Chris116

THE following statement has been issued by Eastbourne Speedway: As supporters and all speedway fans and well-wishers will be aware, Tom suffered a bad accident in heat 12 of the meeting at Eastbourne against Glasgow last Saturday (May 18). Following admittance to Hastings Conquest Hospital on Saturday evening, Tom was assessed and diagnosed with a broken leg in three places to his tibia and fibula. An operation to pin and plate the breaks was planned for Monday. However, on that day, Tom showed signs of breathing difficulties which meant that the planned operation had to be delayed and these symptoms worsened on Tuesday. Following a full consultation with the family, Tom was placed on to a ventilator and an induced coma on Tuesday to both give his lungs chance to recover and to ease his distress. On Wednesday, the specialists were confident that this had worked well enough to allow them to undertake the important operation on Tom’s leg and this has now been completed and the leg pinned and plated. As of this lunchtime (Thursday, May 23) the surgeons are "very happy" with the outcome of that operation. Tom remains on a ventilator and the plan is to bring him round sometime later today so that further assessment can be made. The diagnosis is that the impact of the crash has caused some damage to Tom's lungs that can be fully assessed once he wakes, and now that the vital operation on his broken leg has been successfully completed. The family are very grateful and overwhelmed by all the messages of support at this very difficult time and have apologised for not responding to many of them at this stage. They have also asked that all messages are passed on via the club at this stage and Eastbourne Speedway will of course pass those on for you. The club will only comment when authorised by Tom's family. We send them collectively, individually and on behalf of everyone all our love and support. Eastbourne Fineprint Eagles will be holding a "bucket collection" for Tom at the meeting against Berwick on Saturday and there will be big GET WELL cards for supporters to sign. So as to not inundate the family, if you wish to bring your own Get Well cards for us to pass on, we would be delighted to do so. Tom is very much an integral part of the Eastbourne family and we hope that you will all come along and show your love and support on Saturday, so that we can all collect together to support a very special person and family.

That would ruin one of the best Hot Rod tracks in the country but putting the tarmac onto the current speedway track would make a much better Stock Car track as there is too much space for good stock car racing on the current tarmac oval.

Frank was the best referee. One evening at Arena Essex it was forcast to rain about an hour after start time. Dot on start time as the announcer said that there would be no parade and the first heat would be coming on track the two minute warning sounded. As the 4th place rider got half way around the bend after finishing at the end of each race the two minute warning was sounded for the next race. A couple of fallers slowed things down a bit but we saw 15 races on a dry track and the rain soaked the crowd as they made their way to the car park after the quickest meeting I have ever attended. Just wish all referees would get through meetings as quickly as Frank did.

Down the developers of Plough Lane's throats with any luck!

Somebody has put a lot of thought into that format. Redcar are to be congratulated on putting something a little bit different on. I wish them a very successful meeting. Just wish I didn't live so far away as I would like to see how it works out.

One thing for certain, Barry Lee was a lot quicker around an oval in a car than Bellego.

Thank you, I have corrected the original post. Trouble with these fat fingers on a phone!

Further to the above, remember that the Romford area has previous in getting injunctions against speedway!

Sadly the local residents are less than friendly when it comes to anything taking place at the stadium. I fear there would be no chance of getting planning permission and having been to one dog meeting I also have to say the lines of sight are not good in many parts of the stadium.

I looked in a number of places but missed the relevant information. Thanks for your answer, at least we have a level playing field.

I was under the impression that riders had to attend the practice sessions but notice that Tai Woffinden was missing from the practice with Robert Lambert getting fourth fastest. Tai was missing due to a rearranged Polish fixture. I have to ask if a British club would be able to stop a rider from attending practice and if not how does a Polish club get permission to do so?

I would agree with those who say the promotion should have told the truth but BSPA rules mean the truth gets you a fine and lying does not. Now work out what is best for the promotion!

I would love to know why the international committee do not consider this an official meeting and why the BSPA and SCB are not protesting very loudly. If they can't get things changed for next season the answer is to drop any competition that is not recognised and expand the number of fixtures in the league and tell the international committee to stick that in their pipes and smoke it.

Thank you, it is me who needs to read more carefully!

Can I ask why they say they are ending their weekend with a trip to Workington? Has no one told Scunthorpe that Workington are not racing this year. Looks like a bad case of copy and paste with no proof reading!