Leaderboard

The Eastbourne team relocated to Hastings for the 1948 season and Pat Flanagan had rides at both tracks. The reference to him as 'Bud' was merely copying the name of the music hall entertainer Bud Flanagan, who later sang the theme to the Dad's Army television programme. It was common for early post-war meetings in Ireland to have teams that were mixed and matched to ensure competitive events and it was not uncommon for riders brought over from the UK to appear both for and against the hosts in the course of a season. With Pat having an Irish sounding name it was fitting that he should represent 'Ireland' at Santry in the first meeting. With the local riders having very limited experience it was sensible to ensure that the riders invited from the UK should contain a mix of established and junior riders, hence the inclusion of riders such as Pat who were just beginning their speedway careers.

It’s the “Warriors Shale Track Racing Club” The Wightlink Warriors today announce the launch of the “Warriors Shale Track Racing Club” which will encompass all racing events staged at the Smallbrook Stadium. The club, which will be open for membership, will offer riders of all ages and ability the opportunity to participate in many different race classes on the country's largest shale circuit. Warriors Shale Track Racing Club Co-owner Barry Bishop said, “Martin and I are delighted to be able to extend the reach of shale track racing to a far greater rider and fan base than ever before with the support of NORA Motorsport. We will now be able to develop riders in many different shale track classes and incorporate them into our fabulous summer spectacular race series. Again, we cannot wait to welcome fans, riders and sponsors once more to Smallbrook for a non-stop feast of entertainment and further details will be released in due course.

Blamed? No but rightly flagged up as an issue that needs to be solved by stadium owners and their tenants

If anyone has noted the Tigers fixtures in their diaries, from the original fixture list, please re-check the fixtures as there have been some changes. I do wish the management would put an announcement notice on their website/facebook pages when they do this. If fans have made any arrangements, they can start thinking about alternatives. Would also be nice if an explanation for the changes was given. I understand the need for any fixtures prior to 17th May, but not the others.

Sorry for hijacking the Scunthorpe thread with this... But... Another point to expand on my earlier point of 6 man teams, which makes the idea even more of an oversight in my opinion is that individual rider demands would be somewhat lowered in that they would go from competing in 4/5 races per meeting to potentially 5/6 (probably even 7 with rider replacement if that was in use). So using the likes of Jake Allen as an example, especially paired with a Premiership team, his earnings would be significantly higher than as it is currently. 1 less rider to find per team, riders earning more, what’s not to like?

I can’t stand Godfrey, but in this case fair play to him for standing his ground on this one. All too often in British Speedway promotors have caved and bowed down to rider demands, which is one of the reasons we are in the state we are in as a whole.

With the start of the season now a little over a month away have any clubs released plans surrounding that actual attendance of a meeting? I assume I won't be turning up to the turnstiles at 19:25, handing over my cash and heading off directly to where I always stand? I've just read on the Leicester website that Stewart Dickson is "happy with the reduced capacity we are being advised on", well I'm happy for him, what I don't know is what this means for me and other fans. Are matches going to be all ticket affairs, should I travel to an away match on the off chance of being let in. If it is all ticket how do I get a ticket, what if I don't have the internet (obviously as I've posted this I do but some won't). Is each club devising their own systems or are the governing body issuing guidelines? Anybody have any ideas?

Apologies to all you football haters but this is special times to be a Narwich fan. Recruitment was poor last time around. I think the club said they had made the Premiership a year ahead of when they ideally wanted to be there and the finances weren’t in place to spend on the squad. Plus there were a lot of young uns who weren’t quite ready ( Lewis, Godfrey, Arrons, Cantwell to name a few). This time I think they will make more of a fist of it. The real big issue is how many of the players they need can they keep hold off. That’s the big challenge. As for Speedway, I so want to fall back in love with it, but they don’t make it easy. Maybe a strong start to the season will rekindle the interest enough to give it a look.

This was an area I posted on about 3 or 4 years ago to try & eliminate or cut down the use of guests. With riders having more races they could potentially earn more & the fans to have more of a "home" team feel. If a rider was absent then you dispense with the R/R rule but use the IIR rule instead where 2 riders above & below the missing rider could take the extra rides which would be a more balanced replacement. A no7(as a no8 now) must be named to take the reserve riders place when necessary.

Newcastle were allocated a ridiculously low capacity by the local authority which led the Diamonds to say that it was not economical to run on that basis. That statement has now been withdrawn so presume discussion is ongoing. If that is replicated by local authorities across the UK....

I think you would be ill-advised to travel to any away meeting without having a pre-purchased ticket - at least up to June 21st! Some clubs eg Plymouth and Eastbourne + probably others have announced their advance ticketing policy on their websites and will/have likely announcements in their respective local media. Other clubs are simply waiting a little longer for final confirmation on attendance numbers/ social distancing/facemasks.

Thé joys of Brexit part 2,542

Big Roll ? Are the burgers that bad these days Saturday night should see them clinch promotion. I think in all the years I’ve watched The Canaries I don’t recall a total Football side like this. Ok different era’s bring different styles but this season has been something else.

Nice that JD recognised the Newcastle situation and the similar difficulties that both clubs have experienced... unlike the Scottish Buffoon who had a pop in last week's Speedway Star... There isn't much out there with regard to 6+ averaged riders so Redcar may struggle unfortunately... unless the promotion can pull a rabbit out the hat with their New Zealand connections it may be a couple of 4 pointers or James Sarjeant and the eponymous A. N. Other... strange times indeed... Regards THJ

Of course there is a curfew at Kent . It is clearly laid out in the planning conditions.

Great to see this seasons race jackets on the club's twitter page, it's 1973 again! The retro approach is to be fully embraced by the management apparently. When you turn up for the first meeting in your flares and platform shoes, here's what you can expect: Wilson, Jessup & Boulger waiting in the wings to step up and replace injured/absent riders (riders drawing a pension to be allocated assessed averages of 5.00 by the SCB). Music played over the PA totally relevant to the era. (2019 stadium playlist will now be up to date and therefore retained). A packed stadium. Fans will see the 50p admission as great value for money. Bring it on!

Brilliant! "Cheque book Speedway survives world wide pandemic", anyone else can go fluff themselves, meanwhile the rest of us pray for the sport's survival.

If anything beneficial comes out of all of this it might be speedway venues being forced to drag their toilet facilities into the 21st century.

Spot on... It's been ran to Mickey Mouse rules for donkeys years so one more (wishful thinking), isn't going to make any difference to whether fans attend I would think... Pretty much a 'free pass' this year as fans will just want to see some racing.. Which riders make up the teams that race in front of them may differ from 'as advertised', but that's pretty usual even in 'normal years'....

The only problem was nearly all of them were hand timing and therefore not very accurate so they can nearly all be taken with a pinch of salt

They seem to have chosen him over Musielak so unless they have a late change of heart - yes they are. If they did make a change at some part of the season it would need to be a Pole to meet the requirement of 2 Poles in the top 5( excluding the U24 rider).

King knew Moran was on his inside and was concentrating on Moran. Gundersen came from nowhere. It's as simple as that.

Yep. Very familiar with how the race unfolded. Actually I would say that Gundersen's move started on the previous turn when he took the widest line and generated the speed to enable the overtake on the next turn. We could all do screen grabs of riders making mistakes in World Finals...there are hundreds of them. It's what separates the winners from the also-rans. Why didn't Malcolm Simmons close the door on Peter Collins in 1976? Why did Bruce Penhall leave a gap for Michael Lee in 1980? Why didn't Kenny Carter clamp down on Bruce Penhall in 1982? The riders that make mistakes don't win World Finals....and the riders that get it right do win World Finals. It really is that simple. And that's why Erik Gundersen is a three-times champion and Lance King and Shawn Moran are not. I just don't see anything amiss in this race at all...it's as authentic a race as you ever likely to see. Passing, repassing, a momentary mistake and a brilliantly executed killer move from an all-time great. Why would Gundersen risk his neck in the deep dirt if his two opponents were paid off? And why would they make it difficult by outgating and passing him? It just doesn't stack up. And if the best evidence is that some bloke on the terracing at Halifax said it....well, what I would say to that is that he wouldn't be the first bloke in Yorkshire to bluff and bluster on and pretend he knows more than he does about something. Furthermore, if Gundersen was the type to pay off or seek the help of others, why then did his long--time teammate Jan O Pedersen deny him a maximum and an outright win in their last heat at the 1988 World Final and force him into a run-off with Nielsen? That was ripe for collusion, but it didn't happen. So, let's not spend much more time questioning Gundersen's integrity, he was as genuine a winner as any of us could ever hope for in a world final.

There's one with Ole Olsen around the same time, too, where you can literally see him waving a couple of Danes past on the last lap.

think there could be a couple of clubs changing riders before the season starts if there riders can’t make it over here