rusky

So sorry to hear this. I didn’t really know Dave during his racing days, but did get to know him in his after racing days when he was a dammed good jet ski rider, and had a shop in Ipswich selling jet ski bits, and clothing. He was always a true gentleman to talk to, and a genuine nice guy. RIP Dave, it’s been a pleasure to know you.

I cant be certain on the state now, but when I was involved ion the sport it was the case that if a non-county ambulance took riders to hospital it effectively went to the back of the queue for admission to A&E, as priority was always given to county (i.e. NHS) ambulances, so there would be a significant delay in the rider (or indeed member of the public) being seen at A&E

Last night was the first time I have attended at Lynn for some time. There were a few things that stood out for me. The crowd seemed pretty big, and there was a fair mixture of young and old, including a few faces I hadn't seen for a while - I'm looking at you Telboy Car Park was fairly muddy. The programme was a marked improvement on previous years I would suggest. Well produced, and good value at £3 Presentation of the meeting as a whole was slick, and seemed to progress at a reasonable pace. Not too much tractor racing. Track looked pretty good, and there was some racing for those brave enough. Robert Lambert seems to be developing a good racing brain, and was obviously thinking races through instead of just charging in. Lewis Kerr was very lucky that Jack Holder dropped it so quickly. That could of been nasty. I'm more than a little surprised by some of the comments around traffic to get out. When you arrive, drive past the works compound with lots of equipment & activity, don't be surprised that Roadworks appear. Those roadworks were by the Highways agency, and they really could make the BSPA look very organised & efficient. I live quite close to the A1 & A14 where as many of you know there are major roadworks. They release daily bulletins on closures & diversions etc. However, they are never accurate. A common feature is that they announce roads will be closed at 21:00 > 06:00 on specific stretches. You never know what time they will close them though, sometimes at 20:00. Now that does confuse people. Any queries to their website, twitter or facebook are met with deafening silence. I really don't think the promoters would of been able to arrange anything with them based on our experiences around here.

Anybody watch SnowQuake on ITV4 tonight. A little piece on Ice Gladiators, and a piece on Mark Marques riding his race bike up the Hannenkahn (sp) with tyres prepared by one Frankie Zorn who makes an appearance. I’m sure it will be repeated.

Who is it who made the improvements to the track Phil... I think you will find its a team there that work on the track, but primarily Tomas Topinka.

Would agree with that whole heartedly. The best commentator bar none on UK TV

The crowd this year was I am told up on the previous year, and close to the break even figure. The Friends Arena team have to be applauded by realising that high ticket costs are not the answer. There were standing tickets on the 3rd / 4th bends this year at 99Kr, so around £10 - cheaper than league matches in the UK, and I believe they sold around 1000 of those. The stadium itself is ideally situated from a travel perspective, being 35 minutes from Arlanda airport by train, and 15 minutes from Stockholm city centre. Hotels in the area are quite good, There is a good quality hotel attached to the stadium which is reasonably priced given the location & standard (about 2/3 the cost of similar hotels in Cardiff). Around 15 - 20 minutes walk away are 3 other hotels that are all competitively priced (Read very cheap compared to Cardiff) right by the bus stop for the airport buses that server both Arlanda and Stockholm City. Some of the restaurants in the area are a little expensive, but again not that different than Cardiff for similar quality. Drinks tended to be a little on the expensive side though. The actual stadium itself is superb, and the seating is more spacious and comfortable than Cardiff I feel. It was good to have a sound system where you could actually hear what the announcer was saying clearly, and the choice of music I thought was very good - Particularly like the 'Where Eagles Dare' them for the final. So why doesn't Stockholm work in the same way that Cardiff does in terms of gathering a crowd ? It really does seem to have everything going for it, Its a really nice stadium, it has a roof, the location is nigh on perfect. The city of Stockholm is an incredibly pretty place, and worth a visit at any time. Personally, I don't think that BSI do Stockholm any favours at all with Stockholm coming only 6 weeks after Malilla. Can you imagine the uproar here if we had 2 SGP here, one in Cardiff and one say at the NSS but that close together ? That makes it pretty expensive to go to both meetings if you were ' a local', even with the cheap tickets on offer. I for one hope that Stockholm is on the Calendar in years to come,

Chris Holder certainly was the cause of the stoppage. The incident took Kildemands chain off. It was also very clear down the back straight that holder New he had taken Kildemand down, his head was quite literally in his hands.

Not even for the 99 kr tickets Ghostie ? For those in the UK that's a standing ticket on the 3/4 bends and less than a tenner.....Adult price.

Yep the hotel was called the Hotel De Doelen, on the market square in Groningen. And yet again absolutely right Tellboy it was Tramps bar. Its a few years since I was there last but Tramps bar was closed then. Do you remember as well that Marky Boy was treated as a hero in some of the bars that we went in - remember him very well on the shoulders of some extremely tall Dutch lads (basketball team ?) in a bar with a very low timbered ceiling. Also remember he didn't see too much of the Sunday racing. I do remind him of that on the occassions that I see him.. Of course currently there is no ice stadium at Assen, but i believe they are building a new one there. And less of the old Tellboy..... just more experienced

So true about Ken and his ego Tony. A true gentleman, and it was always a pleasure to be in the pits when he was around, and you are so correct about one or two who thought they were gods gift..... lol

Interesting article in the EDP today: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/aussie-bert-the-leg-trailing-dare-devil-who-was-a-true-star-of-the-norwich-track-1-4999661

Transponders were trialled a few years ago in conjunction with TAG-Heuer, but they really weren't very successful. There were issues getting them mounted effectively, and consistently.

He was, but was with Dennis and the Swedish team. Test matches versus Denmark, Swedish league and Inter Continental final I think it was

It was quite funny at the 1990 final where all of the pits staff were telling me that without doubt I should keep an eye on Henka as Ole Olsen had done a deal for him to ride at Coventry (Most of the pits staff were from Coventry.....). Having spent quite a bit of time in Sweden that summer I knew that wasn't the case, and it wasn't too long before I was meeting Henka and his family off of the ferry at Harwich ........ I did remind one or two of the Coventry pits staff (Who I got on well with) of that fact when I saw them next.

3rd & 4th September at Wood Walton..... Get yourself there Tellboy

Certainly in 2015 there were numerous posters in Stockholm City Centre on the Saturday, with many around Central Station. However, by the Sunday they were all down and replaced with poster for a concert.... Remember that in Stockholm the big shopping Mall next door is open now, and that will add an extra dimension

We were talking to the manager in our hotel and he seems to think from emails they have had, that the preferred date is the the 8th July but there are some queries around some Wales football matched planned for dates around then.

You tube likes your family Star Lady......

I wouldn't be shouting about that......Only kidding Clive.. :wink:

Courtesy of Graham Brodie comes news that the FIM have released an Android / Apple App for the Ice Gladiator series More details at: http://www.fim-live.com/en/fim/the-federation/isg-app/

Completely agree with SCB. The concept of the site is very good, but the performance is appalling, and on many occasions is downright unusable. If you can sort these issues it will be a useful resource.

For what its worth, I firmly believe that speedway in the UK desperately needs to get back to having a high number of Friday > Sunday tracks. There is a desperate need to get youngsters interested in watching live speedway. My daughter loves speedway but hardly ever gets to see it live, as being 12 years old she can't go to speedway on a school night. The local track to where she lives only operates on a Wednesday night, and annoyingly there are never local Bank Holiday meetings nowadays either so we really are limited to school holiday times, or indeed Cardiff for the GP

Have to agree with you there Tony. It was a pleasure to have known Vi over the years. Thoughts are with all members of the Littlechild family at this time...

Kurt Petersen ? Danish tuner who was about in those times ?