jrs

Not my favourite by any means, but Pedersen's taking of Madsen and completing his max was something special. Good to have Speedway back.

Best wishes to Archie, hope you'll soon be back in the saddle once you're mended, horrible injury. Take it steady with the recovery, and good luck to you Archie.

I think it's too early to tell with the sprint race and new qualifying. But so far I'm fully in favour of it. Many people may think that well they get paid enough, why not earn it. I think it adds another decisive dimension to the weekend. Lets see what happens today

I think the most telling evidence of how seriously dangerous his riding was, came when after the race the three podium finishers were waiting in the ante-room before the presentations and were watching the brief highlights on the screen. All three of them expressed shock and abject horror at Marquez's riding. If he get's away with it on appeal the situation will in my mind impact negatively on the credibility of the stewards and the whole Motogp product. Sad to say but he is a fading star, and his dangerous aggressive riding has no place in the sport. Qualifying for Argentina and the sprint race should be interesting today.

Maybe it's time to pinch some new rules from another motorcycle sport, and allow a few guest riders to make up the field. Perhaps it's the Marquez plan to gradually wipe out the rest of the field , only joking I think it's a good thing that he's not in Argentina this weekend though. I simply don't understand the decision to only impose a two long lap penalty on Marquez. I would have thought a two race ban would have been about right. But then Dorna would lose one of their big draw cards. He was wild and he could have caused no end of damage.

That’s very sad news indeed, father and son have always been a part of Brandon. Difficult to imagine the Bees without a Doc Kenyan. RIP Doc , my thoughts are with your family and the community.

IMO It will be interesting to see how long the punishment for Marquez will be. For me he just gets worse every year, is it a psychological problem, where he still believes he is as good as he used to be. Martin was so lucky not to pick up a bad injury.

Have a look on crash.net every week for details of free live motogp streams. I think they free streamed the sprint race yesterday. And they also gave highlights details. As Tim said the sprint race was brilliant, had me on the edge of my seat, and I can't wait for the moto3 guys in the first race. No doubt more harum scarum from the youngsters.

For me Peo Soderman was the first Swede I ever saw ride for my team in the '50s I think, and overnight when he came to ride for Brandon he became my favourite rider, basically because he was different, and a superb rider and nice guy as well. For some reason the various foreign riders who came to ride for the Bees seemed to hold a magical charisma, no disrespect meant to others. But by seeing and meeting these guys I realised that there really is another big bright world out there. Perhaps that was the spark that eventually set me on the way to travelling the world and my fascination with other countries and cultures. Henryk Zyto although not Swedish really sparked my interest in other countries. I thought he was a magician from behind the iron curtain. I suppose in a way in the '60s Gote Nordin replaced Peo for his absolute classy style and consistency. And then of course the great man himself, no it's not Norbold, but Ove was just pure strength and speed, and I clearly remember standing in the pits at Long Eaton one night watching his great calmness throughout a meeting and knowing that I was, I suppose in the presence of greatness in our sport.

Here we go, it's back to Portugal today and qualifying, and the new sprint race on Saturdays. Sad to say but I've been waiting for this all winter. I just hope the weather is better in Portugal than it is here. Good to see Jack Miller top the charts yesterday after his move to KTM. And on the other side of the coin, really sad to see that Pol is quite badly injured after his accident yesterday in practice. Hopefully he'll be back on that bike again before too long. He certainly needs a better year.

I can't believe it, such sad news Jim Lightfoot and Col Smith both gone within a few days of each other, good guys and team mates. Rest in peace Col, my thoughts are with your family and close friends. My era at Brandon is disappearing fast

You are perfectly 100% correct. Tony also used to race a 500 Triumph twin on grass.

I heard that Jim did antiques, but I don't know about Tony. I used to know Tony well, but then work took over my life and travels.

You never know Norman, I can honestly say at the moment I don't remember, the great thing about Wembley was that everybody seemed to get on with everybody else, it was like a great annual social event. I was a fan of Ove and enjoyed my trips to Norwich, and I nearly peeed myself as a second-halfer at Long Eaton one night when Ove's bike packed up and he borrowed my bike and went and won the race in his usual time and gave me a display of how my bike should be ridden. Needless to say it was never ridden again like that. Sadly some of my memories of fifties and sixties got affected by a fractured skull in '66. Loads of empty patches in my memory. I know there was a lad near us at Wembley who reckoned he was gonna win a fortune on a TV programme. I wonder if he ever did.

Very sad news indeed. Jim used to work with my old man and I think it was summer of 1954/5 that Pop took me to Brandon for the first time and introduced me to Jim and that was the start of my love for the sport. He really was an under rated stalwart for the Bees and spent thirteen years at Brandon. I well remember the trip to Wembley on a BTS coach for the World Final in '63. What mad days out they were, but at least that year we had Jim, Nigel, Ron and PO to shout for . He actually ended up getting me the worst and shortest job I ever had, in the unit next to him and Mick in Bayton Road. I only survived polishing out welds inside stainless steel vats for about an hour. I came out deaf and coated in SS dust. RIP Jim and thanks for introducing me to this mad sport, my thoughts and prayers are with all your family and friends. B

Think old Danny passed away about ten or fifteen years ago. He ued to live not far away from me when I was in London late 60's early 70's. If you saw him in the shops or the pub he was just a regular guy. Think some people in those days assumed he wore drag all the time. It's a sin is well worth a watch !

Link below to the Brandon Estates court case. Seems to me that they got off very very lightly. Surprised that there was no mention of the costs incurred by the Police and Fire services for their call outs to the stadium. Makes you wonder who is running this country, considering they were given a council order to protect the site five years ago. https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-stadium-owner-hit-64k-25571513?utm_source=coventry_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter2&utm_medium=email

A sad end today to Eugene Lavertys's final race of his career in WSBK and Motogp when he crashed in Philip Island resulting in being flown to Melbourne hospital with a pelvic injury. Best wishes to him for a good recovery and his retirement into management and ownership

From todays Telegraph, a small collection of archive photos and some sad pics from recent times. It all goes to show what a waste this charade is !! https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/history/gallery/now-coventry-bees-brandon-stadium-25483718?utm_source=coventry_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter2&utm_medium=email

I must admit that after reading yesterday's story in the Telegraph "Coventry Stadium to be transformed into housing estate" I was thoroughly depressed, as it seemed to be slanted towards certain success for Brandon Estates with only minor reference to the save it campaign. Although I never have the chance to get down there these days, it was so much part of my growing years and youth right up until work took me away from the area in my early twenties. One of my best mates at the time lived next door to the stadium so that even in the off season I was around the stadium constantly. It was part of my life and education, it's apparently in my DNA. I could still take you to the exact spot, where we used to boo and cheer on the back straight in my school days, and to every inch of the stadium, and offices and pits. So it's a mega thank you from me to SCS &S campaigners for their incredible work to keep the place and hopes alive. Fabulous to see such a turnout at the council offices yesterday, and thanks to Rugby councillors for their diligent appraisal of the application. I'm very proud of the campaign to fight for Brandon !!!

Thought Fabio had a much better race yesterday, but unless Bagnia falls or the bike fails it's goodbye to the title. He's had a horrible second half of the season with too many mistakes, and I think Bagnia has been more consistent, though as he admits he is susceptible to being put under pressure. I'll still be rooting for Fabio, but sometimes I feel he doesn't take it seriously enough. Not as entertaining as the Aussie GP, but when will we ever see the first seven across the line all within a second of the winner Rins. Biggest balls up yesterday was Ogura pushing hard on the last lap and dropping it , when he should have settled for second, but now he has given Fernandez a handy championship lead for the final race..

Have you missed an N out of the spelling of Wa kanda Chunky?

deleted a caps lock post because I thought JH was the originator. Apologies Norbold.

If you do a search John you'll find its been a regular topic on here over the last twenty years. Used to enjoy watching their tarmac speedway.

I think John has regressed to his MI6 days in the cold war, and was placing one of those odd little ads you used to get in the Times or Evening Standard. Well so John le Carre told me