PHILIPRISING

WAS just pointing out that it is possible that Jason will race five days on the trot ... and will love every minute of it.

DOYLE has signed for a Danish team

THE interview with Adrian Smith is in Speedway Star this week ...

DOYLE could end up riding Sunday (Poland), Monday (GB), Tuesday (Sweden), Wednesday (Denmark) and Thursday (GB). That's a lot of travel let alone racing even for a workaholic like JD.

YOU presume wrong ... but the company that pulled out cited a lack of resources (money)

SOON ... probably next week (I'll have to ask the Editor!)

I DON'T have an answer to that. Much might depend on the weather on the day. However, I am firmly in favour of British speedway having TV exposure given the number of opportunities it provides for the promoters either individually or more preferably as a unit. Whether they avail themselves of it is a different matter.

THE negotiations for a new TV contract were led by Belle Vue promoter Adrian Smith, who will shortly feature in an interview with Speedway Star about how the new deal came about and was concluded. All sorts of rumours abound, including a staging fee of £10,000, with the rest of the total sum going into a BSPA 'pot' to be distributed. Who will handle the actual production on behalf of Eurosport (Discovery) has yet to be determined to the best my knowledge although one heavyweight contender has withdrawn

IF I could bring you a copy I would ... My sincere apologies about the problems you are having acquiring Speedway Star. The best I can do is this: email me your name and address and one will be posted to you on Monday phil@pinegen.co.uk Philip Rising

YES... our distribution company (the same as we used prior to changing printers (in fact Bourne is far nearer their depot than was Cardiff) have admitted to several problems, especially Hemel Hempstead which handles a large area. This is as frustrating for us as you and totally out of our control but we suffer the consequences. I can only apologise, for what it's worth. This is the latest from them: As advised there has been a problem with the supply to the Hemel Hempstead wholesale branch so all stores supplied by them would be late on-sale. Logistics have confirmed copies have now been received at Hemel and are going out to retail asap. But that's a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. We have also had some problems with mailed subscriptions. Once again, this is an issue that baffles us. SS is now actually printed earlier (Tuesday evening) than was previously the case and is one of many magazines collected in bulk by Royal Mail from Warners in Bourne earlier than was the case from Surbiton on a Wednesday morning. Although late deliveries are relatively isolated cases they are nonetheless frustrating. Off to put my head in a bucket of cold water ...

WE are on different wavelengths.

WOFFY and Zmarzlik are not the draw cards in Copenhagen that Gundersen and Nielsen would have been. Melbourne would have benefitted massively from Adams and Crump. Similarly Rickardsson in Stockholm. That is my point.

NO doubt we would all like to see SGPs in Auckland, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Stockholm, etc but the fact is that these venues are simply not viable. Imagine if Tony Rickardsson, Erik Gundersen, Hans Nielsen, Jason Crump, Leigh Adams and their ilk were still riding. Bums on seats would not be an issue. Poland have overcome the loss of Tomasz Gollob not least because speedway in northern Poland at least is so high profile. Whether it is BSI/IMG or Discovery/Eurosport who are the custodians of the World Championship going forward run 2022, new venues will remain a problem.

WOULD probably subscribe to the view that if it "ain't broke, then don't fix it" as far as the SGP is concerned. Never had a problem with the winner of a particular round not necessarily being the highest scorer. Each SGP is its own event. The accumulation of points is what determines the World Champion. As far as the SON is concerned, understand why the FIM wanted to broaden the number of participating countries in the finals stages, an incentive for young riders in the lesser nations to ride on the top stage. My real beef is with the name ... just call it the Speedway World Cup.

HOW much