Bryn

Good to see ex-Crayford Kestrel Garry May on the Isle of Wight last night, albeit he's now a tad over his former "racing weight!"

Indeed it's hard to believe that Deon Prinsloo, whom I sure many will remember riding in the UK, sadly lost his life five years ago today. R.I.P. Deon

'The Voice of Reason' lives in Warwickshire I believe and, as the situation has been explained to me although I've no way of guaranteeing its accuracy, whilst I and no doubt you believe he is fully entitled to hold his views and express them as he has done on this and every other forum provided they are not libellous, it has been patently obvious for some time that he dislikes Jon Cook immensely since he was told his services as a member of the trackstaff were no longer required at Purfleet. Whether that was prior to him moving to Warwickshire I really don't know. What I DO know is that it was down to postings of a constant negative nature from him and others that led to the original forum being put into 'maintenance mode' i.e. effectively shut. Nobody in their right mind would object to receiving criticism, in fact most would welcome it, PROVIDED it was of a constructive nature. Go to the forum address "The Voice of Reason" has given you, see how many of the 43 members (last time I looked) post on it and see for yourselves. "E I Addio" has!

Every season since 1966 when I went to my first ever meeting at West Ham.

This thread is about what people would like to see coming out of this year's British Speedway Promoters Association AGM and has little to do with the current Grand Prix system other than with there having been a dozen rounds this year, it has severely hit notions of running Elite League speedway regularly on a Saturday night. I have my own views on what I personally feel is now what I'd describe as a travelling circus but that's for another time. In your original response to the question posed in this thread's title you stated, "Better referees" and now you try and justify that by firstly comparing it to soccer which, let's face it, is now more or less a non-tackle sport infested with prima donnas who must train hard to perfect their standing jump up in the air and spectacular fall to earth with umpteen twists any time member of the opposition comes anywhere near them looking for the ball - how long would the likes of Norman 'Bites Yer Legs' Hunter lasted in many modern day game before being red carded? And secondly stating that you could do a better job. Anyway when announcing at meetings I've sat alongside the vast majority of current British speedway refs at venues in all three leagues and they don't get replays over and over and over as you seem to think, basically they get NO replays and make their decisions on what they've seen from their fixed position behind the controls. Supporters of a particular team are bound to question decisions that go against them AND agree with decisions that go in their favour. You've stated you could do a better job than current referees - why not take steps towards proving it?

So do I take it then that you're going to apply to become a referee "GiveusaB?"

Are you volunteering to be one then?

I posted under that pseudonym of "The Welshman" as a guest on a couple of occasions "Midlands Supporters Club," purely and simply because to post under the name of Bryn apparently I would have to rejoin the unofficial supposed "fans" forum, something I wasn't prepared to do to swell the membership to 43, a great many of whom (not least yourself) openly admit you don't attend the club's meetings and do nothing but decry it.

Your determination to have a go at Jon Cook under the pseudonym of "The Voice of Reason" on this forum on a regular basis in addition to you doing the same under a different pseudonym elsewhere has, for a long time now, obviously been something of an obsession you sadly suffer from. Whatever 'floats your boat' I suppose, but your postings together a whole host of others on this thread alone alas are indicative of the depth of what was a great forum when Phil originally set it up, has sunk to.

Whilst I'm not decrying "Burntfaceman's" impressive plethora of figures I can't help but think of a common saying during my working for a living days, that saying being, "There are lies, damn lies and statistics!"

Jon Cook didn't make anything up OBaHB but with AJ contacting him and saying he was working hard (NOT had made a rapid recovery as you've posted) to try and get fit for both tonight's GP and Monday's 2nd leg at the NSS being very hopeful indeed of achieving that aim, what was he supposed to do? The situation is as stated by waihekeaces1 above - end of story!

Don't know what the heck you are on about "jim3751" but you are totally and utterly wrong in your comment about where the track curator was on Wednesday.

5pm, NO Weather problems, gates open 6pm. Flipping quiet here as have had NO "is it on calls"

12.45pm WEATHER CHECK: Still fine, bright and sunnyl A quick reminder that it's a 7.30pm start tonight.

10am WEATHER CHECK Here just across the Thames from the track it's fine, bright and sunny and the Met Office say that we won't be getting any rain at all today so I don't expect to have to field many, if any, "Is tonight's meeting on cos it's chucking it down here," phone calls unless you're phoning from a tropical rainforest so come on down as someone used to say on the gogglebox! I understand tonight's programme also has a scorechart for you to fill in the results of the other match taking place at Poole with races from there being shown on a big screen at Arena Essex.

Latest news on AJ at: http://www.speedwaygp.com/news/article/5235/aj-racing-on-eggshells but I don't think I'd do what he's doing even if I was battling to get my typing finger back working ok after injury!

Can you explain exactly what you mean by that please? The reasons for opting to use r/r to cover for AJ in Wednesday's first leg have surely been explained in detail via the club's official website this morning but if you haven't read that, go to: http://www.lakesidehammers.co/play-off-team-update/

Would a less than fully fit Chris Harris score more at Lakeside than Kennett, Nilsson, Bridger & Lawson each taking a r/r ride would SS?

Interesting match report at: http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/14748998.CHEQUERED_FLAG_REPORT__Lakeside_Hammers_58_Swindon_Robins_35/?ref=fbshr#comments-anchor

Nearly 6pm and most, if not all tracks look a bit wet and slimey two hours before a meeting is scheduled to start!

My mate giving me a lift said he'd be here circa 3.30pm has not arrived here yet from the depths of Kent yet coming up to 4pm so I hope he hasn't broken down en route. Hopefully he'll arrive shortly (if not will have to get a cab) but will not be manning the office phone at the track from 4pm as originally planned. Just to confirm though, the meeting is ON!

Club's official website updated at 3.30pm stating it's All Systems GO for tonight - see you there?

Just waiting for my mate who's giving me a lift over to the track, where I'll get down to answering everyone's "is it on?" calls, to arrive. It's not raining here the Kent side of the Dartford crossing, the cloud covering is a lot higher than it has been all day up to now, it's a bit breezy and I get the impression that it is definitely brightening up and the sun's trying to break through. No doubt Gerald and crew are hard at work at the track and here's looking forward to a good match.

I'm likely to be at he track circa 4pm and will be on phone answering duties from then on. Here in Erith (Kent) circa two miles at most from Dartford tunnel we've only had sporadic light rain this morning since I crawled out of my pit circa 7.45am. IF there were no houses on the opposite side of the road to me, then I would get a clear view of the Dartford Bridge and surrounding area the Essex side of the Thames. I assume there's been no change to the 10.30am update and photos on the club's official site at: http://www.lakesidehammers.co/10-30am-track-update/

All too soon the Wight Warriors first season came to an end on another night of fun last night at the Andrew Younie Smallbrook stadium last night, the only downer being GB Young Lions U23 skipper Danyon Hume sustaining a suspected broken collarbone in a final heat spill. It's been quite a year for the club, much has been achieved with co-promoters Barry Bishop and Martin Widman introducing many, many new ideas that have been welcomed with open arms by their fans from both the island and mainland plus supporters of other clubs who have attended matches this year, sponsors, advertisers and the Isle of Wight community as a whole. A great many of those new ideas have been off track with the emphasis largely making speedway nights fun nights for young and old alike, the emphasis being placed more and more on the young 'uns, hopefully the sport's future staunch supporters. Whoops! Forgot to mention it was great to see a rider I witnessed in action many times in the late sixties and seventies, namely Sid Sheldrick back on a speedway bike last night. Sid now lives in Florida, raced in the first meeting at the stadium many years ago and did a lap of the circuit in his leathers and, if my eyes didn't deceive me, a Barrow Bombers racejacket.