Vincent Blachshadow

Ah, right. Thanks. I'm sure I can recall the winner (first in the final) getting fewer points than the runner-up at least once some years back.

So how does that work then? (first GP I've watched for a few years - since I stopped going to them, in fact). Four wins and a third place = 13 in the heats, a win in the semi and final = 6. Where does the extra point come from?

19. Came third in his first ride,

Todd Wiltshire made a comeback in 2006 after having had a farewell meeting in 2004.

But would that bother them seeing as they quite often ride in matches (as guests) that could knacker their own team's season.

Respect a man that aided others in an attempt to close the club down is asking too much.

Hull reopened at Craven Park in the mid 90s, which was also around a rugby league pitch, Hull Kingston Rovers this time. Never went to The Boulevard but I was told that Craven Park wasn't quite as narrow. I've seen some good meetings at Derwent Park, Workington, which was around a rugby pitch.

Well, certainly not at speedway meetings any more anyway. More's the pity.

Oh I know people all right. I know people who stopped going because the last time they went the away 'team' included five guests and R/R. I know people who stopped going because they supported Wednesday and Saturday teams but now have to go Monday and Thursday. I know people who packed up when they saw how easy some promoters will gang up to try and put a couple of rival tracks out of business. I know a couple who packed up because they saw riders riding for opposing teams one day then in the same team the next a division lower. There's other reasons people I know have packed up going too but hey, in your little world all people have stopped going because of poor teams. Fix that, heaven knows how these better teams will be paid for, but get these riders back and all will be well! At least I concede a few probably stopped going because of poor teams (some who know you, apparently) but you seem to have a blinkered view where other motives are concerned. And, since a good proportion of speedway fans in this country watch all three levels of the sport , why would the concept of 'poor teams' bother them unduly as long as the teams were reasonably well matched and conducive to good racing.

We need more than just the ones who've left because of poor teams back because, in my experience, they won't make much difference. With no particular team to call my own to support I've been watching my speedway wherever took my fancy and met several people around the country I chatted to at their tracks. Many have stopped going and not one of them has cited 'poor teams' as their reason for packing up going to speedway. I don't doubt some have stopped going for that reason, but, as I posted, I don't know of any.

It wasn't the parents my mate was referring to. You can't go into a school and start giving tickets away without permission and the reasons given (late nights and no homework time) were what he was being told when denied permission by head teachers to give tickets away.

One of the problems with giving away free tickets in schools, according to a promoter friend a few years back, is that it's a midweek sport. Out straight after tea and not back till after ten isn't conducive with getting homework done and going to bed at 'a suitable time' (his words) for many schoolchildren. Then there's the holidays, of course. A football-attending friend of mine tells me that the free tickets for matches are invariably for weekend games (at his club, anyway).

Well, the full title of the award is 'BBC Sports Personality of the Year' so it seems reasonable to give it to someone from a sport they actually cover.

Don't you just wait till March 1st when any rider not being used is fair game? Seem to recall this precedent being set by some club or other four or five years back.

A referee, however powerful he might be within speedway, can't over-rule a curfew and allow a match to carry on. In this instance, wasn't he fed the line that there was a curfew therefore he had no alternative but to stop the racing?

But has he guested for just about every team in both leagues as well this season?

I'm not entirely convinced that would happen. Wandering round chatting to folk now and again at the various tracks I go to during a season, I've discovered very few actually know the team situation at a given match before arriving at the track. To even know about changes you have to be on this forum, read the SS (and that won't tell you if the injury or whatever is quite recent), read the local press or the team's web-site. Quite a few of those I see don't do any of those, they just make up their minds to go to a match and they go. I've even come across those that will go to a match when the visitors are light, more chance of a win.

But if that's their opinion of why speedway in GB is continuing to decline then they're as entitled to put it on this thread just as you are to keep telling them they're wrong.

And the fact that the speedway season was curtailed by several weeks to fit these play-offs into the abbreviated Sky speedway schedule.

Can't be. We've been told over and over that the play-offs are great, people hanging off of the rafters for a couple of matches at the end of the season. The fact crowds are down in practically all of the qualifying matches makes no difference.

But a poll will only discover what some want on a given subject, and may even be a minority view (if three or four options are given on a particular theme). My point is really that, since the supporters can't all agree on something how do we make sure the promoters (the ones that stump up most cash, in other words) do and whatever they do won't suit everybody anyway. What it needs is a clearly defined way forward and set of rules decided by the promoters but an independent person or body of people to ensure they're stuck to and properly administered. And therein lies the problem - that independent person/body will need paying a salary commensurate with their position and the sport can't afford that.

So how do you decide 'what supporters want' if several supporters have differing views on a given subject which this forum shows they clearly do?

The problem I foresee here is getting the supporters' group to agree what it is they're going to ask for. As a for instance, I want guests for injured #1s only and didn't want set nights, Mrs B doesn't want guests at all but wanted set nights. Which one of us would you listen to and who's view would you put forward?

Quite. Anybody who would jump in that quickly to help the intended demise of local rivals in a sport that needs derby matches isn't going to be particularly bothered about curtailing the earnings of one or two riders. After all, the prospect of seven of them losing money somewhere down the line didn't bother him.

Certainly did, 1999 season.