Bryce

I read every issue and thoroughly enjoy them. The quality of the articles is superb, evoking many happy memories of the 70s and 80s. I see no reason why including the 90s would be a bad thing. Just think, Tony, of all the extra material available to you overnight! World Finals of the 90s, the dawn of the GP era, world cups, 10 years of league and cup exploits, not to mention numerous individuals of interest that currently miss the cut off date. Go for it, I think your readers will be overwhelmingly supportive of the idea.

That's me done with live speedway then. I don't have a car and the effort and expense required to get to the nearest tracks on public transport makes it a non starter for me. I'll maybe make one or two trips to meetings during the year, but after 45 years I'll no longer have a team of my own to support.

This is sad news. Bernie was one of those guys every team needs. Totally reliable without being a superstar. RIP Bernie.

As an idea for encouraging team continuity; how about allowing a discount on rider averages for team building purposes if a rider stays at the same club for the new season. For example a rider finishes with an average of 7.49. If he stays with same club then a discount of half a point is given for team building purposes. His average becomes 6.99 if he stays put, but remains 7.49 if he changes teams. Even if the entire team is retained the total benefit is just 3.5 points. Not enough to unbalance the league, but enough to encourage retaining riders.

Very impressed with the atmosphere at Derwent Park, and the words of Laura Morgan there. Grats again to the Comets, thoroughly deserving champions.

Lovely to have the live online radio coverage. Such a shame that the Hammers are putting in their worst performance of the entire season. Congratulations to the Comets. A great team and some great fans. Let's hope and pray that both sides are back at the tapes next season.

It was indeed a very poor crowd. The smallest I've seen at Rye by quite a margin. One thing I did find amusing was the way they zoomed through the first ten heats before taking a track grading break. It was almost as if they didn't trust the lights to stay on or something.

The sport needs an appropriate sponsor to hi-light what it's all about. I suggest Billy Smart's Circus.

I have a horrible suspicion that tonight's farce may be the final death knell for many supporters, if not for the Hammers as an entity. I hope JCF's imaginary train journey was better than my actual one. No direct trains to London because of engineering works. Had to change at Broxbourne, and the first train when we got there was cancelled too. Just got home after a long incredibly frustrating day. Not speedway's finest hour. Another low which may be the end of a desperately sad season.

The track may have been small, but it definitely wasn't s##t. The primary grumble Hammers fans are having regarding Rye House is that the standard of racing it allows is much poorer than what we had at the Arena. This does not mean we aren't grateful to still have a team. We are thankful of the help Rye House have given to us.

It's normally £70 or more. Last night was a very low crowd and that was reflected in the lack of 50/50 ticket sales

It's ironic that the Arena Essex track got a lot of criticism regarding the quality of racing. Those of us that were regulars know that it was usually far better than it was ever given credit for. Alas, Rye House is a long way from being anywhere near as good as Arena was. It's a real gate and go affair. It's fast, yes, but passing moves are few and far between.

That was a horrible looking crash last night. I feared the worst when Richard starting frantically yelling for help for Ty. Such a relief to see Ty walk back to the pits eventually. As a Hammers fan of course I'm unhappy with the result, but full credit has to go to the Comets for a great performance even after they were down to 5 men. Still, it's not over yet so hopefully we can bounce back today and pinch the trophy from the Comets grasp. I can't help but feel that losing our home track advantage has been very costly to Lakeside. If we end up not winning anything I certainly wouldn't begrudge the Comets some silverware. Like us, their fans have had a long long wait for some glory.

I wouldn't be shocked if the meaningless league fixture gets used for manipulation of rider averages with next year in mind. Let's just hope both sides get through the match injury free.

club website has just posted an update insisting the meeting is on. Massive optimism or pure desperation?