hulvik

A great job done by Rob and his team with some fantastic racing

I'm surprised that nobody as mentioned the late Tony Childs yet But why stick to riders there have been a few promoters that have done naughty things over the years Ian Thomas for one ( Anybody got a doctored tape measure I can borrow)

Danny was a great entertainer on the track and from the few times I spoke to him in the pits a gentleman off it. I only hope that his family can find some comfort in the heart felt tributes that are coming from all corners of the speedway family

One man's hard racer is another man's dirty rider and for this reason along it is certain Nicki will certainly put bums on seats at Sheffield. However I do have one question will fans have to pay extra to watch the weekly punch up between Nicki and another ride or will that spetical be covered by the normal admission fee

My team prodictions Auty Allen Tommy the Gun Danny Ayres Simon Lambert Ryan Kingsley Jordan Palin

I'd like to nominate Mr Peter Clarke who in my opinion couldn't organise an orgy in a brothel. This was clear by his performance at the EWR last night. Not only did he first exclude Simon Lambert in Heat 6 when it was Joe lawlor who was behind him that fell he then went on to exclude Josh Auty for bringing off Rayn Douglas in heat 9 (a rare correct decision by Mr Clarke) but forget to exclude Joe Lawlor from the rerun as he wasn't under power and on the centre green at the time of Ryan's tumble. Both these incidents were eventually corrected after loud protests from the crowd .However Mr Clarke didn't stop there he then awarded the heat10 win to Scott Nicholls who I'm sure was very happy with this considering he came a distant 3rd . I fully accept that being a referee can be a hard and thankless task especially when incidents can happen so quickly in speedway. But to keep getting the basics like how many rides are still on the track wrong or the order the riders finish on a spread out race is inexcusable Unfortunately this was one of Peter Clarke's better nights at the EWR and a clear reason for why the basic standards have to improve

Big blow for Danny and not the way he'd have wanted to end the season. And from what I seen of Danny he'll feel he's letting both Scunthorpe and Mildenhall down which couldn't be further from the truth he as been a pleasure to watch and always gives his all. I look forward to seeing him race again at the EWR hopefully in sunny colours but if not I'm sure he'll get a very warm welcome back

Like others on here I'd first like to say well done Somerset we were beaten by the better team on the night despite some in the crowd moaning about the state of the track which was the same for both teams and the rebels rode it better ,end of However the referee was diabolical and should not be allowed anywhere near a speedway track again. As a long time speedway fan I accept that you win some you lose some where refs decisions go. But last night was just mistake after mistake with BOTH SIDES losing points to decisions that where clearly wrong Leaving aside the mistakes in the finishing order of certain races after all in a tight race both sets of fans and riders are going to see the result differently it was the simple things Mr Greame Hunter kept getting wrong Leaving the 2min lights on for an entire race is bad enough especially when track staff starting marshals ,the crowd and riders are trying to draw your attention only turning them off after a comment over the p.a at the end of the race but to do the same thing again in the next race and the subsequent rerun (the riders had completed 2 laps before the lights went out) is just poor This poor standard when on throughout the meeting at one point with 11 seconds left on the 2 minute timer (which was correct having started as the 2 minute lights came on) it was announced there was actually 60 seconds left lucky this mix up didn't result in an exclusion but could have By the end of the night the general feeling was while there had been some good racing the whole evening had been spoiled by some very poor decisions

Is this the same van that Jason brought towards the end of last season from Rob Godfrey

This meeting as now been called off due to the weather

Heat 1 58.18 Heat 2 59,43 Heat 3 59,56 Heat 4 58.56 Heat 5 58.94 Heat 6 58.72 Heat 7 59.40 Heat 8 59.50 Heat 9 60.00 Heat 10 59.89 Heat 11 59.40 Heat 12 59.00 Heat 13 59.80 Heat 14 60.21 Heat 15 59.44 Hope that helps

While it is good to see there will be some TV coverage of British speedway this year it's a pity that it's on BT with the extra cost this entails. While I'm not against this wouldn't it be possible to have a weekly highlights show which covers news from all the British tracks, on freeview either on freesports which already shows polish speedway or ITV4 .So giving those how can't (or won't )pay for BT the chance to see what is happening

While Rob Godfrey as many faults as it as already been stated disloyalty to riders doesn’t seem to be one of them. You only have to look at the situation last season. When both Steve Worrall and Stefan Nielsen returned after breaking their legs the subsequent drop in form would have seen them dropped from many teams, and let’s not forget Danny Phillips Over past seasons Rob as continually stood by riders when other promoters would have dropped them. And this isn’t first time Rob as given young Aussies their first chance in British speedway either Ryan Douglas was in Jedd List’s shoes not that long ago. So for Rob to have taken this step isn’t something he would have done lightly and it is quite likely there are other factors behind the scenes that have influenced the decision that we the general fans are unaware of. The problem here is 2 fold firstly the drop in the team average meaning teams can no longer afford to carry a low scoring rider for too long and combined this with the accessed average which now forces riders such as Jedd straight into the main team were the pressures of scoring are a lot higher. While it can be argued there are no easy races even at reserve, the old team average did mean any team wishing to take a chance on a young overseas rider could at least strengthen in other areas to accommodate allowing time to settle in Yes Rob took a gamble with Jedd List and it didn’t work out much to the hilarity of many on here. But had Jedd come over and scored highly straight away how many of those laughing at the current situation would have been on here posting comments on how once more Rob had somehow bent the rules to his favour

Last night at the ewr was as good as ever an early contender for race of the year was heat 7 with Jake Allen and Ryan Douglas passing and repassing for fun. Then heat 13 saw 4 abreast on the back straight going into the 3rd bend on lap 2. Totally commitment from all 4 riders. A great advert for the sport . Hard fast racing all night with all 14 riders leaving in one piece. Ryan Kinsley's 2 heat wins on the bounce beating Scott Nicholls as if the 7 times British champion was stood still will do lots for the lads confidence and I'm sure it won't be long before Jedd List is scoring points

It's the old pub debate "Who's the greatest...." It will always be hard to compare riders of different generations. Bikes, tracks and formats have all changed over the years and while everybody as their own views, each of them valid how is it possible to compare Woffy to the likes of Colins and Mauger when the circumstances they raced are so very different. And how do you class greatness. Number of titles, points scored, length career. The only fair way is to look at those riders of the same generation. Woffy is one of a small group of the current British riders who as ridden in the GP series and as certainly done the best out of those so it would be fair to say he is the best British rider of this generation

Drunken Scotsmen surely there isn't such a thing

Hull did something similar in the Boulevard days with Egon Muller

Back in the 80’s when nobody had heard of the internet and Gary Lineker didn’t know what a bag of crisps looked like. Football was mainly played on a Saturday afternoon and kicked off at 3pm. Rugby league was traditionally played on a Sunday. With Speedway raced most nights of the week with each club having their own race night and all was well in the world of sport. Then on 5th February 1989 a little known company called Sky launched its Television network onto the TV airwaves and the decline of British sport began. To begin with things didn’t go well for this young broadcaster and by the end of 1990 it had been forced to merge with its main rival BSB who were also struggling in a bid to survive. But this set back didn’t put Sky off its ambitions of ruling the TV airwaves when it came to sport. When the top flight of English football broke away from the Football League thanks in part to the promise of higher TV payments From Greg Dyke and ITV Sky saw its chance and took it. Bidding a massive £304 million, it beat ITV and in doing so football was removed from free to air TV and put on Sky Sports which promptly became a subscription channel. But in taking the money football forgot the golden rule “Those with the gold make the rules” With a large TV schedule to fill Sky soon began demanding value for its money and the result was the weekly ritual of Saturday afternoon football through out the country became a thing of the past as games began to be played at other nights of the week. Kick off times were moved to fit Sky’s needs, and with the promise of even bigger payments for TV rights every 5 years the top flight of football lost political control of the game. But the decline didn’t stop there. With player power growing ever stronger since the mid 70’s thanks to Jimmy Hill,the top sportsmen began to demand even bigger salaries until it came to a point the top clubs have to make sure they reach the later rounds of the big tournaments and the TV rights money that comes with it just to pay the wage bill of the players that get them there. At the same time those clubs that fall out of the top tier end up struggling finically and selling their best players just to stay in business Having witnessed this downward spiral you’d have thought other sports would have been more careful in their dealings with Sky. But no the promise of instant wealth for the big clubs is too tempting and one by one sports have queued up to take Sky’s money. All giving up on their traditions, lower league clubs and fan base just to pander to Sky Rugby league’s top division went from being a winter sport to a summer sport (How anybody can call February and March summer is beyond me) and changed club names to give them more razzmatazz in an attempt please the broadcaster. Just so Sky had something to show during footballs closed season. Sky even proposed that some clubs merged to form regional teams with the result that clubs like Hull, Hull K R , Castleford, Wakefield trinity, Warrington and Widnes would be lost forever. But this idea was so unpopular with the fans it was dropped. But as you witness the sceptical of a largely empty stadium on the televised Thursday night match, you have to ask yourself what good did taking Sky’s money do for the sport as a whole. So when it came speedways turn to suckle at Sky’s teat you’d have thought the powers that be would have been a little more careful. But no once again the lure of Sky’s money was too much and speedway as made the same mistakes as every other sport that signed the deal with the devil that is Sky. The top clubs braking away to form their own league, tradition nights changed, top sportsmen demanding even higher wages. These things sound all too familiar? Speedway is facing major problems yet the proof that these woes faced the sport if they signed the deal with Sky was there for all to see. I accept that speedway was in decline long before Sky came onto the scene and this decline can be traced back to the 50’s and the advent of the Entertainment tax. But it can’t be denied that the situation as got worst since the TV deal was signed. And as we moan the closure of yet another track we have to ask ourselves 2 questions How many other sports in this country will go the same way as speedway thanks to the lure of big money from Sky and BT Sports? And looking back was the original deal really worth it?

James Cowton A young lad from East Yorkshire lost his life yesterday while practicing for the southern 100 in the Isle of Man Brings home how dangerous any form of motorsport is and while there are some riders we see as pantomime villains when we see them racing it shouldn't be forgotten they are putting their lives on the line every time for out entertainment and we should never wish misfortune on any rider

Would just like to add my congratulations to Redcar for their staging of the fours considering was the first time the promotion had put on such a major event from a spectators point of view it all seemed to go very smoothly and Redcar have silenced any critics how said the event would be a flop because of the move from its traditional home. With BSPA vice chairman Rob Godfrey stating in the program that in future they intend to move some major events around year on year I can't see Redcar getting the event next year ( Though in my opinion they put up a good argument they should) the Redcar promotion have set the bar very high for who ever does host the fours next year

After last year's injury hit season I didn't think there could be any black cats left in Scunthorpe for Rob to run over but looks like I was wrong

Points make prizes. The fact the GB team are through to the finals is proof those in charge made the right call on the night. I wonder how many people on here would supporting Mr Cook had the management kept faith with him and the team had failed to get through

Jake twitted last night he feel a little bashed up but would be riding. So guessing R/R for Stevie (Rob's got to save some money somewhere with all these big paydays of late)

From what I've heard about Redcar's performance last night it was more like the People's Front of Judea than Free Palestine

I've just heard a short Interview on Radio Humberside with Ivan's old Hull team mate Ian Drury in which he recounts a story about how Ivan was in the intercontinental Final at white city and wanted not to win it but come 4th as this would give him a better draw at the world final. It was that sort of thing that made him the rider he was RIP Ivan