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While I understand it's a pointless meeting, the clubs are made to ride it. So should the riders

Sadly it does itself few favours this sport does it? A whole seasons work from the riders.. And a whole seasons support from the fans.. All treated with complete disregard and disrespect, just to deliver a deadline.. A deadline that could, and should, be moved to much earlier in the year given how many weeks no Speedway takes place, which would then provide plenty of reserved nights for rain offs/fixture clashes etc.. Thus giving the showpiece events (and the riders) the platform they deserve.. When those who run the sport treat their showpiece events so poorly, then why really should the fans bother? Rinse and repeat again next season too no doubt..

Niggling back injury taking longer to heal than a toe/knee injury!!

A short while ago a ' junior ' fixture took place at a northern track and a young child was excluded by the referee allegedly for causing another young child to crash. Not an unusual occurance you might think but the race was filmed and the alleged offender was extremely upset that he may have been the cause of injurys to his friend that he didn't want to race again. Upon review of the footage it was clear there was no contact and the faller had crashed due to lack of experience in a race situation. The excluded riders team manager now had a traumatised rider not wanting to race ever again so he decided to show the referee the footage in the hope that the ref would speak to the accused rider , after the meeting, to reassure him that it was just a racing incident and he should continue riding his bike in future. The said manager was invited into the refs box by another official , having knocked and asked to speak with the ref. The ref was told about the footage and asked to view it but refused in no uncertain term and demanded the manager leave the box post haste. ok, all fine and well, just a team manager and a ref disagreeing you might say, happens all the time. But.... the S.C.B. ( Neil Vatcher ) has now decided the team manger has breached rule 3:2:8 and has been fined £100 . Failure to pay leads to an automatic speedway ban. lets get this in context. A certain Premiership ( and former G.P. ) rider was find £65 for ASSAULT on an official at the Fours event at Peterborough. Where is the level playing field here? The manager is an unpaid volunteer who travels far and wide at his own expense and pays for the privilege of helping our future riders. He has not previously transgressed and is well thought of within the sport. Surely an official reprimand at most would have sufficed but no, £100 fine and Vatcher will not reply to any discussion on the matter. The Premiership riders fine was based on £65 being the average payment a rider of that calibre should be paid per point ( yes, that's honestly what the S.C.B. said!) In that case why is the team manger being fined at all? He doesn't get paid! In this country even a criminal is given his 5 minutes in court to put his side of the story but not with the S.C.B. it seems unless the unpaid team manger wants to pay another £150 to appeal, take time off work, travel to Rugby and go before other S,C.B. officials in the hope they vote against Mr.Vatchers decision. So now the sport will be a £100 richer but the poorer for losing an enthusiastic volunteer who gave his all to help the speedway kids in his area. Well done the S.C.B.

That was a long winded reply for i got it wrong. You like those long winded replies, i lost interest after Gazc.

Not every team does!!! Glasgow did though!!! but Gazc didn't... Disappointment it is then for Gazc... But Worky Worky thinks Gazc could be swayed... But Gazc is adamant... no Rasmus for Gazc as Rasmus has never impressed him.... Really... Worky Worky finds that hard to believe... Honestly... I mean really... HONESTLY Oh hang on whats this... well well well... what a turn around... well... light blue touch paper and stand well back Honestly Though my Alzheimer's was bad however it cant be that bad as I seem to always remember "Hypocrisy" and "sanctimonious clap trap" and it usually comes from pub landlords and as it happens and there is nothing more pious than a retired pub landlord as you can see from the thread above Want some "Squirty Cream" with that "Humble Pie" Gazc? I'm sure your little "Pogue" pals could shake some out for you. Oh and some mild salve for the teeth marks on you bottom? as those posts have come back to bite a little bit have they not Slated Rasmus from the start then turn into a Sycophant "Pure Class"... Sarj was bigged up as a better option than Rasmus... Really... of course you turned on Sarj as soon as he was dumped but we wont mention that or the way you slated young Kyle Bickley who was another rider you didn't rate and castigated as not being worthy of a place at Glasgow and that you would rather keep Luke Chessell and Joe Lawlor (remember them)... doubt they would have put an uplift on their averages of nearly 90% like young Kyle did... even Rasmus has only managed an increase of 37% on his starting average to date... but not bad for a rider you didn't rate like eh... Think Worky Worky was right you were swayed... and you definitely wouldn't have Sarj in place of Rasmus that is for sure... must be hard work being a sanctimonious old "raspberry tart" all the time Like Jenga would say... Bill-Shot... and you me old pal... are absolutely full of it... Regards THJ

And with 2 such young and talented teams the losing riders were always going to get future shots at glory anyway. But HGould has summed it up, in conditions like that the winning team will always say it's fine, and the losing team will say it should of been stopped.

Got all my progs of attended meetings and the reference books, but my magazines went years ago. I haven't brought the Star on a regular basis since 1993!

I think that having no gp’s and no world under 21’s to think about next year will do Robert the world of good definitely thought that his work load was to much this year. Don’t know if he is likely to get a place in the sec but should be able to cope with that. An injury free year will also help him regain his 2018 form and we mustn’t forget he still is only 21

glad i didnt bother, times between 4 and 7 secs slower than usual, important meeting turned into a bit of a lottery .

Having a closer look at Lindbacks record this season it isnt that bad 9 GP's 5 semi finals......unable to make a final..........and only missed another semi final on countback on 8 points........2 poor gp's in Slovenia and Czech Laguta only made 3 semi finals Iversen made 4 semis but converted that into 3 finals Zagar made 4 semis and converted 2 into finals Could any other newcomer have the level of consistency that Lindback has shown? Granted Lindback is unlikely to threaten the top 6 but would any of Drabik, Smektala or Lambert do so or even Michelsen? As i said someone has to come 12th or 13th

Having nothing much to do on a damp Monday morning I have had a look at the averages. When Worrall was injured I calculated his average for this season to be 8.76 (including bonus points). The Lions have used 8 different guests (16 meetings) and, on one occasion, rider replacement. Including bonus points the average works out at 8.71. More or less identical!

I can safely predict that this will be the most important AGM for years and that major changes are needed to ensure speedways survival..... Then on the Monday we'll find out nothing has changed and that the same crap will continue and be allowed to ruin this sport further still. That's until the AGM of 2020 which will again be the most important one ever.

It's hard to compare the one-off final and Grand Prix eras but I think Tai winning three Grand Prix world titles puts him at the top of my list. I'm not sure that either of the PC's would have won three Grand Prix titles and Price and Williams were Wembley riders when the final was held on their home track. Neither were that dominant in league racing. When Tommy won in 1949 he was 8th in the league averages and Freddie was 14th in the averages in 1950 and 7th in 1953. There is an argument for suggesting that neither would have been World Champion if the final had been held elsewhere. My list would be 1. Tai Woffinden 2. Peter Craven 3. Peter Collins 4. Michael Lee 5. Mark Loram 6. Freddie Williams 7. Gary Havelock 8. Tommy Price

There is no way they will make the mistake of not having him back again after 2018. And with the new TV deal in place with Eurosport surely they won't do anything stupid at the AGM which would stop riders like Doyley riding here.

We do not wait for a perfect track.....we get these playoffs done and dusted by end of August....not in October when we get rain and cold weather (shock horror).

Why would the ref need to inspect the track as no one fell because of it, riders were able to ride close together and there was overtaking. Kyle Bickley has said on facebook that it wasnt the track it was the large rain drops causing poor visability. A race or 2 after the short break when the visitors wanted the meeting off, Dan Gilkes caught Rob Ledwith, rode a lap outside him and then took the lead, not sure if it was deliberate but it showed you could ride close to others with too many issues. A lot of experts on here and facebook who werent even at the meeting. I had riders from both teams say the track was better then friday at NSS. And in anycase when a track gets tricky surely it wipes out the home advantage and helps the away team. A couple of quotes from Colts riders and management after friday suggested the lead was smaller then it could of been as the rain made the traffic different to normal. So a wet track in Manchester helps the away team and an equally wet track in Kent's helps the home team!?!?!

Forget the result as it is meaningless. The main factor is that all the riders were able to walk away relatively unscathed. How the meeting referee is allowed to officiate anywhere is incredulous. No desire to leave his warm, dry and cosy box to inspect the track at any time, although requested numerous times. It is a thankless job refereeing any sport as you will never get it right for either set of supporter's, but when you take into consideration the referee is also responsible for the riders safety. Then a good hard look in the mirror is necessary and ask oneself would you have ridden in the prevailing conditions? (Even if it looks okay from the box your sat in)

I was devastated when Thommo left Hackney in 81, although it didn't turn out too bad as he was lining up for us most weeks as our number 8. Plus scoring big in the NL meant he scored well for the Hawks as he was full of confidence. Of course 'the messiah' came home in 84 along with six other riders who I didn't have a clue about, but 'Angel' Andy Galvin, Paul Whitt and good old Moggo turned out to be Hackney legends. It was no more than Thommo deserved when he was part of our fantastic league and cup double year of 88.

I think its fair to say that as much as most of us are in agreement that Lindback is lucky to get a pick, he hasn't been chosen in front of a possible title contender, he's been picked over younger riders who would mostly likely finish a few places above or below 8th place. So yes not a brilliant pick but also hardly complete travesty. averaged 7 points a GP, make a decent amount of semis. Not a huge fan of his, but I dont think its a complete travesty. RE Hancock, he's deserved this wild card at the absolute very least. Despite his age and time out, I'd be very surprised if he wasn't competitive. If he isn't he will bow out gracefully. Thats the kind of guy he is. Laguta, well Id prefer his brother but is is Artem one of the best 15 riders in the world? I think most would agree absolutely.

Not a surprise, but this from the SGP website says it all. Hancock is set for an historic return to speedway in a year, which will see him become the first 50-year-old to compete in the SGP series, when he celebrates his half-century on June 3, 2020. This is not a sporting decision, this is a marketing decision. If we are going purely from sport, there is literally zero evidence that he is capable of competing after what, 15-16 months out of the saddle? Whilst I am not a fan after his pathetic bullying campaign against Nicki, I truly hope that he can compete otherwise it will prove the mockery of the system. So many questions... How much will they hype his age up next season? How much influence do Monster have in this process? Was that the real reason Monster flew him over to Cardiff? Is he definitely riding? Because if not it will be unfair on the reserve call-up if that rider gets told he's riding the series at the very last minute.

Yet it was the closest contested GP series I can remember, World Championship decided in the semi finals of the final GP of the series.

I’d have thought it’s time to move on from Worrall.

Just as well i wasn’t a team manager in that case !!!- i would have been useless.

Prague is a great city but the track and racing are as dull as dishwater.