britmet

I think we'd all like to see matches per se speeded up, but then the 15-heat programme would be even less of a night's entertainment and be over well within an hour, and fans would consider they've had even less for their money, esp'ly when you're forking out for a family . . . then Second Halves certainly would be necessary to justify your spend.

Second Halves served a useful purpose: - Winner (of 4) in the Novice Race got to ride (against programmed 3) in the Juniors' Race; - winner of the Jnrs got to ride against 3 team reserves in the Reserves Race, - and that winner got a ride against the #1s to #5s (plus home #6) in one of the 3 heats. Hence a new name could even get to the Scratch Final, - for example if a regular grass-tracker decided to try out speedway. So a rider got an opportunity to prove himself and claim a team place on current form, (and not on historical statistics. ) There's no facility for that today. . . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

Chance tomorrow (Saturday) to see some racing at Rye house again, - the 5-round BMR Flat Track Series, Rd.1 23 June Rd.2 28 July Rd.3 25 August Rd.4 29 September Rd.5 20 October After 2 rounds #500, Rob Mear, is the unbeaten Pro-Class leader, with Vince Hurst and Jon Bell in equal 2nd spot. Update yourself on Flat Track [url=http://www.speedwaychampions.com/flat-track.php] HERE [/url] . . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

The paying public on the terraces were obviously kept waiting even longer ! That's the problem ! !

Watched one of the videos on the SGB site a couple of days ago when the bulk of the video was 4 riders digging around ! - mostly off their machines, . . . .for far longer than the race itself. It needs controlling, i.e. limiting.

Former Cradley Heath and Reading rider Joe Weichlbauer (1966 & '67; 1968 resp'ly,) passed away on July 24th 2018, age 76, just a few weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Born in Graz, Austria in April 1942, he emigrated to Western Australia c.1964 along with fellow Austrian Gunther 'Hec' Haslinger, where both of them took up speedway at the 640yd Claremont Speedway, Perth. Weichlbauer accompanied Chum Taylor to the UK in 1966 when the Heathens signed the new Aussie champ, but at 367yds, little more than half the size of Claremont, the junior found Dudley Wood difficult and had a limited 14 matches for the injury-stricken Heathens. In '68 he moved to Reading in the newly formed British Lge Div.2 and averaged 6.88 across the season. (Hec Haslinger came to the UK in 1970 and rode for Doncaster Dragons, moving over to the re-opened Birmingham the following year when the licence was transferred. Hec returned to Oz after the '71 season, but having married here, Joe remained in the UK, spending the last 40 years in Shropshire.) Joe Weichlbauer: Graz, April 1942 – Salop, July 24th, 2018.

Future re-broadcast dates and times given at the end of the D.Telegraoh article, - see post "Telegraph Article Today". http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

I hadn't spotted this, - read the brief mtg review and results on the preceding page then binned it. Pics were coloured, but made b/w here for clarity of text. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

The first round of the British Sidecar Speedway Championship starts this Saturday, May 5th at Leicester speedway. A full 16-rider, 20-heat plus winner-take-all Final event, the championship of the 1000cc monster no-brake combinations is supported with 500cc machines in the 28 race programme. Admission is £10, U16 Free. There is a practice on the evening of the 4th (Friday) between 6:30 and 9:30pm. . Through the course of the year 4 rounds of the championship, which climaxes at Belle Vue in October, will be supported by a number of open meetings. Rd.1 Leicester May 5th Rd.2 Somerset June 1st Rd.3 Kings Lynn July 14th Rd.4 Belle Vue Oct. 13th https://www.sidecarspeedway.co.uk/ Past results, British, World and more, [url=http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php] HERE [/url]

After 3 rounds, when winners were Whitelam & Elliot (at Leicester,) and Cossar & Blyth (at Somerset, and at Kings Lynn,) the overall standing going into the Final Rd at Belle Vue in October is : - Mark Cossar & Carl Blyth, 31 (from 40) Paul Whitelam & Alan Elliott, 30 (from 43) Mick Cave & Bradley Steer 24 (from 34) Rod Winterburn & Billy Winterburn 22 (from 22, - 2 rds only ridden.) (the Championship is decided by the best 3 rounds from 4.) . So its all down to the last round on Oct. 13th. . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php

Results from Redcar: Spaniard Gerard Bailo on a Kawasaki took Rd. 3 of the 2018 DTRA British Championship, the first Spaniard to top the DTRA rostrum. 2nd was Rob Mears, 3rd Toby Hales. Mike Hill won the Thunderbikes Final . Rd. 4 is a TT round, (right-hand bend plus jumps,) at Greenfields, Lincs. on July 7. & 8th. Full Flat Track data HERE www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

Just double-checked with the FIM website, - its not the 'World Championship Pairs'. ., its called the 'Speedway of Nations' competition. But one man can't be a nation, and neither can 2 men. If you're trying to identify the top nation, then just like the football world cup, it has to be a team, .. of the usual size that predominates in that sport: in football its 11, in speedway its 7, - (okay, I'll consider 6 or 8 . ) Football wouldn't have a World Cup that put up Ronaldo v. Kane v. Bales v. X v.Y, etc. in a shoot-out. Lets get back to proper internationals - we already have a Championship that determines the best rider, ( and we used to have a Pairs competition.)

If you can have a league where the team that tops the league table after 6 months isn't the league champions, then why expect the top points scoring pair not to have do something similar after completing the schedule ? I'm not defending the format, just pointing out the analogues.

Results to date after two rounds of the DTRA British Flat Track Championship sponsored by Indian Motorcycles: Rd.1 @ Kings Lynn, April 7th : - 1st Toby Hales, 2nd Gerard Bailo (SP), 3rd George Pickering. . Rd.2 @ Peterborough, May 19th : - 1st Aidan Collins, 2nd Toby Hales, 3rd Johnny Lewis (USA). Rd.3 is at Redcar, June 9th.

The Silver Helmet and the Bronze Helmet are U21 and U19 events respectively. You can see all Polish Gold, Silver and Bronze Helmet winners since inception in the '60s HERE . . www.speedwaychampions.com

Speedway concession price for the evening £13, . . .MCN Festival concession price if you booked by Thursday £11. So remember for next year,. . . buy a Festival ticket and make the day of it, and stay in the ground for the evening, (there's music, bands, beer tents, kiddies rides, etc. ongoing.) Enjoyed my first time at the Fest, a great family party day out, glorious weather, and several speedway connections and people to chat with, - and it got every biker away from those other 2 events happening yesterday, (unless you availed yourself of the TV link-ups in one of the bars.)

Its own page . . . . ! http://www.mcnfestival.com/speedway

Tonights mtg at P'boro is part of the MCN-BMF 'Festival of Motorcycling', a 2-day event over the weekend. http://www.mcnfestival.com/ . .Includes the DTRA British Flat track Championship. TEST RIDE the very latest 2018 machines Meet star guest FREDDIE SPENCER Hear some of the world's most exotic MOTOGP MACHINES FIRE-UP! Experience full-on FLAT TRACK RACING ACTION - witness the thrills & spills Bag some BARGAIN KIT Browse the massive CLUB ZONE PARTY HARD - there's live music and a late bar

Tamworth, April 14th: Darrin Treloar & Jesse Headland dominated the Australian Sidecar Speedway Championship meeting from their first lap, giving Darrin his 10th Australian Championship and Jesse his first. The racers that lined up next to Darrin & Jesse in the A Final, were Andrew Buchanan & Denny Cox who finished 2nd, Trent Headland & Daz Whetstone 3rd, with Mark Plaisted & Ben Pitt taking that final spot on the podium in 4th.

Thanks Ian for keeping up updated thru the season. Much appreciated. . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

Sorry old boy, didn't know it was a soap saga.

. The Golden Helmet event initiated in the meeting of Wed.19th continued weekly and Niss, the winner at that first meeting, ( 2 heats and a Final) took the overall season GH prize with 42 pts. The GH continued in the second season of 1930, to be won by Herbert Drews with 68pts, but in 1931 the event was abandoned after just one mtg, which Drews won. . Full details of the weekly GH event winners, 1929- 31 are given in the 'Golden Helmets, A - Z' section of Speedway Champions site, HERE with further narrative as follows: . . . . The first purpose-built dirt track in Germany was constructed in the Hamburg district of Lokstedt in 1929 by a UK/Danish consortium, United Speedway Ltd., who operated it alongside its Roskildeveg, Copenhagen site, built the previous year. Each stadium included a greyhound circuit in addition to the 1/3 mile speedway track, and star riders and their bikes, including British stars such as Bill Kitchen, were often flown between the two venues. From the opening Hamburg meeting in July '29 both venues ran a 'Golden Helmet' competition, - see the Roskildeveg GH results, 1929- '31, in the adjacent Danish GH table - , where weekly stagings were restricted to native riders who accumulated points towards an end-of-season total and the award of a Golden Helmet. The first winner was Fritz Niss, who won 4 of the weekly finals and totalled 42 points, (presumably from a scoring basis of 5-3-2-1 that was known to have been the Copenhagen system,) though he was being drawn down on by Herbert Drews toward the end of the year. Drews went on to become the 1930 overall winner with 5 weekly successes and 68 pts. The 1931 competition was abandoned after the initial event, though racing at Lokstedt continued up to 1933. . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

Yesterday's NZ Sidecar results from New Zealand New Zealand SOUTH Island Sidecar Championship, - Oreti Park, Sat. March 24th 1st - Aiden Thwaites & Shane Twiss 2nd - Paul Humphrey & Ricky Pubben 3rd - James Douglas & Harley Biddle 4th - Erwin Tree & Bret Pubben 5th - Shaun Kerr & Robin Poole http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php

I realised many years ago that I'm too old and too wise to stand outside in April and October ! (March doesn't even come into it.)

A comprehensive section on speedway in Rhodesia, - Northern, Southern and UDI -, has been added to the Speedway-SA website. http://www.speedway-sa.com/rhodesia.php . It includes full Fixture Lists for the 2 periods of racing, in the 1950s and in the '70s, at the 3 tracks where league racing and individual competitions were staged, involving touring parties from the British League. Match results, League and rider points tables are included, as well as detail of Internationals and Golden Helmet MRCs, plus team, portrait, and action shots. . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com