Leicester Hunter

That was our last home league match of 1977 and we won 41-37. The Robins were using R/R for the injured Martin Ashby and Alan Grahame won a rerun heat 13 to beat Bob Kilby and Jan Andersson, stopping Kilby getting a full 18 point maximum into the bargain. Kilby ended up with 17 points from 6 rides and Andersson 16+2 from 7 out of that total of 37.

Well, I did hear a rumour along those lines at Easter time, but I thought it was just that. And yet here we are. How many will be back after this?

Possibly, but other than a brief sojourn at Hall Green, speedway in the city has always been associated with Perry Barr, either where it is now (and the 40's, 50's and 1960) or the old Ladbrokes Stadium over the road which is now buried under the One Stop Shopping Centre. What doesn't help is all the construction work going on, some of it unnecessarily.

Having observed how Godfrey's mind works over the last few years, he'd have probably gone with the results between the two teams... you beat them 52-38 at your place and they beat you 54-36 at the EWR. Ergo, Scunny qualify having scored more points over the two matches this year. However, that wasn't needed, so well done. Hope we can join you in the playoffs.

Even before the demise of Coventry, KL was on the rota to stage the BriSCa Formula 1 World Final. That's their flagship meeting of the year, attracting loads of competitors and a huge crowd. He can't fail to make money on that one. Possibly as much as a whole season of speedway when it gets allocated.

Welcome to 2021...

Not really. Buster and his infamous fuse cornered that market well over a decade ago...

With the level of experience Bomber has, that really should go without saying. The standout Birmingham rider for me though was the guest, Jason Edwards. OK, so he only scored 4 points from 5 starts, but his attitude was spot on and for the life of me, I can't see why he hasn't got a regular team place in the Championship. Overall though, that was the most wretched performance I've witnessed from a Birmingham team since 1986. Yes, it was that bad.

...and have been for years.

Indeed. In John Berry's first book he stated how he rated Tony Davey higher than Peter Collins. The rules in 1971 apparently precluded Division 2 riders from partaking in Division 1 unless they had a tie-up with a Division 1 club. Of course, PC was at Belle Vue, John Louis at Newport, Malcolm Shakespeare at Leicester... the list was probably a little longer than that. When it came to the first match, JB said that Davey was a complete bundle of nerves never having ridden at that level before. Things didn't improve as both Olle Nygren and Alan Sage were excluded from the first heat for tape breaking. Then came Heat 2 and the awful crash... A classic case of 'What might have been'.

It was the 1982 League Cup. Coventry lost out on race points to Cradley who went on to win it. I was there that night and Colin's last heat win brought the house down. A lot of people thought it was natural justice, considering how the Bees approached the start of that season...

I take it Valentin Grobauer is no longer in the team then. Because if he is and the points limit is still 41, the new team is over the limit...

Yes, I was at school at the time as well. Dave Jessup wasn't subject to Rider Control IIRC, his move was a straight commercial transaction between two Reg Fearman promoted tracks, and DJ moved to Reading as a replacement for Anders Michanek who wasn't returning in '76. Leicester were allocated Reidar Eide via the Control committee, as their averages didn't have much of a disparity at the time. To make up the numbers, Leicester got two relatively unknown foreigners on assessed 7.5 averages, Ernst Bogh and Greg Szczepanik. Bogh was sacked after about six weeks and Szczepanik only survived the season simply because there was no-one else. His final CMA was 2.37 including bonus points. So that worked out well. Four heat leader standard riders were allocated to tracks and refused to go. Ole Olsen being the most famous, he was adamant he wasn't going to Hull and the ever enterprising Ian Thomas formulated a lucrative deal with Charles Ochiltree of Coventry for the Dane to complete his move there. The other three were Christer Lofqvist (Wimbledon) and Tommy Johansson along with Hasse Holmqvist (Wolverhampton). Holmqvist hadn't even indicated he wanted to come back to the UK in 1976, so Wolves ended up using a combination of guests and/or R/R for both riders for the whole season. 1977 was something of a transitional year which reverted to averages only to determine team strengths, although there was a sort of dying echo carried over from the previous season. Three teams were allowed to use R/R all season for non returnees, these being Hackney for Zenon Plech, Hull for Egon Muller and most controversially of all Dag Lovaas at White City when you consider how the season panned out. Wolverhampton were granted the facility of either a guest or R/R for Tommy Johansson depending on the averages at any given time. All that was before both Cradley Heath and Leicester were allowed to use a guest for the same rider, John Boulger, for the opening months of the campaign. And people think the rules today are mad...

Yep, It was a situation like such as this that finally saw the demise of Rider Control at the end of 1976. This lot clearly don't do history...

Well, of course it will. Despite being told by Transport for West Midlands on more than one occasion that the Sprint Bus Rapid Route will be implemented whether or not the the flyover is there, it's going. And this is being brought to you by a local authority whose educational and child care services have deemed substandard for over a decade. Why, they can't even provide an efficient refuse collection service and haven't done for over two years. And then there was that interview on local telly last night with that council no-mark who stated that all they have to do now is find a contractor to do the work. Really? All that was sorted ages ago. As an authority, they are collectively unfit to run a bath without supervision.

35.63. Good shout there with at least three club assets. The last rider I'd be looking at would be Jonas Jeppesen on an assessed 5.20 CMA. Unlucky to get booted out at Somerset due to the infamous numbers game and got injured in his second match for Ipswich. That's of course allowing for the possibility that Somerset wouldn't recall him. Anyway, with that team named above, there's 5.37 left.

Not really. I would imagine provisional approval has been given for a 42.5 point limit for next year. It makes sense, and I would think the majority of clubs in the Championship favour it. This is the BSPA we are dealing with though.... If Birmingham now sign the riders I think they will, the team comes in at just under 42.5 (42.48 to be precise). Watch this space....

No, but he did make his British League debut for Hull in 1976 at the old Perry Barr track. Top scored with 11 points. Anyway, the World Champion we did have wasn't that famous. Not from a speedway perspective.

IIRC, it was Karl Maier.

Had some heavy rain overnight, drying now. Sky still overcast, may rain again, maybe not. If it doesn't rain again, there should be a decent track to race on.

As I said in an earlier post, the Shanes incident back in 2016 was ridiculous. You won the argument, such as it was (there wasn't one really), you won the match, you won the cup. Fair enough. Except you won't let go, you're like a dog with a bone. Move along now, nothing to see here.

Yes, I know all about assets, that's what I meant even if it didn't come across that way. If the Birmingham management have not offered, or not thinking of offering Sheldon at least one more run out with the club, they are missing a really good opportunity IMO.

My view on that little episode is the same now as it was then. It was sheer stupidity. And to use the excuse of 'other teams have done just this several times already this year' was crass in the extreme. What an opportunity missed, a chance to do the treble thrown out of the window all because rules and regs were disregarded. Oh well, water under the bridge and all that. However, more up to date, the furore over Gary Flint allowed Sheldon Davies to step in at the last moment, and put on a decent performance, by all accounts. I'd never heard of him before yesterday lunchtime. So, is he any good or not? Was yesterday afternoon's showing due to genuine flair and aptitude or the mediocre opposition, or perhaps maybe a combination of both? Either way, it looks like this lad deserves another outing with the team at the very least. With that in mind, here's a note to the Birmingham management. If he's not already signed to another club (I haven't a clue whether he is or not), get his signature on a contract ASAP. He may have qualities which were sadly lacking in a recently departed member of the team: Application and commitment.

Oh, the irony.... Have you watched any speedway at all since the start of 2015?

I think you've answered your own comment there. I've highlighted the relevant bits.