant on the last turn for a rather embarrassing 1-5. It'll now be a whole 5 weeks until we see Edinburgh again. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Bring on Sheffield a week on Friday.

I agree that it was Ivan Mauger at Bradford on August 3, 1957.

Don't mention Eileen. Come on.

Oh come on, thats Rob, he just jokes around, for certain Duffy knew he was joking about his mother. With regards to Damian Bates he was very respectful of Sheffield Speedway and it was an interesting question/answer, remember when Damian came back with "current champions", a good riposte. I for one and many others around me appreciate his comparing greatly. Rob wears his heart on his sleeve and sometimes says too much at times but I wasnt offended at all during the meeting. Shaun Leigh did fine at Scunny but I think Rob is much better for us as he has a vested interest. At Sheffield on the Thursday I could barely hear Shaun due to the quiet sound system.

Well they weren't last week when they beat the all dominating Glasgow Tigers. Course they could have been riding against a better gating side last night, it happens.

Hang on if it wasn't for us people of a older age there might not be any speedway you right though younger people need to connect with the sport otherwise it will be gone

Raise a glass for me Paulco. Only met him a few times in Horseshoe with you .He was a sound bloke. Footie for me first then rush to ashfield so hopefully catch later.

i hear youre up here next Sunday for the restaging of the Shield meeting

We have a main sponsor in Volvo Cars. I would like to think this is a one off for our 70th aniversary year. The walk on music is good, brings back memories for the older fans, its also very uplifting, far better than Pirates of the carribean imo. But maybe as a compromise they could change back to team kevlars but keep the bibs and keep the music.

Don't think many seen that coming,,, great stuff.

That was in the Havelock days long gone them now , none are title winners , i would say Redcar have the better side as it stands ,but pretty sure Nicki Pedersen can be brought in from May on an OAP average

When was even showed with out doubt that she was not fit to defend herself ? that was all about opinion ...quite clearly the court thought otherwise as they returned not guilty verdicts once all the facts come to light .having bad morals and being found guilty of rape are two different things completely something that you and the likes Webster fail to understand The bottom is some girl thought It was fun to get off with some footballers then cry rape in the morning and try to cash in on it ...if that is your high morals your welcome to them .

He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

I visit Devon frequently and the plight of Torquay United obviously gets a great deal of media coverage there. For those who don't follow the lower reaches of football Osborne runs that unfortunate football club which has during most of its existence played in the bottom tier of the Football League. For the first time in its modern history they are on the brink of relegation to their lowest status, National League South, two tiers below their traditional level in the Football Lleague. All kinds of promises have been made which will sound familiar to speedway supporters. There's the purchase or lease of a stadium in a prime development area, the running-down of the venue amidst talk of a shiny new replacement stadium. Recently his business has taken back control of the pub adjoining the ground. The newspaper report refers to Stadia UK's 'record in running leisure facilities'. Funny, to the outsider it would seem their principal activity, rather like the GRA is to groom stadia for highly lucrative redevelopment. One of the promises is to sort out the Gulls' training ground, which apparently is literally bogged down by poor drainage, again a familiar concept to those familiar with the tattier end of the Abbey Stadium car park, once also a planned site for development.The football club itself is supposed to move from residential Plainmoor to a new site further out of town. People are getting a touch suspicious in Torbay. In some ways I'd respect them if Stadia UK came out and admitted that they simply want to redevelop stadia and stop putting up smokescreens. Hopefully Torquay United will prove to be a step too far. Despite their status football matters to communities, and not just the local market and will get noticed well, outside their area in a way that speedway has never been able to. I suspect that serious journalists, and not from the sports desk, will be taking an interest in the business as the situation in Torbay worsens.

I think it's more to do with trying to ensure away teams are sent home pointless. Fewer points your opposition take is less chance of them making the top 4 play offs. It's all about the end of season points tally that counts. Anything you can do to restrict points scoring by the opposition the better.

I wonder if they will still be of the same opinion if or when Brandon is demolished? Can the housing developers be stopped from removing stuff, digging up the track and drainage etc? heard the other day they have had a quote to tear down and remove the hangers. I'd love to be back at Brandon just like any other Bees fan, but the chances of it ever happening I'd say are minute.

An obscure entry but Ivan won a meeting at York Stadium, Green Hammerton, near York in 1982. It was essentially a shale-surfaced trotting track and I recently visited to view Harness Racing which was quite interesting for a first visit!

Not the place or time for past grudges. The girl was close to death for quite some time. I think she has gone through enough.